hematite153

There are lots of different itineraries for Baltic cruises, so naming the ports of call would be helpful. I've done two Baltic cruises with a wheelchair. It can be difficult, but doable.

Good point.

We've managed to keep my DW off her feet most of the time on the ship so she's attempting to walk in ports.

We're about to do Stockholm, Tallinn, St. Petersburg 3 days in a row though. We'll have to see how that goes.

At most terminals there will be a sitting bench where she can sit while they fetch a w/c, I am in same situation and bringing only a walker, asked for w/c at terminal. We were unable to rent a w/c in Hamburg so my walker will have to do on board as MSC does not have w/c for use during cruise.

Have a lovely cruise!

Thank you for the info. I wish you well with your walking.

Her plan had been to use the wheelchair whenever it was reasonable in order to save her walking for time on board and places where wheelchairs are challenging. Unfortunately, she's now boarding in a bad state.

Can anyone give me information about using a wheelchair in northern european ports?

We're about to embark tomorrow and I'm worried that my wife likely can't walk much at all at the moment.

My use of search has failed me, can anyone help?

My DW uses a wheelchair periodically and was planning to bring one on board. Unfortunately, it was damaged on our arrival in Europe. She has been walking entirely for the last week and is in serious pain at the moment. Is there any way for me to get a wheelchair for her to use in the cruise terminal tomorrow in Kiel?

Who should I ask?

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Thank you for sharing all of your experiences.

We've been given a 17.45 slot for a 20.00 departure (Hamburg, August 9). This seems a bit late, though I don't know whether being in Yacht Club this time has anything to do with it. I don't know when boarding starts for others, but obviously earlier.

Any thoughts?

Thank you so much for asking this. I finally found my embarkation time on my printed documents for tomorrow and it says 3:45pm and then later says that we can board any time from then until 2 hrs before embarkation (at 6pm), so, it's a 15 min window.

We need to check out of our hotel for the night by 11am and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my kids if we were stuck waiting around for 4+ hrs.

Plus, the list of places we are expected to go/visit on the ship before dinner seemed unlikely with such a late boarding.

I'm glad to hear that we will likely get on earlier if we arrive earlier.

Thank everyone!

Okay, reading further and there are only 3 places where I can activate a prepurchased voucher, but, there are other sales points where I can buy a card.

If I were to take a cab to the one closest to the cruise terminal (very expensive compared to taking the bus included with the card, though), would I be able to count on them having them or should I keep trying to come up with other options?

You can purchase it when you get there. At the airport, information centers and some of the attractions. We bought it at the information center near Tivioli the morning we arrived. We had stored our luggage at the hotel and set out to explore on foot. Took about three minutes.

Except that I'm arriving on a cruise ship and can't get to any of those places without paying for the transport that the card is supposed to cover.

Am I missing something? On their website it only lists 3 places in the city (one of them the airport) where you can activate a voucher or buy the card.

I apparently waited too long to be getting organized. The Copenhagen Card says that I need at least 6 wks for it to be delivered and I leave home in a fair bit less than that.

I can get a pdf voucher, but, it appears I have to get across town then in order to activate it.

Do I have any other options? Might it arrive in time if I order it now?

Please forgive me if I missed this info elsewhere. I've been reading and searching lots but have questions that I haven't yet figured out.

1. Can we bring a pocket knife/swiss army knife on board? (Baltic sea cruise if that matters.)

2. Are we likely to need a power cord for a balcony stateroom (2 parents, 2 kids)?

Thanks!

So, complimentary breakfast in bed (for the Fantastica experience) only includes basic buffet breakfast items--coffee, tea, milk, sugar, toast, butter, jam & eggs

Also juice, hot chocolate, cereals, bread rolls and pastries - no eggs.

As someone with a gluten allergy, that's very frustrating to read. Good to know in advance, though. Thanks.

(The other two cruise lines we've travelled on had free room service food, but, you paid for delivery, so, it didn't occur to me that we'd be paying for the food separately.) For future reference, are the food costs included with any of the other experiences?

I believe that spb is referring to the city ... Saint Petersburg. Best Guides is a totally separate company from SPB tours.

Good to know, thanks!

Thank you for offering to answer questions!

Do you have any kids? Can you give me any more info about programming for them? One of mine is specifically interested in the "Lego Days" mentioned on the website and the other wants to know about when the cooking classes (for 4 yr olds) are held.

In terms of the St. Petersburg immigration delays, is it necessary that one anticipate the delays and get in line early? We've booked a half day tour scheduled to start at 10. Since the ship is due to dock at 7, we thought that would be enough time to be more relaxed about our exit. Does this sound accurate or do we need to get in line early?

Which ports have MSC shuttles included to take you into town or to main transit hubs? And, are they bus-like or van-like shuttles?

Thanks so much for your help! I hope you're having a great time.

In Fantastica Cabins this is free for continental breakfast and other dishes from the room menu. But for these dishes, only the service was free. For the dishes themselves, you had to pay the a la card price.

Have a nice cruise

Wait, what? I thought room service was supposedly included with Fantastica. Are you saying that we need to pay for the food and only the delivery is free? That's frustrating.

Oh, this is intriguing.

Is there a charge attached to the shuttle bus? We'd been looking at daypasses for the transit system since it includes ferries, but, if it's not needed, we'd happily save the cost.

How do I find out about schedules?

Try YouTube lots of Preziosa videos there and some added in last few weeks/ months

Thanks! We've looked at some of them, but, I'll search more broadly. (I'm all alone in my roll call.)

I know that SPb Tours is well regarded and has thousands of great reviews on TA but why do you say that Best Guides are under them? They are a separate business.

Their website included SPB in the title.

Email them and tell them you want to go here:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298507-d3396387-r238447163-Grand_Maket_Russia_Interactive_Museum-St_Petersburg_Northwestern_District.html

 

They will know of the place. Word looks like market but it is a model train of Russia and not a market.

We had actually decided that this didn't look like it would be good for our kids. Do they get to play with it or is it only a viewing exhibit?

It seems like there is very little info on this ship and I was beginning to think it was not a good choice. All the posts seem to be Seaside or Meriviglia.

We've been wondering the same thing. Everything I find seems to be good, but, there's so little information for a ship that carries so many people. I assume it means that we'll be in a true minority as anglophones. Hopefully our French is strong enough to manage.

Thanks.

My other concern is about allergies to perfumes.

I have been doing my own laundry (and laundry for my family) when on vacation for years in order to travel with as little clothing as possible. However, the lack of self service laundry on MSC has me nervous. (For some reason it didn't occur to me to check on this before booking.) More than one of us have allergies to scented products. If our own clothing gets perfume locked into it we may be in trouble. Is there any way to get our clothing washed with unscented products?

Actually the laundry quality is quite good. Some of my cleaned and ironed shirts looked better than ever before:)

Thanks for the update.

How do they classify things like socks, and underwear? Is this laundry I need to plan to do in the sink or does it work with their system, too?

It appears that MSC is now going to provide water, tea & coffee for ALL guests in the MDR, for bookings made AFTER 1st May 2018 on this side of the pond:

 

https://www.msccruises.ie/en-ie/MSC/Water-Tea-Coffee-Guests.aspx

 

Perhaps there is no longer any need to book the "free" package? :confused:

So, because I booked before May 1st, am I going to have to pay for tap water in the MDR?

While we'd probably drink tea if it's included, we don't need it and will be happy with water.

We have drink coupons with the Fantastica package, but, I'd rather not use them for water.

Thank you everyone for the advice. We're booking a half day family tour with Best Guides and it looks like it's going to be a good match for our needs.

I don't necessarily think there's anything physical to worry about (assuming you behave with decorum.) The only thing I worry about is feeding the economy of a tyrant who would love to see you dead!

I don't disagree.

We are WAY more excited for our other stops.