July 29- August 9 2018 Magic Northern Europe Cruise meet

[plantman]

Hi Every body. I just wanted to get a thread started for people going on the July 29 Northern Europe cruise. Let's share our findings and make this cruise memorable.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi Every body. I just wanted to get a thread started for people going on the July 29 Northern Europe cruise. Let's share our findings and make this cruise memorable.

Be sure to post a request to have your link added to the main (directly) thread for the Magic 2018.

It makes it easier for others to find your thread.

 

[Perdita&Pongo]

Thanx for starting the thread! We will be cruising with you!

 

[plantman]

Thanx for starting the thread! We will be cruising with you!

Welcome aboard. Have you started planning yet? Are you planning any pre or post days?

 

[2PrincesseInTow]

Hi there, I'm excited! We're not telling the kids for awhile though. This is the cruise I really wanted to take this summer but they didn't offer the overnight in St Petersburg so we waited and I'm glad we did.

Trying not to do too much planning yet, we have a Danube cruise ahead of this one. We probably won't do any pre cruise exploring but planning to explore Copenhagen post cruise.

 

[NovaDog]

Hello! Can't wait...yet have to wait a year and a half

Extended family will be on the cruise so we'll have 4 rooms. It's our 4th cruise, 2nd time on the Magic although the other time was pre-renovation. Excited to see all the changes!

 

[DahliaRW]

Hello!

We are super excited for this cruise!

We're not telling the kids until Christmas.

We are thinking about spending some time in central Europe pre-cruise, and a bit in Sweden after. We've been to Sweden before and absolutely love the country

 

[k2y2k]

Like NovaDog, this will be our 4th Disney cruise, and 2nd on Magic (previous one was pre-renovation so we can't wait to see the changes). Our daughter will be 9 years old at time of sailing. My husband and I have been to Europe before, but we can't think of a better way to introduce her to Europe (her 1st time!). We plan to spend a few days in London pre-cruise. Our daughter met a friend at an earlier Disney Cruise and this cruise will be their 3rd one together! Can't wait!

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

On a whim I started looking around because I KNEW Disney people would have some kind of board for cruises and lo and behold...here it is!

We'll be on this cruise and I am SO EXCITED! This will only be our second cruise, first on the Magic, but it will be our first with kids (who will be 2 and 4). I booked it to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday and his graduation. I figured might as well go big or stay home.

I am curious as to how people are getting there and getting home since we leave and arrive in two different places. We're considering doing just come in to London and leave from London, but also maybe fly into Paris and then leave from London. I don't know much about the train/bus situation overseas though.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Hi, all! We booked this cruise while on the Magic a couple of weeks ago. It's the earliest we have ever booked a cruise, but we have wanted to do the Northern Europe for years! It will be our fifth cruise, fourth on the Magic...shew. We have done two other DCL Europe cruises (11-night Med in 2011 and 9-night Greek Isles in 2014).

I think tentatively we will fly round-trip out of Copenhagen, spending a few days pre-cruise in the city. I found flights (for this summer, but I assume prices will be fairly comparable) for $20 one way from Copenhagen to London, so that will work! Our kids actually start school the beginning of August and will likely miss the first two days, so we will need to get back as soon as the cruise is over.

I can't wait to read trip reports from this summer! I hope someone starts an FE group! I also can't wait to be able to really start planning.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

On a whim I started looking around because I KNEW Disney people would have some kind of board for cruises and lo and behold...here it is!

We'll be on this cruise and I am SO EXCITED! This will only be our second cruise, first on the Magic, but it will be our first with kids (who will be 2 and 4). I booked it to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday and his graduation. I figured might as well go big or stay home.

I am curious as to how people are getting there and getting home since we leave and arrive in two different places. We're considering doing just come in to London and leave from London, but also maybe fly into Paris and then leave from London. I don't know much about the train/bus situation overseas though.

First,

We took the Eurostar from London to Paris a few years ago and it's so easy! All train travel is Europe is SO EASY. I find booking direct through the train company the best way to do it (many third-party sites will pop up in your online search).

As far as flights go, you can easily search multi-city itineraries on sites like Kayak to get an idea of flights. I have been playing with this, too, but I think for our purposes, doing the RT from Copenhagen will work well.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Thank you!

I really want this to be the vacation of a lifetime since, well, we probably won't be able to do international travel again until the kids are out of college, so the more we see the better! Which is why I kind of want to shoehorn France or Ireland or SOMETHING else in there! My husband is very interested in spending some time in London, so I think we'll definitely end up there for a few days afterwards, just not sure what we'll do right before.

 

[DahliaRW]

On a whim I started looking around because I KNEW Disney people would have some kind of board for cruises and lo and behold...here it is!

We'll be on this cruise and I am SO EXCITED! This will only be our second cruise, first on the Magic, but it will be our first with kids (who will be 2 and 4). I booked it to celebrate my husband's 40th birthday and his graduation. I figured might as well go big or stay home.

I am curious as to how people are getting there and getting home since we leave and arrive in two different places. We're considering doing just come in to London and leave from London, but also maybe fly into Paris and then leave from London. I don't know much about the train/bus situation overseas though.

Transportation within Europe is pretty cheap. You can usually get a flight between cities for under 100 USD PP. So if you find a good RT rate to either London or Copenhagen, you could add a local flight in for not much more. Sometimes 2 one-way tickets or multicity tickets are a good price too.

If you're traveling with kids under 10, flying out of Copenhagen, they have a FANTASTIC kids play area in the airport in terminal 2. We had several hours there post cruise in 2015 and my daughter was as happy as a clam playing. It's gated, so you can sit right outside the play area at a table and make sure your child doesn't leave without you noticing.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

We're now thinking of flying into London then heading out of Copenhagen after staying for a few more days. There are too many choices!

 

[plantman]

We're now thinking of flying into London then heading out of Copenhagen after staying for a few more days. There are too many choices!

I was thinking of doing the same thing. We will go in a day or two early to London and then stay a few days in Copenhagen. It looks like it maybe cheaper to book two one way tickets than getting tickets arriving and departing from two different locations.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

Yeah we're definitely going to be playing with the one-way/round-trip/multi-city fares to see what we can do for prices.

And it is with great sadness we had to cancel this cruise. Too many sudden car issues to justify the expense if it turns out we need a new car. I'm sad, but we've booked a cruise closer to home instead that the downpayment for this one basically paid for.

Still sad. We're going to try for this one again when the kids are older. Have a great time everyone!

 

[madbaby]

Hey everyone! Just booked this cruise and am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited. Now, to wait a year.

 

[Lance Tomooka]

We will also be on this cruise and can't wait!

We are planning on staying in London for the week before the cruise. Just discovered there is a three day cycle tour in London and there is a family friendly free cycle through central London.

https://www.prudentialridelondon.co.uk/events/freecycle/

We will be travelling with our boys who will be 9&12 and like many of you are trying to decide on exploring on our own vs a tour group.

In particular, we are looking at the Friends of Dave tour in in Warnemunde to see Warnemunde, Schwerin, and Wismar. Or we might decide to go it on our own and just tour Schwerin and Warnemunde.

And then in St Petersburg we are trying to decide on going on our own with visas, a group tour, or a private tour. I just worry that we will want to take things at or own pace or the boys won't hold up for both days of the tour.

Would love to hear what everyone else has planned. Especially kid friendly itineraries or tours!

 

[Lnzisa]

Is there an FE group started for this cruise yet ?

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

Is there an FE group started for this cruise yet ?

Not yet. Maybe get something rolling over on the Facebook page. My last cruise we made really small groups of like 10 rooms. I thought that worked out well and would for the European cruise since some of us can't pack a ton of FE gifts! You could join more than one if you wanted. Just throwing that out there!