July 6, 2010 - 7/6/2010 ~ Pounds to Rubles ~ Mickey invades the Baltic Sea

[nzdisneymom]

We missed the teen craziness except on the last Friday there were three young teens eating snacks directly in front of the aft elevators on our floor. As I came off the stairs and saw them I said something to them about it not being a good idea to sit there. They were literally in the doorway of the elevator. They did leave their tray to the side of the door when I checked a few minutes later to see if they were gone or at least moved.

My guys did report that a kid was throwing chicken wings down the midship elevator shaft. They said a counselor was talking about it and it was the same kid who kicked Zachary on the last Friday and I had to get out of my bed to go talk to the OQ staff about it. I had gone to bed early too.

 

[mom_rules]

We missed the teen craziness except on the last Friday there were three young teens eating snacks directly in front of the aft elevators on our floor. As I came off the stairs and saw them I said something to them about it not being a good idea to sit there. They were literally in the doorway of the elevator. They did leave their tray to the side of the door when I checked a few minutes later to see if they were gone or at least moved.

My guys did report that a kid was throwing chicken wings down the midship elevator shaft. They said a counselor was talking about it and it was the same kid who kicked Zachary on the last Friday and I had to get out of my bed to go talk to the OQ staff about it. I had gone to bed early too.

And then there was the bunch on the midship elevators that physically shoved us out of the elevator when the capacity alarm went off. Was really close to wringing the little brat's neck-the instigator was all of 10 years old. My questions are-did these kids' parents not teach them respect and where were the parents while this bunch were terrorizing the ship (yelling obscenities, pushing and shoving everyone in their path)!

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[babybear42]

And then there was the bunch on the midship elevators that physically shoved us out of the elevator when the capacity alarm went off. Was really close to wringing the little brat's neck-the instigator was all of 10 years old. My questions are-did these kids' parents not teach them respect and where were the parents while this bunch were terrorizing the ship (yelling obscenities, pushing and shoving everyone in their path)!

Thanks for letting me rant.

And there were those that were throwing a paper air plane between floors in the atrium. It hit Shaun and me. Shaun shouted at one of the kids for an apology. He did bless him, if not I think I might have been thrown in the brig.

 

[Deb T.]

We didn't experience any problems with kids on this cruise other than groups blocking stairwells as they sat and talked, but we have in the past. Our only negative thing was that my "Until Next Time" sunset Mickey magnet was stolen on the last night (but my angry Donald "I don't wanna go home" magnet was left). It's unfortunate that the cms are "hands off" when it comes to misbehaving teens/tweens. As the cruise goes on, I'm sure these kids easily figure out that they have no limits! DCL needs to set up a policy to make them and their parents accountable. If kids knew they'd be reported to their parents by cruise staff, I believe they would behave better. I would have been mortified to learn my child was acting inappropriate and you can bet that severe consequences would have been issued by us!

 

[denise]

My FE got hit too. They smashed blackberries and cheese inside it. It cleaned up on the front side, which mattered, but the back side you can see the stains. Some magnets were stolen and they were always rearranged. I hope gifts were not taken too.
DH could see my disappointment. One night I came back and my FE was gone! But my DD put in inside. Our steward suggested she put it in at night

Lots of kids sitting around at night talking. I was up one night and they were everywhere! Guess parents figured they were at least on the ship.

 

[Deb T.]

I attached my FE with a long zip tie so it wouldn't "roam". Since it was just a canvas bag, I could tell when it'd been messed with because the handle that wasn't zip tied would be hanging off the fish. Most of the time there were gifts inside, but several times it was empty, leaving me to wonder if a few of my goodies had disappeared.

 

[fabumouse]

I am wondering what the solution can be to this and what I can suggest to Disney.

Because it was really unpleasant the morning I woke up to the "c" word written on my dry erase board..



Does anyone know the best address for a letter of this sort - asking for changes (maybe more hallway monitoring? cameras?)

 

[fabumouse]

Part I of my blog is up:

http://land.allears.net/blogs/guestblog/2010/07/european_capitals_of_the_north.html

This is great! and such perfect photos.

Hey, who did think of that champagne?

 

[Deb T.]

I am wondering what the solution can be to this and what I can suggest to Disney.

Because it was really unpleasant the morning I woke up to the "c" word written on my dry erase board..



Does anyone know the best address for a letter of this sort - asking for changes (maybe more hallway monitoring? cameras?)

You might want to make a strong plea for DCL to include a list of common courtesy rules as part of the docs that need to be signed by everyone... and then enforce them. Everyone knows how some kids are... they are constantly testing limits, and when no one corrects them on the ship, they soon realize they have free rein to do whatever they want without consequence. No one is holding them accountable. If they thought cms would "bust" them, then I'm sure they would shape up. By "looking the other way", the problem kids, their parents, and DCL cms are all contributing to the problem.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Well, I can attest that the boy who kicked Zachary while at an Out and About activity was banned from Ocean Quest for the rest of the trip (of course that was just one more day). But then I did worry that he would be hanging out with his hoodlum friends and they would find Zachary and bully him but whew, that didn't happen. Usually the boys stayed together when it was late with their activities but I was not beyond going to escort them back to the cabin.

However it should also be noted that this same boy had been talked to several times already through the week about his language in OQ. I don't know that anything would've been done if I hadn't gone to talk to the youth staff CM about the incident, but the next day I popped in to just check on the boys (as I did not quite every day but often enough and at odd times that they never knew when I was coming or not) and he told me they had called the boy's parents and talked with the boy and his parents and said he wasn't allowed back. I don't know how things would've been if it had been earlier in the week either.

I am not above saying something to the tweens and teens when they are crossing the line, but then I am also very quick to compliment them when they are showing politeness, courtesy, good manners. The young people on all of our excursions except the last one were well-mannered. And yes, I had to talk with both of my boys, especially the younger one, about correcting his attitude and tone of voice from time to time. I also tell them that I've posted their pictures on the DIS enough and made friends with enough DISers that I've given permission to knock their heads together if they are seen or heard doing something that's inappropriate. And as it is, they met enough of you all and saw enough of you all and enough of you all told me when you'd seen them around the ship that I believe they really think that I would know about what they were up to. In fact sometimes I would tell them something and they would ask me how I knew about it -- usually because one of you had mentioned that you'd seen them

This time three weeks ago we were in Oslo. And two weeks ago we were in Stockholm.

Alice, love your blog!

 

[Crissup]

I also tell them that I've posted their pictures on the DIS enough and made friends with enough DISers that I've given permission to knock their heads together if they are seen or heard doing something that's inappropriate.

Anytime I saw them, they were very polite and perfect gentlemen.

 

[Deb T.]

Well, I can attest that the boy who kicked Zachary while at an Out and About activity was banned from Ocean Quest for the rest of the trip (of course that was just one more day). But then I did worry that he would be hanging out with his hoodlum friends and they would find Zachary and bully him but whew, that didn't happen. Usually the boys stayed together when it was late with their activities but I was not beyond going to escort them back to the cabin.

However it should also be noted that this same boy had been talked to several times already through the week about his language in OQ. I don't know that anything would've been done if I hadn't gone to talk to the youth staff CM about the incident, but the next day I popped in to just check on the boys (as I did not quite every day but often enough and at odd times that they never knew when I was coming or not) and he told me they had called the boy's parents and talked with the boy and his parents and said he wasn't allowed back. I don't know how things would've been if it had been earlier in the week either.

I am not above saying something to the tweens and teens when they are crossing the line, but then I am also very quick to compliment them when they are showing politeness, courtesy, good manners. The young people on all of our excursions except the last one were well-mannered. And yes, I had to talk with both of my boys, especially the younger one, about correcting his attitude and tone of voice from time to time. I also tell them that I've posted their pictures on the DIS enough and made friends with enough DISers that I've given permission to knock their heads together if they are seen or heard doing something that's inappropriate. And as it is, they met enough of you all and saw enough of you all and enough of you all told me when you'd seen them around the ship that I believe they really think that I would know about what they were up to. In fact sometimes I would tell them something and they would ask me how I knew about it -- usually because one of you had mentioned that you'd seen them

This time three weeks ago we were in Oslo. And two weeks ago we were in Stockholm.

Alice, love your blog!

This is a perfect example of great parenting! Your boys are awesome - polite and very well behaved. I couldn't imagine them ever doing anything inappropriate.

Funny that you warned your boys that you had lots of eyes watching them... I used to say the same thing to our kids! And, they knew I would spot check them often enough to make them think twice about doing anything inappropriate.

I'm really, really glad to hear that the cms did deal with the boy who kicked Zachary by banning him from OQ. What a shame that the cms had to talk with that boy several times and also talk with his parents, yet he still continued to misbehave.

 

[Thistle]

Finally have some down time to reflect!! Once we got home I had some awful side effect from the scopolamine patches. Nausea and really bad headache, then we had some business to take care of and now DH is sick with a sinus infection that has hit him hard. He's never sick, poor guy.

Whew, what a trip!!! I don't think I will ever take such a long vacation again, it nearly killed me. We spent a week in the UK and a week in Paris before the cruise. While it was lovely, the heat and all was just to much. I got to experience the UK's NHS first hand and I must say they took wonderful care of me.

It was fabulous to walk onto the ship and see so many familiar faces of the crew members. It's been two years since we last took a cruise and I don't know what I was thinking but didn't ask for anyone to be our server and boy did we have an issue! It's the first time we have ever been this unhappy with a server and we ultimately had to ask for another. The topper came when DD asked for the mushrooms to be removed from her tuna appetizer and was told no. We have always found them more than accommodating in the dining rooms and this just floored us. Our new servers were fabulous and the head waiter hovered around making sure it was a good fit. We had such a good time with them!

We only did one excursion with DCL and that was to Berlin. The distance kept us from going out on our own. I just didn't want to risk missing the ship! We loved all the information we got from our guide, it was a true history lesson. The fact that we came into an Eastern Germany port and took a train through Eastern Germany was totally not lost on us. Who would have ever imagined we would do such a thing? I remember the stories of the people in East Germany doing the most amazing things to cross over, many loosing their lives. Now to have stood there at the wall... awe inspiring to say the least.

We hired a private guide in St Petersberg through Anastasia, Olga was fabulous! Her knowledge of art amazed me and I was an art major! She was very open to questions about her country and shared everything with us. She was very proud that she could say something not so nice about Russia and proclaim that we now have the freedom to disagree! I was surprised at all the flowers and the amount of reconstruction they have done. Gilding Catherine's Palace will take an immense amount of gold! So glad to see they are taking on these projects and protecting them. This was my favorite port and I want to go back and spend more time there.

When we went through the fjords I was wiped out, so many hot days had finally taken their toll and I just had to lie down. I missed most of it and am so sorry I couldn't be dragged out of bed. I guess I'll just have to go back! Like everyone else I want to go live there!

The short amount of time in the ports bothered me as well. There just wasn't enough time!!! And to funny to get paperwork about a shortened port time when we're on the cruise! Must have more time in ports, Disney!!

I loved the FE! Some of you are so darn clever and it's so much fun coming back and seeing what new treasure there is. I'm so glad I participated, it really makes the cruise fun.

Our pre-cruise dinner was fabulous as well. Thanks Beth for taking care of this. You found a perfect spot for us and the food was good, we had the fish soup and lots and lots of alcohol (we got there early and the shopping had just closed up) Disney could find a port that doesn't roll up the sidewalks at 5 and I would be very happy!!

We stayed in Dover once we got back, for a couple of days. We took this time to tour Dover Castle and to drive around Kent. I had read about Dover Taxi (Dover Heritage) on the Cruise Critic site and booked them to bring us from the Eurostar station. I also booked them to take us to port, our tour of Kent and delivery to airport. The Eurostar pick up went great, port a total disaster, tour fabulous and airport another disaster. If you're a small party I see them as no problem, if you're a large party (we were 8) they seem very inconsistent. Since Disney is going back to the Baltic, just a heads up in case you use them again since they seem to be THE taxi for Dover.

And... glad to hear they will go back to the Baltic in 2012! We might be able to afford to go by then! We did book a 7 day Thanksgiving day cruise in 2011 and we bought more DVC points at the Grand Cal since it's so darn hard to get into! Our son lives in San Diego and Redheadedpirate lives in the OC so we go there often, now it will be nice to be welcomed homed!

For anyone doing the Inaugural, we will be on that and we are moving our Alaska cruise to early May. I hope we get to sail with ya'll again, it was fun!

 

[Thistle]

OOooOoooo, Alice, great blog!!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[wintergreen]

OOooOoooo, Alice, great blog!!! Can't wait to read more!

Thanks!

 

[babybear42]

So the saga of my visit or rather non visit to the Ice Bar in Stockholm continues. For those of you who don't know, I booked to go to the Ice bar independently in Stockholm. Wrote to DCL asking what time we would be leaving, told 4.00pm so booked to visit at 1.30pm. Get on board and notice that time had been brought forward (also had a letter waiting for us when we got home advising us of this, lot of use that was) so couldn't go. Spoke to guest services on board and explained everything to them. Very helpful, they said they'd phone the ice bar and explain that it was DCL's fault that we couldn't go. Got a message from DCL that they'd spoken to the Ice Bar and I would be getting a full refund. Got credit card statement yesterday, no refund. Have written to DCL asking what they're going to do about it, if anything, as I'm now out of pocket. Will keep you informed.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Make sure you keep copies of everything. One of the travel magazines I get has an ombudsman that this is exactly the kind of thing they handle. Travel or mayber travel and leisure. I can't remember which.

 

[caniac27]

So the saga of my visit or rather non visit to the Ice Bar in Stockholm continues. For those of you who don't know, I booked to go to the Ice bar independently in Stockholm. Wrote to DCL asking what time we would be leaving, told 4.00pm so booked to visit at 1.30pm. Get on board and notice that time had been brought forward (also had a letter waiting for us when we got home advising us of this, lot of use that was) so couldn't go. Spoke to guest services on board and explained everything to them. Very helpful, they said they'd phone the ice bar and explain that it was DCL's fault that we couldn't go. Got a message from DCL that they'd spoken to the Ice Bar and I would be getting a full refund. Got credit card statement yesterday, no refund. Have written to DCL asking what they're going to do about it, if anything, as I'm now out of pocket. Will keep you informed.

DCL probably won't do anything - but you can certainly dispute the charge with your credit card provider. I had a similar thing happen, and it was no problem to have the charges reversed.

 

[mom_rules]

So the saga of my visit or rather non visit to the Ice Bar in Stockholm continues. For those of you who don't know, I booked to go to the Ice bar independently in Stockholm. Wrote to DCL asking what time we would be leaving, told 4.00pm so booked to visit at 1.30pm. Get on board and notice that time had been brought forward (also had a letter waiting for us when we got home advising us of this, lot of use that was) so couldn't go. Spoke to guest services on board and explained everything to them. Very helpful, they said they'd phone the ice bar and explain that it was DCL's fault that we couldn't go. Got a message from DCL that they'd spoken to the Ice Bar and I would be getting a full refund. Got credit card statement yesterday, no refund. Have written to DCL asking what they're going to do about it, if anything, as I'm now out of pocket. Will keep you informed.

I can't believe they would do that! We thought everything had been resolved...really bad form.

 

[denise]

credits usually take a month or two before they are on your card. Why? they sure appear immediately now don't they.....