DCL -- Northern Capitals Cruise, July 2010

This is an old trip report that I originally posted on another website. But that site no longer exists and some folks on the DCL forum of this site said it would be ok to re-post it here.

There were 10 people in our party: My wife Kathryn, my daughter Molly, Kathryn's mom (Dale) and me; my sister (Dawn), her husband (Steve), their two kids (Jake and Joe) and Steve's parents (Tom and Bonnie). We flew out of Boston and spent a couple days in London before boarding the Disney Magic.

I apologize now for some of the stuff that seems outdated already (talking about the "new" show Villains Tonight, for example). But I hope it's interesting to somebody.


DAY 1 – London

Very sunny, but cool and breezy, low 70s.

We arrived in London around 7 am (with very little sleep on the plane) and caught the Disney shuttle to our hotel. It wasn’t quite as seamless as our previous experiences with the ground transfers, but our wait was fairly short (20 minutes) and once we got to the bus, it was smooth sailing. Since it was so early in the day, we couldn’t check in to the hotel, so we left our bags there and set out on the city.

We grabbed a breakfast of Danish and donuts at a local shop near the London Eye, which really is as huge as it looks in the pictures. Then we decided on an “On and Off” bus tour, which was £20 per person. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you buy a ticket and it’s good for ANY bus on any route that the tour company covers for 24 hours. There’s a tour guide on board to describe what you’re seeing. If it seems interesting to you, you can get off the bus and then when you’re done looking around, you just get on the next bus to continue the tour of the city. We really enjoyed it and had a good guide, so it was very interesting.

We drove past the “biggies”: Trafalger Square, the National Gallery, Big Ben and Parliament, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, the Tower Bridge, plus a lot more. The ticket also allows you to ride a boat on the Thames for different views of the landmarks. I thought it was well worth the money.

After we got tired of the bus, we checked into the hotel and then set out on foot for the Black Friar Pub for dinner, which was a lot of fun. Most of us got traditional fish and chips, but Kath got a steak and ale pie, which was fantastic and made me mad that I didn’t get it myself. We walked back to the hotel (with only one wrong turn) and collapsed from exhaustion.

DAY 2 – London

Very sunny, mid- to upper-70s.

We decided to use taxis to get to a few specific places that we wanted to see. So we cabbed it out to Abbey Road and took pictures crossing the street. Then we headed back downtown so the girls could walk around in Harrod’s. We had lunch there first, then while the girls shopped, the kids and I just wandered up and down Brompton Road and saw some really cool restaurants that I would have loved to try. After lunch, we took a cab to Westminster Abbey. By the time we got there, they were no longer offering tours; but we were just in time for the Evensong service. So we stayed for the service, which is almost completely sung. It was pretty darn cool. (And we saw Isaac Newton’s tomb inside the Abbey. That’s a “wow” moment.)

In the evening, some of the girls went to the London production of “Wicked”, which they all LOVED. I didn’t go, but I met a friend who just happened to be in London while we were there and we walked up to Covent Garden and had dinner at a small restaurant, which was really fun.

DAY 3 – Dover

Partly cloudy, mid 70s.

Because we were out of the hotel all day on Day 2, we didn’t get to do the cruise “check in” ahead of time. So, unfortunately, by the time we registered with the DCL desk at the hotel, the earliest available bus wasn’t leaving until about 1:30 pm. (I’m still kicking myself for this.) The bus ride to the port took about an hour and 45 minutes. The only good thing about arriving at the terminal so late in the day is that everybody else had pretty much boarded already. So there was no line anywhere in the terminal. In fact, we walked right past the local entertainment (a 2-person musical comedy troupe called “Chucklefoot”) and to the check-in desk. We finally boarded the ship at around 3:30 through the Atrium entrance; but we were so late that there was no one to announce our party. After the lifeboat drill, we were starving, so we got chicken fingers on Deck 9 and took pictures of the White Cliffs.

I skipped the Welcome Aboard show to unpack. Jeremy still dreams of being the Captain, of course. The folks in my group who went to the show weren’t all that impressed with the juggling comedian (Ron Pearson) or the ventriloquist (Jimmy Tamley). My daughter was mildly impressed that Pearson has been in the Disney Channel movie “Starstruck” and the show “Good Luck, Charlie”; but nobody thought he was all that funny. The ventriloquist had some kind of malfunction and “winged it” into what my wife thought was PG-rated territory. Overall, nobody was overly impressed.

One of the notable differences of the opening night was that our cruise director was not Brent! It was Peter (from Brazil). I thought he did a really good job. He had the high energy that you get with Brent. He was definitely different, but he was good.

We had second seating (8:30) for dinner, so at 7:30 I went to Diversions to watch the World Cup semi-final (Netherlands 3, Uruguay 1). There were probably 20 people at the start of the game, but by the time I left for dinner at halftime, the place was pretty packed. I would guess there were about 75 people watching. Oh, and guess who popped in to watch some of the game?? Brent!! He was on the ship with his family, taking the cruise as a vacation. It took me a minute to realize it was him, since he was in jeans and a t-shirt, instead of his officer’s uniform.

For dinner, we were in Animator’s Palette and had the “Welcome Aboard” menu, of course. I had the chicken bastella (spiced chicken in a pastry shell), which was really excellent; the crab chowder, which was also fantastic; and the seafood risotto (with lobster and shrimp), which was very good. I shared the risotto with Molly and had some of her Yatchsman’s steak, which was served with a stuffed baked potato and was also amazing.

Our servers were also amazing on this trip. Melwin and Bima were great and took fantastic care of the kids. They both had learned all our names by the end of the first night. (Not easy with 10 people in the party.) The restaurant manager was Yolande, who visited with us numerous times over the week. She was also terrific.

After dinner, I stopped into the Promenade Lounge to hear the “Right Stuff duo”. It was a male singer and female singer and they did standards and pop tunes with a kind of jazzy style. It wasn’t really a duet, though. They basically took turns singing to a recorded soundtrack. They definitely had good voices, but they weren’t really my style.

DAY 4 – At Sea

Sunny, mid 70s.

I was up early, and had a small breakfast at Topsider’s. Why was I up early? Because sunrise was about 4 am!! The sun didn’t set until about 10:20, but at least it got totally dark for a while. (This wasn’t necessarily true for every night.)

Anyway, as they did during the Mediterranean cruises in ’07, Disney provided a person to give lectures about the history and important sites in each port of call. In 2007, the person did not do a good job and I only attended one of his lectures. To my great pleasure, this year’s lecturer was fantastic. He is Dr. Ken Pearl from CUNY. He was funny and engaging, and also very informative. He used powerpoint presentations to show us maps and locations as well as important scenes from each town’s history. The first lecture was about Copenhagen, and each lecture lasted about an hour. Sometimes they were in the Buena Vista theater, but today’s two lectures were both in the Walt Disney Theater. Excellent experience.

After the lecture, I got some lunch from Topsider’s. There was tamarind beef-kabobs (very good), baked salmon (very good) and gnocchi (just ok). After lunch, I went to the second lecture of the day, which was about Berlin. Then, back to my stateroom to watch “How to Train Your Dragon” on TV with Molly. Very cute, and Disney could probably sue Dreamworks for using Stitch’s face for the main dragon.

The show was “Twice Charmed”. It’s not my favorite show, so I didn’t go. I hung out on deck for a while. The folks who went like the show, but thought it was just ok this time.

After getting dressed for dinner, I again wandered to the Promenade Lounge; this time to hear the “Right Stuff trio”. This was 3 guys – a guitarist/vocalist, a bassist and a drummer – different from the duo of the night before. And they were awesome. They did covers of lots of songs that you’d know. Musically, they were very good; they were funny; and they had the volume exactly right, so it was more than background music, but you could still have a conversation without shouting.

(“More than you may want to know” alert! So why is there a duo and a trio with the same name? The Right Stuff is a group of 7 people total, including a keyboardist and another female vocalist. They were hired by DCL as a 7 person group. But when they boarded, DCL told them that they were going to be split up so that they could perform outside Rockin’ Bar D. So the duo was essentially reduced to karaoke, the trio had to learn an entirely new set (since the guitarist is never the lead singer in the larger band) and the entire band still had to perform together for Beatles’ Night, ‘80s Night, and the ABBA tribute night.)

Dinner was the “Prince and Princess” menu in Parrot Cay. It was formal night, which is a little strange in Parrot Cay, but was fine. I had the scallop and shrimp appetizer, which was excellent; the lentil and sausage soup, which was kind of spicy and served just above room temperature; and the Beef Wellington, which was excellent, although the breading around the beef was just so-so. Kathryn and Molly each had the rack of lamb, and Kath said it was “awesome”. (I then bolted at 9:30 so I could watch the second half of the World Cup semi-final (Spain 1, Germany 0) in Diversions.

The adult-only cabaret act in Rockin’ Bar D was Ron Pearson, from the Welcome Aboard show. He didn’t do any juggling, he just did his comedy which included a lot of interaction with the audience. (So what do you do for a living, sir?) My own opinion is that he was a less-funny version of Jeff Foxworthy. He did several bits that you’d recognize from any Foxworthy show: “Things I still don’t get about women”; “Funny southern words” (his wife grew up in Texas); “How my wife ‘trained’ me”, etc. We stayed for about 20 minutes, but got tired of the banter with the crowd.

DAY 5 – Oslo, Norway

Overcast, rain. Upper 60s.

For our first port day, Disney changed the music in the elevators and public spaces from traditional Disney songs to local music. So we were treated to Norwegian music all day. This was fine at first, but honestly, traditional Norwegian music sounds a lot like traditional Swedish and/or Danish and/or Russian music. After the first 2 or 3 days, I was kind of tired of hearing it on the elevators.

We took a morning shore excursion called “Viking Heritage”. We boarded a bus at 8 am and drove past many of the town’s important buildings, including the royal summer home (with armed guards out front). We stopped at a Viking boat museum, which was very interesting. They had several actual longboats in varying states of decay. But you could still see a lot of amazing carvings on most of them. Then we drove up a mountain to see the ski jump that the city is building for an international competition. It was also very cool. It doesn’t just look like a big hill with a jump at the end. The architecture is very interesting. Finally, we went to an “open-air museum”, which is essentially a town of old buildings that have been brought there from all over the country. Most of the buildings have a sod roof, with grass and flowers growing out of it. There was an actual stave church, which was incredible to see.

They gave us a choice of driving back to the ship or being dropped off at the City Hall, which is a very short walk from the dock. We got off at City Hall and had a nice lunch in a little restaurant. The girls did some shopping and I walked a bit up the road to the National Gallery. Admission is free, so I went in. I was very surprised that it was not at all climate controlled. It was pretty sparse for a “national” museum, but there were some very impressive sculptures, including Renoir’s “Victorious Venus”, which is the first thing I saw as I came in. They had a small but nice Impressionist collection and a Johann Christian Dahl exhibit that I loved. There was also a large (20 paintings or so) Edmund Munch collection, not surprisingly. I saw the actual painting of “The Scream”. Another “wow” moment.

Upon returning to the ship, I have to say that I was disappointed that there was no “Welcome Home!” sign over the gangway. It’s a little thing, but it’s kind of nice to see after a long day. Maybe they figure that just seeing the ship is the same thing. Anyway, once I was back on the ship, I skipped the show, which was the family version of Ron Pearson’s act. Instead, I headed to the Promenade Lounge to hear the Right Stuff trio again, which became my pre-dinner routine for most of the cruise.

Dinner was at Lumiere’s. I had a mushroom tart with grilled leeks as the appetizer. It was excellent. Kathryn had the escargot, which is gross, but she liked it a lot. There was also a jumbo shrimp appetizer, which was very good; and a French onion soup, which Steve’s dad didn’t like. Kathryn and Molly had the beef tenderloin and loved it. I had portabella mushroom pasta (like tortellini) in a vegetable sauce. The sauce was more like a thin tomato soup, and I didn’t really like it all that much. It didn’t taste bad, but maybe it just wasn’t what I was expecting. The lamb shank on polenta had a sweet gravy and was excellent. Dawn and Steve had the sea bass and both said it was excellent. For dessert, I had the ice cream sundae (mint chocolate chip ice cream), which I liked a lot. Steve’s dad had TWO of the crème brulee. Dawn had the chocolate mousse, which was excellent. Kathryn had the Grand Marnier soufflé and loved it. The table shared a bread pudding, which was very light.

Belle and Beast came into the restaurant and danced during dessert. It was very sweet.

DAY 6 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Sunny. Mid- to high-70s.

We met for our shore excursion at 9:15. It was the “Highlights and Open Air Tour of Copenhagen” excursion. This was essentially the same tour as in Oslo. We rode in a bus and saw several historical sites and got out at a couple of places. We walked through the Parliament grounds (but not inside any of the buildings), and saw the Queen’s state offices, where she has official meetings with foreign dignitaries. We also walked through the gardens of the national library, which is adjacent to the Parliament building. The gardens used to be completely underwater and there is still a large metal ring where former royalty used to tie up their boats when they visited. We also saw the modern wing of the library, which has been called the Black Diamond building. (Its design was pretty controversial, when first presented; but it’s not horrible.) At another stop, we walked through the palace complex of Amelionborg. It’s an official residence of the Queen and Crown Prince. There is also the Marble Church in the complex. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to walk through the church. The final stop of the tour was an open air museum like the one we visited in Oslo. It was mildly interesting, but I didn’t love it, personally. This is where we had lunch, as well. (The pickled herring was not good!) We got back to the Magic at about 4 pm.

When we got back to the ship, it had warmed up to the point that I went in the pool for the first time of the trip. Ahhhhhh. From Deck 9, you can see several windmills off the shore of the city. The wind farm produces 20% of Copenhagen’s electricity.

The show in the Walt Disney Theater was a new show created just for the European itineraries, called “Once Upon a Song”. This show had no “story”. It was just five singers (3 men, 2 women) who sang Disney songs and medlies, with virtually no staging. Their voices blended wonderfully, they sounded very good together. There were a couple points at which the soundtrack seemed too loud and overpowered them a little bit; but other than that, it went very smoothly. They did individual songs (“God Help the Outcasts” from Hunchback, “Take a Look Through My Eyes” from Brother Bear). There was also a medley of Mary Poppins songs, and a medley of “When She Loved Me” (from Toy Story 2), “Beauty and the Beast” and “You’ll Be In My Heart” (from Tarzan). The stand-alone songs were great; the medlies seemed really forced to me. Personally, I hate medlies. I’d much rather hear one good song done well than hear somebody try to smoosh together parts of a couple different songs. My much-wiser wife reminds me that if they didn’t do a couple medlies, we would only get to hear 6 or 7 songs in the entire show. I can understand that reasoning. (Doesn’t mean I like it, though.)

Dinner was the “Show Dinner” in Animator’s Palette. Kathryn had the lamb again and loved it. The sauce had a licorice flavor to it. (I’m told it’s from the terragon.) Dale had the stir-fry veggies on a bird’s-nest of noodles and said it was very good. I had the Asian-spiced beef, which was also pretty good.

We headed to bed pretty quickly after dinner because we knew the next day was going to be long.

DAY 7 – Warenmunder (Berlin)

HOT! Upper 90s, intense sun all day.

We met for “Berlin’s Turbulent History” excursion at 7:15 am. The train is right across the street from where the ship docks, so it was a short walk and then a long train ride. It takes two hours and 45 minutes to make the trip to Berlin. With no air conditioning. It actually wasn’t too bad in the morning; it hadn’t gotten really hot yet. We had a really nice guy named Oliver as the “host” for our train trip. He’s studying to be a doctor.

Once we arrived in Berlin, we got on a bus and drove about 5 minutes to a section of the Berlin Wall, where we were allowed to get out and take some pictures. We then drove through what was formerly East Berlin. We got out again at the Brandenburg Gate (yet another “wow”) and walked to the Parliament building. The building has a new glass dome on top. It was made of glass to symbolize the need for the German people to watch what’s going on inside the building.

We then drove past the Holocaust Memorial, which is essentially 1700 stone blocks of varying height. The number of blocks has no significance and there are no inscriptions on them. It’s just supposed to be a place to wander and reflect. It’s located in a park that is directly across the street from Hitler’s famous bunker. We then stopped at the National Theater building. To each side of the Theater is a church. One is Dutch, one is French. They face each other and have remarkably similar design. Then we went to the Allied Museum. We saw the actual building from Checkpoint Charlie (the building at the actual site is now a replica), a guard tower that used to be along the Berlin Wall, as well as a piece of the Wall itself. There was a plane used in the Berlin Airlift and a very large exhibit about how the airlift was actually accomplished.

Our last stop was at the Kaiser Wilhelm Church, which was bombed during WWII, but allowed to remain on its site as a reminder of the destruction of the war. A new church has been built around the ruin, but the old church is pretty amazing, and you can even go into the ground floor and see how the interior was damaged.

Then we got back on the bus and drove under the Linden trees down the main street of Berlin (Unter del Linden). Our train home was delayed because the engine broke down. Once we finally got on the train, we simply baked for 3 hours. It was so hot. We got back to the ship at 9:20 pm. Because the train was late, the ship had to delay its departure. They were ready to leave as soon as the last person was back onboard and we were underway before we could get from the gangplank to Parrot Cay.

The restaurant wasn’t even half-full. The first seating had literally 50 guests because so many people were stuck in Berlin. Yolande told the staff to all go on break for the first seating because there was no one to serve. Agus, our server from last year, came over and spent some time with us. Yolande stood at our table for a solid 20 minutes, talking to us. The meal itself was very good. I had the spicy chicken tenderloins appetizer, which was good and not actually very spicy. The Caribbean jerk pork was excellent (the mango salsa was the spicy part). Molly had the crab dip appetizer as her meal and loved it. Dawn had the fish, but hated it and traded for the portabella mushroom risotto, which was great. The dessert was a real good lemon meringue pie.

I relaxed in the hot tub until they closed it at midnight. I had a nice conversation with two sisters who were on their first Disney cruise.

DAY 8 – At Sea

Sunny. Mid- to upper 70s.

I spent a very lazy morning reading on Deck 9 before heading to the lecture about St. Petersburg at 11 am. Molly and I had lunch together at Topsider’s. There was a very good cold corn salad, a Waldorf salad (apples, grapes and walnuts) that I kind of liked, awesome BBQ ribs and so-so mashed potatoes (I’m not crazy about sour cream in them). There was also some pasta and a carved turkey. The treat, though, was that they had a big grill out on the deck and they were cooking steaks, which were very good. And one of the cooks wearing an apron that said “Cookie’s BBQ” on it. So we had a little taste of Castaway Cay in the middle of the Baltic. That was fun.

My sister’s family had lunch in Lumiere’s, where the menu included a really good steak sandwich, burgers, and wienerschnitzel (which Dawn found to be almost completely tasteless). I think Topsider’s was the better choice that day.

After lunch, I went to the second half of the St. Petersburg lecture and Kathryn did laundry. One improvement in the laundry equipment is that there are no more coins needed. You swipe your key-card and your onboard account is charged: $2 for a wash, $1 for a dryer, and $1 for each detergent packet.

The afternoon was split between shopping on Deck 4 (Platinum Castaway Club members get $25 credit if they spend $100. So we had to do that.) and relaxing with chicken fingers on Deck 9.

The show was “Villains Tonight”. This is the new show that has replaced “Golden Mickeys” on the Magic.

(Let’s have just a moment of silence for the loss of the best onboard show. Ok, I think I’ve pulled myself together. . .)

It had a very – painfully – slow start to explain the concept of the show. It did, however, have several genuine laugh-out-loud moments. It’s laced with a lot of pop-reference, Shrek-style humor. For example, Cruella DeVil walked the fashion runway between banners for “Project Cruella”. There was a Jerry Springer-style talk show segment, complete with “backstage cam”. The Fates referenced a Beyonce song (which I didn’t know, because I’m so old) and Panic’s cell phone ringtone was a High School Musical song. A lot of it worked for me (Ursula’s cabaret version of “Poor Unfortunate Souls”), while some of it fell flat (the Springer segment . . . right up until the last 45 seconds). Overall, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared, and definitely better than the new Toy Story show on the Wonder; but I wouldn’t say that it was a classic that I’d want to see every time I sail. Unlike the “Golden Mickeys”. Not that I’m bitter. Moving on, then.

Dinner was in Lumiere’s and was the “Villains Menu”. I had the seared scallop appetizer, which was very good. Kathryn’s entrée was the roast duck and she liked it a lot. I had the shrimp with mushrooms on pasta, which was also very good. There was also a Thanksgiving dinner on the menu, and a couple of people in our group got that. It was turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, etc. The folks who got that said it was very good also. The Yachtsman’s steak was on the menu again (this time with “walk the plank” butter) and was really good every time I tasted it.

I dashed out before dessert to see the World Cup Final (Spain 1, Netherlands 0) in Diversions; but I took a toasted cheese appetizer with me as a snack. Diversions was PACKED, and it was a loud crowd. It was a really good time.
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
DAY 9 – St. Petersburg

Intense sun, record high temperatures.

We were awake early again because sunrise was somewhere around 3:20 am, and it didn’t actually get dark all “night”. We had ordered a light breakfast from room service, and since we didn’t actually dock until nearly noon, Kathryn and Molly had a mother/daughter trip to the Vista Spa in the morning. It was Molly’s first visit to the spa and she loved her mani/pedi and facial. Kath had a massage thrown in.

Since we had a 12:15 shore excursion, we had an early lunch in Parrot Cay. It was the Mongolian Buffet, and I really enjoyed it a lot. There were cold dumplings, sweet and sour chicken, spring rolls, stir-fried beef, and carved pork. The beef and pork were outstanding, but everything else was also very good. There was a cold soup, but I was too chicken to try it. Dessert was make-your-own-sundaes. That was fun.

We left the ship for our shore excursion and went through the immigration process, which was miserable. It took forever. The lines were so long that, even with 8 or 10 immigration officers, it took us at least a half hour to get through. Once we were cleared, we joined up with our “Walking Tour of St. Petersburg” excursion. We took a bus to St. Isaac’s Cathedral (which served a vital purpose as a food distribution center during the siege of the city in WWII), then walked to Palace Square, where the Hermitage is located. From there, we got back on the bus and got off at the Church of the Spilled Blood (built on the spot where Czar Alexander II was assassinated) and then walked to Pushkin’s statue. Then we took the bus back to the ship, where the immigration process was again very slow. In fact, tempers got short, as many people had evening excursions and were trying to cut the line to get back onboard faster to get ready for their excursions. We finally got back onboard at 4:45.

Molly and I went to the evening show, which was the “hip-hop comedy of Alfred and Seymore”. The Walt Disney Theater was nearly empty because so many people were off the ship. That’s probably just as well, because the show was absolutely terrible. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I laughed exactly once in 45 minutes. Some other people obviously enjoyed it more than I did, as there were little bursts of laughter throughout the show. The performance was hampered by some sound system problems, but that really was not a factor in how unfunny they were. Molly said it was exactly the same show, practically word-for-word, that she saw them do on a previous cruise.

Dinner times for the evening were changed to accommodate the people who had evening excursions (for example, an evening at the Russian ballet). Our seating was moved to 7:30, and was the “Dinner of the Czars” menu in Animator’s Palette. My cheese ravioli appetizer with mushroom sauce was very good. I didn’t like Kathryn’s cabbage and bacon pie as much, but she loved it. The cabbage tasted like it had been cooked in wine. Kath also liked the split pea and sausage soup (although she said the sausage was “squeaky”, but I’m not sure what that means). My Chicken Kiev entrée was ok, but not as cheesy as I expected. Kathryn’s shrimp and pasta with vodka sauce was delicious. Molly’s pork tenderloin had a great red wine sauce and was excellent also. For dessert, Kathryn loved the strawberry crepes, my chocolate cake was so-so and Molly didn’t really like the apple pastry.

My sister’s family took a canal cruise as their evening excursion. It was very enjoyable, and they liked the Russian group that played music for the cruise. On the plus side, they enjoyed all the bridges on the Nava River and they got some good views of things that we didn’t see well from the bus in the morning. On the down side, however, it didn’t really feel like an “evening” cruise, because there’s still bright sunlight until well after 10 pm.

For those of us who didn’t schedule an evening excursion, a Russian circus troupe performed on the Goofy Stage on Deck 9 after dinner. They were terrific. There was singing, dancing, a hula-hoop girl, a male gymnast who did an amazing balancing act, a female contortionist, and a guy in a hard-to-describe Slinky outfit. It was very fun. Everybody seemed to love it.

Hit the sack at 11:30, when it was just dusk.

DAY 10 – St. Petersburg

Sunny. 90 degrees and humid.

We had breakfast at 6:45 am in Parrot Cay. Yolande was so sweet that she brought Kathryn some of the strawberry crepes from last night’s dinner because Kath commented on how much she liked them.

Our excursion “Catherine’s Palace and Hermitage” met at 7:30. (The immigration process was MUCH smoother the second day. They didn’t have to check everyone’s “landing papers” or whatever they were called. We were through in about 5 minutes.) We drove about an hour to Catherine’s palace. We saw the restored Amber Room and the Impressionist collection. There were lots of Matisse, Renoir and Monet; two rooms of Cezanne paintings; one room filled with Rodin sculpture. We left the palace (although not because of the fire) and walked through the gardens back to the bus. We drove back downtown and had lunch, which was not very good, in a brutally hot restaurant. After lunch, we toured the Hermitage museum. It was very crowded, but not as bad as the Vatican tour on our ’07 Med cruise. There was an extensive collection of Egyptian objects, a very large Picasso collection, some Rembrandts (including “The Return of the Prodigal Son”), and two original Da Vinci paintings. The tour guide seemed especially proud to show us these, as there aren’t many surviving originals. (The tour guide said there are 13 total originals, but I’ve read different numbers; some say 17, some say 22.) Overall, this was a fantastic excursion. We got back to the ship at 4:45, making it roughly a 9-hour day.

The show was “Toy Story 3” in 3-D. We were so excited to see this movie. We purposely didn’t go to see it when it was released because we wanted to see it for the first time in the Walt Disney Theater. The movie did not disappoint us. If you’re a big enough fan of Disney to still be reading this, then you’ve already seen the movie. We all loved it and I have to admit, I had to brush some dust out of my eyes at the end.

Dinner was the “Master Chef” menu in Parrot Cay. I had the Citrico’s Shrimp appetizer, which was excellent, as long as I picked around the feta cheese; the Boston bib salad, which was kind of bitter and I didn’t like it; and the roasted pheasant and potatoes, which was awesome. Kath had the tomato/onion bruschetta, which was good; the Yachtsman’s steak (again, fantastic) and potato pancake; and a side of the lobster medallions which we both felt were pretty dry. Dale loved the Cobb salad. Dawn had the scallops and asparagus on fettucini, which she said was great. For dessert, I really enjoyed the raspberry tart (partly because it was nice and small) and Molly loved the chocolate turine, but Kathryn didn’t like the apple cheesecake.

We were too tired to do anything on Beat Street after dinner, so we just relaxed in the stateroom.

DAY 11 – Helsinki, Finland

Sunny. Mid- to high-80s.

We had a 9:30 am “Walking Tour of Helsinki” with a wonderful guide. We took a bus to Senate Square and the Lutheran Cathedral. We walked to (and through) the railway station, to the Parliament House and the National Museum and ended up at the Rock Church, which is a church built underground out of the solid rock. The ceiling is made of 17 km of thin copper strips. Pretty cool.

At that point (around 1:30 pm), Molly and Dale returned to the Magic. Kath and I took a ferry to Suomenlinna Island and walked through the fortifications that used to be the main defense for the city. We took the ferry back to Market Square and caught a shuttle bus back to the Magic at 4 pm.

Dawn’s family took an excursion to the town of Porvoo. It was about an hour drive each way, and included lunch. It’s a sea-side town a lot like Rockport, MA (north of Boston) if you’ve ever been there. On their way back to the ship, they also stopped at the Rock Church. They said it was ok, but not an overly exciting excursion. In all, it was about a 7-hour day for them.

I jumped in the pool for a quick swim as the Magic left port and then went to the evening show, which featured illusionist Jason Bishop. He did a couple absolutely amazing illusions and then did some others (making quarters or ping pong balls disappear) that were probably difficult, but weren’t that impressive to me. Here’s the best part of his show. He got in a big burlap bag, had audience members tie the bag closed, got in a trunk and locked it. Then his assistant came out and stood on the trunk, pulled up a curtain all the way around the trunk. Literally, less than 2 seconds later, the curtain dropped and Bishop is standing on the chest. He opened the chest, untied the burlap bag and the assistant stepped out of it, wearing a different outfit from when she pulled up the curtain.

Dinner was the “Pirates in the Caribbean” menu in Lumiere’s. The crab cake and chicken pot sticker appetizers were both excellent. The conch chowder was mostly potatoes and Kathryn felt it was just ok. For entrees, the macadamia-encrusted mahi-mahi on rice was awesome; the shrimp and scallops over pasta was very good; and the BBQ pork ribs on mashed potato were amazing. (By the way, I actually ordered all three of these entrees and endured ridicule for the rest of the cruise because of it. And it was totally worth it.) The desserts, triple chocolate cake and Rum Barbosa (white cake with rum sauce), were just ok.

One of the many cool things about DCL is that when a Disney movie premiers on land, it premiers on the ships at the same time. So after dinner, we went to the 10:45 pm World Premiere of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, starring Nicolas Cage. It was not Academy Award material by any means, but it actually was pretty fun. Molly and Kathryn both loved it. The co-star who plays the apprentice is the same person who provided the voice for the lead character in “How to Train Your Dragon.”

DAY 12 – Stockholm, Sweden

Sunny. Low 80s.

Dawn’s family took the shore excursion that included a bus tour of the town and included a stop at the Ice Bar. They all said it was very cool (literally and figuratively). The whole bar is made of ice, including the furniture and the drink glasses. They wore parkas and big mittens and a free drink was included. It was a very fun experience for them.

Our group had decided not to book an excursion for this stop. So we disembarked at 8:30, took a shuttle buss to the city’s Opera House and simply walked around the “Old City”. It was great. We saw the Palace and the Parliament building, we sat at a sidewalk café and had a coffee and chocolate snack. We saw the Lutheran Cathedral, although we didn’t go in because it was so crowded. By sheer luck, we stumbled upon the ceremony for the changing of the guard, which takes place at noon just a block from the Cathedral in the back of the Palace. It was pretty fun to see. The only disappointment for me was that we didn’t have time to see the Vasa Museum, because. . .

All aboard time was 2:30. Why so early? The tide levels at Dover vary so dramatically, that in order to ensure that they can actually get the ship into the port and stay long enough to get all the new passengers onboard, they have to leave Stockholm at a very precise time. So we got back onboard on 2 pm, had lunch at Topsider’s and then sat on Deck 10 for the trip down the fjord out of Stockholm. It takes about 5 hours to get all the way out of the fjord, and the scenery is just amazing. Over the speaker system, someone was telling us some of the landmarks and interesting features of the fjord. I didn’t stay for the whole 5 hours, but it was a VERY cool experience.

The show that night was a new show, developed just for the European season. It was “Walt Disney: The Dream Goes On”. It was a mix of archival footage and live singing to tell the history of Walt and the development of the Disney company. Songs included “Step in Time”, “I Got No Strings on Me”, “Go the Distance”, “Walkin’ Right Down the Middle of Main Street, U.S.A.”, the theme from the Enchanted Tiki Room, “Grim Grinning Ghosts”, “Wanna Be Like You”. I liked this show very much. It was great to see the old footage of Walt, as well as some of the other people who helped build the company. (Interestingly, considering the way he left the company, comments from Jeffrey Katzenburg were included.) Overall, a terrific show. This is one that I would actually go to see again on another cruise.

Dinner in Animator’s Palette was the “Scandinavian Menu”. The appetizers weren’t tempting to me, although Molly said the shrimp-topped salad was ok. All the entrees that we had were really good. Dawn had barley couscous in a tomato base; Molly and I had the tenderloin of elk (I liked it a lot more than she did); I also had the honey-mustard marinated salmon with new potatoes; and one of the boys had the peppercorn sirloin steak. As I said, they were all excellent. The desserts didn’t tempt me either, although Kathryn liked the raspberry and yogurt combo.

In Sweden, of course, there just HAD to be an ABBA tribute night, but we were too tired to go. We all hit the sack early.

DAY 13 – Day at Sea

Sunny. High 70s.

Once the port cities were behind us, we finally got our Disney music back in the elevators and public spaces!!! Hooray!

We ordered room service for breakfast and basically did nothing all morning. In the early afternoon, I went to the lecture about Stockholm. It was a little bit anti-climactic to hear about the city after we’d already left, but Dr. Pearl was so interesting that I went anyway. After the lecture, I started the “Art of the Theme Show” ship tour. It was ok, but the tour guide wasn’t one of my favorite crew members. So I bailed out after about a half hour. Instead, I just hung out on Deck 9 for the afternoon. Kathryn and her mom went to see “Alice in Wonderland” in 3-D and they both liked it very much and said the 3-D effects were more interesting than the ones in Toy Story 3. I just can’t bring myself to go see it.

Then came the coolest part of the day, by far, which was when the ship went under the Great Belt Suspension Bridge. It’s the third longest suspension bridge in the world. It seemed like every guest onboard (and a lot of the crew, too) was on Decks 9 and 10 to watch as we went under. The ship slipped under the bridge with a sparse 36 feet to spare. It felt like you could jump up and touch the underside of the bridge from Deck 10. I have video and I’ll post a link. It was really cool.

The evening show was Disney Dreams. It was a very good performance. Peter Pan was probably the best we’ve ever seen and Anne-Marie was also very good. She was able to pull off the “kid voice” without being obnoxiously nasal.

Dinner was the “Captain’s Gala” menu. The garlic shrimp appetizer was very good. My entrée was a pork pocket, stuffed with ham and Gruyere cheese. It was ok, but was deep-fried, which I didn’t expect, and was kind of greasy. The potatoes and pea pods were very good though. Kathryn’s almond-crusted tuna was VERY good; but the lobster tail was really iffy. Several of us had tails with a very mushy consistency. Melwin brought Kathryn 3 different tails before we got one with a “normal” firm consistency to it. I had a tropical sundae (rainbow sherbet with a berry sauce) for dessert, which was delicious. Almost everybody else had the chocolate lava cake, which was also really good.

After dinner, we went to Jason Bishop’s “adult” cabaret act in Rockin’ Bar D. The only adult part was a couple of Viagra jokes. The act was pretty good (with another amazing piece of “big” magic”), but he was very frustrated by his microphone not working. It obviously distracted him and his big card trick completely bombed, and he didn’t bother trying it again. He finished strong, though, by “uncrunching” a crushed Coke can, re-sealing it, then opening it again and pouring out the Coke. I’ve seen him do that one before, and I like it a lot. Very cool trick.

After Bishop, I went to the Buena Vista Theater to watch Toy Story 3 again. I came in late, because of the cabaret act, but I saw most of it; then went to bed.

DAY 14 – At Sea

Overcast, very little sun. Cold. Mid- to high 60s.

We had a very lazy morning, with a small Topsider’s breakfast. I tried to spend some time by the pool on our last day, but it was just too cold. Instead of clean towels, blankets were provided pool side, and people were using them. Instead, Kath and I did some shopping and browsing through the amber jewelry that was displayed outside the Treasure Ketch on Deck 4.

We had lunch at Lumiere’s. I had paella, which was very good (although it needed some chorizo). Molly had the terryaki salad with crispy beef. The salad and dressing were tasty, but the beef had an odd flavor, so we asked for some shrimp (from the paella) and it was really good with the salad. The blueberry and apple crumble a la mode was delicious for dessert.

The final lecture of the cruise was a summary of Viking exploration because the Vikings actually visited all the places we’d been on the cruise. It was a very interesting way to link all the pieces of our cruise together.

Molly and I watched “The Princess and the Frog” in the Buena Vista Theater. We like that movie, even if it’s not the best Disney feature since “The Lion King” (as Time magazine claimed). It’s still fun.

I don’t usually go to the farewell show, because I’m packing; but I’d gotten a good head start on it after the movie, so I went. Jason Bishop did an absolutely amazing “Japanese box” illusion. He brings out this small box and unfolds it piece by piece until it’s a much bigger box. His assistant gets in the box and he folds the box back up to its original small size. Then he unfolds it again and the girl climbs out – in a different outfit, of course. The comedy portion was Heath Hyche. He was ok. A lot of prop comedy, and some of it was pretty funny. The musical portion was done well, but it’s not my favorite. (I don’t want to ruin it for anyone, but Jeremy never actually gets to be the captain of the Magic.)

After the show, Kathryn and I had dinner at Palo!!! Yay!!! What a wonderful evening. The restaurant was not crowded and we had a table right next to the window. I had a garlic seared shrimp appetizer and Kathryn had a vinaigrette salad; both of which were very good. I had the monkfish entrée on polenta and Kathryn had the rack of lamb with potatoes cooked in a wine reduction. Both again were excellent, of course. Kathryn had the chocolate soufflé for dessert and I had a chocolate amoretto mousse. Awesome!

After dinner, we went to the Pub Night show, which was in Rockin’ Bar D this year. I guess it’s become too popular to get everybody into Diversions for the show. It was very fun, of course. They do a great job every time. If I were not upon the sea, there’s something else I’d rather be. . .

Day 15 was a usual disembarkation day. Early breakfast, customs, on the bus to the airport and then the long flight home, but we just had the best time. I hope this was interesting to somebody. I can post some pictures if people are interested.
 

silver1113

New Member
Thank You for the TR. I have never done a cruize but, felt like I was there. I LOVED all the food discriptions as well as the excursions. LOL
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
That just sounds amazing. The ports on that cruise were to die for. I mean the Russian ballet? Wow.

I would have hated getting to the ship that late too. I am still debating if it's okay to make my family and friends stand in line for an hour to wait for customs to open in Vancouver - just to be in one of the first boarding groups. :lookaroun

Really, awesome report. Trip of a lifetime.:)
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Here are a few from our initial stop in London:

This is my wife, daughter and I at Buck.ingham Palace:

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Kathryn and Molly at the Tower of London:

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And in front of the Tower Bridge:

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ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In Oslo, I LOVED the real sod roofing on so many of the buildings:

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A real stave church, that looks remarkably like the one at Epcot:

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fractal

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the pics!

I think the stave church in your picture is the one Disney used as a model for the one in EPCOT.
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
My wife and I with part of the cast of "Once Upon a Song". The person on the far right is Mo, and we were lucky enough to have lunch with him in Berlin the next day. We had a really nice time talking to him about his experience as a performer with DCL and how it compared to his work before joining Disney.

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Berlin:

Here we are at the Berlin Wall:

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And at the Brandenburg Gate:

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ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
More Berlin:

The Holocaust memorial:

DSCN2790.jpg


Kaiser Wilhem church. At the top, you can see the steeple was blown off; and to the right you see the new church that was erected next door:

DSCN2815.jpg
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A couple more from Berlin:

Me, in front of the actual Checkpoint Charlie building (now located at the Allies Museum):

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And me leaving the American sector of Berlin :) :

DSCN2849.jpg
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Still in St. Petersburg, the Church of the Spilled Blood. It got its name because this is where Alexander II was killed, while trying to help an injured police officer who had been protecting him. The people of the city were so moved by the Czar's sacrifice for one of his people that they immediately (like the next day) began construction of this church in his honor.

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And our amazing serving staff: Melwin, Bima and Yolande in their Evening of the Czars uniforms:

DSCN2945.jpg
 

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