balmoral 12th dec anyone going?

[Robbo123]

see you there then. are the other 3 nights all casual then? when are you planning to get to dover for check in? are you driving or going by train like me

dave

 

See you there as well

 

The dress code will be 2 Formal; 2 Theme; 1 Casual (1st night); then most probably 2 informal (jacket & tie)

 

We will be getting to Dover early as we have been invited on board to have lunch (by special invite)

 

We will be driving down, as it is easier and more convenient

 

Steve & Jan

[historyman]

See you there as well

 

The dress code will be 2 Formal; 2 Theme; 1 Casual (1st night); then most probably 2 informal (jacket & tie)

 

We will be getting to Dover early as we have been invited on board to have lunch (by special invite)

 

We will be driving down, as it is easier and more convenient

 

Steve & Jan

 

We've got the invite to lunch as well, so we're making an earlier start for this. Should give us enough time to be in the Obervatory at 5.30 pm, I see that we are due to sail at 4.30 pm.

 

John & Elaine

[seabourndt]

special invite? how did you get that, have you done a lot of fo cruises then? i would have loved that, thankks for dress code info. just meant was it ok to wear jeans at dinner on western nite. will have to see what time i am going to go there if i cannot get on till 3.20

heard anything about changes to itinarary? i hear queen victoria has cancelled her call to copenhagen due to the summit there. i do hope our will not be can celled as well. see you in the bar at 5.30 then

dave

[Robbo123]

We've got the invite to lunch as well, so we're making an earlier start for this. Should give us enough time to be in the Obervatory at 5.30 pm, I see that we are due to sail at 4.30 pm.

 

John & Elaine

 

We will look out for you at lunch then John - you did say you were 6'3, I am a bit shorter at 6'1, Jan about 5'7.

 

See you then

 

Steve & Jan

[dorisday]

Im going to give Fred a call tomorrow morning just to confirm they are not considering taking Copenhagen out of the itinary.

 

Cunard has cancelled their call into Copenhagen due to the Climate Change Summit stating that they are worried about demonstrations & all the increased security in the city! There are some very unhappy Cunard customers today :(

 

I'll let you know what they say.......watch this space

[dorisday]

Ref the dress codes, my bet is

 

Dover - casual

sea day - formal

Copenhagen - theme night or semi formal

Kiel canal - theme night or semi formal

Hamburg - theme night or semil formal

sea day - formal

Amsterdam - casual (bag packing night is always casual)

 

Shame they are not doing a tropical night, I too have the coconuts, grass skirt & flower leis ! ;) Guess Im going to have to throw another Hawaaii party at home:p

[Robbo123]

Im going to give Fred a call tomorrow morning just to confirm they are not considering taking Copenhagen out of the itinary.

 

Cunard has cancelled their call into Copenhagen due to the Climate Change Summit stating that they are worried about demonstrations & all the increased security in the city! There are some very unhappy Cunard customers today :(

 

I'll let you know what they say.......watch this space

 

Lets us know how you get on with FO, in all honesty that's why we moved from the Watch as they cancelled their stop off in Copenhagen because of the refit.

 

I suppose there will always be the protest around these summits, but in the main they are often localised to where the meetings / summit is held!

 

I would have thiught they would have let people know by now, unless they want to leave it until the last moment and know that people would still go as it would be too late to book anything else!

 

Steve & Jan

[Robbo123]

Ref the dress codes, my bet is

 

Dover - casual

sea day - formal

Copenhagen - theme night or semi formal

Kiel canal - theme night or semi formal

Hamburg - theme night or semil formal

sea day - formal

Amsterdam - casual (bag packing night is always casual)

 

Shame they are not doing a tropical night, I too have the coconuts, grass skirt & flower leis ! ;) Guess Im going to have to throw another Hawaaii party at home:p

 

On the shorter cruises they have the formal night on the final night before on recent cruises, so don't be surprised if it is on the Friday to coincide with the crews show!

 

They don't often have two themed nights in a row as that also means the ships company performing two nights on the trot!

 

Dont worry about the lack of the theme night, you could always wear that to our get to know each other drinks at 5.30, just so we recognise you of course!

[dorisday]

****** IMPORTANT NEWS *******

 

Spoke in length with Zoe at Fred Olsen this morning and we will NOT be calling into Copenhagen.

 

We are now sailing into Arhus which is the 2nd largest city in Denmark, if you have booked tours in Copenhagen through Fred they money will be refunded.

 

A letter is being sent out to all passengers regarding the itinary change :(

 

Tourist information website for Arhus so you can plan your day....

http://www.visitaarhus.com/international/en-gb/menu/turist/turist-maalgruppe-forside.htm

[historyman]

****** IMPORTANT NEWS *******

 

Spoke in length with Zoe at Fred Olsen this morning and we will NOT be calling into Copenhagen.

 

We are now sailing into Arhus which is the 2nd largest city in Denmark, if you have booked tours in Copenhagen through Fred they money will be refunded.

 

A letter is being sent out to all passengers regarding the itinary change :(

 

Tourist information website for Arhus so you can plan your day....

http://www.visitaarhus.com/international/en-gb/menu/turist/turist-maalgruppe-forside.htm

 

Not good news but thanks for finding out. At least we know beforehand.

 

John & Elaine

[Robbo123]

****** IMPORTANT NEWS *******

 

Spoke in length with Zoe at Fred Olsen this morning and we will NOT be calling into Copenhagen.

 

We are now sailing into Arhus which is the 2nd largest city in Denmark, if you have booked tours in Copenhagen through Fred they money will be refunded.

 

A letter is being sent out to all passengers regarding the itinary change :(

 

Tourist information website for Arhus so you can plan your day....

http://www.visitaarhus.com/international/en-gb/menu/turist/turist-maalgruppe-forside.htm

 

Thank you also

 

I have just recently spoken to Zoe, what a short memory she must have as she did not know anything about the cruise change and had to look it up! I wanted to know more as this was our key stop over for the cruise and why we had transferred from the Watch.

 

Any way the reasons are the port authorites have recommended to the cruise ships not to stop over due to the climate conference, and many areas will likely be closed, including the Tivoli gardens :mad:

 

Any way she was confident we would be getting the letters in the morning and it said the letter would also offer the chance to transfer to another cruise at a later date but NOT to have money back! - this was already our second change of cruise! not sure if there is any other compensation to come, other than the refund of any ticket money already paid out for Copenhagen

 

Interesting nothing on the FO home page or news page, but go to our cruise and the ports of call have already been changed

 

Doris Day thanks for the web site, i did some investigating, seems most shops will close about 5.30 and we don't get there until early afternoon, so may be plenty of window shopping in another large city!!!!!

 

Any how on investigating what there is, there is a large Christmas market in an open air museaum, about 13 or 14 euros each to get in http://www.dengamleby.dk/juleng.htm and also open a bit later in the evening but noit everything open though

Opening hours

 

Special Exhibitions

 

Shops & food

 

Events

 

21st November - 22nd December

 

Mo - Fri

9 am to 7 pm

 

Week-ends

10 am 7 pm

Christmas Exhibitions

 

Evening wear 1909 – 2009

 

Den Gamle By 1909 – 2009

 

The Museum shop

The Merchant

 

The Baker's

 

The Book shop

 

The Ironmonger's

 

The post office (Week-ends)

 

The market garden (week-ends)

 

The tea garden

 

The Christmas Café

 

 

Christmas in Den Gamle By

 

Living History

 

Jaunts by pony and trap

 

Fairground

 

Christmas Market

 

 

So if it looks interesting to others and we are (all) still going then we could jump into a taxi or something and get there at a reasonable price, don't know if FO will organise anything, nothing on their website yet

 

We will be having a think about what to do over the next day or so - hopefully still catch up with you all next Saturday, got to see Doris in her Hawaaiin outfit for our get together drink

[Robbo123]

The next 10 days in Aarhus dont seem to be too dis-similar to what we have in the UK

 

http://www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Aarhus/forecasts/latest

 

Click on that and I would expect it to update every day

 

here is one for Hamburg, again not too dis-similar

 

http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weather.aspx?location=GMXX0049

[1partyjan]

Thanks for letting us know about the changes :(

 

We went to Aarhus earlier in the year and was disappointed. I think we may just stay onboard that day

 

See you all in a week

 

J +

[1partyjan]

This may be good, do you think FO will offer as an excursion

 

J +

[slammer99uk]

Maybe it's just me, but its seems Arhus is a very poor alternative to Copenhagen, nothing like the Tivoli Gardens, the only thing I can hope for is a Christmas market. And the "attractions" do not appear to be all that attractive.

 

The fact that there is a summit going on really should not have prompted any of the cruise lines to withdraw their docking there. Like most of the previous protests for things like the G20 etc. have taken place close to the meeting venue not in the middle of the Tivoli gardens and its associated Xmas market, nor any of the other tourist attractions. I think the majority of "typical" FO passengers can stay out of trouble on their own, let alone those partaking in an organised tour.

 

The above might seem like a whine, but to be brutally honest I am a little more than pee'd off as Copenhagen was going to be the highlight of this trip for me and mum.

 

My daughter has a good friend close to Arhus and is emailing him to find out if there are any must see places close by, I won't hold my breath....:D

 

Jerry

[seabourndt]

it must be dissapointing for those really looking forward to going there for the 1st time. i have been to copenhagen before so hope for the best. interesting about transfering to another cruise. as booking thru ships monthly will not get that option i guess. they are planning an excursion to jutland i think. hope can find some shops open as was planning to get some beer in copenhagen. see you all next week, still not sure what time to get to the terminal. 3.20 seems a bit late for check in, must see what time my cabinmate is getting there. as i have the only ticket!

dave

[Robbo123]

This may be good, do you think FO will offer as an excursion

 

J +

 

Nothing on their website yet about tours for that day, so if we go then we will cab it there.

 

Trouble is FO would not get the information about revised tours out in time to get the coaches and guides booked as it will be too late I would think by the time we got on board!

 

At least this time next week the cases will be packed and the car de-iced!

 

Steve & Jan

[Robbo123]

Sorry I stand corrected.

 

Three tours on offer for those who have not got it in the post:

 

1. City tour and trip to the Christmas market (Den Gamle)- an hour there total 3 hours

2. Silkeborg Lake District - 4 1/2 hours

3. Panoramic Aarhus and Christmas market (Does not read as the Den Gamle one) - total 2 hours for trip

 

Have to book by Thursday, money will be charged to the on board account.

 

Anyone booked for Copenhagen tours money will be put back onto the on board account, and any credit at the ed of the cruise you can get back in cash!!!

[historyman]

Copenhagen was the only one of the ports we had not been to before, so yes we were disappointed as well. That said we haven't been to Aarhus either where the Den Gamle old town looks moderately interesting and one of the tours goes there.

 

I tend to be philosophical about this. Over the years we have missed a number of ports. Often the reason is weather related e.g. Lisbon last year, but industrial action and a dodgy pier have also figured. This is the first due to a summit conference!

 

Anyway looking forward to it now, just one week to go:)

 

John & Elaine

[1partyjan]

We got our letter today and I must say the excursions for Arhus did not do much for me.

 

I think this will defo be a day on board for us. I do feel so sorry for the ppl who have not been to Copenhagen before as Arhus is not a good subsitute.

 

See you all in a week

 

J +

[Robbo123]

We got our letter today and I must say the excursions for Arhus did not do much for me.

 

I think this will defo be a day on board for us. I do feel so sorry for the ppl who have not been to Copenhagen before as Arhus is not a good subsitute.

 

See you all in a week

 

J +

 

 

Really did nothing for us either

 

The only one we may do is the Den Gamle Christmas Market, but at over £30 each for a 2 hour tour round the town and one hour there - no way.

 

Cost to get in is about 13 Euros, so seriously contemplating getting a taxi from the port to there and back, soif anyone is contemplating the same let me know and sure we can half costs by joining forces.

 

Anyway only 6 more big sleeps to go :)

 

Steve & Jan

[seabourndt]

but with ships monthly thety have organised a nice trip to the frigate biggest wooden ship and other places. my cabinmate did not even know we were not going to copenhagen. gonna turn up at dover 2.30

dave

[historyman]

Pleased to see a nice area of high pressure forecast for the North Sea next weekend which should mean a smoothish crossing. Looks like it's going to be cold at all the ports though so take your warm clothes!

 

John & Elaine

[seabourndt]

you are from ruislip then not far away from me in acton.

see you on saturday

dave

[seabourndt]

1 more day to come see we might have some snow in hamburg. see you on saturday

dave