HAL Prinsendam travel to Berlin

Does the HAL website include ALL the shore excursions? Reason I ask is on our July 1 Baltic cruise for the Berlin port there is no train option to get to Berlin just bus. I see other HAL cruisers who had the option to book a train. We were interested to do a HOHO tour of Berlin rather than the package drive by tour offered by the ship. Also if we have to go by bus where does it drop us off? These important details seem to be missing.

We did this cruise a few years back & also did the Berlin excursion. Maybe the people that are going by train are doing a private tour? The bus tour was excellent & worth the cost. The guide did an excellent job we hit all the Berlin tourist spots. That's one tour I would not want to do private as it's a long way from port if something goes wrong.

Allan

Thanks for the info regarding the ship bus tour. The ship also offers a shore excursion which is travel to Berlin by bus and then sightsee on your own and then travel back on the shore excursion bus. I noticed that HAL also offered a on your own shore excursion to Berlin by train but do not see that offered for our cruise. That is why I am wondering if all excursions show up on the site. Given the cautions about traffic I would think the train would be the safest and fastest option but don't want to do it independently.

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How long do you stay in Hamburg?

The traveltime from Hamburg to Berlin is just over 2 hrs. each direction.

There is a train about every hour.

here is a link to Deutsche Bahn https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

Greetings from Germany

Michael

We debated the same thing with many of your same questions - train or bus. We ultimately chose the train which takes you to the OstBahnhof (East train station). There is a lag time having to walk the train station and then it seemed to take forever traveling by local bus after arriving by train in Berlin to the "drop off spot" (A main plaza in Berlin - I'll try and find the name for you.)

Traffic was heavy in this downtown area so a HoHo bus I suspect would also have a hard time making its way around as well. The bus from the Berlin East Station to the drop off plaza did go past some landmarks like the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. But I don't remember seeing a HoHo bus or its equivalent - may have been there but we just did not see it.

We took the Spee River cruise from the docks by the National Historic Museum across the river from the main Cathedral, which takes you past many of the city landmark buildings and is a more passive way to cover a lot of ground.

From there we either walked, took a River Spee cruise, and the the tram to cover as much as we could during the approx 6 hours we had in this city. Berlin is relatively compact, but very dense in must see landmarks and does have excellent public transportation.

I had previously spent a week in Berlin and felt I had barely scratched the surface of this fascinating and varied city, so to try and pack the highlights again into just 6 hours was daunting. But I would not miss it. Just to alone eat wonderful German sausages, sauerkraut and potato salad on home turf. (Which is harder and harder to find now that even the Germans have gone "healthy" and reject their former traditional foods - we had to go to the former East Berlin to find this classic.)

Update: the drop off point for the train-bus combo was Gendarme Market square that also has the Deutsche Dom in front of the Hilton Hotel - near the Stadmitte metro stop. From there we walked first to the Hitler Bunker site.

And just kept walking and walking and walking ...........

If walking is not an issue, I suggest leaving the train at Haupbahnhof (terminates there).

From there it is about 1 mile to Brandenburger Tor (via Reichstag).

walking from there towards east, the American Embassy is on the right hand side.

Close by is the holocaust memorial.

Further on "Unter den Linden" you reach Friedrichstr. (Checkpoint Charly)............................

Our cruise is not offering a train option only a bus. That is my question are all the options on the website so there IS no train option for Prinsendam? Or will there be more choices once on board ship?

If walking is not an issue, I suggest leaving the train at Haupbahnhof (terminates there).

From there it is about 1 mile to Brandenburger Tor (via Reichstag).

 

walking from there towards east, the American Embassy is on the right hand side.

Close by is the holocaust memorial.

 

Further on "Unter den Linden" you reach Friedrichstr. (Checkpoint Charly)............................

Our HAL train option to Berlin ended at the OstBahnhof, and did not go to the Hauptbanhof. Your walking plan is a good one if indeed this option takes one to the HBF. One we had hoped to take before we learned in fact we would not arrive at the HBF as we had assumed too.

In fact I believe the two rail lines to Berlin do not even connect - one needed to make a separate connection from the Ostbahnhof to get to the HBF on the one we took, and then also not learn where and when to meet for later departure pick up ( Ours was the Hilton Hotel - Gendarmeplatz)

However, if one using Hamburg for the departure to Berlin, that would another story.