Berlin & German Train Questions

Have a couple questions:

Am taking the train from Warnemuende to Rostock to Berlin. On the RE trains, when it mentions "snack" available, can anyone tell me what those might be - just chips and drinks for purchase, or something more substantial?

If we purchase the Schoenes Wochenende (spelling might be incorrect, sorry) for travel on the Sunday we'll be in Berlin, does it include transportation on the U and S bahn, etc. in Berlin, or do we need to purchase transportation tickets once we get to Berlin?

Also, if anyone knows off the top of his/her head, does the U55 line from Hauptbahnhof to Brand. Tor run on Sunday? I'm assuming it does, but wanted to make sure.

Thanks/Danke.

Snack service on German trains will often be a person pushing a cart through the carriages. The cart will have coffee, candy, soft drinks, sandwiches, and other items like that. Inside the major train stations you will often find bakeries that have pre-made sandwiches for sale as well, so you might want to purchase something before you board.

I can't help with the S-bahn situation in Berlin. From reading the DB website I found this concerning the Schoenes-Wochenende-Ticket:

The ticket is valid in 2nd class of all DB regional trains (Regional-Express, Regionalbahn, S-Bahn), many local traffic associations, non state owned railway companies according to their regulations as well as on some section of line in Poland.

Dial + 49 1805 - 996633 from outside Germany (phone charges apply) and speak to our friendly staff and ask if the special ticket does indeed cover local travel in Berlin.

Good luck!

Thank you very much for your comprehensive reply, Sauer-kraut!

Do not buy the Schönes Wochenende ticket, it's valid for the whole Germany! You should only buy the "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern-Ticket" which is valid from Warnemünde to Berlin including all busses, U-Bahn and S-Bahn in Berlin.

The "MV-ticket" costs 21 Euro for 1 person, and additional 3 Euro for 2 persons and so on. You can buy it in the ticket-automat in Warnemünde which accept coins and notes maby also credit cards. The ticket is valid the whole day!

The U55 departs every 10 minutes on sundays from 5 AM to 12 PM.

Do not buy the Schönes Wochenende ticket, it's valid for the whole Germany! You should only buy the "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern-Ticket" which is valid from Warnemünde to Berlin including all busses, U-Bahn and S-Bahn in Berlin.

 

Thank you very much, Andersj. I saw people asking about that ticket, but didn't realize it could help me. So to make sure I understand, and that everything will go smoothly, it looks like I can:

1. Buy my ticket in advance online, which is helpful as it's possible we'll get off the ship in time to catch the quicker RE train rather than the one that takes almost 4 hours. Since we're traveling on a Sunday, we don't have to wait until after 9 to use the ticket on any RE train.

2. We can take the S- and U-bahn around Berlin.

3. If we still wanted to take the ICE train back to Warnemuende, (it's doubtful we could have enough time in Berlin without doing that - even though I hate to buy 2 tickets rather than 1!), we could still book the ICE train online before we go and use that train to get back. For two people, our round trip would end up being 63euro instead of 24, and the ICE trains are running slower than usual in August, but such is life...at least I can see a bit of Berlin without spending $$$$$$ by using the cruise ship's excursion!

Thanks again.

Andersj kindly pointed out that I could buy a regional (M-V) ticket to go to Berlin and back in the same day. However, I'm still confused. Basically I want to buy a Landes ticket, but want to make absolutely sure that I don't have to take the train that I select in order to book that ticket online. The online booking asks you to select a specific RE train, and I can probably do that, but would prefer to be able to use that ticket on an earlier RE train if I make it to the station in time.

Does anyone know if this is possible? I guess what I'm asking is whether you can buy the M-V ticket to use on any train, as long as it's only used one day.

The MV-ticket are valid for all trains. In the german booking section is it only possible to choose date and number of persons.

https://fahrkarten.bahn.de/privatkunde/pauschalpreisbuchen/pauschalpreis_start.post?angebotsgruppe=7&returnurl=http://www.bahn.de/regional/view/regionen/meckpomm/freizeit/meckpomm_ticket.shtml&scope=standalone&

Thank you. I now see that. Do you know if the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ticket covers Warnemunde to Berlin and back? Most people on here have NOT been asking about travel to Berlin, so I just wanted to make sure I would be buying the right ticket! I couldn't find anything on bahn.de that really defined the limits of each ticket, but after looking at the map, it appears that Berlin is in a different state. However, I'll be traveling to Rostock on S-bahn, then taking an RE train to (I think) Schwerin and transferring to another RE to get to Berlin. I believe all my boarding will be done in M-V, but when I come back, I'll be boarding in Berlin, so I wasn't sure if my ticket would be good there or if I need to buy a ticket to get me from Berlin to where I pick up the train. Also, in the google translation for terms of some of these tickets, it says something like "regardless of connection" but I wasn't sure if that meant that you could use the ticket to transfer to another train (for example, the one from Schwerin to Berlin) with no problem.

Thanks/TakDanke!

I think you are correct, as Berlin is NOT in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern you will be better off with the 40 Euro Schoenes-Wochenende ticket. I plugged in a dummy booking using a Sunday at 8:30 am and returning from Berlin at 20:00 that ticket is valid for travel on that day beginning at 0:00 on the Sunday. Booking from Warnemunde to Berlin if you catch the 8:07 you have to change twice and the trip is 3hours 18 mins. The return is really bad as the trip leaving Berlin at 18:33 is 4 hours and 51 mins. long and arrives back in Warnemunde at 23:24 with 2 changes so that might not be an option.

This ticket is indeed valid for the S-bahn to Rostock so you don't have to worry about validating a local ticket.

The only good thing about that ticket is that you can get up to 5 people on the train for the 40 Euros!(You have to buy online to get that price or from the Automat, there is an extra charge for buying it at the 'Reisecenter' in the station. Roothy, give the Bahn a call

Help and technical support

Do you have any questions?

+ 49 1805 - 996633

That would be 011-49 if you are calling from North America :)

Yes, it's a bit frustrating, as Sunday travel is cheap with the weekend (or M-V) ticket, but unfortunately the options are just not timed well for my ship's arrival! I'm looking at the 8:37 from Warn., as it is likely we won't be able to get off the ship until 8 and we'll narrowly miss the 8:07. The 8:37 is really long (4 hrs.) and a month ago I was willing to pay extra to take the ICE back. However, due to track work, it is now departing later and also taking longer, so I'm afraid to take it. It gets back an hour before we're expected to be back on board. While this sounds adequate, someone else pointed out that the ICE trains don't have a stellar on-time performance at the end of their journey (which surprised me, given that things in Germany seem to be punctual!) so I am afraid to take it. Our next cruise stop is the island of Bornholm - not an easy destination to get to on our own in the summer, and also one I am really, really looking forward to - don't want to be late getting back from Berlin!

Oh well, now I must decide if I want to spend 7-8 hours traveling to have 4 in Berlin. I'm crazy enough to just do it, but in any case, whatever I decide to do, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right, and not paying a hefty charge for new tickets! Maybe I'll just rent a car. We've rented in Deutschland before and I feel comfortable doing that again, as long as we park somewhere suburban and take the U or S bahn while in the city!

Thanks!

Yes, you will be better off renting a car, at least then you can control your travel times. Berlin is a long trip and I don't know why they really call that a port, I personally wouldn't do it on a one day trip. Is it a deal breaker to not visit Berlin?? Wismar and that whole area near where you are docked is also very interesting and since you have an to die for stop in the next port why not have an easy day and do a leisure day in Warnemunde?

Sorry for the misinformation, the M-V-ticket is NOT valid to Berlin, only to Hamburg.

I would definitely NOT do Berlin as a day trip. I recently went with Alla Tours and sat on the bus for 12 hours except for three "comfort" stops. All the photos I have of Berlin are from a fleeting bus. Be smarter than I and don't go from a cruiseship. Not worth the time involved. And please, do not go with Alla Tours. They were great for St Petersburg but terrible for Berlin.