Berlin - Ship tour or Private?

My wife and I are going on the Scandinavia and Russia tour in July on the Silhouette. We have booked all of our tours with SPB except the tour to Berlin. I am curious about what others have done about touring Berlin. The obvious options are through the ship or privately. With Berlin being at best a 2.5 hour drive from the port I am wondering if this port might be the one to do a tour by the ship (I know the ships tours are more expensive). I am just wondering what others have done in this port with regards to Berlin tours as the tour to Berlin is a long day (worth it I'm sure!). Just want to make sure we get back to the ship on time. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

On the August sailing many on our roll call have booked the Berlin tour with SPB.

We did the Berlin tour with SPB Tour, together with their 2-day Deluxe St. Petersburg Tour. No problem with getting back to port in time. Worth the money with their licensed tour guide based on our actual experience.

It's a long from Wernemunde to Berlin.

We opted for the Allatours walking tour of Wernemunde & Rostok. Wernemunde & Rostok were East Germany and our guide had lived half her life under Communism and half in a united Germany. She had an interesting perspective.

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We did a small group tour with SPB . Instead of a coach transfer and then a change to smaller vehicles in Berlin,12 of us Arranged to pay a small amount extra to have a van transfer all the way to/ from Berlin so we could take the highway straight through and gain some extra time in the City. We had a great group lunch in a market square near the bridge over the river by Museum Island. The larger groups had to choose between lunch and other attractions because of the congestion in the city. We gained an extra hour or two and still beat the buses back. We were back to the ship by 9 for a midnight sail away.

I'm doing this trek in August as well. If you check out some third party vendors you'll see some of them will offer a similar guarantee of getting you back to the ship in time. It's not offered on all Berlin excursions so you have to read the detailed info.

I really haven't done a ship sponsored excursion in a few years. The last one being in Indonesia with a caravan of buses with police escort front and back to get us through traffic by driving on the wrong side of the road. That was one ship excursion that was worth the up charge.

It's a long from Wernemunde to Berlin.

 

We opted for the Allatours walking tour of Wernemunde & Rostok. Wernemunde & Rostok were East Germany and our guide had lived half her life under Communism and half in a united Germany. She had an interesting perspective.

 

 

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We did the same and really enjoyed the towns.

The trick to seeing Berlin was that we flew over a few days before the cruise and spent two nights in Berlin. Then we flew on to Amsterdam and spent one night before boarding. We spent nights on the back side of the cruise, as well. Berlin really should be seen in 2 or more days and not a short stay.

I would advice against a tour to Berlin. You need so much time to get there and you dont even get a small portion of Berlin. Warnemuende & Rostock are worth staying there for the day. Here is their English tourist info website: https://www.rostock.de/en/

If you want to see Berlin I would fly to Berlin pre-cruise (or go to Berlin after the cruise before you go home).

If it has to be Berlin on your Warnemuende port day choose ship tour or a tour company who gives you a guarantee to be back at port in time. If you go on your own (rental car or train) you may experience traffic jams on the Autobahn (highway) or a train which doesn?t keep to it?s schedule and you may risk to miss your ship.

Have you visited Berlin previously? If you've been to Berlin before and you know the particular places you want to visit and are somewhat familiar with the U-bahn and S-bahn systems, then a DIY visit would be possible using the train to Berlin and public transportation in the city.

If, on the other hand you've not previously visited the city and are not familiar with public transportation in the city, then a tour would be best. As you are aware, the travel time between Rostock and Berlin is several hours each way, and Berlin is rather spread-out. As a consequence, you will likely spend much of your time in the city moving from place to place in a bus or van with little time to visit at any one stop.

Some have suggested taking a tour of Rostock; this is a reasonable alternative and will permit you to more leisurely visit. You may also want to check on private tours available that go from Rostock to Schwerin and others that go to Bad Doberan (location of a functioning steam train). The private tours are accustomed to serving cruise passengers, so you should not worry about getting back to the ship on time.

Berlin

Have you visited Berlin previously? If you've been to Berlin before and you know the particular places you want to visit and are somewhat familiar with the U-bahn and S-bahn systems, then a DIY visit would be possible using the train to Berlin and public transportation in the city.

If, on the other hand you've not previously visited the city and are not familiar with public transportation in the city, then a tour would be best. As you are aware, the travel time between Rostock and Berlin is several hours each way, and Berlin is rather spread-out. As a consequence, you will likely spend much of your time in the city moving from place to place in a bus or van with little time to visit at any one stop.

Some have suggested taking a tour of Rostock; this is a reasonable alternative and will permit you to more leisurely visit Rostock. You may also want to check on private tours available that go from Rostock to Schwerin and others that go to Bad Doberan (location of a functioning steam train). The private tours are accustomed to serving cruise passengers, so you should not worry about getting back to the ship on time.

I'd recommend the SPB Berlin tour. Although it took a while to get there and return, we thought it was well worth it.

Large bus going there. Broke up into smaller vans in Berlin. The guide was an American woman getting her Masters in German prewar history so very very knowledgeable.

Time was well spent. Saw a lot. And efficient use of time. Example. She had a menu for lunch available. Had all list what they wanted. Called it in and we ate in 20-25min and continued on tour.

They have backup transportation in case any bus breaks down.

We did the Berlin, Helsinki and St Petersburg tours. I would drop the Helsinki tour. Not that interesting and you can get around and see it pretty much on your own.

St Petersburg was great. But got tired of the Czarist palaces and churches. Would have liked a bit of info and sites about the Russian Revolution and the WWII sites since St Petersburg (Leningrad) experienced one of the worst sieges ever. They love focusing on the Czars.

You can ask for changes of what the tour.

But Berlin, I'd go with a tour. Yes, short time there but few of us get a shot at visiting Berlin so I'd take it now.

Den

Thanks for the replies, lots to think about. Very much looking forward to seeing Berlin for the first time!

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We are on Silly in July too. Thought about Berlin but then decided on Friends of Dave tour that gets rave reviews on TA. I was very tempted though. We are using SPB tours in SP though - the one that includes Faberge.

We used Friends of Dave in Warnemunde. Excellent!

I mentioned earlier about flying to Berlin for a couple of nights before the cruise and then flying to Amsterdam. The multi-city flights cost us the same as a round trip from our city to Amsterdam. ;) So the only extra cost was the hotel in Berlin and food.

If you can get a group together on Cruise Critic and you are using Alla or SPB, as I said before, I HEARTILY recommend you ask about taking the van all the way. Less than 2 hrs on the highway each way, the van had wi fi so you could catch up on your email ect. And we didn't have to wait to play catch up. The cost was negligible considering how much we accomplished in Berlin.

We used SPB here as well as three other ports. We were VERY happy with the tour. Yes, it's a ride going and coming, but what we saw and learned on the tour was definitely worth it. We understood it would be just a big taste of the city. But it is a beautiful and and exciting city for sure. Glad we didn't miss it. And hope to add a few days there when doing a planned river cruise in early fall.

We used Friends of Dave in Warnemunde. Excellent!

 

I mentioned earlier about flying to Berlin for a couple of nights before the cruise and then flying to Amsterdam. The multi-city flights cost us the same as a round trip from our city to Amsterdam. ;) So the only extra cost was the hotel in Berlin and food.

Excellent to hear. Thanks.

We used Friends of Dave in Warnemunde. Excellent!

 

I mentioned earlier about flying to Berlin for a couple of nights before the cruise and then flying to Amsterdam. The multi-city flights cost us the same as a round trip from our city to Amsterdam. ;) So the only extra cost was the hotel in Berlin and food.

We also did the FOD tour instead of schlepping to Berlin, and thought it outstanding. Plus it added a new term to the family vocabulary- happy stop. Funnier if said in Christian's accent. Having been to Berlin before, I just can't see doing it justice in the few hours you get there. It is a large city. And the thought of 5 hours total there and back was just not appealing.

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I was there on the same cruise in 2015 and we did SPB for most ports, but used berlinjewish.com. We had an absolutely fantastic walking tour of Berlin and it was my family of four. He helped me get the driver and that was seamless. I highly recommend going to Berlin if you have never been. The excitement of European cruising is seeing as much as possible. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

If Heather is still doing the tours for SPB in Berlin, request to be included in her group. She is outstanding.

As others have said you will not do justice to Berlin in the short time available. We docked in Rostock for our Baltics cruise & spent a wonderful day in both Rostock & Warnemunde. If at all possible spend a few days pre-cruise in Berlin & enjoy these other 2 beautiful cities whilst you can.

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