Viking Homelands Cruise on Viking Star Train to Berlin

My wife and I will be going on a Viking Homelands cruise on Viking Star from May 06-20, 2017. It is our understanding that Viking provides a train from the docking port (Warnemunde) to Berlin and back again as an included excursion. We want to make our own plans for the time we have in Berlin, but Viking will not provide any advanced information. Does anyone know what time the Viking train departs the port for Berlin, where (location) and what time it arrives in Berlin and what time it departs Berlin back to the ship? Additionally, any tips on touring Berlin in the brief time allotted will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.

My wife and I will be going on a Viking Homelands cruise on Viking Star from May 06-20, 2017. It is our understanding that Viking provides a train from the docking port (Warnemunde) to Berlin and back again as an included excursion. We want to make our own plans for the time we have in Berlin, but Viking will not provide any advanced information. Does anyone know what time the Viking train departs the port for Berlin, where (location) and what time it arrives in Berlin and what time it departs Berlin back to the ship? Additionally, any tips on touring Berlin in the brief time allotted will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.

Travelerstory did this on our Viking Homelands tour on the Star 9/4-9/18 this last month. They can probably give the info to you. They are the last post on our roll call and will be notified if you post there. Very nice couple that seemed to be very happy to share info. Give it a try because they did exactly what you are asking about.

I'm a very thorough pack rat type person. We did VH last July and the Berlin excursion. Assuming that next year things will be nearly the same as this year, here's the data. Everyone going on the optional excursions to Berlin met in the Star Theater at 6am; folks doing the included tours were to be there at 6:10. Then they called each tour group to head out to the train itself, a walk across the wharf and then across an unoccupied parking lot to the train. Each group was assigned to one or more train cars (depending on the size) including of course folks like you who were going "on their own". Over 600 passengers went on the train. For us, we were in Group M, the last 2 cars, which gives you an idea how many cars were involved. The train departed at approximately 6:30 or a little later. We returned to the train I think about 4 or 4:30. Didn't take any pix on board the train to use as reference. I can say that we arrived back at Warnemünde station at 6:20 and were in a long line waiting to reboard the Star at 6:30 (took pix as we returned). Does that help?

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Dauntless - thank you for your prompt reply. I will try to get in touch with the couple you suggested.

CharTrav - thank you too for your prompt and informative reply. If you recall, do you remember what time the train arrived in Berlin in the morning and where in Berlin it arrived? Our main sightseeing targets in Berlin are the Reichstag Building, Brandenburg Gate, and Checkpoint Charlie. Hopefully we can get that accomplished during our time in Berlin.

Will check with hubby to see if he remembers exactly which train station we arrived at. As to when we arrived, the timestamps on our respective photos may produce a good estimate.

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Thank you so much CharTrav. As much detailed information as possible certainly helps. We really appreciate it.

We have been to Berlin a couple of times and a 6 or 7 hour visit sandwiched between two train rides doesn't do it justice. The Checkpoint Charlie museum is worth 2 or 3 hours alone. Think about a 2 or 3 day pre or post cruise extension. Besides there are a number of interesting things to do and see in the Warnemunde area to fill your day in port.

Thank you ISBCLARIN.

Thank you so much CharTrav. As much detailed information as possible certainly helps. We really appreciate it.

Ok .. this is what I'm pretty sure of. The train arrived and departed from the Ostbahnhof which is fairly near the "East Gallery" of the Berlin Wall. We arrived there sometime after 9am. May have been later. I can't tell exactly; can only approximate based on the photo record. We returned to the train station I'm guessing sometime between 3:30 and 4. Probably closer to 3:30 given that we pulled into Warnemunde sometime before 6:20 (have a picture taken after we arrived, got off the train, and were hiking back from our end of the train to the station).

With regard to walking about Berlin, the East Gallery of the Berlin Wall isn't that far from Ostbahnhof - very walkable -- but would advise you find a taxi or something to get you from there over to visit the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island (Pergamom etc), Tiergarten, etc. I'm basing this recommendation on my previous experience in Berlin (week long conference) and touring done before and after the meeting week. A bunch of us did a morning tour from our hotel (Radisson Blu Berlin) towards the Brandenburg Gate and beyond (20 min walk just to the Gate), returned to the hotel for some liquid refreshment around noon, and then headed off the other way towards the East Gallery of the Berlin Wall. And found it was quite a bit farther (and back) than any of us had anticipated. While I would agree with others who have posted here - that to do Berlin justice requires more than just a few hours visit -- I think that if you plan things carefully -- target exactly what you want to see in 6-7 hrs -- your time won't be wasted. Just keep in mind the distances involved. Or do Viking River's Elegant Elbe with 2 nights in Berlin as a pre- or post- cruise extension.

Thanks so much CharTrav for the very detailed reply. My thinking at this point after viewing a map of Berlin and reading other posts from people who had only a few hours to tour Berlin, my main goal is to arrange a free 90 minute guided tour of the Reichstag Building (including a visit to the Dome), visit the Brandenburg Gate, and then visit Checkpoint Charlie. I am not certain how much more we can accomplish in the time allotted. I walk quite a bit but my 68 year old wife does not enjoy walking quite so much. Does my goal sound OK or would you recommend other more interesting things to see/do?

If your idea is to do the Reichstag (Bundestag) and Brandenburg Gate in the morning and then Checkpoint Charlie in the afternoon (or vice versa) with lunch in between, I think that should work ok. There are lots of restaurants near the Gate; don't know about Checkpoint Charlie but IMHO that area of Berlin seems to have more restaurants than you can shake a stick at. Am assuming that with regards to the Bundestag, you've checked out their web site and know the process to register for a tour (https://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/visits/besgrupp/fuehr). Even tho there is no guarantee you will get your first choice tour time, I can say that my "budz" and I managed ok for a Friday afternoon in June (the same week as Obama visited) to do a tour of just the Dome. And we reserved our tour less than 3 days in advance. It also guaranteed we went thru a different & faster line.

If you have the time, you might visit the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which is just two blocks from the Brandenburg Gate. The museum is completely underground, easily accessible, very moving. Another thing you might try for (about a km away - across from the Berliner Dom and under the Radisson Blu) is the DDR Museum. Ashamed to say that even tho my standards group has met in that hotel twice (for a week each) I never could find the time to visit it or when I thought about it and had the time (in the evening) it was closed [emoji53]

Here is a link to some pix I took in Berlin. All but the fifth are well captioned; in the case of the last, if you look very carefully you'll see the sign for the DDR Museum. https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-JhP96n/. (The "buy" button is only if you want to buy prints or something. A matter between you and SmugMug; no $ passes to me. You can download these pix in their full resolution for free.)

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Thanks so much CharTrav. You've been immensely helpful. I'm now a lot more confident that we will at least be able to get a "flavor" of Berlin during our brief time there.

Thanks for all this detailed information - we're on Viking Sky next May, and I'm hoping to be able to spend the day in Berlin with my niece who lives there.

Glad to be of service. Would be interested to know if my photo link actually works. It's a private limited window into my photo site that I work very hard to protect from snoopies (aka search engines) like Google and Yahoo. A valuable IMHO service SmugMug provides.

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Hello.

My wife and I are on the Viking Star Ocean Cruise visiting Berlin on May 12, 2017. We plan to take the train into Berlin and then "do" Berlin on our own during the 3.5 to 4 hours free time we are allowed. Via TripAdvisor, I see that the #1 rated tour is the Insider Walking Tour of Berlin. It is 10AM to 2PM daily. Have any previous Viking Ocean Cruise passengers taken this walking tour? I'm just curious if we can get to Berlin on time to start the tour and return to the meeting point for the train trip back to the ship. Anyone with any previous experience? Thank you.

Hello.

My wife and I are on the Viking Star Ocean Cruise visiting Berlin on May 12, 2017. We plan to take the train into Berlin and then "do" Berlin on our own during the 3.5 to 4 hours free time we are allowed. Via TripAdvisor, I see that the #1 rated tour is the Insider Walking Tour of Berlin. It is 10AM to 2PM daily. Have any previous Viking Ocean Cruise passengers taken this walking tour? I'm just curious if we can get to Berlin on time to start the tour and return to the meeting point for the train trip back to the ship. Anyone with any previous experience? Thank you.

It may be tight. I'm looking at the pix we took esp the time stamps. We arrived at the Berlin Wall, a short bus trip from the train station, about 9:50 (my first pic was at 10 but I had dawdled getting off the bus and didn't start taking pix immediately). So that means we arrived at the Bahnhof about 9:30. We were heading back to the Bahnhof by 2:30. Don't remember when we actually arrived and boarded the train. Maybe about 3? We arrived in Warnemünde around 6:15. I guess then it's a matter of the meeting point, which is the Hackescher Markt, closest to the arrival train station. You might be able to do it if you get a taxi promptly (Google maps says 8 min by car or 3 by bus). It's definitely not a walkable distance given the time constraints. It's a good 20 min walk.

Hope others who have done this can help you more than I have.

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Hello.

My wife and I are on the Viking Star Ocean Cruise visiting Berlin on May 12, 2017. We plan to take the train into Berlin and then "do" Berlin on our own during the 3.5 to 4 hours free time we are allowed. Via TripAdvisor, I see that the #1 rated tour is the Insider Walking Tour of Berlin. It is 10AM to 2PM daily. Have any previous Viking Ocean Cruise passengers taken this walking tour? I'm just curious if we can get to Berlin on time to start the tour and return to the meeting point for the train trip back to the ship. Anyone with any previous experience? Thank you.

On the 9/4/16 cruise, we left the ship 8:00. 2 and a half hours layer would be 10:30 and your other tour leaves wherever their starting point is at 10. I think it was about 10:45 before we reached the station. I don't think this is the right option for you. We returned to the ship around 8:00 pm.

Though I didn't do this, after reading the Excursions over again and having never been to Berlin before or being able to speak or read German, I would recommend the excursion that takes the train in, gives you a ride around tour, then lunch on the Spree while you cruise, taking in more sights and back to a bus for some more driving around sightseeing before meeting up with the train for the trip back to the ship. Here you are constantly with Viking and your time in Berlin will be with smaller group than all those traveling on the train that are taking the included excursion. The price is about $200, Since the train cost OYO would be around $100 and may not fit you timetable, that means the lunch and group tour runs about $100, that keeps it at a reasonable rate for a 12 hour outing.

Now you are paying twice for the train trip since it was included in the shore excursion and so was half of the bus tour. but the second half of the drive around tour and the river cruise lunch are the extra cost. With the included excursion you still have to pay for lunch.

You could get a private guide for less probably but would it really be in depth for the time you have in the city? When you keep that in mind, though port time is long, "tour' time is like Gdansk of Allborg. Now this is seeing Berlin. You won't have time to meander around and shop so it depends on what you priorities are. All things to remember in making you final decision.

Hello CharTrav. Outstanding answer. Thank you so much for this very detailed response. You have helped me immensely. I really appreciate all the help that you have provided to me.

Hello Dauntless. Just saw your response as well. Thank you so much for your very detailed and helpful response. You have provided great food for thought and I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thank you so much.

Hi, CharTrav and Dauntless,

We'll be on the Homelands cruise in September. This may have been covered elsewhere, but, for the included "on your own" excursion, is there bus transportation included to get closer to the main "tourist areas" such as the Reichstag? Ostbanhof is quite a ways from there! I'm just wondering if we need to figure out public transportation (bus, the U) options, or if it's possible to get off the train closer to those areas, maybe at the Hakescher Markt. You have mentioned the bus, but I'm not sure if that is a chartered bus or one you caught at Ostbanhof.

Thanks so much for sharing all the details with us - I'm amazed at how many folks are willing to take time to help others have a wonderful adventure!

Hi, CharTrav and Dauntless,

 

We'll be on the Homelands cruise in September. This may have been covered elsewhere, but, for the included "on your own" excursion, is there bus transportation included to get closer to the main "tourist areas" such as the Reichstag? Ostbanhof is quite a ways from there! I'm just wondering if we need to figure out public transportation (bus, the U) options, or if it's possible to get off the train closer to those areas, maybe at the Hakescher Markt. You have mentioned the bus, but I'm not sure if that is a chartered bus or one you caught at Ostbanhof.

 

Thanks so much for sharing all the details with us - I'm amazed at how many folks are willing to take time to help others have a wonderful adventure!

Once you get to Berlin there is a bus tour for about an hour and a half. We were able to get off at the gallery wall and the Brandinberg gate for some picture taking and the like. They then take you to the Gardenmarket(I know this is not the right spelling). This is your drop off and pick up point for the time on your own. They do have people in a booth to guide you in the right direction for what you are looking for. If you have something in mind that you want to see, do your research. Though we were given directions they really were not specific enough and in some cases, wrong. If you don't read or speak German and are on your own it is much like trying ti find the pinata, while blindfolded after they have spun you around and around. We started our unsuccessful experience and after 2 hours, returned to the stating point in fear of missing the bus. Turns out our destination was 2 blocks from the station we departed from. If we had done more through investigation, we could have taken the time to find it and then just walked to the station and met the rest of the group for departure. We also did not have much success with lunch. Another group on the train walked to the same restaurant as we did when we departed the bus and when we returned a little more than 2 hours later they were still there. If I had wanted to have a nice lunch and not see Berlin, I could have stayed on the ship. As I say, individual results may very but I've stated recently, never having been to Berlin before and not being familiar with the language I would opt for the Spree River lunch cruise with touring on each end from the ship. It is a paid excursion but I think it would be money well spent.

Good point Dauntless. Let me also add the caution having been there twice before to attend a conference (2013, 2015) that whereas what was West Berlin is fairly stable in terms of ongoing building projects, the old East Berlin side is not. Getting from here to there is not always straightforward. Little detours abound. Still, the area around museum island, Bundestag, and the Tiergarten are fairly detour free. Just do your research including using the walking and satellite views in Google maps and you should be ok.

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Thanks so much, Dauntless and CharTrav! I hope we don't have a "pinata experience!" LOL! Although my college German fluency is, shall we say, several train stations short of that level now, I can still read/speak at a level that *should* keep us out of too much trouble. Getting dropped off at Gendarmenmarkt would put us just a few blocks from both Checkpoint Charlie and Unter den Linden, so, barring some especially large construction projects ( appreciate the warning!), we should be able to see most of what we want in the time allotted. It even looks like we could hop on the purple U-Bahn line to get between places if we feel short of time. Knowing that we don't have to figure out how to do it all starting from the Ostbanhof eases my mind considerably!

All good information. Thanks for the insight on Berlin.

Cheers

Great Berlin information.

Thanks