Berlin with SPB

[kely53]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone who has taken this tour with SPB could tell me if they do make stops during the tour and allow you to get out and see some sites? If so, what sites did you see? I have read very favorable reviews about this tour and am signed up to take it. Someone else on our cruise is considering taking the tour, but received evasive answers from SPB when they asked if it was a "drive by" tour or if it made stops.

Thanks!'

Karen

[Homeagain]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone who has taken this tour with SPB could tell me if they do make stops during the tour and allow you to get out and see some sites? If so, what sites did you see? I have read very favorable reviews about this tour and am signed up to take it. Someone else on our cruise is considering taking the tour, but received evasive answers from SPB when they asked if it was a "drive by" tour or if it made stops.

Thanks!'

Karen

 

Hi Karen,

 

We did this tour in June and there are several stops along the way. We stopped at Charlottenburg Palace, the Brandenburg Gate, the site of the Hitler Bunker and the Holocaust Memorial. After lunch we stopped at the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelplatz and the University.

You do drive by many other sites as well.

We did not go into any buildings - except for washrooms - we thoroughly enjoyed our day in Berlin.

As a heads up, you will need Euro change for washrooms.

I had e-mailed SBP several times prior to our trip (we did the 4 Baltic Deluxe Tour) and was very pleased with response time and answers to all my questions.

hope this helps - if you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer!

Diane

[phabric]

Hi Karen,

 

We did this tour in June and there are several stops along the way. We stopped at Charlottenburg Palace, the Brandenburg Gate, the site of the Hitler Bunker and the Holocaust Memorial. After lunch we stopped at the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelplatz and the University.

You do drive by many other sites as well.

We did not go into any buildings - except for washrooms - we thoroughly enjoyed our day in Berlin.

As a heads up, you will need Euro change for washrooms.

I had e-mailed SBP several times prior to our trip (we did the 4 Baltic Deluxe Tour) and was very pleased with response time and answers to all my questions.

hope this helps - if you have any other questions I'd be happy to answer!

Diane

 

Thank you for the information on the SPB"s Berlin tour. We plan on taking their 5 cities Baltic Deluxe tour next August. Lunch was included in the tour? What was it? How was the other cities tours?

[Homeagain]

Thank you for the information on the SPB"s Berlin tour. We plan on taking their 5 cities Baltic Deluxe tour next August. Lunch was included in the tour? What was it? How was the other cities tours?

 

Lunch was only included for the 2 days in SPB. (One day was a sit down meal of typical food - very good and the 2nd day was meat pies in a small cafe - they were excellent!!!) Berlin lunch was on our own but we stopped across from the Holocaust Memorial and there were several small restaurants with outdoor cafes - very pleasant and reasonable prices. Our lunch was around 15 Euros for 2 of us.

St. Petersburg was fantastic - guide was great - driver was excellent - loved all of it.

We did Stockholm on our own. Tallinn was great - we had a wonderful young guide that was very passionate and helped us to really enjoy Tallinn. Many people do Tallinn on their own which is quite possible but we really enjoyed getting the history and wonderful stories during our 3 hour walking tour.

Helsinki tour was a disappointment - our guide was not very professional and didn't really add much to our day - hopefully with a different guide it would be better since we did enjoy the sites we went to.

[kely53]

Homeagain....thank you so much for the information.

 

We are using EST adventures for a tour in Tallinn. Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen we will do on our own. What tour did you use for Helsinki?

 

Thanks again.

Karen

[Homeagain]

Homeagain....thank you so much for the information.

 

We are using EST adventures for a tour in Tallinn. Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen we will do on our own. What tour did you use for Helsinki?

 

Thanks again.

Karen

 

Karen,

We used SPB-tours for all 4 ports - St. Petersburg, Berlin, Tallinn and Helsinki. Other than Helsinki - the tours and guides were great. They also offered Stockholm but we did that on our own with a Stockholm Card. We also used a Copenhagen card at both ends of our cruise - we had a day prior and a day at the end.

Diane

[VAtravelers100]

We just toured with SPB in St. Petersburg and Berlin. I get the sense that the Berlin itineraries can vary a lot. The web site listed a slightly different itinerary than our tour confirmation page, and the tour we actually did was different from both. I think that if you make specific requests they'll be very responsive. The reality is that there just isn't time for stops in museums, which is too bad. We walked around outside to view some sites like Brandenburg Gate, East Wall gallery, Topography of Terror and Berlin Wall memorial, memorial to those who plotted to assassinate Hitler, parliament building, Holocaust memorial. We were happy with the tour, but wished we could have had enough time to visit inside museums too.

[patrickmoran]

We're using SPB in St P, Berlin and Tallinn. I would like to pay in US$$s. St Pete is easy since the tour is quoted in $$s. The other 2 are quoted in euros which I can get. But SPB does offer the option of paying in $$s at the going exchange rate. Does anyone know if they offer a good exchange rate? In theory, I might be able to avoid the 3% exchange rate that I would be charged if I get cash from an ATM. Thanks

[swin26]

We just toured with SPB in St. Petersburg and Berlin. I get the sense that the Berlin itineraries can vary a lot. The web site listed a slightly different itinerary than our tour confirmation page, and the tour we actually did was different from both. I think that if you make specific requests they'll be very responsive. The reality is that there just isn't time for stops in museums, which is too bad. We walked around outside to view some sites like Brandenburg Gate, East Wall gallery, Topography of Terror and Berlin Wall memorial, memorial to those who plotted to assassinate Hitler, parliament building, Holocaust memorial. We were happy with the tour, but wished we could have had enough time to visit inside museums too.

 

We did the SPB Tours - Jewish Heritage Tour in Berlin and did go inside the Jewish Museum. We spent less time at other venues and ate a very quick lunch at a food court at a mall (under 10 Euros for both of us).

[VAtravelers100]

We're using SPB in St P, Berlin and Tallinn. I would like to pay in US$$s. St Pete is easy since the tour is quoted in $$s. The other 2 are quoted in euros which I can get. But SPB does offer the option of paying in $$s at the going exchange rate. Does anyone know if they offer a good exchange rate? In theory, I might be able to avoid the 3% exchange rate that I would be charged if I get cash from an ATM. Thanks

 

We paid for the Berlin tour with US dollars. The fee was 145 euros and I remember expecting to pay about $181 US but instead I think the guide asked for $190. I'm not sure how far off the best exchange rate that was, or how standardized the rate policies are. If you're definitely looking for the best deal, then I'd pay in Euros or whatever the quoted price is in.

[patrickmoran]

 

As a heads up, you will need Euro change for washrooms.

 

I assume you mean coins to put in stall door? Or just small bills for an attendant? Thanks

[patrickmoran]

Where there ATMs in or near the cruise terminal?

[Homeagain]

I assume you mean coins to put in stall door? Or just small bills for an attendant? Thanks

 

Just coins for the attendant. None required for the doors.

[redbarb23]

Hi

When in August are you scheduled to take the tour- we are on the NCL August 29th tour and are looking for two more couples for our private tour.

Please email me for more info-redbarb23@aol.com

[phabric]

Hi

When in August are you scheduled to take the tour- we are on the NCL August 29th tour and are looking for two more couples for our private tour.

Please email me for more info-redbarb23@aol.com

 

We are on the August 19, 2013 Princess Emerald cruise. We will in SPB Sunday August 25 and Monday August 26, hope places are open on Sunday.