What's the deal with Kiel?

[mugenman]

hi there,

 

We're booked on a HAL cruise in 2009 and one of the ports is Kiel... there are no shore excursions offered or even any summary of Kiel on the HAL website. I'm surprised there isn't even much in the way of discussion of taking the train to Hamburg. Has anyone stopped here as a port-of-call and if so, did you find that there was enough to do in town or did you venture to Hamburg?

 

Thanks in advance for your input!

[ab0si]

Just checking.. is it a stop at Kiel or a transit of the Kiel canal?

 

The direct train takes 1:16 hours to get to Hamburg.

 

IMHO, there is not a lot to do in Kiel.

[kingsbridge]

I am booked on a HAL cruise on the Eurodam that stops in Kiel in June. It doesn't go through the canal. Only smaller ships like the Prinsendam can do that. The Shorex desk told me that they may not post tours for Kiel until we are on board. Of course that could change on a moment's notice and I continue to check online to see if they have listed anything. It would be easy to go to Hamburg or Lubeck from Kiel. Heinbloed has posted some simple instructions about gettting to the train station from the ship's berth. HAL already has listed a tour to Lubeck from Warnemunde but Kiel is really closer. If I go to Lubeck, I'm just going to copy the itinerary of HAL's tour and do it on my own at a great saving.

 

I have already been to Hamburg which is a very attractive city. There is a HOHO bus that stops at the train station and the main art museum is right next to the station. There are several canal cruises that you can do from the Jungfersteig (sp?). The one that I took was narrated in German but it didn't matter because I enjoyed the scenery. The HOHO bus also stops near the launch point of a container port cruise, but with limited time, I think I would skip it.

[HeinBloed]

Here are some impressions from Kiel:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2008/12/kiel-germany.html

 

and Hamburg as one option:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2008/12/hamburg-germany.html

 

and Lübeck as another option:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2008/12/lbeck-germany.html

 

You can also rent a car and go the beaches and nice little towns like Kappeln an der Schlei.

 

We will be in Kiel again on May 2 and will try to add some more impressions from there.

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[mugenman]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I haven't been to Lubeck or Hamburg, so I'll look into both of those in more detail to see which is more enticing. I'm a little hesitant to try to figure out train and bus schedules for fear of being left behind, but am sure it is easier than it seems <fingers crossed>.

[fun_seeker]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I haven't been to Lubeck or Hamburg, so I'll look into both of those in more detail to see which is more enticing. I'm a little hesitant to try to figure out train and bus schedules for fear of being left behind, but am sure it is easier than it seems <fingers crossed>.

You can also set up a private tour. A group of us who are going to be in Kiel in May set up a Hamburg tour with SPB tours that will cost us 85 Euros each. DenRus was also willing to set up a private tour. If you want to have a tour guide, that could be a way to go. Of course, if you want to do it on your own, you have the information.