anybody using Friends of Dave Tours

[dlh52947]

My wife, Joan, and I took the NCL Baltics cruise last year and found Dave from recommendations on Cruise Critic and his website. We tried to get other people from the cruise to go with us on his tour but there were no other takers and in the end it was their loss. We took his tour of Warnemunde and Wismar with just him and ourselves and it was without a doubt the best tour we have ever been on and we have had over a dozen cruises and have normally taken private tours all over the world. The first thing you should know is that Dave himself and his partner have been on well over 70 cruises!!! so he certainly knows what people taking a cruise are interested in. In fact, he can also provide you with some invaluable tips about cruising and how to make the most of any trip you are taking anywhere. The great thing about his tours though is how relaxed and thorough it is. He provides stops along the way to eat and drink and this is all included in the price, including your train trips, which again are fun and relaxing as you travel and talk and learn things along the way. He is extremely knowledgeable about everything you will see and can answer virtually any questions you might have and even if you stump him, he will later provide you with the answers, even if it has to be by email after the tour. He is also great fun to be around and has a great sense of humor and makes everything fun. All the places we stopped to eat or have a beer or wine were perfect. In some of the beautiful Churches we visited he mentioned Ken Follet's book "Pillars of the Earth" as something we might want to read. When we turned home we took his advice and both my wife and I agreed it was one of the best books we had ever read and were so glad he had turned us on to it. All in all we cannot recommend his tour highly enough, we are sure you will have a great time. It is totally unlike any other tour you could take anywhere. We only hope we will be able to take another one with him in the future.

[RTanner]

Got a note from Dave telling me there are 14 other people from Prinsendam who are booked on his tour in Wernemunde on June 30. I have been watching the Roll Calls, but they seem very inactive, so I thought I would ask here as well.

 

Anybody from CC going on this tour in Wernemunde?

I just returned from the Celebrity Constellation Baltic cruise and we elected to take advantage of Dave's Tour. My immediate respopnse is: DO IT! If you don't want to spend time in Berlin (we didn't because we've both been there and Berli n is just too big for a short day's tour to do it justice, in my opinion), and want to learn a bit about the history of the area while taking a very enjoyable, entertaining and no-stress stroll, Dave is a good atternative. He's an American living in Germany and there is absolutely zero English language barriers. Also he issues each one on the tour a very easy to operate receiver so he can explain to you what you are viewing, without having to crowd next to hear in order to hear. Believe me, the value of this alone makes the tour worthwhile.

 

Dave is professional, yet by day's end you have the feeling that you've known him all your life. If we had to do it all over again, there are some tours I would absolutely change (Ship's tours in SWtockholm and Denmark, for two) but taking our tour with Dave would solidly remain one of our choices.

 

Hope this helps.

[Naval Aviator]

Just got back from a Baltic Cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. One of the highlights of the cruise was our tour in Warnemunde with Dave. He was waiting on the pier as promised when we disembarked at Warnemunde. Dave is a very personable individual and this tour cannot be compared to any organized tour I have ever been on. I can best describe it as being given a tour with your best friend. He is completely knowledgeable on the local area and customs and provided a free flowing dialogue as we walked Warnemunde and Wismar. However it was the interactive dialogue between Dave and the members of our group that made the tour really memorable. This tour was a bargain, just Dave alone is worth the cost but he includes the round trip train to Wismar, mid morning coffee with pastries and full lunch. He even paid for the pay water closets when needed. Both the restaurants we stopped at (for mid morning coffee and later lunch) were excellent. Bottom line this tour is excellent, he provides a 5 star experience. I will go on another tour with Dave in a heartbeat.

 

Tom

[PokerDave]

Dave Rocks!

[Home Chef]

Hi, we were on the Oceania Regatta last fall, took Dave's tour with a group of about 10 people, it was great. Highly recommended.

Claire and Lee

[skipper709]

We are just returning from the inaugural Baltic Cruise on the Disney Magic and one of the port stops was Warnemunde, Germany. The prospect of a 3 hour train ride each way to Berlin was not appealing so we started looking for alternatives closer to port, and we were sure glad we did. We found the Friends of Dave Tours reviewed on both TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic and so we signed up for the walking tour of Warnemunde, a delightful seaside village with an interesting history and Wismar, a Hanseatic medieval town with an interesting history going back to the 1200's and the Mecklenburg dynasty.

Dave met us promptly at the ship and provided everyone with wireless headsets which made it easy to wander the streets with the group while not missing any of his commentary. We first toured Warnemunde for about 90 minutes and then took an hour train ride to Wismar. After an initial tour of the former beer brewer's section of town and St. Nicholas Church, we had a wonderful lunch at a 550 year old brewery before seeing the rest of the town. We returned by train to the ship in plenty of time for sail away. What made this tour special was Dave's sense of humor, his obvious knowledge of the area, and his true caring for the enjoyment of his guests or "Friends". We would highly recommend this tour to anyone stopping in Warnemunde.

[mazza]

I can't only echo everyone's comments - we had a wonderful day with Dave on the Magical Mecklenberg tour, a great mixture of walking, train, sites, everyday life, and food! Dave is a personable and fun guide, and I'd highly recommend spending the day with him.