Private Berlin Tours

[Tigger Mom]

This board has been SO HELPFUL in my decision to go with a private tour company for St. Petersburg and I feel I have everything under control for that port (I've contracted with RO) for our July Star Princess cruise. Now to move on. Berlin is the next challenge and that destination is one of the reasons why I chose this particular cruise. My son who will be graduating h.s. in June is very interested in Germany after studying the language. He's also a WWII buff and reinactor. I have made contact with 2 companies from this board--Berlin Stadtfurhrungen and Berlin Starting Point. They both seem equally well represented and pleasant and the cost is the same. Any personal thoughts on these companies to help with my decision?

[swdke]

I am on the July 24 Star Princess cruise and selected the Berlin Stadtfurhrungen tour. The only reason I went with them is becasue I discovered them first, and I received a positive recommendation from somenone who went with them last year. Also, I think it's cheaper than the Ships Tours, and we're given several hours on our own after a 4 hour tour.

 

Although there's been some information on these Berlin tours, I've not seen a whole lot of information, and surprised there's not been more. Hoping more people will add to this board and share their thoughts and experiences. There's four in my group and we'd be open to having others join us on our tour to help reduce the per person cost.

[whenzuc]

I have done pretty extensive research to find a private guide in Berlin and I think I have found the perfect guide.

Check out this website:

http://afriendinberlin.de/

Jo lived in NYC for 19 years teaching German at New York University and worked at the UN, before returning back to her home in Berlin. I have exchanged emails with her extensively regarding a personalized day in Berlin for our group of four. We have worked up a really good itinerary- as she seems to understand what we are looking for. Let me know if you need more info. You can email me directly at whenzuc@aol.com .

[swdke]

Can you share the itinerary you've designed?

[Live the good life]

Our family of 3 will be sharing a tour of Berlin with another family of 4. We found the contact info of a tour company highly recommended by this cc board and booked with them. You can check them out at http://www.Berlin-Stadfuehrung.de, under "tours for cruise passengers"...The cost for a seven passenger van plus a licensed tour guide is 650 euros (840 U.S. dollars). The cost per person is therefore about 120.00 U.S. dollars (less than the $299.00-$360.00 per person that will be charged if we were to take one of the excursion tours to Berlin through our ship. They will pick us up at 07:45 a.m. at the ship dock, and will take us back at around 04:15 -4:30 p.m. We would rather be back to our ship for our main dinner seating at 06:30 p.m. (and not miss our boat which will depart at 09:30 p.m.). In Berlin, we will have 4 hrs with a licensed tour guide, and another hour and a half on our own for shopping, sightseeing, and canal cruising...The route and sights on the Berlin Sightseeing tour which they faxed to us (after we have booked with them is 19 lines long with about 70 names of sites in Berlin that we will pass by or visit during the walking tour and driving tour). No deposit is required for the booking and confirmation of our tour. In short, we are very excited about this tour, since unlike some of the tours we took during our Mediterannean trip, this tour will be with a licenced tour guide in addition to a driver!

[Inter Alia]

We would like to tour Berlin on our own. Can you tell me where can we find tour company in Berlin?

[Princess Di]

Yes

 

E-mail

[Inter Alia]

Hi Princess Di.

 

Do you have the e-mail address where I can find a private guide for a day tour in Berlin?

[Host CMLA]

Do you have the e-mail address where I can find a private guide for a day tour in Berlin?

There are a few tour companies listed in above posts. Have you tried them? Or do you want something different?

[DON M.]

There are a few tour companies listed in above posts. Have you tried them? Or do you want something different?

Last week, you stated you can not give e-mail addresses or web-sites for tour companies on this board. What is the policy? Don't want to break the rules as stated.

[Al_Frescoe]

Last week, you stated you can not give e-mail addresses or web-sites for tour companies on this board. What is the policy? Don't want to break the rules as stated.

 

Kind of surprised to see active links as well. Please, once again can the powers that be explain the rule? I thought I understood it, but perhaps not.

[Host CMLA]

Last week, you stated you can not give e-mail addresses or web-sites for tour companies on this board. What is the policy?

You misunderstood everything that happened last week which is why I'm spending so much time trying to explain every time you say you can't post e mail addresses or web links.

 

You can put your e mail address in your signature. I have mine. Anyone can write to me. If I was sailing to the Baltics and I talked about activities, anyone could e mail me to talk to me privately. I couldn't, however, tell everyone that I've planned an excursion and I want others to join me and give my e mail address or the company e mail address so others could join. As the administrator said, please go to the roll call board to find others sailing with you. Here's the link to what the administrator said: Sharing Tours

 

As for web links, web site links to tour operators, names and even phone numbers are allowed ONLY if someone has asked for them. A person cannot come on and recommend a tour operator -- it looks like advertising a lot of times. Also, someone cannot give the info for a tour operator in a thread if the OP has asked about someone else. Now, if they ask for recommendations, then it's okay for more than one to be discussed. You need to watch out for tour operators pretending to be someone else.

 

I hope all of that is clear now. The boards are still a valuable resource and you can still accomplish the same things you used to.

[Inter Alia]

Thanks Cecilia.

 

I can only find two: One by whenzac and another by Live the Good Life.

 

Unfortunately I am unable to open this site: www.Berlin-Stadfuehrung.de given by Live the Good Life.

 

Can you help, please?

[MizzLee]

See if this works. I have found them to be extremely professional and efficient to work with.

 

http://www.berlin-stadtfuehrung.de/berlin_sightseeing_tours_from_port_rostock_warnemuende_cruise_ship_germany.htm

[dileep]

You misunderstood everything that happened last week which is why I'm spending so much time trying to explain every time you say you can't post e mail addresses or web links.

 

As the administrator said, please go to the roll call board to find others sailing with you. Here's the link to what the administrator said: Sharing Tours

 

I hope all of that is clear now. The boards are still a valuable resource and you can still accomplish the same things you used to.

 

Let me see if I understand. The administrator says:

 

***The best place to find others who would be willing to share your tour is the ROLL CALL for your specific sailing. What better place -- you're already chatting with folks, and sharing your upcoming plans. That is the spot -- almost like "direct marketing" to those who will be on your ship. In this way, too, it accomplishes Cruise Critic's goal of not having boards full of ads....making it difficult to find the good stuff.**

 

Does that mean that it is OK to seek someone to share rides/tours on the Roll Call for my sailing? If not, I am totally CONFUSED.:eek:

[DON M.]

You misunderstood everything that happened last week which is why I'm spending so much time trying to explain every time you say you can't post e mail addresses or web links.

 

You can put your e mail address in your signature. I have mine. Anyone can write to me. If I was sailing to the Baltics and I talked about activities, anyone could e mail me to talk to me privately. I couldn't, however, tell everyone that I've planned an excursion and I want others to join me and give my e mail address or the company e mail address so others could join. As the administrator said, please go to the roll call board to find others sailing with you. Here's the link to what the administrator said: Sharing Tours

 

As for web links, web site links to tour operators, names and even phone numbers are allowed ONLY if someone has asked for them. A person cannot come on and recommend a tour operator -- it looks like advertising a lot of times. Also, someone cannot give the info for a tour operator in a thread if the OP has asked about someone else. Now, if they ask for recommendations, then it's okay for more than one to be discussed. You need to watch out for tour operators pretending to be someone else.

 

I hope all of that is clear now. The boards are still a valuable resource and you can still accomplish the same things you used to.

Thanks for the clarification. Thus, I cannot start a thread with "I have found a good tour company in Berlin" and then give a web-link. This is allowed only in response to someone looking for a recommendation.

Your 3rd paragraph is clear and concise and has never been stated before in the "announcements" or anywhere else until now. I recommend it being permanent for future posters so the amount of time explaining and removing posts is decreased,jmo

The concern about tour operators is appreciated- A difficult task at best but one that is needed. Thanks.

[Host CMLA]

Thanks for the clarification. Thus, I cannot start a thread with "I have found a good tour company in Berlin" and then give a web-link. This is allowed only in response to someone looking for a recommendation.

Your 3rd paragraph is clear and concise and has never been stated before in the "announcements" or anywhere else until now. I recommend it being permanent for future posters so the amount of time explaining and removing posts is decreased,jmo

The concern about tour operators is appreciated- A difficult task at best but one that is needed. Thanks.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before or that I wasn't expressing myself as clearly as I should. My only defense is that I'm pregnant and I find myself confused, rambling and forgetting things every day. :o

 

dileep...It's my understanding that you can talk about tours, etc. with others on your roll call. I moderate a roll call forum and it's filled with people talking about a tour in Alaska or a tour in South America and others have joined them and they openly discuss the tour operator, etc. If you have the time, check out some of the roll call threads on your cruise line of choice and see what other people are doing. I think the administrator wants those kinds of posts to be on the roll call boards so they don't clutter up the ports of call boards. I don't know that for sure. I'm guessing.

[DON M.]

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before or that I wasn't expressing myself as clearly as I should. My only defense is that I'm pregnant and I find myself confused, rambling and forgetting things every day. :o

 

dileep...It's my understanding that you can talk about tours, etc. with others on your roll call. I moderate a roll call forum and it's filled with people talking about a tour in Alaska or a tour in South America and others have joined them and they openly discuss the tour operator, etc. If you have the time, check out some of the roll call threads on your cruise line of choice and see what other people are doing. I think the administrator wants those kinds of posts to be on the roll call boards so they don't clutter up the ports of call boards. I don't know that for sure. I'm guessing.

A cruise baby on the way. Congtrats and good luck. You do a very good job in an underappreciated position.

[aztex]

Cecilia,

 

Last week I started a polite thread asking for guidance and clarification on this policy and it was terminated with "extreme prejudice".:)

 

Laura then posted a policy on all the sub-threads and revised that on the 24th.

 

The revised policy implies that it is ok to plan tours and shared rides on the roll call threads yet when I went back over our Baltic roll call thread a few days ago, all references that I and others had made to planning tours, shared rides etc had been deleted. Why, if the policy allows for this?

 

I'm not trying to be a problem here - but this policy seems to be getting down to semantics and shades of meaning. I understand the purpose - what I still don't understand is the policy. Do we really have to go to Yahoo or AOL to plan independent tours and ask for riders to share port connections?

 

Please understand, I am not blaming you or anyone else for this. I would just like to be able to continue discussing and planning cruises without worrying about deletions and violating policy.

[Inter Alia]

See if this works. I have found them to be extremely professional and efficient to work with.

 

http://www.berlin-stadtfuehrung.de/berlin_sightseeing_tours_from_port_rostock_warnemuende_cruise_ship_germany.htm

 

Thanks. It works.

 

Has anyone ever used their services and what is the satisfaction level?

[Host CMLA]

The revised policy implies that it is ok to plan tours and shared rides on the roll call threads yet when I went back over our Baltic roll call thread a few days ago, all references that I and others had made to planning tours, shared rides etc had been deleted. Why, if the policy allows for this?

It allows for this on the individual cruise line roll call boards. The Baltics board is a ports of call board. It's a different type of board. Does that make better sense? If you want more clarification, you can write to the board administrator and have her explain it better than I can. community@cruisecritic.com

[abbe727]

Going on a cruise this summer and Looking for a recommendation on the Berlin day trip. Their are 4 of us that want to be picked up from our cruise ship for the tour... How did the Berlin Stadfuehrung work out ? Do you have their web site or e mail address so I can contact them.. Thanks: Abbe