Berlin Private Tour Constellation June 4 2005

[ShamrockFL]

Does anyone have a private or gorup tour arranged and would like two others to share the cost Rostock to Berlin on June 15th. Or can anyone recommend a tour company where we can hire a driver to meet us at the ship and bring us back. Approximate cost? There has to be a better way than paying $600 for two on the Celebrity tour by train to Berlin. Appreciate any suggestions, web sites etc. Hesitant about going it alone on this as I have read of train delays, car breakdowns etc. Am I being paranoid. If it's not a good idea, is there anything of interest in the area around Rostock/Warnemunde?:confused:

[HiltonHead]

We were on the Celeb Constellation's Baltic Cruise last summer. We used Gregory Keegan owner of Berlin Travel Service. http://www.berlin2serv.com/ He is an American who has lived in Berlin for many years. He had a late model Van pick us (two couples) up where the ship docked in Rostock then drove us to Berlin (2 hours) where we met up with Greg. We spent a wonderful day in Berlin with him. He is very knowledgable and quite interesting. He is more than willing to custom the tour to your liking. Around 5pm we left him and his driver drove us back to the ship. You can get an email address from the website that I included above. I would recommend him very highly.

 

We posted on Cruise Critics and found another couple to share the tour. Our cost then was 407.50 Euros per Couple which was less than the ship and much more enjoyable and comfortable. Greg is very aware to making sure you get back to the ship on time. The Van Company he uses to bring you to Berlin from Warnermunde has other vehicles in both places that could be dispatched in case of a breakdown.

[aqua]

Our family used info@berlin-starting-point.de for a Berlin tour last year. They would have met the group in Rostock, but our family chose to take the Constellation's train and meet in Berlin instead. It would have been much less expensive to have the guide meet the ship, but my family loves trains and wanted that experience. I don't remember the price, but we had a group of 5 people and saved a great deal from the ship's tour. The guide was very good and the agency reponded to all of my emails promptly and professionally.

[ShamrockFL]

Thank you Hilton Head and Aqua for all the information. 407 euro is still pretty steep, but as you note, you had a much better tour than with the Celebrity mob scene. The problem of course is getting someone else to share it or I would imagine the cost per couple would be even higher. I'll contact him and see if he has any others we could hook up with.

AQUA - do you mean that they let you take the Celebrity train portion without signing up for the tour that followed, or did you pay for the whole tour in order to get the train ride and then break away with your own guide, essentially paying double? If not, when/where did you arrange that? Meanwhile I'll contact the link you gave me and see what they have to offer. Thanks again.

 

If anyone out there is interested in pairing up, let me know.

[mariagzw]

Hi Shamrock,

You may want to check out http://www.portcompass.com. We used them for our Europe cruise and they were great. Very professional guides and responsive customer service. I highly recommend them and so do many people on this board who have used them.

 

Port Compass is a US company and charge in US dollars, which is a good thing at these crazy exchange rates. I know they offer shore excursions for many different regions around the world, so I just went to their site and yes, they do have a baltic program. The Berlin prices look amazing. Good luck!

[aqua]

Shamrock, Last year Celebrity offered 2 basic tour options- "Berlin on your own" or all-inclusive tours (with several different choices of sights) The "on your own" was just the train, snacks, and transportation to and from the train. I think it was about $100 per person. We had the private guide meet us at the train station in Berlin and take us on a city tour. I can't find my notes, but I think it was around 40-50 Euros per person (5 people in the group.) However, it wasn't without problems. Celebrity changed the arrival train station, but I was able to email the guide from the ship and let them know where to meet our group. Then Celebrity changed the meeting place in Berlin for the return. Our group didn't know this because they were already on tour when that happened. But they saw people from the ship and found the correct meeting place. Of course, none of this was the guide's fault. He was great. But had we skipped the train and had the guide meet the ship in Rostock, things would probably have been smoother.