Celibrity Tour to Berlin v Private Berlin Tour

[lovelakeliving]

We are crusing in July on Celebrity Constellation from Amsterdam to Russia; St. Petersburg Tallinn, Stockholm etc. We are interested in booking a tour thru Alla Tours to Berlin. But are concerned about getting back to the Cruise Ship on time. Has anyone had any bad experiences

I know there are other tour companies that provide this tour as well

any recommendations are welcome

[pollux]

Did you check how far Berlin is from Amsterdam? Or the other cruise ports?

Why not fly in to Berlin spend a couple of days and then take the train to Amsterdam or a cheap European Air Line.

[cruiserziggy]

We are crusing in July on Celebrity Constellation from Amsterdam to Russia; St. Petersburg Tallinn, Stockholm etc. We are interested in booking a tour thru Alla Tours to Berlin. But are concerned about getting back to the Cruise Ship on time. Has anyone had any bad experiences

I know there are other tour companies that provide this tour as well

any recommendations are welcome

 

We took a Celebrity Baltic cruise a couple of summers ago and we used SPB Tours for both St. Petersburg and Berlin. We give them our highest recommendation. The company is owned by a husband and wife. She is Russian and he is German. They offer private tours in both locations. When we went to Berlin, our ship did not depart until midnight, so even with the long drive (2.5 - 3 hrs) there was plenty of time. We had a full, and very enjoyable day in Berlin and were back to the ship by 10:30PM. The tours in St. Petersburg were over 2 days and also excellent.

[MVPinBoynton]

We are taking Alla's Berlin tour in June. Alla and the other tour companies do this every day and are very aware of the need to be back on time. I would not worry at all.

[lovelakeliving]

Thank you - now I'm torn between SBP and Alla tours

but am sure we will enjoy either. Will need to convince our friends

no issues on getting back to the ship on time have been posted

[rwr235]

Also HIGHLY recommend SPB-Tours...we also used them in both Germany and St Petersburg, and as stated above...this is what they specialize in, and the experience we had with them was wonderful. Viktoria, the owner, was at the pier in St Petersburg both days just checking on all of the groups; soliciting feedback; and just so pleasant to talk to. Pre-cruise correspondence was excellent and post-cruise follow-up as well...Whatever/whoever you choose....Enjoy !!

 

Woody

[rpv2sail]

We used SPB for a tour of Berlin and Saint Petersburg a year and a half ago. I highly recommend SPB for Saint Petersburg, but if I had to do it over I would take the ship's tour in Berlin.

 

The reasons:

1) It is a very long drive (I think close to 3 hours)--On the way back to the port we hit the peak of rush hour, which coupled with an accident, made us sure we would miss the ship. Talk about stress! (I have to compliment SPB they had started making arrangements to get us to the next port to meet up with the ship.) Turns out we did get back in time but found out that the ship's tour stayed in Berlin an hour later than we did--they didn't have to start back during rush hour knowing the ship would wait for them. They ended up getting back to the ship 20-30 minutes after us.

 

2) We saw a lot, but some sites such as the Reichstag, we just stopped in front. had a briefing from the guide and then walked around. The ships tour had a tour of the inside and had lunch at, what they said, was an excellent restaurant.

 

3) Our guide lived in Berlin so he was only with us in the city. I missed having him give us info on the drive in--and of course it would have been nice to have him to handle to situation on the return.

 

I like SPB Tours, and felt we got our moneys worth. I just feel the ships tour would have been a better experience.

[wednesday]

We did Berlin last summer with SPB tours, had an amazing day and were back in plenty of time. Highly recommended!

[derekjp47]

We are crusing in July on Celebrity Constellation from Amsterdam to Russia; St. Petersburg Tallinn, Stockholm etc. We are interested in booking a tour thru Alla Tours to Berlin. But are concerned about getting back to the Cruise Ship on time. Has anyone had any bad experiences

I know there are other tour companies that provide this tour as well

any recommendations are welcome

 

Be careful, we had our worst experience ever on a cruise taking a private tour in Berlin. They held us in Berlin until we agreed to pay a higher fee, and our group had little choice or we would have missed the ship. It was a big misunderstanding but we were the losers in the end.

[lovelakeliving]

Really??? what tour company did you use? I've not seen any posts

on Trip Advisor or cruise critic that indicate this happens.:confused:

[KirkNC]

We did Berlin last summer with SPB tours, had an amazing day and were back in plenty of time. Highly recommended!

 

Same here, Heather was the best!

[lawblond7]

We are doing the Baltics cruise on July 7th to celebrate my 50th. My oys 16,16 & 20 and my mom are also going. Do to my moms mobility issues and my boys medical issues we are deign private tours and I am looking at same companies and a few others. In Berlin we will do a private tour as we plan to stop at Sachsenhausen - a concentration camp 20 miles from Berlin and hopefully also a specific car museum. We plan to see the wall & memorial to jewish holocaust victims.

 

Will do private just the 6 of us so we can go at our own pace and see specifically what we want and not what others think we should see

 

Sharon

[lovelakeliving]

Be careful, we had our worst experience ever on a cruise taking a private tour in Berlin. They held us in Berlin until we agreed to pay a higher fee, and our group had little choice or we would have missed the ship. It was a big misunderstanding but we were the losers in the end.

 

Really - what tour company did you use? What was your guides name.

you've given no specifics. And this is the only post I've read like this.

and I've read hundreds. Im looking at a private tour and I don't want to have this happen to us.