ok, i give up, where is berlin (hopefully still in germany)

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, njkate said:

Imo you’re better off spending the day touring Normandy, the museums, landing beaches etc then a long bus ride to and from Paris where you really don’t have much time

I agree.  We had a great day (and an emotional one) touring the D-Day sites from Le Havre. 

 

I think the problem for some Americans is that they don't envision themselves ever having another chance to see Paris, which of course is a shame. (But I do understand it.) 

[Treasure Hunter]

The first time we visited Berlin from a cruise ship ( Princess) was shortly after the Berlin Wall fell and the building to replace ugly Soviet architecture was non stop. We traveled on a rickety old train that gave me nightmares. The whole trip was apologizing. Although we enjoyed our pastry with whipped cream and seeing check point Charley. When we returned , Princess had a giant banner “Welcome home” on the side of the ship, a red carpet and passed champagne. The second time we had a chance we stayed in “Amazing Rostock” with a walking tour. We were lucky in that there was a festival of sailing ships in the Harbour. It was a lovely day. We just had friends fly to Berlin, stay five days and then fly to Paris for five days. They had a great time.

[The Traveling Man]

On 6/19/2022 at 11:23 AM, complawyer said:

we're booked on the sept 16th sailing from london to copenhagen. i was reviewing the shore excursions, and noticed that berlin is no longer on the itinerary., and has been replaced by some obscure port in denmark and no shore excursions are listed as yet

 

while i understand that a cruise line can change the itinerary at any time, i think a little prior notice would have been nice. while i usually wait until i'm on board to book shore excursions, im curious as to what may have happened had i booked and paid for berlin in advance. i probably would have gotten the money back, but i'm sure you will all agree that ncl's bookkeeping procedures "suck" to say the very least. add that onto the $50 off and the 15% as we're sapphire, it seems to me that would have been a nightmare. My wife and I have always wanted to see london and paris. we're going into london 3 days early, and i'm bookingthe river seine cruise in paris. since the date of final payment was may 19th, i can live  with the minor disappointment of not seeing berlin, but if paris is cancelled, believe me i'll be major p***ed off.

 

has anyone else noticed this port has been taken away

Perhaps a solution would be to begin your journey a few days earlier and fly from LA to Berlin.  Spend a couple of days there, then on to Paris, and finally to London.  If you try to see Berlin during your cruise, you likely will spend at least four hours in transit, leaving you perhaps five hours in Berlin.  It's similar when trying to visit Paris from the port stop at Le Havre.  You'll spend almost three hours each way in transit, leaving you perhaps four hours in Paris.

 

If you do want to travel to Berlin during your cruise, though, you may want to do it on Tuesday when the Star docks in Hamburg at noon.  There are trains every hour or so between the two cities.  The 12:50 from Hamburg should cost you about $33 per person, while the 7:00 PM return is under $20.  That would give you about four hours, from 3:00 until 7:00, in Berlin.  If you wish to return later, the price of the evening trains doubles or triples. 

[CPT Trips]

From the cruise ship to the Normandy DDay sites will involve a lot of time sitting on a bus. 

[complawyer]

the point is,  it would have been very nice of ncl to inform about the change. i realize there may be change of plans due to unforeseen circumstances while already at sea, but  in this case we had 90 days before sailing. 

 while i'm grateful that ncl could send out an email regarding no need to show negative covid test prior to entering the u.s.  i think some notice of the port change would have been appropriate, especially since the date of final payment has long gone

[TrumpyNor]

28 minutes ago, complawyer said:

the point is,  it would have been very nice of ncl to inform about the change. i realize there may be change of plans due to unforeseen circumstances while already at sea, but  in this case we had 90 days before sailing. 

 while i'm grateful that ncl could send out an email regarding no need to show negative covid test prior to entering the u.s.  i think some notice of the port change would have been appropriate, especially since the date of final payment has long gone

I find it very strange that you have not received an e-mail about the change on the itinerary - we always receive that as soon as something is changed on the itinerary. Could it be that you booked through a travel agent? If that is the case, then the notification of the itinerary change would go to your travel agent instead of directly to you. 

[cruiseny4life]

Oh I just love how so many of you feel the need to remind @complawyerof the long train ride...he said he will enjoy the train! Sheesh...it's part of the experience. 

 

I'm sorry you won't see Berlin! 

[njkate]

10 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

From the cruise ship to the Normandy DDay sites will involve a lot of time sitting on a bus. 

Actually you would spend more time on bus going to Paris, LeHarve to Omaha Beach is about 1.5 hours, where Paris is about 3.5 hours

[CPT Trips]

14 minutes ago, njkate said:

Actually you would spend more time on bus going to Paris, LeHarve to Omaha Beach is about 1.5 hours, where Paris is about 3.5 hours

Yes it is considerably less time to the DDay area than to Paris. But, it isn’t exactly close. Travel times from port to major cities and sights on European cruises can be considerable, daunting even. 
It is probably about five hours total on the bus round trip from Le Havre to Arromanche, the American Cemetery, and Pointe-du-Hoc, and back when you consider drive times and logistics of getting on and off the bus.

 

[complawyer]

trumpynor, no i always book directly with ncl. we have a rep that works directly with casinos at sea, and she is a godsend

 

njkate. i realize that it's a 3 hr bus trip, i just have always wanted to see paris and my wife has always wanted to see london. this kills 2 stones with 1 bird (oops).

 

while im not crying in my beer about not being able to see berlin, again, i think it would have been appropriate for ncl to let us know especially changing after final payment was due

[njkate]

36 minutes ago, complawyer said:

trumpynor, no i always book directly with ncl. we have a rep that works directly with casinos at sea, and she is a godsend

 

njkate. i realize that it's a 3 hr bus trip, i just have always wanted to see paris and my wife has always wanted to see london. this kills 2 stones with 1 bird (oops).

 

while im not crying in my beer about not being able to see berlin, again, i think it would have been appropriate for ncl to let us know especially changing after final payment was due

I enjoyed, long train ride and all my port stop to Berlin, all though I will say for that tour I'm glad I booked through NCL as train broke down and we were 3 hours late back to the ship

[pdmlynek]

On 6/20/2022 at 4:50 AM, Globaliser said:

 

Trying to see Berlin as a day trip from a port 150 miles away is actually a really frustrating waste of time.

I agree.  Given that Berlin is a huge city that would take weeks or months to explore, it makes little sense to visit it for a few hours.  You won't see anything except the inside of the train.

 

This is akin to visitors from China or Europe who want to see the US in 2 weeks: "OK, I'll see New York on Monday morning, Miami in the afternoon, hike the Grand Canyon on Tuesday by 10:00, Chicago for lunch..."