Warnemunde port (Berlin) Suggestions

[109Dewdrop]

Going on the Journey on Aug 5, 2009 and can't decide if going to Berlin with 3 hour ride each way is worth it. It's a 12 hr day and the first day on our cruise. We're interested in history and love to tour but wondering if staying closer to the port can yield a good experience as well.

 

If anyone has taken the tour to Berlin or has done something else with a local tour operator please let us know of your experience.

 

Thanks so much.

[magandab]

Several years ago, my first ever cruise involved a stop in Warnemunde. We took the ship excursion into Berlin (HAL cruise). We LOVED it. It made me want to go back and spend more time on a shore trip just to Berlin. Fascinating city. The train ride to and from Berlin was part of the fun. Yes, a long long day but very rewarding.

[orchestrapal]

We also did the train and tour to Berlin. Unfortunately it is similar to one lick of someone else's ice cream cone. Just a taste because so much time is spent in travel. Berlin is a wonderful city with a great deal to see so if you can go at some later date for longer, do that.

Warenemunde is nothing special but good for a walk and a return to the ship for a relaxing lunch. Enjoy whatever you decide.:)

[What A Market]

Having been to Berlin a couple times on previous trips to Europe, it was time for a new plan. The plan: We rented a small van and drove to Lubeck. This turned out to be a highlight of the cruise, and seemingly all the more special because we made the plan on the spur of the moment. We did hit a serious traffic jam getting out of Lubeck.

[109Dewdrop]

I think we're going to do the 12 hour tour not knowing if we'll ever get the opportunity to see Berlin again. Why not? We have a day at sea following this port. Plenty of time to rest for the next stop.:)

 

Thanks for your responses and encouragement:D

[JennAngel9]

I would definitely recommend the tour if you have never seen Germany before! We did it last year on the Constellation Baltics cruise and were actually blown away by how much we loved Berlin. We felt we saw most of the highlights-- but we are also the kind of travelers who don't need more than 30 minutes at places like the Berlin wall and Checkpoint Charlie. As a Jew (raised in a family that still won't buy German cars), I had a lot of mixed feelings about Germany but our day trip was a great introduction and we plan to go back and see much more of the country in the future.

 

We felt that the day did not seem that long (the train trip was fairly relaxing and a lot of time was spent seated on the bus), but DH did snooze on the way back to the ship.

[109Dewdrop]

I would definitely recommend the tour if you have never seen Germany before! We did it last year on the Constellation Baltics cruise and were actually blown away by how much we loved Berlin. We felt we saw most of the highlights-- but we are also the kind of travelers who don't need more than 30 minutes at places like the Berlin wall and Checkpoint Charlie. As a Jew (raised in a family that still won't buy German cars), I had a lot of mixed feelings about Germany but our day trip was a great introduction and we plan to go back and see much more of the country in the future.

 

We felt that the day did not seem that long (the train trip was fairly relaxing and a lot of time was spent seated on the bus), but DH did snooze on the way back to the ship.

 

 

Great confirmation of our plan to do the tour into Berlin. What cruise are you going on in 8/09?

Thanks again:)

[JennAngel9]

We are doing the Journey's trip around France and Spain. I hope it can live up to our experience in the Baltics!

[Redtravel]

We opted to stay in Warnemunde. We did take a ship tour on the Molly Train. It was very nice. The town itself is a seashore town...lots of nice cafes, stores, and the beach. Great place to relax.

[Literary Lynne]

We too didn't go off to Berlin but spent time in Warnemunde, which is indeed a really pretty little town with a nice beach. We also went on the local train to Rostock - plenty of beautiful historic buildings, interesting market etc. You can also pick up a boat trip to Rostock too. The town centre of Warnemunde, the boat trips and the local train are within a five minute walk of the ship pier.

 

Whatever you choose to do, I'm sure you will have a good time in the area.:)

[amanda blake]

depends all on your point of view...not sure if I could ever call berlin wonderful....it is an ugly, ugly city, with an ugly,ugly past...

 

but you need to see it for yourself...just once was enough for me...

 

the train ride in, is long, but it all goes well with the mood one might be in when visiting berlin...

 

then you can walk...all the historical stuff is withing walking distance...other than that there is nothing more to do there....

 

but of course we all have our own opinions and our own feelings when it comes to a city like that....

 

have been to warnemunde twice...would avoid it also if I could...the only place where the guards and I mean guards asked for the passports as if they were still the gestapo...arrogant, demeaning, full of themselves...disgusting...

[elyob]

When we were in Warnemunde we took the train to Schwerin. There were 4 of us so we were able to get a group ticket. Visited the castle in Schwerin, there was also a festival going on which added to the experience. The cathedral has beautiful stained glass windows. We had a good lunch at Fredrick's Restaurant. It was an enjoyable day and sounded much better then a long ride and back to Berlin.

[TravelerThom]

Note that while larger ships usually have a train trip to Berlin from Warnemunde, Azamara usually doesn't have enough people to have the dedicated train [i KNOW that our 30 June 2009 cruise did NOT], but AZ offers bus trips instead [still quoting 3 hour travel each way].

 

We opted for a do-it-yourself train trip which involves the short walk to the Warnemunde train station, a short ride to Rostock, and transfer to a Regional Express to Berlin. If you wait until 9am, up to five (5) people can do this with one Mecklenburg-West-Pommerania Länder-Ticket plus one Brandenburg-Berlin Länder-Ticket for 51 Euros [currently less than US$75 total, or less than US$15pp if there are five people]. AND the Brandenburg-Berlin Länder-Ticket includes unlimited local transport within Berlin. It is necessary for your group to stay together, or if you split those who are not accompanying the Ticket will have to buy what ever additional transport they use. We opted to leave at 8am which doubled our price [Länder-Tickets are only good after 9am weekdays], but our group still paid less than a single Azamara Berlin transfer without tour [$169].

 

I do NOT speak German, but was able to get tickets fairly easily, as quite a few Germans [but by no means all] speak English and generally are pretty helpful. Ticket sellers almost always speak English at least passably. CAVEAT: On our trip to Berlin there was a bomb scare on the line ahead of us [not on our train]. This led to the train stopping at an outlying station, an unexpected bus transfer to a station further down the line, and added an extra hour to the trip to Berlin, so a spirit of adventure came in handy. Two unconnected German who spoke excellent English took us under their wing and made sure that we knew what to do. BTW we fared much better with our bomb scare detour than did our shipmates who rented a car, drove to Berlin, and then forgot where they parked it - by the time they were reunited with their rental car they had missed the ship and had to get to Helsinki two days later:mad:.

 

We walked around Warnemunde when we returned and were surprised to find both a relatively quaint old German town and, at the shore, a modern beach resort - much nicer than we had expected.

[cs91]

We recently did the trip to berlin (from Warnemunde). We rented a car at the port, drove to Berlin, and met a (pre-arranged) guide from SPB tours.

It was a wonderful day and we arrived and returned with plenty of time to spare. Having the car and the guide allowed us to make the most of our time in berlin. I'm very glad we conducted our tour this way. There were 2 couples and the cost was just over $200/couple (without tip)

[jrkfrk]

We're just back from the Baltic - did not want to spent 6 hours on the bus to Berlin, so we arranged a tour with "FriendsofDave" tours - he took us to Wisner - a wonderful day, interesting, and he is delightful! Full of information from the very historic, to general interest. We ate good local food and beer! A very excellent option to the trip to Berlin.

Fran (and Jeff)

[harz99]

I do NOT speak German, but was able to get tickets fairly easily, as quite a few Germans [but by no means all] speak English and generally are pretty helpful. Ticket sellers almost always speak English at least passably.

 

Two unconnected German who spoke excellent English took us under their wing and made sure that we knew what to do.

 

Just to qualify the comment about English speakers - most of the younger Germans up to 30 in age will speak some or good English, however those from areas formerly in East Germany had Russian as their second language and may well not speak/understand any English at all.

 

On my own trips to Germany, I have (nearly) always found the natives friendly, polite and helpful - I guess the red mist comes down when they see sun loungers on holiday though.:D

Edited August 14, 2009 by harz99
spelling

[vvnh16a]

You have to ask yourself Why do I want to go to Berlin?? WE went to Berlin about twice a year when the "wall" still separated the East from the West. I wanted to see what differences there were or if I could identify with any landmarks from our visits 30 plus years ago. The other real reason was I probably will never get a chance to visit Berlin and there really is nothing of real interest to do at the port.

 

With that in mind in August 2017 (last month) we booked a tour through SPB tours...cost was cheap only $89 per person. SPB provided an ultra modern long haul bus for the 6 hour drive to Berlin (with about a 20 minute stop mid way). There we met our tour guide and she was great....actually an American who now lives in Berlin..perfect english. We saw all the major sites, had lunch in a gerat german pub (our expense but it was very reasonable).

 

Bottom line...yes it was a long day and you were tired when you got back even though you could catch some sleep on the bus. Berlin today is a very modern bustling city,and in very few ways reminded us of our visits from 30 plus years ago. HIstory from the war and the rise of Naztism have been preserved but mordern history to include Check Point Charlie and "the Wall" have been relegated to being a commercial enterprise....unfortunate..... But we achieved what "we" wanted to do and I would recommend via SPB tours.

[BBMacLaird]

You have to ask yourself Why do I want to go to Berlin?? WE went to Berlin about twice a year when the "wall" still separated the East from the West. I wanted to see what differences there were or if I could identify with any landmarks from our visits 30 plus years ago. The other real reason was I probably will never get a chance to visit Berlin and there really is nothing of real interest to do at the port.

 

With that in mind in August 2017 (last month) we booked a tour through SPB tours...cost was cheap only $89 per person. SPB provided an ultra modern long haul bus for the 6 hour drive to Berlin (with about a 20 minute stop mid way). There we met our tour guide and she was great....actually an American who now lives in Berlin..perfect english. We saw all the major sites, had lunch in a gerat german pub (our expense but it was very reasonable).

 

Bottom line...yes it was a long day and you were tired when you got back even though you could catch some sleep on the bus. Berlin today is a very modern bustling city,and in very few ways reminded us of our visits from 30 plus years ago. HIstory from the war and the rise of Naztism have been preserved but mordern history to include Check Point Charlie and "the Wall" have been relegated to being a commercial enterprise....unfortunate..... But we achieved what "we" wanted to do and I would recommend via SPB tours.

 

A handful of years ago my DH & I visited Berlin. We loved it too. So vibrant and welcoming.

[SuzCruise]

The original post is from '09. Not sure why this got drug up, but I'm betting the OP no longer needs help with this.

 

 

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[hubofhockey]

SPB Tours has a nice bus tour there with a very good guide named Heather. She's one of the best licensed guides I've been with anywhere.

[Skicruiser55]

Is there a bathroom on the SPB tour bus?

[hubofhockey]

Is there a bathroom on the SPB tour bus?

 

They make a stop midway that has bathrooms. I don't believe the coach buses have bathrooms on them.

[LMKohler]

We just returned from the Baltics on Silhouette. In Warnemunde we went to Rostock which was wonderful and a great way to see and hear about the history of the area. Berlin was just to far away. If I want to see Berlin, I will fly there and stay a few days[emoji106]

 

 

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[upwarduk]

We just returned from the Baltics on Silhouette. In Warnemunde we went to Rostock which was wonderful and a great way to see and hear about the history of the area. Berlin was just to far away. If I want to see Berlin, I will fly there and stay a few days[emoji106]

 

 

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Did you do a ship’s tour, or did you use a private company?

[LMKohler]

Did you do a ship’s tour, or did you use a private company?

 

 

 

We did a ship’s tour since we were in Germany and didn’t know our way around, etc.

 

 

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