Has anyone taken the Scandinavia & Russia Princess cruise that stops in Warnemunde so that you can travel to Berlin? The only trip report I saw on this cruise was in 2007 and went to Gdansk, Poland instead of Berlin. I'm wondering the best way to see Berlin: a Princess tour or something else.

BA

I have done that train trip to Berlin. I am very glad I did. It was a long day and it is not all beautiful. Very much an eye opener traveling between the east and west sides of Berlin. This was in 2007, so I imagine much progress has been made since then. I really did enjoy the whole baltic cruise too.

It is a rather long train ride in BOTH directions and then you don't really get a lot of time in the city itself, but it's certainly bvetter than nothing for many folks.

Things have changed a great deal since the wall came down and certainly further from 2007. It all depends on what you want to see and do once you actually get into the city. In this case perhaps an organized tour might serve you best; otherwise, be very organized and prepared to hit the ground running if you do it on your own.

Berlin has extremely extensive and very excellent public transport and it is easy and fast to get around from place to place.

Might consider a pre or post cruise

experience over several days

1 day long whirlwind tours from cruise ships

are not that great...

Happy Planning,

Bettyann:

If you have a choice on your cruise and it is not booked yet,do either Gdansk or Oslo Norway, or both.

I did the Baltic Cruise and took in Gdansk and Oslo rather than to do Warnemunde and then travel to Berlin.

My reasoning was this:

In the future I will have a better chance to go to Berlin than I will to see Oslo.

Sure enough the next year, I went to Berlin as part of another tour of Europe, but I did not know that I would be going to Berlin the year I went on the Baltic Cruise.

The trip from the Cruise ship is too long

Is Berlin nice..... Yes it is and lots to see. I was there for three days.

Why skim over this lovely city, leave it for another time, when you do not have to travel almost 6-7 hours in one day.

I did the Baltic cruise in 2009 and opted not to do the Berlin excursion due to the long tranvelling hours. I am now very sorry I made that decision as I have not had the opportunity since. I would say, go for it.

It seems to me that cruises are best suited to visiting places very close to the ports of call. I've not had vast experience, but a visit to Istanbul was more worthwhile than my trip to Rome from Civitivecchia. Much less down time and much more seen - when docked in Istanbul. Inland cities are best accessed from land tours.

I remember going to Rome from Civitivecchia.

Out Tour guide/ driver was 20 minutes late, arriving at the ship.

He wanted to make up the time by driving 90 miles per hour !!! to Rome

I finally had to tell him to slow down as the other three in our group had white knuckle from holding on to the door handles !!

We still saw lots but you always worry about getting back to the ship,whenver you are a long ways away.

I agree Turkey was much more relaxed

We did the Baltic this past summer. We were with our two young kids so the long train trip from Warnemunde to Berlin wasn't feasible.

But, the train station is less than a 10 minute walk from the cruise terminal.

We didn't do Berlin, but if it is like the other cities on a standard Baltic cruise, I would think seriously about saving yourself the outlay for excursions. If you're a comfortable traveler all can be visited on your own with a good map.

You will need to have organized tours in St. Petersburg. we spent $1600 for two adults and two kids with DenRus. Money well spent for two days. Consider that cost when deciding if the cruise line excursion to Berlin is worth it when more than half the time you'll be on a train you could easily arrange on your own.

I did the Berlin excursion off the Star Princess last June and highly recommend it. Originally I wasn't going to go because of the expense but our ship had to skip Stockholm due to weather and I wanted to include another "big port" in addition to St Pete. Everyone talked about how long the day would be but it was really no big deal. The train was great with snacks served in both directions and Berlin was wonderful. I felt like we really got to see a lot. It was a wonderful overview and the guides were supreme. I went with the intent of determining if I would want to go back for a longer visit and I definitely do. But if I don't make it back I feel like I got a great taste of a great city. This is one case where you might want to go with the Princess tour. I know my return train did leave some on-your-own passengers behind. The stewards weren't happy about it but that train leaves on time no matter what.

Of all my traels, the Princess excursion to Berlin has been my biggest disappointment. It was a long train ride both ways and we were held captive in a restaurant for a lunch that was just ok. That precious time was wasted in my opinion. We also had just a mediocre tour guide. His explaination of everything was weak. However he did take great pleasure in ponting out nude sunbathers in a park. I am glad I saw the Berlin Wall and Check Point Charlie. However, everything else was a blur and I'm not really even sure what I saw. I had wanted to write Princess about my experience but time just escaped me. It seemed like the people who stayed in the port had a delightful ecperience.