Berlin

Any preferred tour companies for an excursion in Berlin?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Any preferred tour companies for an excursion in Berlin?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We're using "ship2shore" for a private tour for 8 people from the port of Rostock into Berlin and back.

Teanne

SPB did a nice job for us.

If you didn't notice many of the company's that do tours in St Petersburg will give you a discount for other ports as well. We are going the end of May with Best Guides and could then use them in Wandemunde ( the Berlin 12 hour tour) for $105 pp as there are 6 of us plus an infant. So we are still deciding whether to go there with a 9 month old.

We used SPB. Great value!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Any preferred tour companies for an excursion in Berlin?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Most people have only toured with one company so there is no way that they can offer a comparison among the many private companies offering tours in the Baltics. If by "preferred companies" you mean those companies most frequently mentioned on the Baltic forum, then I would say: Alla Tours, Tj Tours & Spb Tours are the big 3 most commonly touted. I suggest that you contact several of the major players and see which best meets your needs (Alla Tours, Ulko Tours, Best Tours. White Nights, Spb tours, Tj Tours, I think I've covered the more frequently touted companies but there are many others from which to choose).

If you didn't notice many of the company's that do tours in St Petersburg will give you a discount for other ports as well. We are going the end of May with Best Guides and could then use them in Wandemunde ( the Berlin 12 hour tour) for $105 pp as there are 6 of us plus an infant. So we are still deciding whether to go there with a 9 month old.

This option sounds pretty great. How difficult is it to go about finding a party large enough in order to bring it down to 105$? Also, how long does it generally take to travel each way, and lastly, is it possible to (with this excursion, or another similar one and price), to just rapidly get into Berlin and have the rest of the time available then to sightsee?

Thank you very much.

Charles Hilston

@ucfchuck- I dont think you are required to get the people together they will only have the 26 people maximum on a tour. I'm assuming 2 and a half to 3 hrs each way as you have a 6 hour guided tour.

The price is $105 if you use them in St Petersburg $145 if not.

I have looked into taking the trains in and hiring a tour guide but don't think it would be much cheaper, plus we would have the stress of getting to the station and atleast 1 train switch.

From my research I think the only FAST way is a high speed train no stops but leaves only 1 time a day and way too early for our ships time.

I do wonder if they would be offended if I paid the fare to go to Berlin and back with them, and then just went out and saw stuff on my own (since I have fewer places in mind to visit and would prefer to take my time at a few places (Reichstag, Pergamon, etc.) than just highlight over everything. I don't know if they would allow me to just leave the group upon 10:30 arrival in Berlin and meet them back at agreed upon spot at 4:30.

I do wonder if they would be offended if I paid the fare to go to Berlin and back with them, and then just went out and saw stuff on my own (since I have fewer places in mind to visit and would prefer to take my time at a few places (Reichstag, Pergamon, etc.) than just highlight over everything. I don't know if they would allow me to just leave the group upon 10:30 arrival in Berlin and meet them back at agreed upon spot at 4:30.

Check with your cruise line's ShorEx -- they might offer something along the lines "Berlin on your Own" where you ride the tour bus into the city and you meet at someplace for the ride home. No need to pay for the all day tour that way.

Have you considered hiring a car and driving yourself?

I like the idea of hiring a car on my own, but my parents don't. LOL. They actually want to pay for that excursion for us (I'm not sure I want them to because I would feel bad), so that we don't do that. I liked the idea of just doing a "Berlin on our Own" tour from the ship, but that would be $200 pp. So, in short, it's actually 75-95$ pp cheaper to do a full day tour separate from ship than to do that with the ship. I looked at taking our own train, but as other posters have pointed out, that would be decently longer than any other option and time is already limited. I wish there were another way because then it would allow us to perhaps stop briefly at the Olympia Stadion (very, very high on my list), before heading into town and parking for the day, without losing any additional time.

I do wonder if they would be offended if I paid the fare to go to Berlin and back with them, and then just went out and saw stuff on my own (since I have fewer places in mind to visit and would prefer to take my time at a few places (Reichstag, Pergamon, etc.) than just highlight over everything. I don't know if they would allow me to just leave the group upon 10:30 arrival in Berlin and meet them back at agreed upon spot at 4:30.

You could always ask ! The worst they can say is no.

I'm having difficulty contacting Ship2shore tours for info on Berlin Tour. I keep getting an error message when I try to book them online and I've sent 2 emails with no response yet. Did you have problems getting through to them too?

We're using "ship2shore" for a private tour for 8 people from the port of Rostock into Berlin and back.

 

Teanne

I'm having difficulty contacting Ship2shore tours for info on Berlin Tour. I keep getting an error message when I try to book them online and I've sent 2 emails with no response yet. Did you have problems getting through to them too?

I had absolutely no problem opening the website, are you using the right URL? http://www.ship2shore.de/

As for replies, don't forget the time difference and they might not read them on weekends.

I'm having difficulty contacting Ship2shore tours for info on Berlin Tour. I keep getting an error message when I try to book them online and I've sent 2 emails with no response yet. Did you have problems getting through to them too?

No they have been pretty good about contacting them. But now I only communicate with our guide and he can take a few days to get back to me.

Teanne

DO NOT BOOK WITH VIATOR. I had a tour from Warmunde booked in March. They contacted me today to cancel due to no availability on the requested date.. It took them over 3 weeks to find out it wasn't available. However, they said for $90 more a person they could give us anothr tour. Sounds like 'bait and switch" We are going with Alla for St. Petersburg but they don't have anything in Berlin that day. So...I'm checking our CC to see if I can book with another company or take the Viking train to the city and a get a tour from there. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We found a private guide in Berlin that we are using for our trip in September. Her name is Heather & her email is orangeheather@googlemail.com. She has been great with communicating & designed a tour for us. She arranged our transport to & from the port. She is part of The Berlin Experts - Walking Tours.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you

DO NOT BOOK WITH VIATOR. I had a tour from Warmunde booked in March. They contacted me today to cancel due to no availability on the requested date.. It took them over 3 weeks to find out it wasn't available. However, they said for $90 more a person they could give us anothr tour. Sounds like 'bait and switch" We are going with Alla for St. Petersburg but they don't have anything in Berlin that day. So...I'm checking our CC to see if I can book with another company or take the Viking train to the city and a get a tour from there. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We have a private 6 person tour with Ship2Shore. Its very reasonable considering they pick you up at the ship and you can drive quickly to Berlin (about 2 hrs with a bathroom stop). Then about 6 hrs in Berlin but you can customize your tour. Its a little over 1100 E which comes to about $ 200 pp. I highly recommend it and it will be so much easier with a small group like this. Check it out. Their highly recommeded on both CC and TripAdvisor. I'm really excited about the tour and the guide is fluent in english and highly educated. It will be fantastic.

Teanne

Thanks!