From what I've heard, if you take the commercial train, you have to change trains in Rostock, while the cruise charters a train for its tours and you don't have to change trains. Is that true?
Since time is limited, and it's been viele jarhen since I studied Deutsch in der schule, I don't want to DIY to see the Berlin highlights.
Do I understand from the previous posts that there was more than one train from the ship to Berlin, and some of the train tours on the June 19 cruise were not cancelled? Any reports from other cruises?
We booked the train to Berlin tour thru Celebrity. Our tour was not cancelled. They had bathrooms on the train and we could walk around. There was no air conditioning and some of the cars were cooler than others. We did the tour which included the boat ride. All of the tours utilizing the train were on same train. We were told that celebrity rents the # of cars needed to accommodate the number of guests that have booked (not sure if that is factual.) I wasn't aware, until now, that celebrity had cancelled a tour group. We used celebrity due to the distance between the port and Berlin. We had met a couple on a tour we booked thru Alla in St. Petersburg. They were taking the same tour so we had arranged to meet them in the AM at the theater where we were suppose to sign in. That didn't happen due to the huge amount of people that showed up for the train tours. You are assigned your group # according to the time you sign in. We thought that we would be able to sit together on the train, however group numbers were assigned to specific train cars. On the way to Berlin no one brought carts around to purchase food or beer. They provided light snacks. On the way back to the ship a cart did come around and sell beer, I think. As for the tour in Berlin, it seemed to depend on which tour guide you got. Our guide was horrible! We only made a few stops and he really rushed us. The rest of the time we rode around in the bus with him telling us stories of all the famous people he knew. He was into 70's rock and he looked the part, Lol. Our friends said their guide was NOT like that and that they enjoyed their tour.
Perhaps we were in one of the last groups and they had to call in an extra guide at the last minute? He certainly was not prepared and hadn't combed his hair when we first met him in Berlin. The train is within walking distance to where the ship berths. If you decide to book through celebrity, my recommendation would be to get to the theater as early as possible to, perhaps, get a better guide?
Any reviews of train to Berlin from Warnemunde?
in Celebrity Cruises
Posted
We booked the train to Berlin tour thru Celebrity. Our tour was not cancelled. They had bathrooms on the train and we could walk around. There was no air conditioning and some of the cars were cooler than others. We did the tour which included the boat ride. All of the tours utilizing the train were on same train. We were told that celebrity rents the # of cars needed to accommodate the number of guests that have booked (not sure if that is factual.) I wasn't aware, until now, that celebrity had cancelled a tour group. We used celebrity due to the distance between the port and Berlin. We had met a couple on a tour we booked thru Alla in St. Petersburg. They were taking the same tour so we had arranged to meet them in the AM at the theater where we were suppose to sign in. That didn't happen due to the huge amount of people that showed up for the train tours. You are assigned your group # according to the time you sign in. We thought that we would be able to sit together on the train, however group numbers were assigned to specific train cars. On the way to Berlin no one brought carts around to purchase food or beer. They provided light snacks. On the way back to the ship a cart did come around and sell beer, I think. As for the tour in Berlin, it seemed to depend on which tour guide you got. Our guide was horrible! We only made a few stops and he really rushed us. The rest of the time we rode around in the bus with him telling us stories of all the famous people he knew. He was into 70's rock and he looked the part, Lol. Our friends said their guide was NOT like that and that they enjoyed their tour.
Perhaps we were in one of the last groups and they had to call in an extra guide at the last minute? He certainly was not prepared and hadn't combed his hair when we first met him in Berlin. The train is within walking distance to where the ship berths. If you decide to book through celebrity, my recommendation would be to get to the theater as early as possible to, perhaps, get a better guide?