GermericanDream

I've used FlixBus from Hamburg to Berlin a few times. Very cheap, pretty comfortable, no complaints. They are cheaper when you book early, but you can also buy the ticket at the counter when you are there. I've never taken it to Warnemunde, and I'd look on a map to see where you get let out before booking. Also, leave plenty of time, one road accident or construction zone could set you back hours if you have very bad luck.

I haven't been on a RC cruise in a long time, what drinks are available for people who do not buy a package? My husband and I got the ultimate drink package included with our fare, but we will have our four year old daughter with us. I'm not going to buy a drink package for her. Do they have apple juice or something for kids? Milk? I've been on a few cruises and have never bought a drink package, we've always just paid for the few cocktails we had and otherwise drank water.

I hope the OP comes back and tells us how her DD enjoyed the cruise. I am betting that she will have a great time.

 

 

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I will definitely do that! The cruise is in May, so it will be awhile.

Thanks everyone for the advice!

Just two suggestions.

 

You didn't mention what itinerary you are sailing. That might be helpful.

 

This is one you may also want to post on the RCI Cruise Line Board.

 

Keith

Thanks, I'll post there as well. It's a Norwegian Fjord cruise out of Copenhagen. Maybe she'll find some German playmates. Maybe she'll even start speaking English, but I can't count on that!

My daughter will be 4 when we cruise on a Royal Caribbean cruise. We live in Germany, I'm American and always speak English with her, but she always answers in German. She's never been in a position where she had to speak English, and I'm not sure what will happen in that case. She can definitely understand and follow directions in English. But if I tell her "speak English", she just speaks German. She's a bit too young to understand the concept of different languages, I think.

We've never cruised with kids before, so I was curious how the Kids Club works. How will be be notified if she goes in, but wants to leave? Are there often children who don't speak English as a first language? Should I even let her go in the kid's club?

I'd look on the boards of European cruise lines if you are looking for a different sort of cruise experience. I'm pretty sure if you take a Royal Caribbean cruise out of a European port, it's pretty much the same as if the cruise is out of Orlando. At least I'm hoping. I'm an American who has booked a RC cruise out of Copenhagen after living in Germany for nearly a decade. I'm looking to have an American vacation without the jetlag, flights and expense. If you are American and visiting Europe, you probably want the opposite!

We are going on our first cruise in seven years, so forgive me if this is no longer the case - we joined the Cruise Critic Roll Call for our last cruise and during the Meet and Mingle, we were all invited as a group to visit the kitchen and the bridge for free. Anyone know if this still happens regularly enough to count on?

I have an E-Reader (Kobo, more flexibility than a Kindle), and lately I've been reading the old uncopyrighted classics that you can download for free. I think a good read for a cruise would be The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, since he's a sailor and it's full of action and adventure. I also enjoyed Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Vanity Fair by William Thackeray.

As for newer books, the best one I read in awhile is a Swedish novel, in English it's called "The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson. It's like a Swedish Forrest Gump, and it was very funny for people who like history.

I'm an American living in Germany, and I can't wait for my Norwegian Fjord cruise in May! We chose Royal Caribbean instead of any European lines because I am so sick of being "the American". I haven't been back to the States in almost four years, an American cruise out of Copenhagen is the closest I can get for now. I can't wait for ice cubes, English, and being able to smile without people thinking there's something wrong with me.

But if I were on a German cruise, I would imagine lots of nudity, good bread, lounge chairs being reserved with towels at the crack of dawn, no air conditioning, no one able to stand on a line to save their lives.

Well, we've sorted out what we are going to do. We will drive to the port, and my husband will let me, our kids, and our luggage out. He will then drive to the airport, and park in the long term parking lot there. Then he will take either public transport or a taxi to the port, depending on how much time he has. We reserved a parking spot at the airport, it was only about 300 Kr for the week.

Thank you very much Frederik and DanishViking for your ideas!

The train station in Altona is also a regional and long distance train station, and if you take a taxi, it's only a few minutes away from the Altona Cruise Center. So if you book your ticket from Altona to Berlin, you can give yourself an hour to get there and you'll be early. You could walk it in under a half hour.

If I were you though, I'd go to Altona train station, and buy a day ticket and enjoy Hamburg before heading out to Berlin!

I have found all the information on here so helpful to start to try to figure out where to stay before our cruise. We are flying into Hamburg the day before our cruise with MSC in march. We are looking for recommendations as to where we should stay the night before we head to the ship that will be docked in Steinwerder if I have read what you guys have posted correctly. We will be traveling with 4 kids so 6 of us total which makes planning ahead so important. We would love to stay somewhere near public transportation and restaurants and near enough to the cruise port we can easily get all 4 kids there. Any help and advice would be really appreciated we are getting excited to see Hamburg!

I like the Hotel 25 Hours in the Hafen City. It would be a 10 minute taxi ride, it's close to transport and the city, and it's quite new and reasonably priced.

Thanks Danish viking and Fredrik.

Yes parking at the airport would also be an idea, I'll check that out. We are also looking at possibly taking the train. We are lucky in that we don't have to pay for fuel. But we would have to pay to cross the bridge, and we'd have to pay for the parking (my husband was very skeptical about parking on the street). We could take Deutsche Bahn, but I don't know how easy it is to get to the port from the central station. We have a four year old and a baby, plus all our luggage.

I really hope our friends will just be home!

I read that you can't prebook parking spots at the cruise ship terminal. I've only passed there once, and it was practically empty. But this was in the fall you probably can't use that information for anything.

 

Outside the centre of Copenhagen, streetparking is free. So you might just park your car in Hellerup for instance. On the eastern side of the railroad between Svanemøllen station and Hellerup station there are a lot of embassies and usually police patrol there often, especially around the Israeli embassy. So I suppose that is a very low risk area for car theft (which is uncommon in Denmark anyways). Then you could take public transport to the cruise port (24 DKK pr person) or a taxi (100-150 DKK).

 

There are other places you can prebook parking spaces, but prices tend to be higher: usually around 30 EUR pr 24 hours.

Thanks for the info, Frederik! To park in Hellerup sounds like a good plan, if we don't get a space at the cruise terminal. One question about that though: if my husband were to drop us off at the cruise, and then drive by himself to Hellerup and back to the cruise with public transport --- how long would that take, about? And another question: If we did park in Hellerup, would no one call the police, angry that some random Germans have parked in front of their house for a week? And even if they did or didn't, it's not illegal for a visitor to park so long?

We live in Germany, and are planning to drive to our RCL Norwegian Fjords cruise this May. We first planned to park our car at a friend's house and catch a ride to the port, but they may not be home. In this case, we'd have to park the car somewhere in Copenhagen.

So, I was wondering if anyone had any tips or info for parking a car for a week during our cruise. A little internet search has yielded.... little. I read there are about 200 parking spaces at Ocean Quay for an unbelievable 75 Euros a week. Is it realistic to think we can get a spot there? I'd love to be able to book a parking space in advance. The last thing we want is to hunt around the city for a parking spot, or pay out the nose.

You could try Hansa Taxi. They are just a normal taxi company, but I've seen minivans from them around town.

https://www.taxi211211.de/en/home.htm

Thanks everyone! I'll make sure to bring them with me then!

Can we, for example, pay our tips or seapass account with US dollars? We live in Europe, but have a few hundred US dollars leftover from when we used to live there. It's a Norwegian Fjord cruise.

I've been wondering about this -- though the thought of the roaming fees for my phone is scary.

I started back in the day before smartphones, so I have an old handheld Garmin etrex. I'm sure they go for nothing now. You can save the geocache pages you are interested in on your phone to use in airplane mode. Or even just write the details down on paper!

I'm about to go only on my third cruise, but I geocache wherever I go!

I've only gone snorkeling twice in my life and the first time was on Coco Cay. There was a designated area for snorkeling, and you had to rent a safety vest of a sort. We bought our own gear because it was cheaper than renting it from RCL.

I thought it was fine, there were lifeguards who fed the fish, so they were everywhere. If you are serious about fish, maybe you'll be disappointed, but I had a great time, and it was only a few bucks to rent their safety vest.

I would also not assume that the car will have an automatic transmission. If you need one, you should say something when you reserve!