Sominex Posted July 8, 2010 #1 Share Posted July 8, 2010 I have been talking to a couple of tour firms for St. Petersburg and asked if they do a tour of Berlin as well and they have suggested to book the ships tour to Berlin as it's cheaper; (they use the trains). They say there are not enough cars in Warnemunde so they have the cars come empty from Berlin then back empty after dropping us back off at the ship. Has anyone come across this and do you recommend a firm for Berlin? Thanks, Som Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dileep Posted July 8, 2010 #2 Share Posted July 8, 2010 we shared a car rental with another couple and parked it near the train station and took the hop on & hop off bus. The car pick up was right at the dock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fabnfortysomething Posted July 8, 2010 #3 Share Posted July 8, 2010 try SPB-tours.com they do tours in both St Petersburg and Berlin and will pick up from Warnemunde.We have booked them for our tour in a fortnight and with the aid of cruise critic have got a coach party of 18 together which will cost just over 100 euros each.Even if we had just stuck with our party of 3 the cost would have been 275 euros each. Compare that with the ships train tour of $269 dollars each I don't know how any company would say it would be cheaper to go with the ships tour. I will post a review on return and let you know how we got on Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eetonaee Posted July 8, 2010 #4 Share Posted July 8, 2010 We did the SPB tours in both St. Petersburg and Berlin so they gave us a 5% discount. They seem very willing to sell Berlin tours so I am surprised that you got a negative reaction from other companies. The owner of SPB lives in St. Petersburg while her husband spends the tour season in Berlin so you get very good service. We had a group of 12 on our ride in to Berlin and then we split into groups of 6 as we had special requests for certain sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giantfan13 Posted July 8, 2010 #5 Share Posted July 8, 2010 I have been talking to a couple of tour firms for St. Petersburg and asked if they do a tour of Berlin as well and they have suggested to book the ships tour to Berlin as it's cheaper; (they use the trains). They say there are not enough cars in Warnemunde so they have the cars come empty from Berlin then back empty after dropping us back off at the ship. Has anyone come across this and do you recommend a firm for Berlin?Thanks, Som This is the first time I ahve ever heard anything like this on this board. Not all the tour companies in St Petersburg do Berlin tours also, so that may be why you got a few No's. But for any of them to recommend you to the ship's tour is pretty unbelievable. As was said, SPB tours does both these tours regularly and they do them great. Viktoria handles the St Pete part and her husband does the Berlin tours and I ahve not heard one person say they regretted doing Berlin with SPB tours. And if you do both tours with them they will give you a discount price for them. Pretty good deal and MUCH better than any ship excursion. Cheers Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinelyRetired Posted July 10, 2010 #6 Share Posted July 10, 2010 In June 2007, 3 of us used www.private-berlin-tours.com and had an excellent day and tour of both Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (outside Berlin) and of Berlin. The company is locally based in Rostock/Warnemunde area and there seemed to be several tour groups from our ship (Prinsendam) of varying sizes using that company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sominex Posted July 10, 2010 Author #7 Share Posted July 10, 2010 In June 2007, 3 of us used www.private-berlin-tours.com and had an excellent day and tour of both Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp (outside Berlin) and of Berlin. The company is locally based in Rostock/Warnemunde area and there seemed to be several tour groups from our ship (Prinsendam) of varying sizes using that company. Hi FinelyRetired: How long did it take for this firm to email you back? I emailed them 2 days ago and have yet to hear from them. Thanks, Som Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecook Posted July 10, 2010 #8 Share Posted July 10, 2010 We also used SPB in Berlin. A fellow CC member orginized the tour for 21 of us. The cost was 95 Euros. I was very pleased with our tour. Our guide Heather was the best and 21 people was a very managable number. We traveled by coach with another group with a rest stop along the way. It was a long day, but, if you are a history buff, well worth the effort IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FinelyRetired Posted July 10, 2010 #9 Share Posted July 10, 2010 Hi FinelyRetired: How long did it take for this firm to email you back? I emailed them 2 days ago and have yet to hear from them.Thanks, Som Hi Som: Maybe check your spam folder? Sometime happens re: Europe. Emails were always prompt and in 2007 the booking coordinator was Susan and she was quite helpful as one in my group used a wheelchair Our driver/guide was Thomas. The email addy I used was: Rostock@Private-Berlin-Tours.com Hope this helps. Martha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sominex Posted July 11, 2010 Author #10 Share Posted July 11, 2010 Hi Som: Maybe check your spam folder? Sometime happens re: Europe. Emails were always prompt and in 2007 the booking coordinator was Susan and she was quite helpful as one in my group used a wheelchair Our driver/guide was Thomas. The email addy I used was: Rostock@Private-Berlin-Tours.com Hope this helps. Martha Yes I always check my spam folder when emailing someone new. I'll wait until tomorrow and email again if I don't get a reply. Thanks, Som Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted July 14, 2010 #11 Share Posted July 14, 2010 We used Jo Eckardt's company, afriendinberlin (you can google for their contact info) on June 7. We were a group of 12, and total cost was about 120 euros pp. We had a modern and very comfortable minibus exclusively for our group, and an excellent tour guide who joined us in Berlin. We were very pleased, and would highly recommend Jo's company to anyone! Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sominex Posted July 14, 2010 Author #12 Share Posted July 14, 2010 We used Jo Eckardt's company, afriendinberlin (you can google for their contact info) on June 7. We were a group of 12, and total cost was about 120 euros pp. We had a modern and very comfortable minibus exclusively for our group, and an excellent tour guide who joined us in Berlin. We were very pleased, and would highly recommend Jo's company to anyone! Sam That's a great rate...how was the traffic? We are a group of 8 adults and 3 of them are worried that we won't make it back to the ship in time... Thanks, Som Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted July 19, 2010 #13 Share Posted July 19, 2010 That's a great rate...how was the traffic? We are a group of 8 adults and 3 of them are worried that we won't make it back to the ship in time...Thanks, Som We were there on a Monday, and there was very little traffic on the Autoban...it seemed like we were flying! With a rest stop about halfway, it took a little less than 2-1/2 hours each way. We got back to Warnemunde about 7 pm, had dinner, then watched the port put on a fireworks display as our ship left port about 10 pm. I suggest you contact Jo, advise her of your arrival and departure times, and see what she suggests. Your price per person will be higher because you have less people, unless you pick up some more people from your Roll Call. Good luck! Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jba2 Posted July 20, 2010 #14 Share Posted July 20, 2010 We also used SPB for our tours in St. Petersburg and Berlin. I would definitely use them again. Our bus to Berlin had A/C and those who took the trains to Berlin on the ship's tour suffered miserably with no A/C. Our tours in both cities were fabulous and the guides were excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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