Need private tour guides for Scandinavian/East Europ cities, esp for Berlin-Thanks

[Live the good life]

Please share your experience on the private drivers/tour guides you have used in the Scandinavian/Eastern Europe countries, especially for Berlin (e.g., Berlin Starting Point or others...)So far we have only made arrangement with a private tour guide for St. Petersburg. Recommendations on private drivers/guides would be appreciated...Sooner or later hopefully we will be visiting most of the European cities...For this Constellation sailing, we will have limited time in ports and would like to have the best possible experience (2nd/3rd choices for us would be ship tours and hop on hop off buses)...

 

Thanks!

 

Kim

[SueMo]

If you go to the ports of call section and select "Baltic" you will find tons of information on Scandinavia/Eastern Europe. You can search the forum for "Berlin" and I'm sure you'll find names of private companies others have used there.

[aqua]

This is what I wrote about our Berlin experience in my review of our Constellation trip this summer. Hope this helps.

 

On Friday the ship docked in Rostock. Five of our group took the ship's Berlin On Your Own excursion. They took the special train to Berlin where they met info@berlin-starting-point.de for a private tour. They were very pleased with the tour and recommend the guide. However, there were some problems, but not with the tour agency. I had called Celebrity before we left the country to verify the name of the arrival train station. Once on board, I stopped by the Shore Excursions desk to confirm the station. After 2 days, they notified me that the train would arrive at a different station. I was able to email the tour agency and they were met at the correct place. While our family left the train station with the guide, the remaining passengers were bussed downtown. During that time, Celebrity changed the meeting time for the return to the ship. However, our group had no way of knowing this. Fortunately, they saw people they recognized at the meeting place and they were able to meet the bus to go to the train station. The train ended up being 2 hours late, and the captain had to hold the ship.

[Live the good life]

SueMo, Aqua-Thanks for your replies...

 

Agua, I think I have read your post a few months ago on the Baltic forum...We have finally dedided to visit Berlin but debating whether to take the ship's "Berlin on Your Own" then meet up with a private tour company such as "Berlin Starting Point" to tour for 4-5 hours.

 

On this year's description on "Berlin on Your Own" , the word "Coach" was listed in parentheses next to the tour name. Wondering whether that would mean that they will take us by train on a non-first class cabin or by bus?

 

Or should we use "Berlin Starting Point" from A to Z? Were they pleasant, accommodating and professional? They are willing to pick us up at the ship in an air-conditioned minivan, take us to Berlin where a licensed tour guide will join us for this 4-5 hour tour. Then at 05:00 p.m, we will be taken back to the ship by our driver in the same minivan...

 

The only reason why we would combine Celebrity's "Berlin on your own" and a Private Tour company is so that the ship would wait for us in case there is a delay in getting back to the ship...If we decide to only use a private company, hopefully there will not be any problem if we leave Berlin at 05:00 p.m. According to our recently revised schedule, our ship Constellation will have an extra hour in port and will not depart until 09:30 p.m....

 

Thanks, Kim

[aqua]

Hi Kim,

My family really liked the tour guide in Berlin. The company emailed suggested sites to visit and my husband modified it somewhat while in Berlin. They found the guide to be very knowledgable and nice. The company was good at responding to my emails and they were at the train station on time to greet our group.

 

My husband and father are "train buffs" so that was why we chose that mode of transportation. It would have been less expensive for the tour agency to have met the ship and driven to Berlin. I'm really not sure if "coach" is a bus or train. But I do know that the Constellation was delayed more than once this summer because of train problems in Berlin. Perhaps they have decided to change their excursion. You can try to call Celebrity and ask, but it may be hard to get an answer. (I had a vey difficult time getting the train station info before we sailed.)

 

I also worry about missing the ship. I talked to a lady who drove into Germany (not Berlin) and got caught in a traffic jam. Had the ship sailed on time, they would have missed her. But if Constellation is sailing later than in the past,then perhaps you will be fine. I would email the agency and get their opinion. Good luck, I know it is a hard decision!

[HiltonHead]

Live The Good Life: We were on the Celeb Constellation's Baltic Cruise last summer. We used Gregory Keegan owner of Berlin Travel Service. http://www.berlin2serv.com/ He is an American who has lived in Berlin for many years. He had a late model Van pick us (two couples) up where the ship docked in Rostock then drove us to Berlin (2 hours) where we met up with Greg. We spent a wonderful day in Berlin with him. He is very knowledgable and quite interesting. He is more than willing to custom the tour to your liking. Around 5pm we left him and his driver drove us back to the ship. You can get an email address from the website that I included above. I would recommend him very highly.

[Live the good life]

Thanks Hilton Head...I know I can always count on cc members who frequent this Europe port of call board...

I checked berlin2serve web site. Seems like there would be many options for site-seeing including boat rides...Do you recall how much it costed your family for a day with them? Will the van fit our group of 7 (4 adults and 3 teenagers)? Also, our Constellation will arrive at 07:00 a.m., what would be a same time for them to pick us up? Some companies suggested 0745 am pick up time...

 

Also, did you go on a boat ride? How much time did Greg spend with your family in Berlin? Tell us about the sites you enjoyed visiting the most in Berlin...

 

Thanks, Kim

[HiltonHead]

The total cost was 815 Euros. So it was 407.5 Euros for my wife and myself. (We split with another couple that Greg was able to put us with from our ship at our request). Figuring $1.30 to the Euro, that would be about $264pp that we paid. The ship was getting $299 for their all day tour last year. You don't have that long 2 1/2 hour train ride each way and getting put on 40 passenger buses after arriving in Berlin. The ship's tours can only move as fast as the slowest person on that bus. In my opinion,a private tour is a much better way to go. Greg spent the entire day with us. I think we got to Berlin around 9:30am or so and he was with us until we had to leave to return to the ship which was 5pm or so. He had the driver waiting for us in Rostock. So just as soon as the ship clears customs, you can be on your way.

 

We did not do a boat tour. We spent most of our time taking the van to an area of interest and then doing a lot on foot with Greg (again at our request). The driver would then meet us at a pre-determined location and then we would go to another area. Greg found us a great German pub for a great lunch and drinks.

 

Don't worry about missing the ship. Greg is very aware of this and uses a company for his vans that has other vehicles that could be dispatched if necessary due to mechanical problems. As far as size, I don't think 7 would be a problem if I remember correctly. He is good about answering questions by email in a timely fashion.

 

Keep in mind, he has other people who leads tours, so make sure you find out who will be conducting your tour and the qualifications of that person if it is not Greg. You could also make the agreement on condition he conducts it personally.