Trains between Warnemunde and Berlin ?

[nerves]

We will be doing a June Baltic cruise with Princess and wanted to try and get train tickets leaving Warnemunde 0803 and arriving back from Berlin 1943. Our ship departs at 2100. The Berlin on your Own option costs $160 p/p for party of four, on bahn.com, we're $70 p/p. However, there are posts about trains being undependable. What are some comments about those who have taken the trains, is this too narrow of a time slot to catch the ship? The train back is a two hour direct.... Should we pony up the money to do the 'on your own option'? Any advice is greatly appreciated, bahn.com starts ticketing 90 days out and we're 101 days out.

[Travelanni]

We will be doing a June Baltic cruise with Princess and wanted to try and get train tickets leaving Warnemunde 0803 and arriving back from Berlin 1943. Our ship departs at 2100. The Berlin on your Own option costs $160 p/p for party of four, on bahn.com, we're $70 p/p. However, there are posts about trains being undependable. What are some comments about those who have taken the trains, is this too narrow of a time slot to catch the ship? The train back is a two hour direct.... Should we pony up the money to do the 'on your own option'? Any advice is greatly appreciated, bahn.com starts ticketing 90 days out and we're 101 days out.

Hi, on the schedule I can see three arrivals for Regal Princess in June, on a Sunday, a Monday and a Thursday. This makes a difference as the direct ICE arriving in Warnemünde 19:43 does not operate on Sunday. It terminates in Rostock at 21:34

In any case, although I usually prefer trains and DIY, in the case of Berlin I would advise taking the 'Berlin on your own' option for the following reasons.

• shorter distance trains eg. Rostock to Berlin, are very dependable but the ICE is a long distance train and these are sometimes late at the final destination due to having to wait for connections along the way. Does not happen often but a big risk
  

 

• By train you would have over an hour less time in Berlin. The outward travel time is three hours, starting at 8:03 arriving 11:12, whereas by road the travel time is around two and a half hours and the coach would probably start at 7:30 getting you into Berlin by 10:00. The coach will drop-off and pick-up in the centre of the tourist area but by train you have to get from the station to the centre and back which takes about 20mins, not much of a time saving but very significant on such a short day.
  

 

• you have no control over the time you get back. The timing is very tight and if you miss the train or it is delayed you are too far away for a plan B. Although the ship will wait for the tour bus it will not wait for the train.
  

BTW the prices you quoted do not agree with the prices on the DB web site. They quote 90.60pp standard fare and 85.60pp special fare. This is because the return leg of the journey is by ICE and special fares do not cover the premier trains. I would be inclined, in this situation, to pay the extra for the guarantee that I would not not miss the ship.

If you have not already done so it might be worth investigating whether any of the tour companies - SPB, Alla etc - offer 'transport only' to Berlin, they are usually less expensive than the ships tours and very reliable, it is not in their interest for passengers to miss the ship.

 

Hope this helps with your planning.

 

Happy cruising :)

Anni

http://www.travelanni.webs.com

Edited March 3, 2015 by Travelanni

[nerves]

Thanks for the great advice, Anni! I have emails in to Alla and SPB...they both look quite nice - and the SPB tour is still less than the 'own your own option' from Princess. The info is quite valuable!