Booking return flights from Berlin to USA

[JHLH821]

We are starting to compare airfare options for our cruise next August, sailing on the Regal Princess. If we arrive at 7am and get off the ship in a reasonable amount of time, would we be safe to book a 2:30pm flight to the US, departing from Berlin?

 

The end destination is San Francisco, we plan to stay in NYC for one night before the final leg of the flight.

 

Thanks,

Leta

[Travelanni]

We are starting to compare airfare options for our cruise next August, sailing on the Regal Princess. If we arrive at 7am and get off the ship in a reasonable amount of time, would we be safe to book a 2:30pm flight to the US, departing from Berlin?

 

The end destination is San Francisco, we plan to stay in NYC for one night before the final leg of the flight.

 

Thanks,

Leta

 

Where are you disembarking?

[Danish viking]

I´m guessing at the Spree cruise terminal :D

Edited August 2, 2015 by Danish viking

[JHLH821]

Warmarunde is the planned port for disembarking

[GradUT]

How do you plan to get from Warnemuende to Berlin? Are you taking the train or does the ship offer transportation?

 

Right now the Deutsche Bahn website shows a train from Warnemuende leaving at 8:03 am and arriving at Tegel Airport in Berlin at 11:37 am. This train would work for you IF the ship arrives on time and IF you can be off the ship and at the train station with tickets in hand by 7:50 or so and IF you can carry your own bags off the ship. (This early debarkation time is reserved for those who do self-debarkation.) Unfortunately, that's a lot of IFs.

 

The next train leaves at 8:33 am but doesn't arrive until 1:17 pm which would be too late to make a 2:30 pm international flight.

 

If the ship offers transportation, I'd allow at least 3 hours for trip.

[JHLH821]

Thank you

[Danish viking]

Also notice that besides Tegel there is also Schönefeld but I don´t know if that airport offers intercontinental flights.

[Jonza]

How do you plan to get from Warnemuende to Berlin? Are you taking the train or does the ship offer transportation?

 

Right now the Deutsche Bahn website shows a train from Warnemuende leaving at 8:03 am and arriving at Tegel Airport in Berlin at 11:37 am. This train would work for you IF the ship arrives on time and IF you can be off the ship and at the train station with tickets in hand by 7:50 or so and IF you can carry your own bags off the ship. (This early debarkation time is reserved for those who do self-debarkation.) Unfortunately, that's a lot of IFs.

 

The next train leaves at 8:33 am but doesn't arrive until 1:17 pm which would be too late to make a 2:30 pm international flight.

 

If the ship offers transportation, I'd allow at least 3 hours for trip.

There is no train station at Tegel airport (there is a S-Bahn station called Berlin-Tegel, but that is in the neighborhood of Tegel and not the airport). The airport is served only by bus.

[GradUT]

There is no train station at Tegel airport (there is a S-Bahn station called Berlin-Tegel, but that is in the neighborhood of Tegel and not the airport). The airport is served only by bus.

 

You are absolutely right. I just didn't want to confuse the OP with all the details of the trip (S-bahn, train, bus), which she could find on the DB website. I meant to just point out that it was a long trip and that there was only one time that would work if she intended to take public transportation from Warnemuende.

Edited August 2, 2015 by GradUT

[JHLH821]

There is no train station at Tegel airport (there is a S-Bahn station called Berlin-Tegel, but that is in the neighborhood of Tegel and not the airport). The airport is served only by bus.

We plan to fly in to Tegel a few days in advance to tour Berlin. Also considering the ship's transfer in this instance due to timing and distance.

 

Thanks for the details.

[Travelanni]

How do you plan to get from Warnemuende to Berlin? Are you taking the train or does the ship offer transportation?

 

Right now the Deutsche Bahn website shows a train from Warnemuende leaving at 8:03 am and arriving at Tegel Airport in Berlin at 11:37 am. This train would work for you IF the ship arrives on time and IF you can be off the ship and at the train station with tickets in hand by 7:50 or so and IF you can carry your own bags off the ship. (This early debarkation time is reserved for those who do self-debarkation.) Unfortunately, that's a lot of IFs.

 

The next train leaves at 8:33 am but doesn't arrive until 1:17 pm which would be too late to make a 2:30 pm international flight.

 

If the ship offers transportation, I'd allow at least 3 hours for trip.

 

 

Not quite sure which web site you used but the German site quotes a trip involving getting off one station before the main station (Hbf) and changing buses twice. Probably the quickest overall but not a good idea if you have luggage and don't know the city well.

Also these are 2015 times and things may change, we may even have a new airport :rolleyes:.

Timetables can be a bit misleading if you don't know the conditions on the ground. Eg. they allow 10 mins transfer time in Rostock. OK if you know the station and but not so good if the train is only a couple of minutes late, you have luggage and need to sort out which platform you want, lift to use etc. They also allow 9mins walk time from the train to the bus in Berlin Hbf. I would doubt that this can be done by a stranger with luggage even if the train is on time and they are first off. The Hbf is huge (five levels), train come in on level 5, buses leave from outside level 2 and the lifts/escalators are notoriously slow. The TXL bus, the only one direct, runs fairly frequently but often there is such a long queue that half the queue has to wait for the next bus.

The ships shuttle may be OK depending on what time it leaves.

Another alternative would be a private car transfer and this would work, cruise terminal to airport around 3 hours.

 

Even with my local knowledge I would not risk trying for a 2.30pm flight unless travelling by private car and even then I would be nervous about it.

 

Happy planning,

Anni

http://www.travelanni.webs.com

Edited August 3, 2015 by Travelanni

[pompeii]

I don't know if you are planning to use Princess EZAir or not, but I just did a flight search on a May sailing RT Warnemunde, and at least one of the options was a 2:30 flight on Delta out of Berlin. So Princess must think you can make it but probably using their transfer.

 

That brings up another question, everyone mentions that EZAir offers next port protection to the cruise, but what do they do if you miss your flight home? Do they offer any kind of assistance?

[Cruisers from MA]

OP - I have the same question as you - Warnemuende arrival is "7AM", but how quickly will we be off the ship if we do the "Walk Off" self-disembarkation option?

 

Although we will arrive in Berlin and spend a few days there before traveling to Warnemuende to board Regal Princess, I'm wondering whether to fly home from Berlin (we're not planning post-cruise time there), or whether to fly from an airport closer to Warnemuende.

 

Anni - can you advise?

 

It looks like the airport in Rostock (RLG) has one (?!) departure daily that might be helpful - it leaves for Munich (MUC) at 1010. If we Walk Off, is that a flight we could reasonably plan for, or is it too early to be a safe choice?

 

Alternatively, it looks like many departures from Hamburg (HAM) for Frankfurt (FRA) or Munich, and convenient connections from FRA or MUC to the USA. (Warnemuende to HAM looks like it's 2 trains - first, a direct train from Rostock to Hamburg's main train station (Hamburg Hbf), and then the suburban train S1 from Hamburg Hbf to HAM).

 

If we're not planning to visit the city of Berlin post-cruise, is it useful (or better) to fly home from RLG or HAM?

 

 

Thanks (hope I didn't hijack the thread!)

[JHLH821]

I have spoken with Princess and other travelers and have been assured that we can make a 2:30pm flight, departing from Berlin. There were no good connections to the west coast so we will be staying overnight on the east coast and returning to San Francisco the following day.

 

Personally, I would not book any flight that departs before 1-1:30pm just to be safe.