Warnemuende (Berlin): best shore excursions (with kids)

[mirkymirk]

Hello

 

We are cruising with Princess this summer and one stop is Warnemuende and we would like to take a shore excursion (either with Princess, or with the Shore Excursions Group) to Berlin.  We want to see some countryside/ lakes/ castles (drive by), see places like the Berlin Wall, and a few key historic sites although my kids (aged 9 and 12) and my wife and I are not 'major' history buffs, so seeing them briefly is fine.  We would also want time for some shopping and poking around in 'town'.  

With the Shore Excursions Group, I am considering either:

• Best of Berlin (with wifi):
• Best of Berlin (I guess no wifi lol) 

 

With Princess, I am considering either:

• Best of Berlin by Train
• Easy Berlin by Train

 

If there are other options that you have done (whether through independent tour operators) or if the train from the port to Berlin is reliable and easy, perhaps the HoHo bus in Berlin is a good option?

Thanks in advance.

[kitkat343]

I took my 3 year old on a Baltic cruise, and we visited all of the major historical sites of Tallinn, Stockholm and St. Petersburg and he loved it.  But we absolutely did not attempt to travel to Berlin from  Warnemuende.  Your children might be exceptional travelers, in which case Berlin with the 5 hour roundtrip transportation might be a good choice for your family.   But my child who loved Peterhof  and Catherine's palace would be utterly bored at the Berlin Wall.  Talk to your  kids and make sure there are things in Berlin they are excited enough to see that would justify that travel time.  If they're excited to visit Berlin, go.  Plenty of people told me I was nuts for taking my kid on a Baltic cruise and he had a wonderful time.  But we do try to use private tours to control the itinerary, and that might be something to strongly consider if you can afford it so you can maximize your limited time in Berlin and see what your family is really interested in.  

 

Would Schwerin Castle work better for your family?

 

My son was obsessed with trains at 3 so we visited the Mollie steam train, which was enjoyable but not a must do unless someone really loves trains (the Schwerin castle was closed on the day we were in Germany).  

Edited January 20 by kitkat343

[Scottishclover]

Here’s my suggested itinerary. Go to Schwerin Castle in the morning. You could visit the castle and then take a boat out on the lake, followed by a poke about town. You can easily take the train from the port with one change in Rostock. Buy a Mecklenburg-West-Vorpommern ticket where the whole family can travel all day on local and regional transport for around €25. 

 

Then a visit to “Karl’s “ in the afternoon. Karl’s started off as a small strawberry farm and has expanded over the years to be the known as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s Disneyland. It even has its own train station so you can go on public transport. It’s well done, lots to do ( especially for children) but there’s also shopping opportunities and places to eat. We took our teens about 5 years ago and they loved it. My 20 year is on a year abroad in Rostock, went in December with friends and even they all enjoyed it. They were devastated the big slides were closed due to snow😂

If you have been history/city heavy in your other ports an afternoon in Warnemuende is also a nice alternative. The beach is wide and clean and it’s a nice place to wander.

 

I agree with the above poster that it will be a very long day going to Berlin, but you will know if your children can cope. I do think to get the best of Berlin, you have to understand its modern history. I’m not sure how meaningful it will be just to drive by the sights.

 

https://karls.de/roevershagen/

[hallasm]

Good advice from the two previous posters.
It is a long way from Warnemünde to Berlin - easily 3 to 4 hours each way

[mirkymirk]

19 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

I took my 3 year old on a Baltic cruise, and we visited all of the major historical sites of Tallinn, Stockholm and St. Petersburg and he loved it.  But we absolutely did not attempt to travel to Berlin from  Warnemuende.  Your children might be exceptional travelers, in which case Berlin with the 5 hour roundtrip transportation might be a good choice for your family.   But my child who loved Peterhof  and Catherine's palace would be utterly bored at the Berlin Wall.  Talk to your  kids and make sure there are things in Berlin they are excited enough to see that would justify that travel time.  If they're excited to visit Berlin, go.  Plenty of people told me I was nuts for taking my kid on a Baltic cruise and he had a wonderful time.  But we do try to use private tours to control the itinerary, and that might be something to strongly consider if you can afford it so you can maximize your limited time in Berlin and see what your family is really interested in.  

 

Would Schwerin Castle work better for your family?

 

My son was obsessed with trains at 3 so we visited the Mollie steam train, which was enjoyable but not a must do unless someone really loves trains (the Schwerin castle was closed on the day we were in Germany).  

Thanks for your tips.  I'm glad to hear that you had a great experience!  My kids are amazing travellers and cruisers. Since this is potentially our one and only shot at Berlin, we want to see some key sites, but will have to miss a lot of the museums and war/ concentration sites due to sensitivity.  I think we are going to book with ShoreExcursionsGroup and make the best of it!

[kitkat343]

2 hours ago, mirkymirk said:

Thanks for your tips.  I'm glad to hear that you had a great experience!  My kids are amazing travellers and cruisers. Since this is potentially our one and only shot at Berlin, we want to see some key sites, but will have to miss a lot of the museums and war/ concentration sites due to sensitivity.  I think we are going to book with ShoreExcursionsGroup and make the best of it!

 

When I was on my honeymoon and before I had kids I met a family with three children age 8-13 at Ankgor Watt.  They told me they'd been backpacking through Asia for 6 months.  At the time, I thought "goodness I don't think I'd ever be able to do that."  And now that I have kids I know I can't do that.  But they were having a wonderful time, and hopefully so will you.

 

One more possibility to consider - we did Stockholm entirely on our own without a tour since we wanted to see a lot of very specific things that wouldn't be on a group tour (Vasa, the open air lemur exhibit at Skansen, the Royal Armory, the hands on Viking exhibition at the history museum).  I don't know anything about ShoreExcursionsGroup but if that's a standard group tour of the normal highlights of Berlin, then maybe If a private tour for just your family isn't an option, I wonder it the public transportation in Berlin is strong enough that you could  tour just by yourselves so you could customize the itinerary?  I haven't researched this at all, but maybe it's something to consider since your kids might not prefer a standard tour.  But you can discuss all of this with them and if they support it, go for whatever you think is best since you know them best.