Distance from port for some major European Cities. Know before you go.

Yes, I took a Baltic Sea cruise, and we took a train from Warnemunde to Berlin, the cruise line had arranged our own train, the "Cruise Train", so the timing of it all worked out great, but it was a 12-hour day. I wouldn't have attempted to do that on my own for fear of not getting back to the ship by onboard time. It was really worth it though, we toured Berlin by bus, with several stops to get out and walk around, and then had a lovely lunch at a Beer Hall. Then drove out to Sachsenhausen, which was very somber, but I'm glad I went. We then took the "Cruise Train" back to the ship from Sachsenhausen.

We have learned over the years to just find something to do or see at the cruise port. For example, in Warnemunde we met a private guide and we took a very quick train ride to Rostock and enjoyed the city. A little research goes a long way on cruises and their ports.

We have done about 21. Ocean cruises since 2010 and visited most of the ports listed above.
Since we had already visited the large cities that are some distance from the ports, we never took excursions that ate up a lot of travel time.
We visited places nearer the ports, like going to Lucca instead of Florence.

We did do one excursion from the port of Le Harve to Normandy that was a bit of driving, but not so bad. Still, our excursion (a ship's excursion) arrived back at the ship a few minutes after we were told the ship would depart. Thankfully, because it was a ship's excursion, they waited for us.

hey hey Carol now retired
i'm on your side about distances from cruise ports to "advertised" cities. another port/city is civitavecchia to rome (55 miles/ 1+ hours)
with many cruisers out there wanting and hoping to see big city attractions and dealing with the thousands of cruisers planning same thing. depending on the number of ships in ports causes HAVOC, only so many can fit on a bus, train, taxi, the grumpy/nasty attitudes/pushy/pulling/yelling on the ports. i've been there, done that. saw people missing cruise ships departing.
have a couple bees or wasps in my bonnet, when the cruise lines mention big city to see or nearby but not how far/transportation, cutting back on what they can see with all the crowds with time restraints. want "cheap/budget" ways to get there since excursions are expensive, arriving day before (crazy) and leaving day cruise gets back to port.
trip of a lifetime for many, time it takes to save for it, add a few more bucks to enjoy places on land. really read up on which cruise, ports, what to see and do with research, ask questions, cruisecritic.com can be very informative (we have shared private taxi tours arranged ahead of time with pick up at dock and adament to be back at ship time) in different ports.
i loved several of my cruises and would go again, i'm the researcher for my friends, run it by them and agree or not. we always find something even though it could be area near port that many don't go to. that's the best to see small villages/towns, shops, restaurants and translate button. great fun times
aloha

This is a terrific reminder generally, but who got the idea that Bordeaux is 60 miles from port? Ships dock right in the center city, even for ocean cruises (though not the huge ships).

As for Berlin, I agree it's a long day when accessed from the port at Warnemund, but it was a very important excursion for me. It made me realize how much I needed to return to visit the city for an entire week. What a great city!