Berlin on your own from cruise ship

It sounds as though you have a set definite goal in Berlin, which is top priority. Doing that via the Hop Off Hop On bus is quite feasible. Expect the train ride to be ca. 3 hours from Warnemünde to Berlin Hbf. , transferring in Rostock. Time-wise very doable.

The HOHO bus will drop you off in front of the Brandenburg Gate (I assume that's what you mean taking that bus from the Hbf to the Brandenburg Gate or close by

What you have in mind can be done without speaking German, all the service personnel you encounter speak English.

Two exits on the top floor *street level" at Berlin Hbf....Invalidenstrasse and Washington Strasse. The Berlin Hbf Tourist Office is located one of these exits...Invalidenstrasse (?)

Thank you so much. Can we use our Global eurail flexi pass on this train?

What are the hours for your port stop? Be sure to take into account the train schedule as well as the travel time for the train. I like that you identified what was important to you. You can save significant money by buying your train tickets in advance on the dbahn website.

I don’t think I would want a 12 hour excursion either. Do keep in mind two oddities of cruising. Weather or unexpected issues can sometimes arise and cause a port to be cancelled. Your money would be refunded with a ship excursion. The other is the infamous, “the ship won’t wait for non ship shore excursions.” I am not sure I have actually ever met anyone who has ever had this issue.

Have a wonderful trip.

Just read your Eurail question. You could but advance fare is pretty reasonable, you may not want to waste a day of your pass. Where else are you traveling with your Eurail pass?

RE: using the Pass, yes. I would suggest getting a seat reservation (4.95 Euro ?), worth it so as to ensure your seat.

Rostock Hbf is one with a good number of stairs. Be prepared for that. That's how it stuck me when I was there some years ago taking the Rostock Hbf to Hamburg Hbf train...a direct shot.

There are through IC trains broadly every 2 hours from Warnemunde which are as little as 2:15 in travel time.

With the current disruption on DB due to engineering work build in a healthy buffer on the way back, and have a plan and your passport to get to the next port if it goes totally belly up.

The through trains are as low as 15 Euros each way, and convey a Cafe or Bistro Car. In the past I have even done an ICE on that through route but that is a thing of the past now.

It is a far, far more civilised way to go than the ship's bus excursion, and a fraction of the price.

Further than I would personally want to stray from the ship, but it is your choice.

Doable.

In your own interest I recommend to consider a different destination than Checkpoint Charlie. It will disappoint you because the today version has nearly nothing of what it was in Cold War times. There are information tables around which will provide an impression of earlier times. Maybe pick one other of the top 10 in Berlin - #9 you listed already.

I think the expectations you may have for this quick flip to Berlin will all be based on your time of departure from Warnemünde and the time you need to be back in Warnemünde. Don't forget to add in time for getting on and off the ship.

Best to study the DB train schedules very closely.

We have done 21 ocean cruises since 2010 and prefer private tours to the expensive ship's excursions. However, going to Berlin from Warnenaude is not a good one for doing it yourself. Miss the ship and you have a huge problem.

Also, it is no way to visit Berlin. You spend so much travel time getting there that is a waste. Berlin deserves more that a few tired hours.

Recommend saving Berlin for another trip and find a place to visit closer to Warnemaude. Consider visiting Rostock instead.

If you insist on Berlin take the ship's excursion , not do it yourself.

I would second geovagriffiths advice. A cruise ship tour just isn't enough time to do a city like Berlin justice. However, if you view this tour as a "taster" for another trip to Berlin in the future, by all means. When I did a Baltic cruise in 2014, I went to Wismar for a day instead of Berlin. Way less travel, and it was an interesting town.

WE'RE DOING IT! Thanks so much for all the feedback. Several years back there used to be a rail Europe office in Vancouver, with a real person, that you could get advice from but no longer. We will get the Global Flexi passes - senior, using on Eurostar from London to Amsterdam (will reserve seats), and from Warnemaude to Berlin. We are staying in Windsor while in the UK and also have a few days in Amsterdam pre cruise and Rotterdam post cruise, so we will use the passes a few more times. The idea of a 12 hour excursion, about 6 hours in each, is not appealing. We are not looking at this so much as 'seeing Berlin' as a chance to visit a couple of things deeply entrenched in our learned history, Brandenburg Gate and The Berlin Wall. The Hop On Hop Off will be a great way to get where we want to go, and see a bit aling the way.. Have used them on other adventures and will use in Amstrdam and most other ports on the cruise. I know this plan bears some risk, and for those who think that the crises ship will not leave you behind, I assure you they will! Two elderly women were left in Florence on a cruise I was on a few years ago. They may still be there, wandering the maze of similar looking streets!. That was even on a ship's excursion. If you miss the bus or train, they will NOT wait. It is your responsibility to be where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be, or all guarantees off.
Thank you again everyone, we.depart in May and will have it all figured out by then. With margins for error if course.

Chances are very high that you will paying much more for your passes than point to point tickets. As long as you know this, it is your choice whether to purchase or not. I love your adventurous spirit!

I'll always remember our ship leaving Ketchikan on schedule and a small boat chasing after it with two ladies and their shopping bags. The ship crew lowered a rope ladder, the small boat pulled alongside, and the ladies climbed up to one of the lower decks. Nobody slowed down. Since then we've been very careful about getting back in plenty of time. We've also left many ports without a few people who didn't make it for whatever reason.

Your day will be mostly on the train and you'll be rushed in Berlin. The Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie (which doesn't amount to much) are fairly close together, and there's a short section of the wall nearby. But the best experience of the wall is farther north, a park with a long stretch of wall, a guard tower, and some moving exhibits. The HOHO bus will probably take you to all these places and provide a view of many others, but it may also be slow-moving and you'll have to wait for the next one whenever you get off.

This isn't a trip I'd make, either with a ship excursion or on my own, but you seem determined and youre well traveled, so good luck. Let us know how it works out!

Thanks Carol, we are neighbours btw - Vancouver and Victoria BC. Now in the process of more clearly defining and narrowing down what we want to do. I will price out cost of separate tickets vs eirailpass and see if it is worth it. We can use the pass as much as we want on the days we activate it, which is an advantage- although we will have to pay nominal sum for sear reservations on some longer trips. We will use for some travel in Amsterdam and maybe also on another of ships' ports.

In the UK our cruise specific insurance policies usually include missed port cover. So if you opt for point to point tickets and the cruise doesn't call at Warnemunde for any reason you would get the cost of those train tickets back, and then some.

I don't know if your insurance market offers similar.

I almost always do on my own excursions in similar vein to this (though I would go west from Warnemunde or do something odd with Rostock transit). I have several times been last on board, though within (just) all aboard time. Never beyond all aboard time, although I have had to cut days short sometimes to achieve that. I reckon you should get between 4 and 5 hours in Berlin, if all goes well. In Germany I have used pre purchased Lander tickets to give me flexibility.

Hi Coralgardens. There is one more idea I’d like to throw out regarding Berlin. Back in 2017 we were docked in Warnemunde from 9am to 10pm. We too wanted to see Berlin. We did not want to spend a ridiculous amount for the ship’s shore excursion but we really felt we would be better served with some sort of tour. We booked with a tour company named “SBP Tours”. They were outstanding! I checked current reviews today before posting this and they still have outstanding reviews. They are a company based in Berlin (though they do tours in many cities), and specialize in shore excursions. They provide pickup and drop off right at the ship, transportation to and from Berlin and an excellent onboard guide for getting the absolute most out of a day in Berlin. We saw so much and learned so much more than we could ever have managed on our own. There was a perfect blend of “drive bys” and walking tours. There were 16 of us on the tour and fortunately, all were very good. No laggers!! SPB also guarantees to have you back at the ship in plenty of time for sailing. If you miss the ship because of them, they’ll get you to the next port of call at their expense. We also did tours with SPB as part of that same cruise in St. Petersburg, Tallinn, and Stockholm. Each tour was excellent.
Obviously much will be dependent on how long you’re in port but if time permits, you might want to consider looking into them.
Unfortunately, I think you’ll be very disappointed when seeing “Checkpoint Charlie”. It’s been turned into nothing more than a ridiculous money making photo op.

One final comment.. there’s an excellent book entitled “In the Garden of Beasts” by Erik Larson. It’s a true story. Fascinating story and it will make much of Berlin come alive once you get there!! Enjoy your cruise!!
Peg

Thanks Fred, for all your suggestions. I am going to start practicing stairs! And I will check out the book recommended by Peg. So excited 😊

@ coralgardens.....You're welcome.

Great that you're determined to do this excursion. Think...it can be done from Warnemünde and back, more effectively if one knows exactly what one is doing.

When your train pulls in at Berlin Hbf, head for the stairs or escalators going up as you need to get to the street floor where you can exit to get to the HOHO bus. Most likely as pointed out above, you could just have 4-5 hrs in Berlin, not much but doable and better than nothing.

I would have done likewise too had my 1st time in Berlin been so limited, ie 5 hrs is still five hours. I was that desperate to see the Brandenburg Gate, Pariser Platz and Unter den Linden, paintings and photos of which I had seen in several books depicting them in the Nazi period, and especially, those in the 19th and turn of the century, almost always with the Gate facing eastwards.

I use the Senior Global Flex Pass too, this is an occasion to hop on to and fro (hin und zurück)

My suggestion is to hire a good guide, who can arrange transportation to Berlin, in the city, and back to the ship. Regarding cost, the guide might be contacted by others on your cruise asking about a Berlin excursion that day, which would reduce the costs, or you can go to the forum for your cruise on the cruisecritic website, asking if other passengers would like to join in on a day trip to Berlin.

The value added by the guide will exceed the cost of hiring a guide, especially if you can get two or so other passengers to join you. This may be the time to splurge. You will eliminate or greatly reduce anxiety over getting to Berlin and getting back to the ship on time because the guides have so much experience doing this type of excursion. And given the limited time you will have in the city, the guide can show you exactly what you want to see and do. The Rick Steves chapter on Berlin in his Germany book contains a number of really good guides who have years of experience in servicing cruise-ship passengers from Warnemaude, though I can readily name two, including one I used about 12 years ago for a day trip to Berlin from Warnemaude.

Incidentally, I found my visit to Berlin, however limited, a high point of my Baltic cruise, and the introduction prompted me to visit Berlin five years later for a lengthy stay.

But whatever you decide, have a great cruise.