Hamburg - Advice on River Cruise, please

This is the HADAG website (the harbour ferries). As well as ferries you will see that they do a harbour cruise, which I have not done.
https://hadag.de/en/routes/hbel/#timetable
Any of the routes are great, I love pier hopping on them, linking with the city bus and railway routes.

I would find it hard to choose the best route- but probably 73, 75 and HBEL are my favourites. Service 75 goes very close to the modern cruise ship terminal.

They are public transport so HVV tickets are also valid on the boats (except on HBEL at weekends), so purchase tickets from any HVV machine.

Probably everyone will have a different 'favourite' route

The meeting place for a cruise in Hamburg is one or two subway stops from central station, Hamburg Hbf. You get off at the Landungsbrücken station either on the U-Bahn or the S-Bahn and walk down to the street level, cross the street to get over to Landungsbrücken. Landungsbrücken is also the station for the DJH hostel and the big Bismarck statue.

The harbour cruise is given in both German and English, obviously. Given a choice I always choose the German language tour.

They don't always translate everything said first in German, then in English. I don't know about the river cruise, that on the Elbe. Landungsbrücken is where you can inquire about all these details.

Thanks to you both. The link and the stop information is very useful. I might try a German language tour if the English is lacking.

In Hamburg you could join following boat tours: Harbor, Speicherstadt (warehouse district) or Alster (the amazing inner-city canals). The different boat tours are fantastic and I would join them all :-)

They start at different locations:

Alster: https://alstertouristik.de/fat-event/canal-trip/?lang=en
Speicherstadt: https://alstertouristik.de/fat-event/waterways-trip/?lang=en
Harbor: https://www.maritime-circle-line.de/en/

If you have the time and want to be on a cruise on water, then I would suggest going north of Hamburg to Kiel to do the Kiel Canal boat cruise, ( Nord- Ostsee Kanal ). That can be easily arranged with the Tourist Office located ca. 2 mins from Kiel Hbf. These activities such as that in Hamburg and its harbour cruises and Kiel are given in English as well as German since both places attract numerous international tourists, if not Americans, let alone lots of German tourists.

For Kiel that event is the yearly Kieler Woche, have been there a couple of times, very interesting if you want to experience, witness fun, lively activities in North Germany.

I never knew that there were full canal day cruises of the Kiel Canal. All I have ever been able to find is half length canal day cruises. I spent years trying to find one.
Then I had a scheduled ocean cruise via the Canal rerouted through the Skaggerak when it was realised that the ship's funnel was too tall for the bridges.

As it is I have now done the canal as part of a Baltic ocean cruise, with the first call after the canal being at Wismar, on the Astoria, which was then the oldest cruise ship in the world- at 70 years old.

And if one is really looking for an adventure then Germany's only offshore island Helgoland could be visited by boat from Hamburg.

Thank you for the links, mignon. They are just what I needed - my google efforts kept getting booking companies.

The other suggestions are so tempting! The Labor Naval Monument near Kiel was such a moving stop on my last visit to Germany. I didn't get into much of Kiel proper, but would like to explore. Helgoland - still on the bucket list! There is so much in Northern Germany that is off the radar of most US travelers. Shhhh! I like to keep the crowds down!

I think this trip, I must keep my limit of Hamburg with an excursion to Bremen, but I intend to make the most of our time there!

You've all been very helpful. Thank you!

Not sure about cruises on the Elbe, but there are many great river cruise lines.

Our favorite is Gate 1, but not sure they have one on the Elbe. Gate 1 is a quality line with fantastic prices.

Viking is a good cruise line and should be considered.
Others include
Grand Circle
AMA Waterways
Uniworld
Avalon
Tauck
Scenic
Emerald
Croisi

https://www.travelandleisure.com/cruises/river-cruises/european-river-cruises

The German Naval War Memorial in Laboe can be reached by public transport, both by ferry and the bus. The side exit in Kiel Hbf leads to a bus station just outside at which numerous bus lines stop, one of which goes out to Laboe.

The ferry for the Kiel harbour tour 90 mins, r/t, also stops at Laboe which is the tail end of the tour prior to heading back. If you want a German language only harbour tour, this is it, only German is spoken by the ferry guide, no audiophones, etc. No foreign tourists either on the tour. I took it twice on two different trips.

I saw the Laboe Marine Ehrenmal in Sept of 1977, ...walk up those steps, slowly but surely, to get the panoramic view of the lovely Schleswig area. Well worth the energy expended to reach the top.

For the harbor, the Maritime Circle Line is the way to go if you don't speak German. The tour is bilingual, so you can listen for the English, then zone out and enjoy during the German--it's the same information. It departs from Landungsbrücken 10 and includes a hop-on, hop-off option at stops like the Maritime Museum or the Emigration Museum. It's about 90 minutes and the tour of choice when we have visitors. It's comprehensive without being overwhelming.
https://www.maritime-circle-line.de/en/

The ferry most people take if they just want a ride around on their HVV ticket on a nice day (and yes, it's a thing--essentially free boat rides) is 62, which departs from Landungsbrücken as well (bridge 3) and stops at several points before getting out to Finkenwerder.

Finally, there is a much shorter ride--a commuter ferry across the Elbe, really--that might be fun. You can take the train (S1 or S11) to Blankenese, walk through the beautiful Treppenviertel, then take the HBEL ferry across to Cranz and the Altes Land. This ferry is far less regular, so be sure to do your homework.

Oh, and for the Alster, you can do cruises through the canals, but if the weather is nice it could be more fun to explore by renting a canoe or a Tretboot or even a stand up paddle board.

"There is so much in Northern Germany...." How true.

If you are delineating Northern Germany say, from Hamburg to Flensburg, ie, basically Holstein and South Schleswig, numerous towns fit the bill and their famous Schloesser and churches, let alone the more esoteric cultural and historical sites and war memorials. Towns such as Husum, Eutin/Holstein, Schleswig, Ploen, Eckernfoerde, Flensburg, Heide, etc.

Thanks, HowlinMad for the additional info which is quite pertinent to my immediate concern!

As for the other suggestions - YES! I have yet to take a river cruise, but some of those are on my radar.

My first extensive trip to Northern Germany, as defined by Fred(!), was the year before Covid arrived. We visited many of the towns listed. Wonderful people, sights, food! As far as the Laboe Monument, I somehow missed that there was an elevator. Climbed all those stairs to the top, only to run into the line waiting for the lift down! I found the entire experience, despite the unnecessary exercise, very moving. And, the views from the top were incredible.

Thanks - fun to reminisce and helpful information!

If you haven't yet, add Glückstadt to your list!