Schwerin Port Excursion

It is a beautiful castle ([video][1]) and today a place of state government.

Never did the mentioned tour: I recommend to search on cruise specific forums for that.

"Worth" is always a very individual rating.

By train you can reach that also on your own in 90 minutes each way: www.bahn.com
From: Warnemünde Werft
To: Schwerin Hbf

If you use only S and RE trains you can so this by regional state day ticket for Mecklenburg West Pommerania:
https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets.shtml

The castle is magnificent... the outside, with the park and the lake. Wonderful on a beautiful day. The interior is nice, but nothing special. Like Neuschwanstein. Schwerin itself is quite pleasant. A mix of half-timbered houses and 18th and 19th century (government) buildings (the city was the capital of a duchy), with a medieval church in the centre.

It's nice to see that the cruise lines started to offer tours in the area. If you're looking for a bit more: there is a local company, Friends of Dave, with rave reviews on Tripadvisor, which offers the so called "Mega Mecklenburg Tour"; to me the perfect introduction to this part of Germany. They show you a seaside resort (Warnemünde), a medieval Hanseatic town (Wismar), and the former capital of the duchy of Mecklenburg (Schwerin) with a fairytale castle, plus a meal in a medieval brewery and coffee and cake, a beloved German tradition.

BTW: I see that NCL offers tours to Schwerin, Wismar, Rostock and Bad Doberan. In case you travel as a group: it's also possible to do these tours on your own and save quite a bit of money. All you need is a Länderticket, which costs between 27€ and 35€ for up to 5 people.

Thank you both for your helpful and informative responses.
I believe that one or both of you answered an earlier post that I had about Berlin when I was first trying to make some decisions. The responses that I received then caused me to consider other options such as Schwerin. I do not want to do the trek to Berlin only to spend 6 hours on a tour bus and then trek back to the ship.
I am going to be 74 years old with some health issues and I travel alone. I get $100 credit towards my shore excursions so the Schwerin port excursion will only cost me $29.00. For me, the best choice would be to go with a group through Norwegian.
I am aware of Friends of Dave but it is a very fast paced and full day. I would not be able to keep up with the group. It would be too tiring for me.

Bostonphil7, we enjoyed Schwerin as a part-day stop on an independent trip by car across northeast Germany. We didn't have time for the castle interior, but enjoyed walking the old town, as well as around the castle. It makes sense to take a ship excursion, since then you don't have to worry about failing to get back before the ship departs - the ship will wait for their own excursions, even if they are late.

Because people ask here often about the trek from the (you didn't say ... ) Rostock (??) port to Berlin, I URGE you to use the search box, top center or Menu, with "Rostock" as a search term. I wouldn't bother to exclude older forum posts (option on the search results screen) because these cities haven't changed that much!

I personally would recommend Lubeck over Schwerin. (You didn't say if that's an option.) Lubeck is certainly more "touristy", but it would be naive to pretend that Schwerin is "undiscovered". Lubeck has a much larger number of things to do, and more importantly (based on reading between the lines of your post) is more compact and suitable for someone who may run out of steam on an excursion. Assuming that Lubeck is equally easy to get to (I didn't look at the train schedules), it has more to offer for a similar journey distance from Rostock.

I have been to Schwerin once, did an afternoon trip there in 2015 from Hamburg Hbf, but due other time considerations didn't get to see the fantastic palace. It is as you describe it. The post cards in Schwerin depict that. Keep in mind that Schwerin was part of two areas called Mecklenburg. This one was known as Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Thank you for your response. I am originally leaving from Copenhagen and Berlin (Warnemunde) is our first port. I was dismayed to find out how far Berlin is from Warnemunde and after a lot of research, I am choosing to take a port excursion closer to Warnemunde. I researched Lubeck but NCL does not offer a shore excursion that includes Lubeck. NCL does not offer a lot of excursions in the Warnemunde region. The big focus is Berlin and I think that shore excursion would exhaust me. I want to enjoy myself and not exhaust myself. We will have a very long day in Warnemunde because so many passengers choose to go to Berlin so after my port excursion, I will have time to walk around Warnemunde on my own. I will be there the third week of September so I hope we have decent weather. I am still learning how to spell Warnemunde but better with pronouncing it from watching youtube videos which have been very helpful.

I am originally leaving from Copenhagen and Berlin (Warnemunde) is our
first port.

In this case a tour that focuses on the Hanseatic League would make sense, since almost every city you will see on your cruise was heavily influenced by this medieval confederation.

NCL does not offer a lot of excursions in the Warnemunde region.

They are mediocre, and very short. Let's have a look:
Das Beste von Rostock - 3 1/2 hours means 2 1/2 hours sightseeing. Half of the old town was destroyed in WW2, and the city is just a short tram ride away from the pier. 95€ is not a good deal.
Enchanting Wismar & Brewery - 5 hours means 3 hours for sightseeing... and eating. Wismar is one of the best preserved Hanseatic towns, but without real highlights that look good on photos. Great as a introduction to the Baltics and the Hansa, but only with a good guide.
Schwerin and its Fairy-tale Castle - 6 hours means 3 1/2 to 4 hours sightseeing. Not really a relaxed pace, but well....
Discover Warnemünde On Foot - for 77€. 77 €uros! Hahaha. You can do this on your own. For free! Just leave the ship. LOL
Highlights of Rostock & Mecklenburg - Warnemünde and Rostock aren't the highlights of Mecklenburg. And in 2 1/2 hours? That's a race!
Picturesque Views & The Molli Train - my favorite for a beautiful day, but Bad Doberan minster (one of the most beautiful brick churches) + Molli steam train (which crosses the heart of Bad Doberan) + Kühlungsborn (a seaside resort) in just 4 1/2 hours? This could be such a laid-back experience with a bit more time.

I have no idea why all these excursions are so short. They can't leave earlier, they have to wait for the Berlin road trip?!

I get $100 credit towards my shore excursions so the Schwerin port
excursion will only cost me $29.00.

In this case Schwerin (for pics) or Wismar (for Hansa history) + Warnemünde is probably the best idea.
But frankly, if you want a leisurely pace and soak up the atmosphere these tours are simply too short.

Don't worry about missing out on a day in Berlin. The fact is that a day in Berlin is pathetically inadequate, so you'd miss out on a huge percentage of what you'd be hoping to do there even if the port were three miles away. You need to make another trip to that area. I spent six full days in Berlin in 2015, and I need to make another trip there!

I think that a day trip to Berlin is worth a day trip to get an impression for a decision if you want to come back or not. You can see some top sights in eastern center. Already posted a suggestion at OP's earlier thread.

In September you can easily book a rickshaw guide who picks you up at main station and drives you around the mentioned route to Alexanderplatz from where you can get into the train back to Warnemünde.

I really need to "smile" that NCL is calling the port "Berlin" - to me this is a little bit absurd. How do they call Gdansk, "Warsaw"? :-) OK, also Berlin was Hansestadt (town of Hanseatic network) but not with port of Warnemünde.

Hi,

If you are considering a day trip to Berlin from Warnemünde, assuming you can depart from Warnemünde in the morning, do it. Do this day day so that you'll get survey of Berlin, or do it if you have some site you're desperately interested in seeing.

Yes, it will be a long day but logistically such a day trip can be done with planning. Would I do this day trip to Berlin? Absolutely, no problem, assuming all travel routes and time factors had been planned.

Well, I have gone ahead and taken the plunge. I have booked Schwerin as my port excursion. After my amenities, it only cost me about $16.00. The shore excursion consultant who I spoke to at Norwegian has taken this cruise and this excursion. He loved it and assured me that I would also. I love it when you are speaking to someone at Norwegian who has taken the cruise and can make recommendations.

The only port I have left to book is Stockholm. Back to the research.

YouTube Videos have been so helpful as has this site. Rick has videos on YouTube.

When I was in Schwerin, I took the bus to Ludwigslust which meant passing through a great of Schwerin...looked and was interesting to me, reminded me of west German towns I saw in 1971., at least superficially. To get a good view of Schwerin, I would not go there merely for the fantastic chateau but also to explore and meander around the town and Zentrum too.

I am sure you'll find Schwerin quite interesting and notice too that it has a different feel to it (however you interpret that) in contrast to towns of comparable size in western Germany.

So, have a great time in Schwerin and please give a feedback on the tour after your journey here - for the next person searching.

My tip for Stockholm is the Vasa museum: one of the world's most beautiful examples for wrong project management. Take care of pickpockets in Stockholm.

I will look forward to giving feedback after my visit to Schwerin and the Castle! Keep in mind that I am not going until September and will not be back until October.

I feel really good about the shore excursions that I have chosen. Only port left for me to make my choice is Stockholm and almost all the shore excursions include Vasa. I am leaning towards "Stockholm by Sea and Land".

Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback.