Transportation in Germany

According to Hamburg Verkehrsverbund, WVV (www.hvv.de), Bus 6 seems to be the one with the best connecting schedule, shortest walk to the Hbf. You can see the bus schedule here (It's in German, but pretty straightforward. You can use the pull-down menu at the upper right to select the time interval and the day-of-the-week). The fare from Marco-Polo-Terrassen to the Hamburg Hbf is €1,30 pP.

As for the trip from the Hbf to Berlin, if you can count on the timing (are cruises on time? I know nothing about them), you can save a lot of money with the purchase ahead Sparpreis-Tickets, from €29 pP, from Hamburg Hbf to Berlin Hbf. Or, if you arrive in the morning, plan to spend the day seeing Hamburg (if you arrive on time, or use the time as a buffer), then go to Berlin (1½-2 hrs) in the evening.

I trained into Hamburg, met a friend, and toured by foot from there - including catching a boat tour of the harbor.

It's a big harbor and it depends a lot on where you dock.

Good point. Steve's link is for the Hamburg Cruise Center, which is close to the Marco-Polo-Terrasse bus stop, but there could be others.

Anne, do you know where your cruise ship is docking?

For the bus schedule I gave in the last post, buses leave about every 15 min from Marco-Polo-Terrasse. The trip to the Mönckebergstraße stop, which appears to be the closest to the Hamburg Hbf, takes 11 minutes. According to HVV, it is a 2 min walk from there.

Thanks to all 3 responses; most helpful.