The 2010 Baltic Thread--Cruise Tips and Planning

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thanks Laurie. That quote is very comparable to what SPB Tours quoted me. I think the trains are fairly expensive. Andrew, I tried again, and I think I found the trains you were talking about. The prices aren't up for June yet, but I priced it for a Monday (the day my cruise will be there) in April, and for the four of us, it was over $600 round-trip...

Yes if you work on $199 pp for Berlin on yuor own, that would be circa,$800 so in the ball park.

 

[MrsScooby]

Thanks Laurie. That quote is very comparable to what SPB Tours quoted me. I think the trains are fairly expensive. Andrew, I tried again, and I think I found the trains you were talking about. The prices aren't up for June yet, but I priced it for a Monday (the day my cruise will be there) in April, and for the four of us, it was over $600 round-trip...

These are their 2010 prices:

We had to adjust the prices for this year a little. The price for this
programme for a group of 4 people would be Euro 820.00 including the driver
and bus for the day, up to 7 hours with our guide, all taxes and insurance
as well as a bottle of water on the bus for each of you. Not included are
lunch and admission to museums (admission to the Pergamon Museum for example
would be Euro 10.00 per person, but we would only take you to any museum on
request). This price covers a group of up to 4 people. We'd be happy for you
to invite others along for the day to make a larger group at an extra Euro
60.00 per person for a group of up to 7 people, which is all we can carry
with the minibus.
For 8-19 people we would have to arrange for a bigger bus; the price for the
full programme then being Euro 1125.00 for 8 people and an extra Euro 25.00
per additional passenger, so Euro 1150.00 for 9 people ... Euro 1400.00 for
19 people.

They went up a bit. Are they still close to SPB tours?

BTW Anyone on the July 18th Baltic that wants to join us send me a pm

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

These are their 2010 prices:


They went up a bit. Are they still close to SPB tours?

BTW Anyone on the July 18th Baltic that wants to join us send me a pm

Nice offer, but for us, its train or not going at all, and stay local.

I can actually fly to Berlin from here, quicker and cheaper, I would be there in 1.5 hours and £500 for 4. So if the private tour isn't viable with DCL, We will stay in the port area and go another time direct.

 

[cindy18]

These are their 2010 prices:


They went up a bit. Are they still close to SPB tours?

BTW Anyone on the July 18th Baltic that wants to join us send me a pm

Yes, the prices now are pretty much identical to SPB Tours.

Andrew, I guess my point is this: If it would cost $800 to take the train into Berlin with no tour guide via Disney, and $600 to train in on our own, but about $880 to be driven into Berlin with a tour guide and have a private tour, the numbers just seem off. I tried a different (German) website for the trains, and although you may need to change trains in Rostock, I think I found the trains you found. The price quote (for April, no quotes for June or July yet) was actually much cheaper (143 euros), so now I'm really confused. I am going to ask SPB Tours what it would cost if we came to Berlin ourselves and just used them for the tour around Berlin.

 

[MrsScooby]

Nice offer, but for us, its train or not going at all, and stay local.

I can actually fly to Berlin from here, quicker and cheaper, I would be there in 1.5 hours and £500 for 4. So if the private tour isn't viable with DCL, We will stay in the port area and go another time direct.

The advantage to living where you do
This may very well be our first and last chance to see Berlin. My DS starts college in 2012 so it might be a while before we can afford a vacation like this again.

If I were in your shoes I would probably play it safe too

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Yes, the prices now are pretty much identical to SPB Tours.

Andrew, I guess my point is this: If it would cost $800 to take the train into Berlin with no tour guide via Disney, and $600 to train in on our own, but about $880 to be driven into Berlin with a tour guide and have a private tour, the numbers just seem off. I tried a different (German) website for the trains, and although you may need to change trains in Rostock, I think I found the trains you found. The price quote (for April, no quotes for June or July yet) was actually much cheaper (143 euros), so now I'm really confused. I am going to ask SPB Tours what it would cost if we came to Berlin ourselves and just used them for the tour around Berlin.

Yes I see what you mean, now working on other cruise lines with private tours and awaiting DCLs pricing, I was thinking that the price for Disney would be $200pp for train plus private tour $895 3 people $995 4/7 and $1200 for more people, plus guide.

Disneys train service includes snacks and soft drinks, both ways, and maybe Mickey!
Ball park for family $1,500> $1,600, larger up to $2,000, now against yours my esitmates are on the high side.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

The advantage to living where you do
This may very well be our first and last chance to see Berlin. My DS starts college in 2012 so it might be a while before we can afford a vacation like this again.

If I were in your shoes I would probably play it safe too

Do understand for USA residents this is a good/only option, for me I could go for a long weekend if I wished. And cheaper!!!!!

 

[MrsScooby]

Yes, the prices now are pretty much identical to SPB Tours.

Andrew, I guess my point is this: If it would cost $800 to take the train into Berlin with no tour guide via Disney, and $600 to train in on our own, but about $880 to be driven into Berlin with a tour guide and have a private tour, the numbers just seem off. I tried a different (German) website for the trains, and although you may need to change trains in Rostock, I think I found the trains you found. The price quote (for April, no quotes for June or July yet) was actually much cheaper (143 euros), so now I'm really confused. I am going to ask SPB Tours what it would cost if we came to Berlin ourselves and just used them for the tour around Berlin.

Thanks

 

[cindy18]

Yes I see what you mean, now working on other cruise lines with private tours and awaiting DCLs pricing, I was thinking that the price for Disney would be $200pp for train plus private tour $895 3 people $995 4/7 and $1200 for more people, plus guide.

Disneys train service includes snacks and soft drinks, both ways, and maybe Mickey!
Ball park for family $1,500> $1,600, larger up to $2,000, now against yours my esitmates are on the high side.

Exactly! So now a private tour does start to look more attractive, other than the issue of making sure you don't miss the ship when it leaves Germany!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Exactly! So now a private tour does start to look more attractive, other than the issue of making sure you don't miss the ship when it leaves Germany!

Yes but three hours (x2) in a car, my DD wouldnt take it, train she said she would try...

But good price..

 

[cindy18]

Yes but three hours (x2) in a car, my DD wouldnt take it, train she said she would try...

But good price..

My DH said more or less the same thing. He said he could read on a train, but not in a car. I'm thinking if my two DDs have their iTouches fully charged, they might tolerate the trip.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

My DH said more or less the same thing. He said he could read on a train, but not in a car. I'm thinking if my two DDs have their iTouches fully charged, they might tolerate the trip.

Yep walk around a train go to the restroom, have tea /coffee in comfort,

 

[MrsScooby]

My DH said more or less the same thing. He said he could read on a train, but not in a car. I'm thinking if my two DDs have their iTouches fully charged, they might tolerate the trip.

Yup I'm thinking the same thing about the itouches
Boy are they spoiled
Anyone still play the license plate game anymore??

 

[sbell111]

I am going to ask SPB Tours what it would cost if we came to Berlin ourselves and just used them for the tour around Berlin.

Another option would be to use the Hop On/Hop Off busses in Berlin.

 

[epcotrulz]

Andrew Derek:

Are you saying that if I get back to the bus on time, but somehow the bus itself doesn't get to the train on time for any number of reasons, that the individual is responsible for paying the cost of getting back to the dock on time?

That is very worrisome if correct. I thought that one of the advantages of a DCL excursion was that they were guaranteed to take care of you and that the boat itself would wait if there was a delay with a DCL excursion. Certainly that has been what I have understood from previous posts on this matter.

Does anyone know the guidelines around this?

On the Med our Sicily excursion got back to the boat an hour late, they were waiting for us and we literally pulled away from the pier as soon as we got on the ship. Some people on the excursion were really worried about being left behind. The tour guide kept reassuring them that the ship would wait for them. (I wasn't concerned -- in fact when everyone was yelling to skip our last stop because we were running late, I said that I was fine -- I knew they weren't going to leave us.) The traffic was terrible though and some folks did miss the ship -- not sure if they got back on and the next port or not??

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

On the Med our Sicily excursion got back to the boat an hour late, they were waiting for us and we literally pulled away from the pier as soon as we got on the ship. Some people on the excursion were really worried about being left behind. The tour guide kept reassuring them that the ship would wait for them. (I wasn't concerned -- in fact when everyone was yelling to skip our last stop because we were running late, I said that I was fine -- I knew they weren't going to leave us.) The traffic was terrible though and some folks did miss the ship -- not sure if they got back on and the next port or not??

I have seen it both ways, in Acapulco a DCL tour bus went AWOL, and turned up 45 mins late and they waited, in La Spezia we were out of port and a lady came up on a SAR pilot boat and jumped onboard, I know people left behind.

In this case there is a scheduled train, it will not wait, it goes on time, we are not talking about the ship, it might be able to hold a short time, the train will not.

We also would arrive late in St Petes if this occurred messing up peoples trips there.

 

[cindy18]

I think fundamentally, if the train from Berlin back to the ship is a basic German commuter train, then it cannot wait just because one or more Disney tours are stuck in traffic and are late getting to the train station. But considering the number of people who might plan to take the same train from Warnemunde to Berlin off our ship, I wonder whether in effect the cruise (or any cruise that docks in Warnemunde where a large percentage of the passengers go to Berlin) sort of commandeers the train. You know?

 

[scrapycruiser]

If you are delayed, due to traffic or mechanical breakdown, and miss the ship wouldn't you have to have a VISA to get into Russia ?

 

[MrsScooby]

If you are delayed, due to traffic or mechanical breakdown, and miss the ship wouldn't you have to have a VISA to get into Russia ?

Yes, that is why we were initially going to go with a DCL tour assuming that we would not run the risk of getting left behind. The disclaimer on the Berlin excursions pretty much took that assurance away from me
I think I'm more likely to miss a train than to miss the private transport that I hired to take me back to the port

Worse case scenario we have a private tour booked in St. Petersburg that includes a tourist visa. So we spend two nights in Germany (which would be expensive but a cool adventure) and call Anastasia telling her we are coming but not from the ship
This is really a remote possibility though as these tour companies that we are looking at are pretty experienced with getting people back to the port on time.

 

[slg]

I never assumed the train would wait, I just assumed that the company that took me to Berlin would have some kind of contingency in case the tour itself got stuck in traffic and missed the train, and find a way in getting us back to the pier in time.

Does a bus back from Berlin take the same length of time that the train does? Or is the train a speedy kind that if we miss it, we'll never get back to port.

I'm such a worrier that the remote possibility of being left behind freaks me right out!