Thanks, yes, I've read how far out of town Berlin is. But this will likely be my only chance to see it, the Wall, the WWII Jewish Ghettos, Brandenburg Gate, those are things I feel compelled to see.

It's expensive, terribly expensive, to do the NCL tours to Berlin though, and it's probably the one place I wouldn't consider an alternative due to the distance involved and the chance of missing the boat. St Petersburg is a different story though. Probably SPB tours. Thanks!

If you have the time, I would recommend spending a couple of days before or after your cruise. It shouldn't add too much to your flights depending on your routing. Or even fly to MUC/FRA and take a train to Berlin.

We booked a 2-day tour through an independent tour group (I don't remember the name, but it was recommended on Cruise Critic). Cheaper and better (based on what we heard from others).

The issue is that Berlin would be on my bucket list, but not my wife's. Not so sure she'd think it fun to spend an overnight there. But she does have some german heritage and if it turns out there is family of some sort in Berlin, or just others with her last name? Maybe.

I disembarked from my Anthem of the Seas cruise a couple days ago. Masking compliance was good. The Coco Cay Beach Club was practically empty (well under 25% capacity).

From my perspective, the only negative in comparison to my November cruise on Princess (see post #2 above) is that testing was required to be arranged for individually in the 2 days prior to boarding (Princess tested all passengers at the cruise terminal immediately prior to check-in). While testing at the terminal has the downside of not knowing that you will pass until you are trying to board, the downside of individually-arranged tests is the added stress of waiting for the results. My traveling companions were promised results within 24 hours (so ~28 hours before boarding), but did not get the first until 6 hours before boarding; the last was received about 2.5 hours before boarding. In my case, I took my test in the late morning 2 days before and was told that I would receive the results that evening; when they hadn't arrived the next morning I went back to my test site (very inconvenient) to collect my results in person before taking AmTrak to Newark the day before embarkation.

Does she like art, history, beer? Berlin is amazing!

I've just booked cruises for July and November - I don't feel comfortable booking anything any sooner just yet. I think I'm about convinced that there is no more realistic possibilty of avoiding covid while still working, so maybe I'll get comfortable faster than expected.
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It's especially tough because we have some really, really attractive rates offers, plus several cancelled cruise credits associated with some extra onboard credit. I'm not sure Carnival will extend the window on using these, so I might have to bite the bullet soon regardless of my discomfort.

Right? I feel like he willingly did a cruise (something he wasn't sold on) because the attempt made her happy, I think she would probably be willing to find something enjoyable worth doing in Berlin to do the same for him!

I mean, I love history, beer & architecture ("art" depends - I prefer archeology museums, house museums) but Berlin isn't high on my "must visit" list. I'd do it if my partner wanted to, but I'm not sure I'd do the drive from the port if I were on a Baltics cruise......There are many other places in the region that I would prioritize over Berlin. And that's ok too! We don't all have to like or want the same things ;-)

If you like archaeology, you should see the Pergamon. It's all plundered, of course, but it is beautiful! And iot's germany--don't drive, take the train Hamburg is actually pretty cool too.

Only kind of ship to take for visiting Berlin would be an airship but we're almost a century past that now.

I of course can't speak for Mike's other half, but if my SO had Berlin on his bucket list, we'd be visiting Berlin one way or another. For myself, I'd much rather spend a a night or two in a place I wasn't excited about over spending several hours traveling for a short day tour. The cruise option wouldn't even be an option for me -: that sounds horrible to me, maybe especially so for a person that would like to see Berlin!

It's only a 40 minute train ride from Hamburg to Berlin...I just did it a couple of weeks ago while visiting as many Christmas markets as humanly possible and visiting family

Yeah, but not so classy as having your ship moored at Templehof instead. Never mind the flammability of hydrogen.

I was responding to the cruise/Berlin component - I've never seen an option to take a train from Warnemunde to Berlin, just a coach. Which is what I was saying I wouldn't do because I don't want to see Berlin that much. If we do another sort of trip to Germany, it's an option. Germany has never been high on my personal travel list and we've already done a Christmas market river cruise - that suited my personal desires ;-) If we do something else in the future, there will be discussions between me & spouse about our priorities.....

I urge anyone not to do the cruise visit to Berlin. Not only is it an exhausting day but the time spent actually seeing Berlin is a farce.

Summary of our first visit to Berlin using the cruise method.
Get up at ungodly hour to board a rickety train for the almost 4 hour slow train ride. After arriving in Berlin, get on buses that swoop you through the city with nary a stop. Get off, walk, get on. Interested in actually seeing something...sorry, no time for that.
Spend almost all of your time on a coach nodding off to sleep because you got up at 5 AM and couldn't sleep on the antiquated train.
At 3 PM get back on train for 4 hour ride back.
Arrive exhausted back at ship, and vow never ever to do that tour again.

Second visit to Berlin
Arrive in Berlin by air 12/27. Stay at 4-5 star hotel in center of city next to the park.
Spend as much time seeing both historical and archeological sites. Tons of things to see and do, even in the middle of winter.
Got to do New Years Eve downtown. Fabulous fun.
Left New Years Day with wish we had more time to visit.

The latter is the way to see Berlin. The former is a way to waste a day and a lot of money.