Hamburg cruise port, Germany
A Hanseatic free city that ran its own affairs for centuries and still calls itself the Free and Hanseatic City. The Speicherstadt, a district of brick warehouses standing on timber piles driven into the marsh, is a World Heritage site, and the Beatles learned their trade on the Reeperbahn from 1960.
Worth knowing. Hamburg has more bridges than Venice, Amsterdam and London put together: over two thousand of them. Nobody who has not counted believes it.
What to do in Hamburg for free
Which terminal you get matters here. Steinwerder is on the south bank with nothing around it, so the ways over are the ship's shuttle or a walk out to Argentinienbrucke for the ferry or the bus. Altona and HafenCity are both on the city side. The harbour ferries are ordinary public transport on the same tickets as the buses, and the one from Altona to the Landungsbrucken piers goes every quarter of an hour. The Elbphilharmonie has a public deck partway up it, between the old warehouse and the glass, and standing on it is free.
What costs money
The ship's own excursions usually cost more than booking the same trip yourself. Two things come with the price. The ship waits for its own excursions and does not wait for you. And if the port is missed, P&O refunds its own without you asking. A trip you booked yourself is a claim on your travel insurance, so check what your policy covers. The ship sells its own trips to all of these, and the desk is open on board if you would rather do it that way.
An hour round the harbour. In among the container berths and the dry docks on one of the barge boats from the Landungsbrucken piers. It is a working port rather than a view, and that is the point of it.
Miniatur Wunderland. The largest model railway on earth, in one of the warehouses, and far better than that description makes it sound. It sells out, so it is not somewhere to turn up on the day.
Which ship calls at Hamburg, and when
Every call here between 15 August and 28 November 2026, with the hours ashore P&O published. These times are a guide, not a promise: the captain gives the real ones the day before.
| Ship | Sails | Day | Ashore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iona | 31 October 2026, 7 nights | Day 3 | 07:00 to 21:00 |
| Iona | 13 February 2027, 7 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 21:00 |
| Iona | 20 February 2027, 7 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 21:00 |
| Iona | 27 March 2027, 7 nights | Day 3 | 07:00 to 21:00 |
| Iona | 16 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 21:00 |
| Arvia | 15 October 2028, 5 nights | Day 3 | 07:00 to 00:00 |
| Arvia | 15 October 2028, 5 nights | Day 4 | 00:00 to 21:00 |
| Iona | 21 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 3 | 07:00 to 00:00 |
| Iona | 21 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 4 | 00:00 to 21:00 |
How long you get ashore in Hamburg
The published times give you between about 14 and 21 hours alongside, depending on the sailing. Take off the time it takes a few thousand people to get off, and the time you need to be back on board before the ship leaves, and that is your day. P&O give the real hours the day before, and the all-aboard time is earlier than the departure time.
The other stops on these cruises
Every one of these is on at least one of the sailings that calls at Hamburg.
- CherbourgTitanic's last call on mainland Europe, on the evening of 10 April 1912, and she never came alongside: tenders carried the passengers out to her.
- RotterdamThe centre was destroyed by bombing on 14 May 1940 and never reconstructed as it had been, so the Dutch city that looks least like a Dutch city is a deliberate choice.
- Zeebrugge (for Bruges)The port is entirely man-made, pushed out into the sea from 1895 because Bruges had lost its own access to it: the Zwin channel silted up in the 1400s and the city simply stopped, which is precisely why it is still medieval.
Money and language in Germany
Euro (EUR, €). Carry some cash. Germany is fonder of it than its neighbours and small places may refuse a card. Onboard is always charged in sterling, so this only matters ashore.
English is widely spoken in Hamburg.
| English | German | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Hallo | hah-LOH |
| Goodbye | Auf Wiedersehen | owf VEE-der-zayn |
| How much? | Wie viel kostet das? | vee feel KOSS-tet dass |
| Thank you | Danke | DAN-kuh |
| Please | Bitte | BIT-uh |
Free, and it works with no internet. Give it the dates you sail and it works out your own stops and saves the street map for each one. It shows you round the ship too.
All the ports written up so far, the things to do before you sail, or the ship pages for Iona and Arvia.