Chose this cruise because we had never travelled to East Germany before and wanted to see some of the cities of historical significance. Also, had never been to Berlin and were interested in seeing it. Dresden, Potsdam, Meissen, Wittenberg were also fascinating! Our local guides were always knowledgeable and added much to the stops. There was minimum time spent on buses traveling to sites and that was always welcome instead. Absolutely the only negative about local guides and buses was that some of them felt the need to talk continuously to us and that became tiring after a while. Our leader on our trip was also knowledgeable and did an excellent job taking care of everyone. The optional excursions were well worth the time and money as were the walking tours in Berlin. We had guides who had lived in both West and East Berlin and their perspective about crossing over was fascinating.