AZPam

Can you give me an idea of approximate cost for 2 people?  Cheaper to do it this way or book cruise transfers?

We have not done a day trip from London to Paris, but we have done the Eurostar from our stay in London to Paris for a stay of 5 days twice. We bought our tickets on line in advance and chose the cheapest ones . The trip was about 2 hours and 15 minutes. We took a taxi from our hotel to St Pancras (12 gbp) and probably got there about an hour early. It was easy and we have no experience with trains/subways.

 

You should check to see where you can get on the HOHO bus in relation to the train station. We always took a taxi from the taxi stand to our hotel. Watch out for gypsy taxi guys that will try to lure you to their taxis.

 

The HOHO (L'Open tours) has 4 routes.The green one is the best, goes by and around the Eiffel tower. You can look up the routes and stops online. The bus will have a green square on the front windshield so you know what route you are taking, There is also blue, orange, and yellow. You can also pay a little extra and buy a ride on the batobus (boat) and tour down the Seine River. If I remember correctly the HOHO doesn't start running till about 9 / 9:30am, and stops around 7pm. Once we were near Sacre Coeur and had to take a taxi back to our hotel in the Latin Quarter because we didn't realize what time the bus quit running. It was only 15euros for the taxi so if you get caught off away from the train station, you can always get a taxi for a reasonable price.

 

We've been to Paris 5 times and always buy a 3 day pass on the HOHO. We always do all the routes and just get off where we want to and walk around, see the sites and get back on. If you decide you want to go up the Eiffel Tower, be sure and buy your tickets online in advance or you will spend precious hours waiting line. If your heart is set on going into some museums, you can get a 1 day museum pass to save waiting in line. I would not recommend going in the museums with so little precious time. Save that for a trip when you can stay a few days. Hope this helps some in your planning. Paris is a magical city and you will probably find a way to return someday!

This is very helpful! Thank you so much for excellent information. Green tour. Got it!

There's a great store in the station where you can purchase delicious snacks (meats, breads, cheeses) to take on board and nosh your way thru the countryside.

Yummmm. That's an excellent idea!

I have done the Eurostar several times. St Pancras is a wonderful station and worth a few minutes to admire particularly the roof. There are a couple of statues to see too. the best one is of Sir John Betjeman. The best way to appreciate the vast station is on the level above the Eurostar departures area where you are amongst the Eurostar trains. Paris Gare du Nord is not so spectacular.

 

Yes you have to check in, go through immigration twice and get security checked. Unlike an airport they are all in a line together and I have never had to queue. I usually leave the champagne bar about 45 minutes before departure, go down stairs to Eurostar departures and really do not stop until I am through the checks. By which time my train is boarding and I carry straight on to board. It is exactly the opposite of a large airport where you walk for miles, queue for ages and then sit in a lounge for an hour. At your Eurostar arrival station there are usually no further checks you just walk away.

 

If you have a spare day in London and you would like a quick tour of Paris then why not. Obviously you will only get a glimpse of Paris and it will be a tiring day. You never know when you will next have the opportunity to visit again.

 

As posters say Europe is now a seven plus hour flight from the USA. Gone are the days when London or Paris could be a day trip from New York or visa versa.

 

Best wishes, Stephen.

 

 

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Thank you! THIS is the type of useful information I was hoping for.

Disneyfriend

 

I really can't see any advantage of paying those extortionate prices for a Paris guided tour.

 

You can sometimes get Eurostar tickets for as low as £29 one way, but buying in advance will always be more advantageous.

 

Get tickets direct from Eurostar website. They go on sale 120 days in advance. You can then take the HOHO bus in Paris and get off at whatever takes your fancy.

 

 

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Thanks for some encouragement! We've looked at the tours available and were horrified at the cost after looking up what the train tickets actually cost. That's why were were considering booking it all ourselves and doing the HOHO bus. Yes, we realize we won't get an indepth look of what Paris has to offer, but feel like it at least gives us a taste on whether we would really want to come back to spend more time there. How is this any different that what we experience on a cruise with just one day in port?

If only we had the time to devote what is truly needed to Paris :( Unfortunately, that can't happen this trip and my travel companions want to at least experience it. We realize a good chunk of the day will be spent traveling. Plan to do the first train out at 5am and leave late evening, so expect 10 hours ish???

Bring up an old thread in hopes of some new info!

We want to just do a day trip from London to Paris, round trip. Would we be able to find our way around enough and hopefully find one of those hop on/off buses? So much cheaper to book this ourself vs a tour, so wondering how adventurous I would need to be?

Just back from Roatan and did a dune buggy (sand rail) tour! And it was a BLAST!!!! Booked it thru Rony's but it was actually done with Let's Buggy Tour at g mail. So much fun but be prepared to come back DIRTY. It had rained the night before so we had extra fun! $75 per person if you share, $100 each if you drive your own. Hubby and I are on the fluffy side and honestly did not fit in one, so I drove my own and it was so much better! They took us up into the mountains and then down to the beach. We stopped in an open area by the beach that had some standing water and told us to go to town. Only asked that we "tried" to stay out of the deeper water. We literally were scooping mud/sand off of ourselves and then throwing it at each other. I have never been so dirty in my life but haven't laughed that hard in a while either. After that we went down on the beach and stopped for a bit. We all got in to wash off as best we could, had a Gatorade that was provided, relaxed for a bit and then went on. We were gone for over 2 hours, which I guess is longer than usual, as the gal at home base was getting worried something had happened. Our driver with Rony then took us to West Bay for a bit of beach time at Ronny's Barefeet Restaurant and Bar. It was good and relaxing but the beach/water area wasn't the greatest. Pretty but too many boats around. We each paid our driver $25 at the end of the tour. Probably could have done it cheaper but well worth it anyway

We just returned and did the exact excursion the above poster did thru shore excursioneer. It was actually thru Aqua Scuba in San Pedro, Belize, so you might want to contact them directly and see if you can get it cheaper? This is the second time we have done it and it was a high light once again

Was in Belize last week. No, we did not feel safe outside the port area. In fact, our taxi driver stopped to pick up his dinner, (another story) and yelled at some obvious tourists that it wasn't safe to be walking in that area! :eek: I think if you are on an organized tour you will be fine, but wouldn't recommend going it alone. Also, in the Princess Patter is specifically said there were no beach recommendations for Belize City.

Joe,

Why were the ships lifeboats not used as tenders?

Last time we did this cruise we were told it's part of the port agreement with Belize. Use their tenders, I mean. Plus, they are bigger so can hold more people and get more to shore quicker. It was a good 30 minute ride last time.

Do you have any questions that we can answer Pam ? We also have a photographic thread about the CB when we first tried Princess a couple of years ago . http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2094420

I don't think so. We've been on her before, just enjoy the anticipation. Love the food shots as I am sending them to our group as Food Porn. The work emails LOVE that subject line! LOL

Yay! Finally getting to the CB review. Can hardly wait as we will be on her in just 3 short weeks

Bringing great memories of our trip on the Royal but can hardly wait for your CB tale as we will be on her in February

Did you reserve your flights in advance or just went when you got off the ship? Im worried about booking flights and missing them due to tender issues! Was it hard to find a cab to take you to the airport? Or back to the boat?

Sorry so late in responding. Just researching this again as we are doing it again in February!

They had the flights booked for us, so it wasn't an issue. Just gave them our names at the airport and they put us on a flight. About 12 in the plane.

Did you ever try them out? I'm trying to set up a tour for friends who are honeymooning there in May. Would really like some feedback

Pretty sure we did the second choice listed by air 2 years ago. Can't pull up the web site to be sure. I loved the experience of flying as it was truly an experience. They have certainly never heard of TSA :eek: I liked that it gave us more time in the water. I had read that the boats are a couple hour ride. We all want to go back to shark alley so I know we will do it again some day

Was this a ship excursion or a private excursion?

I am looking for jet ski excursions for December. If it was a private excursion who was it through? I am looking at St. Kitts water sports' website right now

thanks!

Yes, it was a private excursion and they are hooked up with that web site. I do NOT recommend it. Total disappointment and the beach wasn't that nice either

Just off the Royal and loved the new designs on this ship! Only two disappointments. No aft pool and the food in the MDR. I know food is subjective, but our entire group of 6 was very disappointed, so I know it wasn't just me. Did we go hungry? No, just went to Alfredos and the buffet more often than the MDR

We were there last week too and it was great! We started the tour with that liquid sunshine but they had raincoats to put on so we were fine. Cleared up in about 10 minutes so it was no big deal.

I didn't actually do the zip as I am a big chicken, but the others in my group said it was so much better than the one we did last year in Roaton. Much more safer. I was very happy just tagging along and waiting at the end. Everyone was super friendly and kept coming over to make sure I was okay and happy.

The hike to the waterfall kind of surprised me. Be sure to wear shoes you don't mind getting wet or go in your bare feet. Because it had just rained the waterfall was really flowing and it was amazing. Our guide went all Survivor on us and showed us how to break open coconuts with rocks and how to eat them too. He even got us a little "jungle" M&M's to try, coco beans.

I think the ride to and from was only about a half hour but it could be because we were there on a Sunday, so not as much traffic. I would highly recommend them and we would go again. But I still won't be zipping! ;)

Wasting my minutes on board to tell you NOT to book this. We just got back to the ship from a disappointing day. Got there and he informed us the jet skis were out of commission. He should have at least emailed me to let me know in my opinion. The beach was okay, but not great. Snorkeling was terrible and the beach bar where all of this is on the side of a local pier where the ferry from Nevis is constantly dropping off people, so you had to watch for boats coming in if you were in the water.

I would not recommend this!

Pam, if you do follow through with this, will you please post your thoughts? DH and I are going to be there next year and he would like to try jet skiing. I like the fact that it also includes snorkeling time and I think it would be great for us.

Thank you in advance and have a great trip!

Will do. The group has decided to take our chances and try it out, so will let you know.

We did a tour direct through Treetop Adventure Park a couple years back.

http://adventuretourstlucia.com/

 

They picked us up at the pier. Excellent facility, seemed like a good amount of ziplines. Had a great day.

 

Non-zipliners in our group did a nature walk tour there and loved that as well.

Happy to see this. We are booked with them in April and I will be one of the non zippers as I am a big chicken! :eek:

Has anyone every done this? We are booked for April but starting to second guess myself

Great picture!

We were at Jacks 3 years ago with that dog! He was a riot! Always felt like he had to be digging. Great day.