excursions in Le Harve, France

[barsch5012]

Does anyone have any experience with execursions (other than the trip to Paris) in Le Harve, France? What did you like and not like?

[LHT28]

we just took the shuttle into Le Havre & walked around but you could go to Honfleur, Rouen or Giverney if you do not want to do the D-Day beaches

[HeinBloed]

Does anyone have any experience with execursions (other than the trip to Paris) in Le Harve, France? What did you like and not like?

 

Here you can see pictures what we did last year while we called on NORWEGIAN JADE Le Havre:

 

http://heinbloed-cruiseguides.blogspot.com/2009/05/le-havre-france-private-tour-car-rental.html

 

Regards

HeinBloed

[Keith1010]

I would highly recommend seeing Normandy, on your upcoming visit.

 

Keith

[Cornishpastyman1]

Does anyone have any experience with execursions (other than the trip to Paris) in Le Harve, France? What did you like and not like?

 

Honfleur

is very pictureseque and has enough there (quaint streets, historic buildings) to be well worth a look. It is about 16 miles from Le Havre.

 

If you're interested in the D-Day invasion beaches you're probably best off taking a ship's tour because of the way the day will be structured and you'll have the services of a guide, although you could hire a car and do it yourself if you're feeling adventurous. Gold Beach (Arromanches) is about 50 miles from Le Havre. From my 5 hours there I made these, which might be of help in planning your day :

 

Background to the invasion, Arromanches/Gold Beach and the Mulberry Harbour, Omaha Beach)

 

German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer, Pointe du Hoc, Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer)

 

If you are lucky enough to be at Arromanches when the tide is out you can walk around and even get inside the remains of Churchill's Mulberry Harbour. The battery at Longues-sur-Mer is the only such emplacement to have kept its guns and you can get inside a casemate, stand behind the barrel and imagine what it must have been like on 6 June 1944. Pointe du Hoc is where the US 2nd Rangers scaled the cliffs under heavy gunfire. Their efforts remain a thing of wonder. And the Normandy American Cemetery is a fitting memorial to the nearly 11,000 Americans it honours for their ultimate sacrifice in the cause of freedom.

I only had 5 hours there. If you have an early arrival and late departure there is so much more you could explore, including several wonderful museums I had to pass by due to lack of time. As it happens I did not visit these from a cruise but the time I spent on the beaches and Honfleur was about as long as I would have had if I'd been on a ship's excursion, although you could 'see' Honfleur in half a day and do something else with the rest of the time (Le Havre ?)

 

Whatever you decide I hope you have as good a time as I did.

 

 

 

 

[2travelers]

Does anyone have any experience with execursions (other than the trip to Paris) in Le Harve, France? What did you like and not like?

 

We hired a guide and spent a very moving day touring the beaches of Normandy. I will say that this was truly one of the best guides we have ever used. He was a historian, a storyteller and a teacher all in one. Can't say enough about the day

Ronnie

[Cruise Junky]

We just spent 5 days in Honfleur...absolutely loved it! Would highly recommend for a ships excursion. But depending on your interests, there's so much to do and see in Normandy... The Beaches were very moving, Rouen was nice, Giverny was lovely but overrun when were where there. I really don't think you can go wrong in Normandy. We'd go back and spend a week anytime.

[roberts2005]

On our first day we took the train to Rouen and toured on our ow. The second day we took the 9:00 bus to Honfleur. Both were easy days to do on your own.

[NagNag]

Can you please give some details of the bus to get and where to find the timetable for it to go from Le Havre to Honfleur?

[jwds]

Try:

 

http://www.busverts.fr/_hiver/

 

Only in French but you may be able to get to the schedules. If you can't navigate it I'll try to help but my French is very limited.

 

A caution, this is a local bus used for local transportation. A cruise ship in port can overwhelm it. We did this two years ago, we're glad we did but had to stand in the stairwell of the bus for the entire return trip.

[mrspaper]

We hired a guide and spent a very moving day touring the beaches of Normandy. I will say that this was truly one of the best guides we have ever used. He was a historian, a storyteller and a teacher all in one. Can't say enough about the day

Ronnie

Do you have information on the guide you used

[GeeDunk]

Do you have information on the guide you used

 

In May, of this year, I set up a private tour for eight of us.

 

overlordtour dot com

 

Cost was 100 Euro pp - Below the ship's tour cost ($199.00 pp)

AND a much better tour.

 

Our guide took us to places/areas that the ship's tour did not go to.

+ we did not have 50 people to content with.

[Hlitner]

There are many options from LeHavre so I will just list a few we have done (some more then once). We often prefer to rent a car in this port and simply drive. This means we can choose to head west over to Normandy, perhaps drive to nearby Honfleur or Deuville, or go east to Fecamp and Etretat. As to trains, it does make a lot of sense to take the train to Rouen, which is actually a nice city for exploring, lunch, etc. Another option, although its a bit far, is to go to Giverny (it can be done on trains) and see Monet's home. Many cruise passengers will opt to go to Paris and that can also be done on the train. Although Paris is my DWs favorite city in the world, we do not particularly like to do that trip from LeHavre since it can easily take more then 5 hours round trip. We prefer Paris when we can do it at our leisure which is a good reason to spend a few days in that amazing city. Seeing Paris in 4 or 5 hours (about all you get on an excursion or the train) is like trying to see New York in 5 hours! Unless this will be the only time of your life that you expect to get to Paris you might prefer the alternatives.

 

Hank

[LittleMissS]

While in France, I met an American who said to make sure I spent time in Trouville (near Deauville, I believe). We did. It's a quaint beach town with a boardwalk, casino, shops, etc. Very cute. Probably my favorite stop (after Paris, of course!) in France.

[mrspaper]

In May, of this year, I set up a private tour for eight of us.

 

overlordtour dot com

 

Cost was 100 Euro pp - Below the ship's tour cost ($199.00 pp)

AND a much better tour.

 

Our guide took us to places/areas that the ship's tour did not go to.

+ we did not have 50 people to content with.

If I recall, we checked with Overlord and they wouldn't pick up at the port. I sent all the info to my cousin, who is doing the bookings, so I'm sure she has it listed whether or not he was available.

Thanks for the response

 

Hank-I appreciate your response too. I talked to them about renting a car, but I think they feel more comfortable going with a guide

 

Linda

[2travelers]

Do you have information on the guide you used

 

Hi - Sorry I took so long in responding. I have been on these boards searching for guides for next summer and forgot to plug into here :o.

 

We used Gary Weight at www.pegasusnormandytours.com. After posting on our Roll Call with no responses, we emailed Gary and asked if he would take just the two of us. He had no problem doing that. I think that many of the folks on our cruise either headed for Paris or did their own thing. We were not sorry we did the tour alone - Gary was wonderful and he raised the bar very high for other guides that we will use in the future. We did the US Beaches tour. Hope this helps.

Ronnie

[2travelers]

If I recall, we checked with Overlord and they wouldn't pick up at the port. I sent all the info to my cousin, who is doing the bookings, so I'm sure she has it listed whether or not he was available.

Thanks for the response

 

Hank-I appreciate your response too. I talked to them about renting a car, but I think they feel more comfortable going with a guide

 

Linda

 

There were many guides who would not pick up at Le Havre. Gary from Pegasus charges extra to pick up there, but if you get folks to join it defers the cost. As I said in my previous post, we could not find anyone to join us and we made the decision to go anyway. We were not disappointed. My husband is still talking about the day.

Ronnie

[mrspaper]

There were many guides who would not pick up at Le Havre. Gary from Pegasus charges extra to pick up there, but if you get folks to join it defers the cost. As I said in my previous post, we could not find anyone to join us and we made the decision to go anyway. We were not disappointed. My husband is still talking about the day.

Ronnie

thanks Ronnie, there are at least 4 of them, and the roll call has quite a few people, so I don't think they'll have a problem adding more people. I guess LeHavre is a further port.

 

Linda

[2travelers]

thanks Ronnie, there are at least 4 of them, and the roll call has quite a few people, so I don't think they'll have a problem adding more people. I guess LeHavre is a further port.

 

Linda

 

Hi Linda - We were on Oceania's Insignia and there were only about 600 passengers. The Roll Call seemed to have the same few people posting, so by the spring, I didn't think I would get anyone to share the tour. Interestingly, even with just the two of us, the cost was a bit only a bit more than if we had gone on the ship's tour which was close to $500 for two. We had a big van to ourselves and stayed as long as we wanted at the beaches and the cemetary, and didn't have to keep up with a busload of people. As I said in my original post, Gary is a terrific guide and we left with wonderful memeories of a very moving day.

Ronnie

[mrspaper]

Hi Linda - We were on Oceania's Insignia and there were only about 600 passengers. The Roll Call seemed to have the same few people posting, so by the spring, I didn't think I would get anyone to share the tour. Interestingly, even with just the two of us, the cost was a bit only a bit more than if we had gone on the ship's tour which was close to $500 for two. We had a big van to ourselves and stayed as long as we wanted at the beaches and the cemetary, and didn't have to keep up with a busload of people. As I said in my original post, Gary is a terrific guide and we left with wonderful memeories of a very moving day.

Ronnie

As an aside off the thread, I've considered doing an Oceania. What was the primary age group. We are upper 50's. I've gotten on their threads on occasion, and saw very few people writing, for the most part. Busy threads are much more fun

[2travelers]

As an aside off the thread, I've considered doing an Oceania. What was the primary age group. We are upper 50's. I've gotten on their threads on occasion, and saw very few people writing, for the most part. Busy threads are much more fun

 

Hate to get off topic here, but this was our first O cruise and I told my DH that I don't think I can get back on NCL (my favorite line) after this cruise. The ratio of staff to passengers was about 2:1 so you can just imagine the service. After Justo "deboned" my fish for me I was hooked...told my husband I could definitely get used to this :p .

 

The ages were varied, but basically in the 60's -there were a few families, but not many. All in all very friendly - some just not comfortable on the CC boards, many never heard of CC and others too afraid to go on private tours. All this equals - very dead boards :( . I tried to bump up our next Roll Call this afternoon. The Marina carries 1200 passengers, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Ronnie

[mrspaper]

Hate to get off topic here, but this was our first O cruise and I told my DH that I don't think I can get back on NCL (my favorite line) after this cruise. The ratio of staff to passengers was about 2:1 so you can just imagine the service. After Justo "deboned" my fish for me I was hooked...told my husband I could definitely get used to this :p .

 

The ages were varied, but basically in the 60's -there were a few families, but not many. All in all very friendly - some just not comfortable on the CC boards, many never heard of CC and others too afraid to go on private tours. All this equals - very dead boards :( . I tried to bump up our next Roll Call this afternoon. The Marina carries 1200 passengers, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

Ronnie

Going on their new ship. Hopefully, more people

Thanks for the info. One day. I was looking at a trans. at. for next yr, but DH said, "No". It's my dream line.