Paris-Normandy Docks

[travelhelp]

We are thinking of doing the Uniworld Paris-Normandy cruise in May or June and were wondering where the ship docks as it travels along. Is it easy to get off and spend time on your own when docked and nothing is planned by the cruiseline?

Sunny

[brandy6060]

We did the Uniworld Normandy-Paris cruise in June this year. The boat docks along the villages. It is easy to get on and off and visit the villages on your own. All of the included excursions are in the morning and you will be with a guide. The afternoons you are on your own or you can take an optional tour. They offer four optional tours and we took two. We did the

Versailles (the palace of the kings). It was an amazing tour. Before you take that tour watch the old movie "Marie Antoinette". The movie is great and you will have a good understanding of the palace and the kings. We also took the optional tour of the Louve when docked in Paris. We were in Paris 3 days on our own prior to the cruise, but, decided to use the boat tour for the Louve. It was a good idea because the guide took us to the most popular works of art and we did not have to try to find our way around on our own, as the museum is so large with over 30,000 pieces of art. You will love this cruise. Two of the best included tours were the all day Normandy tour and the Giverny (home of Monet) tour. Those two tours are included and they were absolutely breathtaking! We did the Grand France so after the Normandy-Paris we transferred to the River Royale and cruised in Southern France. If you have any other questions, we will be most happy to respond. Uniworld is great!!!!

[travelhelp]

Thanks so much for your quick reply. We traveled with Uniworld about 5 years ago and did the Amsterdam-Netherlands cruise and loved it. Since then, we have done ocean trips but are so looking forward to doing this type of cruise again. For 2012. Uniworld offers this with 2 days pre trip in Paris and we were thinking of adding another day on our own. Wish we could do another Paris cruise afterwards the way you did, but.....not in the cards right now. Thanks again.

Sunny

[franski]

Might I suggest a visit to the Orangerie while you are in Paris?? It was wonderful to see Monet's original canvases of the water lillies --> especially after seeing his home, where they were painted.

[brandy6060]

Regarding the precruise stay w/Uniworld. We found that staying on our

own for 3 nights was a lot less expensive and with a good map (Fodor's

has one in their paris book) we enjoyed going at our own pace.

Lunch at the cafes and taking the boat-a-bus on seine as a means of

getting to main attractions (when our feet got tired) was easy. We had

never been to Europe, let alone venture out on our own, but, it was the way to go. We talked with some passengers who went with the uniworld precruise and they said they wished they had gone out on their own.

Lots of good hotels, Rick Steve's and Fodors mentions some good reasonable ones. We stayed at the Hotel Eiffel Seine on Grenelle Blvd.

in a "Club Room". On their sight they had a 3 night package and it was

very reasonble. Room clean and very large comfortable bed. Close to

Boat-a-Bus and metro (we did not take metro). Boat-a-bus only 10 minutes from hotel and for a 3 day ($18 pass) it stops at all of the main

attractions in Paris. Hop on and off whenever.

Just wanted to mention that we stayed in paris on a thur, fri, sat night which was smart, because most of the museums are closed mon and tues....

[travelhelp]

You have outlined exactly what we wanted to do but here are some questions...The 2012 brochure from Uniworld shows the 2 days prior to the cruise and the cruise as one price....do we have the option to do the pre Paris hotel ourselves and just the cruise part with Uniworld? Also, what did you do for travel insurance since we will then have to book the airline on our own as well.

[brandy6060]

When we booked our cruise the cruise was one price and a pre-cruise optional extension was an additional price per person. Maybe they have changed it and made it all one price as you mentioned. I would call Uniworld and ask them the cost of the pre-cruise and tell them you'd prefer to do Paris on your own. Maybe they can separate the two. They have always been very nice whenever we called them on the phone. Even though we did Paris on our own, they still booked our flight for us. In retrospect, we did not get any discount by booking with them and we could have booked on our own. We watched the fares and choices closely and actually booked the flights thru Uniworld three months prior to trip.

Regarding Travel Insurance, since we booked the trip one year in advance, we took out insurance for both the cruise and then added air (once we got the flights) with Travel Guard. The cost of Insurance is based on the cost of the trip. We did not have any insurance for our 3 day stay in Paris. Travel Guard is rated very high and we used them once before and had to file a claim and their response and service was excellent. Travel Guard is superior to the Insurance that you purchase from the cruise line. It might cost a little more, but, the coverage is excellent. We took the "Gold" policy.

If you have any other questions, let us know. We'd be interested in Uniworlds response to the pre-cruise question. Please let us know....

[travelhelp]

OK..got in touch with Uniworld and it looks like if we choose to do just the cruise with them and not two days in Paris prior the cost would be $600 less per person....so...we have some figuring to do. We lose the transfers, and maybe a Seine Cruise but to add another day with them is very costly. The hotel they use is expensive and does not have he greatest reviews. Looking at the hotel you chose, it may comes out pretty reasonable and it would give us the 3rd day. Will work on the numbers and make some kind of decision before Sept 30th in order to get a break if paid in full. You've been so helpful. There's nothing like these boards to get such good info and the experience of others.

[brandy6060]

Glad to hear that you have the option to do Paris on your own. We did not come close to spending $1200 while in Paris for 3 nights. We did not eat at any expensive restaurants. We really enjoyed all the many cafes and loved cafe food and atmosphere (sitting with the locals was great!)

One couple on our cruise did the precruise with Uniworld and they were

somewhat disappointed. They said the hotel was not that great.

I was so nervous about venturing out on our own. We broke each day down into 3 areas, and was able to see everything on our list.

You will have a marvelous time, wish we could join you! I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Uniworld will give you the transfer to the airport at the end of your trip as long as your flight falls within the designated timeframe. We used

"Edwards Limo Service" to get to the hotel from the airport (got a discount because our son owns a limo company and has connections). If you are interested in that service, we might be able to help out with a discount. A taxi would have been our second choice.

Any other questions we'd love to respond. For several years I would gain info from cruise critic and it helped so much. Then after the river cruise

we decided to register and maybe we could give instead of take. So very rewarding to help you along.

[travelhelp]

We've committed to the May 25th trip but decided to do it all with Uniworld. We felt like we would like to do our own trip excusively to Paris at another time and just enjoy the cruise right now. As we began to work it all out, it was becomming a bit more than our original plan. We have, however, held off the airline tickets as we have found in the past that waiting a bit past the first of the year was beneficial.

So, if anyone is going on this cruise, let us know. We are from lower Fairfield County in CT awaiting another weather disaster this week-end. Hard to believe, winter storms last season, earthquakes last week and an upcoming hurricane. Wow!!!

Sunny