Getting off the ship and staying in Paris?

[cruisingforsix]

Hi, I am hoping someone can answer this for me.We are booked on a BI cruise in 2013 that leaves from Dover. The last port is Le Havre and then the next day back to Dover. We are planning to get off the ship and go to Paris for a few days. I have talked to Carnival and they said this wasn't an issue but other people said it is a customs issue and you may not be able to get off with your luggage. Anyone do this already??

Thanks

[6rugrats]

No, I have never done this, but have read that it must be approved by the cruiseline in advance, and you must clear immigration and customs before leaving the ship.

 

I would assume Carnival could answer all your questions about this.

[John Bull]

It'll take a bit of trawling (this forum and the Britain forum) but there's been plenty of posts by folk who've done this, & others who've researched & are planning to do the same.

I'm guessing you know your way round the search facility, if not check it out on http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=163 or ask here.

 

Makes a great deal of sense logistically.

 

Direct trains Le Havre to Paris, then Paris to London either by http://www.eurostar.com/ (best for central London) or fly from Paris to your London departure airport, or open-jaw return to the US direct from Paris

 

JB :)

[hancogran]

Not sure how Carnival works but we are sailing Vision of the Seas TA next April and are stopping in Le Havre the day before we are supposed to disembark in Southampton. I emailed Royal Caribbean to find out if it was possible for us to disembark in Le Havre (want to spend some time in Paris), and they've told me we could. They said they would send us an email confirmation that we would be disembarking in Le Havre.

 

Anybody know if it's better to book rail online prior to leaving, or whether it's just as easy to get tickets once we're in Paris? :confused:

[John Bull]

Anybody know if it's better to book rail online prior to leaving, or whether it's just as easy to get tickets once we're in Paris? :confused:

 

If this is for Eurostar, definately book on-line in advance. I'm pretty sure there's a good saving, and some trains do book-out.

 

JB :)

[hancogran]

If this is for Eurostar, definately book on-line in advance. I'm pretty sure there's a good saving, and some trains do book-out.

 

JB :)

 

Thanks so much John! You're a wealth of information. :)

 

Have been reading quite a few of your informative posts on the British ports of call and got so much information from them. We plan on spending about three weeks in the U.K. after our cruise so I'm making tons of notes. Thanks again for all your informative posts! :)

[binkysmom]

We did this a couple of years ago on Celebrity. We just cleared it with the ship beforehand and were able to disembark in Paris (Le Havre). We were able to spend a few days in Paris before taking the Eurostar to London and flew home.