Brest and Cherbourg

[GulfCoastCruiser]

We are booked on Jewel of the Seas, transatlantic sailing Miami to Harwich, on May 3. What, if anything, is there to do in Brest and Cherbourg, France?

[Cigar King]

Depending how much time you have you could hit Normandy from Cherbourg

[negc]

We are booked on Jewel of the Seas, transatlantic sailing Miami to Harwich, on May 3. What, if anything, is there to do in Brest and Cherbourg, France?

 

Last September, when we were on the Jewel transatlantic cruise, we took a fascinating tour to Mont St. Michel from Cherbourg. Others in our group went to the beaches of Normandy, while still others stayed and explored the town where Umbrellas of Cherbourg was filmed.

Check out a good travel guide and I suspect that you will find lots of interesting things to do in both cities.

[steamboats]

We´ve been to Brest on the Vision last year. The harbor is a bit offside. Most of the town has been built in the 1960ies and therefore is sort of modern concrete architecture. Theres a historic fort and some towers in the old harbor region.

 

RCI did offer a shuttle downtown. As in all other ports they claimed 15USD pP. The Brest tourism office did offer a free shuttle to RCI but they declined. We had sort of a passenger riot as nearly all ports were offside and in some you weren´t allowed to walk. We ended up with having a free shuttle by RCI in Brest. Hope they learned out of it!!

 

At the harbor you will find a lot of tents built up with locals selling local produce. There´s also a tent of the tourism office and the people were very helpful (the lady there told us that RCI had declined the offer of a free shuttle). You will also get a free map. I think they had some music too (bagpipers).

 

steamboats

[HokiePoq]

We´ve been to Brest on the Vision last year. The harbor is a bit offside. Most of the town has been built in the 1960ies and therefore is sort of modern concrete architecture. Theres a historic fort and some towers in the old harbor region.

 

RCI did offer a shuttle downtown. As in all other ports they claimed 15USD pP. The Brest tourism office did offer a free shuttle to RCI but they declined. We had sort of a passenger riot as nearly all ports were offside and in some you weren´t allowed to walk. We ended up with having a free shuttle by RCI in Brest. Hope they learned out of it!!

 

At the harbor you will find a lot of tents built up with locals selling local produce. There´s also a tent of the tourism office and the people were very helpful (the lady there told us that RCI had declined the offer of a free shuttle). You will also get a free map. I think they had some music too (bagpipers).

 

steamboats

 

 

Thanks for the info. Like the OP, we are on this cruise. We booked the Normandy Beaches ship's excursion after checking a private tour. We leave at 4 I believe and it seemed a private tour might cut that close. For Brest, I want to go to Quimper but it requires a lot of walking so may have to look for something else. With the cost of the shuttle, one might as well book an excursion. Hope they have a free one this time!