Paris Excursion from Le Havre

[kamcruisecritic]

Hi, I am cruising for first time from Southampton to Le Havre, France. I have taken a last minute deal only to realise that all excursions organised by the cruise liner are already full.

 

Please, can you suggest me alternatives for a Paris excursion from Le Havre port. It is my first visit to France so will prefer some tour that picks us up from or near the port, shows us around few important attractions in Paris and returns us back to the port in good time. Our cruise arrives at 8 am. on 28th May, 2012 and departs at 8 pm. the same day.

 

Thanks in advance

 

-Kam.

[WYB!]

I was in Le Havre about 2 weeks ago.

 

Here are a few options depending on how adventerous you are.

 

You could post in your Ships "Roll call" for your ship to see if anyone is organizing an excursion to Paris.

 

You could take a taxi (8 euros) from the port to the train station and then take the train to paris and then back to the train station from paris.

 

You could take a taxi from the port to paris and back, (350 Euros).

 

You could take a taxi to the train station and rent a car from avis and drive yourself to paris.

 

What I did was to make a reservation with Avis who happen to be located at the train station and then drove back to the ship to pick up my group of 4 and then drove to Normandie (Omaha beach, Point Du Hoc & the American Cemetary & memorial) and then drove back to the ship. I left the keys in the after hours key drop off box along track 4 as Avis closes at 6:00pm.

 

Hope that helps,

 

- CWipes

[kamcruisecritic]

Thanks Cwipes. Your information is very much appreciated.

[topguy]

I spent 4 days in Paris on a land trip and didn't even come close to seeing all that I wanted to see and do. I don't think that a few hours or a day there will be enough. You can spend an hour or two just waiting to go up the Effiel Tower. And the museums always have a long wait too. But you can go and take pictures of the outside of buildings like the Louve, Notre Dame, and the Tower. But, who knows, maybe you might luck out on a slow day.

[Hlitner]

Since its the OPs first visit to France it might be helpful to point out a couple of issues. Getting to Paris on any excursion by bus or car will take approximately 2 1/2 hours (each way) which means you will spend 5 - 6 hours (depending on traffic) on the road. Your actual time in Paris will probably be less then 6 hours! As much as DW and I love Paris (it is her favorite city in the world) we usually avoid going to Paris from Le Havre because of the time element. The truth is that Paris is best visited as a multi-day (or week) land trip where one has the time to fully appreciate this wonderful city, its many great museums, amazing food, wine, etc. 5-6 hours really does not give you enough time to see much and is barely enough time to just drive around the city. Of course the normal sites such as Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe can be seen in a quick drive-by. But trying to do simple things like taking the elevators up to the top of the Eiffel Tower will really eat into your time. Going to a museum such as the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay (our favorite museum) could easily take the entire day (you could spend a week in the Louvre). If you really have your heart set on getting to Paris you might want to post on your CC Roll Call and see if anyone is putting together a small private tour. But since it appears that you live in the UK it might make more sense for you to simply go to Paris for a long weekend (via the Chunnel) and use your cruise as an opportunity to explore the Normandy region, nearby cities such as Honfleur, etc. In effect, exploring Normandy and the area close to Le Havre will effectively double the amount of time you have to sight see.

 

Hank

[hubofhockey]

I spent 4 days in Paris on a land trip and didn't even come close to seeing all that I wanted to see and do. I don't think that a few hours or a day there will be enough. You can spend an hour or two just waiting to go up the Effiel Tower. And the museums always have a long wait too. But you can go and take pictures of the outside of buildings like the Louve, Notre Dame, and the Tower. But, who knows, maybe you might luck out on a slow day.

 

You can see most of what you want to see in four days. We have 3.5 days and I really like how our plans line up. I would love a couple more days. But we have walking tours of Paris Along the Seine, and Montmartre planned with Sightseekers Delight, a two-hour skip the lines behind the scenes tour of the Eiffel Tower, half day at Versailles, Seine dinner cruise, Louvre, Opera, and Orsay visits as well. We also have reservations at two nice Parisian restaurants. We'd love more time there. But I think 3-4 day pre cruise vacation in Paris hits the spot nicely for anyone beginning or ending a cruise in Southampton. We are taking the Eurostar on Saturday afternoon to London, catching a show there that night and heading to Southampton on Sunday morning. For Le Havre, we're sticking with an Overlord D-Day tour.