Transportation from Le Havre

[Suz the Cruiser]

Help. We are trying to get from Le Havre to Bayeux for a Normandy tour. Either I have to hire a private driver, or find more people to go on the tour so we can be picked up at the port. In other words, they either refuse to come get you in Le Havre OR charge a huge amount of money and tell you to find more people to lessen the cost....

 

This is maddening.

[MJL]

Help. We are trying to get from Le Havre to Bayeux for a Normandy tour. Either I have to hire a private driver, or find more people to go on the tour so we can be picked up at the port. In other words, they either refuse to come get you in Le Havre OR charge a huge amount of money and tell you to find more people to lessen the cost....

 

This is maddening.

 

Have you looked for a CC roll call for your cruise? You might find others with the same interest in arranging transportation.

Enjoy

 

Mike

[John Bull]

Hi, & welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Making your way by public transport from Le Havre to Bayeux or Caen or anywhere amongst the D-Day sights is convoluted & so time-consuming as to be impractical.

So you have no real choice but to fix up something that includes private transport from ship back to ship.

 

This can be

 

- a guided tour. Organisations like http://www.overlordtour.com/ who are expensive but highly regarded, and the cost is not so desperate if you share a van via your cruise RollCall. Despite the high cost, folk have reported back full of praise for this and other operators and found it actually good value.

 

- a pre-booked car/van & driver. Advise the operator of your needs & they'll supply a driver who speaks passable English, who knows their way around the landing beaches & sights, and who knows at least something of the events of the Normandy campaign. Not the same as a pukka guided tour.

Again, a shared vehicle is very much cheaper.

 

- a rented car. Plenty of folk do it this way, and sharing a car - again the RollCall is your best bet - is probably the cheapest option. Obviously involves research, but the driving is easy (no city-driving, a mix of fast simple divided highway and country lanes), the navigation pretty easy (ok, you might take a wrong turn or two especially in the little lanes but that's part of the fun) and parking is very easy virtually everywhere. Folk at the sights speak excellent English and there's plenty of signage.

Yet again, a shared vehicle is very much cheaper.

 

To find sharers - either to join you or for you to join them - your RollCall is the key.

This is a thread on Cruise Critic dedicated to folk on your cruise.

To find your RollCall, scroll to the bottom of this page, where you see "forum jump" click on the arrow & this will bring up a long (rather too long :rolleyes:) drop-down list of all the forums on Cruise Critic. Scroll up that list to find "RollCalls" (not "cruise lines"), click on your cruise line & select your ship. Then look for the thread with your sailing date.

Check the posts for anyone seeking sharers for the D-Day sights, and mebbe post your thoughts on that thread.

 

If you're struggling to find your RollCall, post again with your ship & sailing date and some kind soul will post a direct link. ;)

 

Hard work, but well worth the effort.

 

JB :)

Edited March 16, 2014 by John Bull

[Esther H.]

We are hoping to accomplish the same, and hope to benefit from our experience. What cruise lines make this stop. You are saying that the tour operators themselves will not pick you up

in LeHavre?

[John Bull]

We are hoping to accomplish the same, and hope to benefit from our experience. What cruise lines make this stop. You are saying that the tour operators themselves will not pick you up

in LeHavre?

 

Hi Esther,

 

As Suz's post, the operators will pick up a group at the ship, or anywhere else.

But at a cost.

 

They're based around Bayeux / the landing beaches, so as well as paying them to tour you round the beaches & sights you'd be paying their time & costs driving empty to the port then driving you from the port to the beaches.

And the same at the end of the day.

That's about an extra 300 miles.

Hence a big price difference - Not so bad if spread around a van-full, but a lot of money for a couple.

 

JB :)

Edited March 19, 2014 by John Bull

[konatyme]

What are the license requirements for renting a car at LeHavre? And are rental places close by to where the ship docks? (Princess)

[Hlitner]

What are the license requirements for renting a car at LeHavre? And are rental places close by to where the ship docks? (Princess)

 

When renting a car in France you will be fine with just your valid US drivers license. Although some like to also obtain an International Drivers Permit (you can get this at any AAA office for a price) we have never needed that document in France.

 

As to rental locations, there is only one agency (of which we are aware) located in the port. Their web site is http://www.rentacar.fr but their web site does not specifically mention the port location. So you need to contact their Le Havre city location (by e-mail or a phone call) and make it clear you want a car at the port. This company is a bit pricy (but very convenient) . Personally, we intend to go out of the port and hike to Europcar on an upcoming visit since they have more reasonable prices (and we love long walks). Many other agencies would require a taxi from the port, and getting a taxi to do that short haul is not assured.

 

Hank

[Bunson Bill]

Help. We are trying to get from Le Havre to Bayeux for a Normandy tour. Either I have to hire a private driver, or find more people to go on the tour so we can be picked up at the port. In other words, they either refuse to come get you in Le Havre OR charge a huge amount of money and tell you to find more people to lessen the cost....

 

This is maddening.

 

What date do you want to go? I am interested for April 28

[bethohio3]

You could also try a different tour operator. Someone recently posted several alternatives and I posted some (not recommendations) in the British Isles thread.

 

You'd still macs to get a group together but the roll call could help with that.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums