Travel from La Harve to Paris????

[Good Vibrations]

Princess Cruise British Isles August 1 of 2015-Trying to decide on Paris first then take the train to London or hop off the ship in La Harve (started paperwork with Princess) see Normandy and other sights along the way then stay in Paris. There will be four of us traveling together- big question----

what is the best way to travel to Paris?? We rented a car in Italy and really don't want the stress of that adventure again. Tax, private driver, train???

 

Hoping to hear from experienced travelers!!!:)

Edited July 25, 2014 by Good Vibrations

[Hlitner]

If you want to enjoy the various sites around Normandy you will either need to rent a car or arrange for a private tour. As to Paris you could either drop the car in Le Havre ( or another city in the region) and take the train, ormolu could arrange a one way rental car and drops your car in Paris. Giverny is also an option if you do plan on driving to Paris. We recently debarked our Ruby Princess cruise in Le Havre and took the train into Paris, although our Plan B was to grab a rental,car at Europcar and drive to Paris. There was no hassle with Princess on the early debarkation. We had notified the cruise line many months in advance and they told us to mention it to Guest Relations onboard. We did stop by Guest Relations about a week in advance and as we expected, they did not have a clue we planned to get off in Le Havre. But it was not a problem. They did take our luggage the night before arrival and it was waiting in the small pier terminal building.

 

But you are asking about a year from now, and the whole world might change in that time. France could even be the newest Muslim or Russian country in a year. So,you might want to check with Princess a few months before your cruise on their, then, current policy.

 

 

Hank

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Edited July 25, 2014 by Hlitner

[hubofhockey]

You are better off flying to Paris before you cruise and spending a few days there and taking the eurostar to London from Gare du Nord. It's about $70 and two hours on the train. From Le Havre, see Normandy and just end cruise on the regular disembarkation.

Edited July 25, 2014 by hubofhockey

[Pet Nit Noy]

Princess Cruise British Isles August 1 of 2015-Trying to decide on Paris first then take the train to London or hop off the ship in La Harve (started paperwork with Princess) see Normandy and other sights along the way then stay in Paris. There will be four of us traveling together- big question----

what is the best way to travel to Paris?? We rented a car in Italy and really don't want the stress of that adventure again. Tax, private driver, train???

 

Hoping to hear from experienced travelers!!!:)

 

Both options are equally appealing. You really can't go wrong with either option in terms of things to see/do.

 

If you do the Normandy, then Paris option, you might be interested to read how we spent our four days in Normandy: Two days were devoted to touring the D-Day sites. We devoted one day to Utah beach, St. Mere-Eglise, including the St. Mere-Eglise museum, and the German cemetery. The first two destinations were very powerful and memorable. The cemetery was interesting because it demonstrated a very different philosophy of military burial. The second day, we visited Omaha beach and Pointe du Hoc, the American cemetery, and the museum at Omaha. Again, very powerful and time well spent. Many cruisers who have only a single port day cover what we saw in two days. We didn't feel we spent too much time at each place; we had a marvelous private guide who shared excellent anecdotes and information. Our third and fourth days were devoted to seeing the Bayeux tapestry, a cider farm, and simply visiting the small towns in the region. (We had visited Mont St. Michel as part of an earlier cruise.) We hired a taxi for our day visiting the cider farm and the small towns. There is a regularly scheduled small group trip to Mont St. Michel that leaves from the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux.

 

From Normandy (specifically Bayeux) we took the train to Paris, where we spent a nice-but-cold-and-wet week touring. Then, we took the Eurostar train to London where we spent four great days in late May. The train is very do-able if you pack somewhat lighter than the average cruiser. We traveled with a 24" suitcase each and a carry-on tote that is about the size of a largish laptop case. (Even with this reduced amount of luggage, when folks offered to lift our suitcases up onto the train, we never said "no.") We generally travel in second class train cars in Europe and find them to be much nicer than trains in the US.

[Good Vibrations]

Thank you to Hlitner, hubofhockey, and Pet Nit Noy- for your prompt and very helpful and informative suggestions. We will definitely take your thoughts into consideration for planning this trip!!!!

We have experienced rail strikes in the past in both France and Greece and had to move to a plan B- I am thinking (hoping) the high speed trains are immune from these wildcat walkouts- any thoughts or experience??

 

I also agree that the world could be a very different place in one year and will leave it at that- what is the old saying "plan for the worst and hope for the best?"

[Pet Nit Noy]

Thank you to Hlitner, hubofhockey, and Pet Nit Noy- for your prompt and very helpful and informative suggestions. We will definitely take your thoughts into consideration for planning this trip!!!!

We have experienced rail strikes in the past in both France and Greece and had to move to a plan B- I am thinking (hoping) the high speed trains are immune from these wildcat walkouts- any thoughts or experience??

 

I also agree that the world could be a very different place in one year and will leave it at that- what is the old saying "plan for the worst and hope for the best?"

 

If visit Normandy, and you have to go to Plan B, I can recommend using Albion car service heading to Paris. We used this company to travel from CDG airport to Bayeux.

 

We paid for the convenience of car service since we didn't want to consume one of our limited days in Normandy taking the RER or the bus into Paris, traveling via taxi to Gare St. Lazare, and, finally, taking the train to Bayeux. Albion car service can be somewhat difficult to find via Google which is bewildering since it is a well-run, fully professional service.

[Hlitner]

Thank you to Hlitner, hubofhockey, and Pet Nit Noy- for your prompt and very helpful and informative suggestions. We will definitely take your thoughts into consideration for planning this trip!!!!

We have experienced rail strikes in the past in both France and Greece and had to move to a plan B- I am thinking (hoping) the high speed trains are immune from these wildcat walkouts- any thoughts or experience??

 

I also agree that the world could be a very different place in one year and will leave it at that- what is the old saying "plan for the worst and hope for the best?"

 

The vast majority of strikes are announced well in advance, although a wildcat strike can happen on any line. But there are two other issues that might impact schedules trains running between Normandy (Le Havre) and Paris. There are some construction projects on the SNCF rails that might (and we emphasize "might") impact scheduled trains, but the stoppages are normally scheduled months in advance. And now France has to wrestle with their latest fiasco where the SNCF bought 12 Billion Euros worth of nice new engines that are too wide for many stations (including some in Normandy). This is going to mean even more track/station work and possible disruptions. Here is an interesting article on the issue:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27497727

 

Hank

[sasset]

When the ship is overnighting in Le Havre is entrance to the port open foraccess to re-board all through the night?