Viking Normandy Beaches Tour - Commonwealth

[OneSixtyToOne]

My wife and I are booked on the Paris & the Heart of Normandy for Aug 6, 2017.

 

They offer two Normandy Beaches tours, Commonwealth and U.S., and we are trying to decide which to take.

 

The Commonwealth tour includes a stop to view the famous Bayeux tapestry that commemorates the Norman Conquest but doesn't visit Omaha Beach. I'm leaning toward the Commonwealth Tour since it doesn't just focus on WWII. I also think it may be less crowded.

 

Has anyone been on the Commonwealth tour?

[mhb1757]

Haven't been on the Commonwealth version but they still spend most of the day on WWII sites. They visit Juno and Gold beaches and the Commonwealth cemetery vs Omaha beach and the American cemetery. The American tour was very moving.

[Alberta Quilter]

I did the Commonwealth tour in Nov/15. It was a couple of hours drive each way. We did go to Bayeux in the morning; the tapestry is quite unusual. I would have liked some time to spend in Bayeux but time was tight. We met the rest of the pax at the restaurant, in Arromanches, for lunch and then we parted ways again to go to Juno Beach, Canadian and British cemeteries, and Pegasus Bridge. I believe those on the American tour spent the morning at a museum in Arromanches before touring the various American sites after lunch. I believe we all arrived back at approximately the same time; the Commonwealth tour might have been a little later than the American tours. On our tour there were maybe 12 of us, which was a nice size. Some only came on this tour because of the tapestry.

[terry&mike]

I did that sailing last year with Viking and chose the American tour as my husband had an interest in the sites offered. I remember thinking ahead of time that this was going to be my "long day" where I wasn't very into it, but was doing it for my husband. I was completely wrong, this was one of my favorite days on the cruise. As a person who is not a WWII buff, nor much of a history buff, I was both impressed and moved by the presentation. The museum in the morning presents an incredible engineering marvel that allowed the US to turn the war, and the cemetery and other sites in the afternoon had an effect on me I was not prepared for. I can't imagine you could wrong with either tour.