Transfers, Paris to Le Havre, Princess or Private

[bobontheblue]

Am booked on a TA. this coming September. Due to time constraints and work obligations will need to fly into Paris the day of departure. Flight through Easy Air arrives early in the morning, 8.35am. The ships departure is not until 8pm. Should I be booking my transfer with Princess, up to the port, or get adventurous and tackle the train from PDG to Le Havre. Hire a private car.

Anyone having done either, suggestions greatly appreciated.:confused:

[easyboy]

IMO, may be better not using the transfer and get around first either Paris or Le Havre. Just FYI, last September, our port of call in Le Havre was cancelled due to port worker’s strike.

 

 

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[pris993]

Maybe some one else can help, we have only gotten off in La havre... did use a Princess transfer then to Paris, then took taxi to hotel. You might try asking on the European boards for recommendations on private transfers. I did that when I was looking for a transfer from London to Southampton and Rome to the port. In both cases got recommendations from other cruisers that I have used many times. In October we did a TA from Barcelona... was concerned about weather delays and did look into options in case I needed to take a taxi to get to a port in Spain. Once again I got a recommendation from others on cruise critic. For international taxi transfers... kiwitaxi.com was recommended. I did not need so have not used personally.

[paul929207]

I would take the Princess transfer. They will they be responsible if you miss the ship.

[geoherb]

How much is Princess charging for the transfer and is the amount of money you could save worth the hassle? When we took our British isles cruise this past August, it was worth it to me to buy the transfer to Heathrow after the cruise. We got to Southampton on our own--but we came the day ahead of the cruise to see some things there.

[skynight]

It is about 2:30 to 3:00 hour trip. I would take the Princess transfer.

I could be incorrect, but believe there is no direct train service from Paris to Le Harve. I would check on this. Then once you arrive at Le Harve you would have to get to the pier.

[Corfe Mixture]

First let me say that I am both familiar and comfortable with the French transport system as I live here, for 5 months of the year, and regularly use public transport.

 

I am not, however, familiar with the public transport connections between CDG and Le Havre.

 

Having said that, were I wanting to make the journey, I would be inclined to use the RER (urban subway system) to get from CDG to Paris - St Lazare and then take the train to Le Havre (roughly 3 hours).

 

However, given you are using EZAir why not rely on Princess's guaranteed connection.

 

 

 

 

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[Janet524]

I would definitely use the Princess transfer. You never know when there will be a strike or work slow down in France and you sure do not want to get caught up in that kind of drama. As posted before, if you use Princes transfer it is their responsibility to get you to the ship. Less stressful IMO.

 

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[Daisyloo]

I would agree with using Princess transfers, given the fact that you are arriving the day of embarkation. That doesn't leave you much time for error if your flight is late, or if like others have said, there is a strike affecting travel. If you book it through Princess, even if it costs more, you will be looked after by them. That to me is worth any extra cost. Think of it as the cost of insurance.

[Travelnplane]

How much is Princess charging for the transfer and is the amount of money you could save worth the hassle? When we took our British isles cruise this past August, it was worth it to me to buy the transfer to Heathrow after the cruise. We got to Southampton on our own--but we came the day ahead of the cruise to see some things there.

 

I can just tell the price for the transfer in Euros. They charge us 76 Euro per person which sums up to 90 Dollars roughly

[Superfragger]

I would take the Princess transfer. They will they be responsible if you miss the ship.

 

Ditto. We always book the Princess transfer to the ship even though it's typically double the price of private arrangements. At least you're dwindling down the variables, especially if you're boarding in a port you're not familiar with.

[rocklinmom]

This is interesting because I have been considering sailing from Le Havre port next summer, and would definitely use the Princess transfer to the ship. Right now there is a strike in France affecting train service and it lasts through June, so I hope to see passengers who are sailing from Le Havre this summer of 2018 update on here about any issues with that. This will be the first time Princess does the British Isles cruise out of Le Havre port so I want to see how the transportation is handled. Also, as mentioned above, last summer several cruises were unable to even dock at Le Havre due to a dock workers' strike...wondering how that would affect passengers sailing from there this coming summer.

[TracieABD]

While this does not directly answer the question, here is a bit of experience.

My brother and SIL ported in La Havre and did a Princess excursion to Paris. On the way back, there was an auto accident with fatalities. The bus was hours late getting back to the port. Had they booked privately, they may have missed the ship.

I almost always book privately, but my standing rule of thumb is if the site is over 2 hours from the port, I book with the cruise line.

[compozer]

We planned to depart the ship in LeHarve instead of going to Southampton because we were staying in Paris for a week. We purchased train tickets ahead of time and had planned to use a taxi from the train station to our hotel. There was a port strike and we missed the Port.

 

I guess I would say,

Use the transfers. Whatever makes your life easier.