Le Havre to Paris question

[rmurray847]

My wife and I will be docking at Le Havre on Norwegian Breakaway in late April and would like to get to Paris as quickly as we can. I'd love to hear from others who have done Paris from Le Havre. I'm looking at Eurorailways, the high speed train. Looks like 2 hours, 15 minutes each way. Was thinking of leaving on the 7:56 am train (to arrive around 10:15am at Gare St. Lazar train station). Then return on the 15:50 train...to arrive in Le Havre around 6:15. That gives us nearly 6 hours in Paris. Pretty tight, but time to hit a couple of places. I assume we can grab a cab to and from the port to the train station, as googlemaps estimates that walk at 50 minutes. If all that went according to plan, we'd actually have an hour or so to kick around LeHavre.

 

Anyone think this DOESN'T sound doable? I readily admit that it's been 12 year since I've used public transport in France, so please shoot holes in the plan above! Thanks!!

[Hlitner]

Yes it is doable (we have done it) and the walking time estimate you posted is close to the truth. There will be some taxis at the port, but most of the taxis will not want to take a short haul fare to the train station. Unfortunately, without the competition of Uber/Lyft the French cab drivers are free to do as they please...and they do! All you can do is be off the ship ASAP and hope that there is at least one taxi that will take you to the station.

 

Hank

[rmurray847]

Yes it is doable (we have done it) and the walking time estimate you posted is close to the truth. There will be some taxis at the port, but most of the taxis will not want to take a short haul fare to the train station. Unfortunately, without the competition of Uber/Lyft the French cab drivers are free to do as they please...and they do! All you can do is be off the ship ASAP and hope that there is at least one taxi that will take you to the station.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank. Any opinion on the reliability of the trains? Do they keep to their schedules pretty religiously? (My past experience says "yes", but again, it's been so long now.)

[TheOldBear]

My wife and I will be docking at Le Havre on Norwegian Breakaway in late April and would like to get to Paris as quickly as we can. I'd love to hear from others who have done Paris from Le Havre. I'm looking at Eurorailways, the high speed train. Looks like 2 hours, 15 minutes each way. Was thinking of leaving on the 7:56 am train (to arrive around 10:15am at Gare St. Lazar train station). Then return on the 15:50 train...to arrive in Le Havre around 6:15. That gives us nearly 6 hours in Paris. Pretty tight, but time to hit a couple of places. I assume we can grab a cab to and from the port to the train station, as googlemaps estimates that walk at 50 minutes. If all that went according to plan, we'd actually have an hour or so to kick around LeHavre.

 

Anyone think this DOESN'T sound doable? I readily admit that it's been 12 year since I've used public transport in France, so please shoot holes in the plan above! Thanks!!

 

It may take longer than you expect to leave the ship. This September there were 8 busloads [4 paris & 4 normandy] off the QM2 first thing in the AM. The terminal had one official on site checking and stamping passports. About 45 minutes from stepping onto the gangway to sitting on the bus. [This would be faster if the ship had all passengers 'cleared' before arriving at the port].

 

There was a matching delay at the end of the day, going through security and passport stamps - and another delay was caused by a tour bus breakdown [extra hour or so] after all other passengers had boarded. This did not impact anyone making their own travel arrangements, but the ship likely would not wait for them if they encountered any trouble. I would not like to miss the ship when the next port is New York.

[Hlitner]

Thanks Hank. Any opinion on the reliability of the trains? Do they keep to their schedules pretty religiously? (My past experience says "yes", but again, it's been so long now.)

 

Our experience with the French trains has been pretty good. But I sometimes want to say something like, "past performance is no guarantee of future performance" (similar to what they say when you read a mutual fund prospectus :).

 

Hank

[rmurray847]

I would not like to miss the ship when the next port is New York.

While I certainly don't want to miss the ship, our stop is nearly the end. Cruise ends next day in Southampton. Might be tough retrieving our luggage though!

 

It's tough to decide. We've never done ship excursions before and have never had an issue getting around. But this is a pretty big trip, and lots could go wrong.

[Hlitner]

While I certainly don't want to miss the ship, our stop is nearly the end. Cruise ends next day in Southampton. Might be tough retrieving our luggage though!

 

It's tough to decide. We've never done ship excursions before and have never had an issue getting around. But this is a pretty big trip, and lots could go wrong.

 

Its the ole cup half full or half empty dilemma. Personally we would have no problem doing it on our own knowing that there was a Plan B (to get yourselves to Southampton). However, when we faced the same scenario about 3-4 years ago (while on the Ruby Princess) we decided to cut our cruise 1 day short and disembark at Le Havre (there was no problem getting approval from Princess). We then took the train to Paris and spent a week in apartment rental before a few weeks driving around France. But even for a shorter stay in Paris we like this option as it removes the need for a short port day in Paris. DW calls Paris her favorite city in the world....and we can never spend too many days in the city.

 

Hank

[Lutèce]

My wife and I will be docking at Le Havre on Norwegian Breakaway in late April and would like to get to Paris as quickly as we can. I'd love to hear from others who have done Paris from Le Havre. I'm looking at Eurorailways, the high speed train. Looks like 2 hours, 15 minutes each way. Was thinking of leaving on the 7:56 am train (to arrive around 10:15am at Gare St. Lazar train station). Then return on the 15:50 train...to arrive in Le Havre around 6:15. That gives us nearly 6 hours in Paris.

 

What is Eurorailways? I have never heard of it and suspect it might be some sort of third party agency. You should only ever use the official website of SNCF, the French railway network.

Google SNCF and it will take you to their new brand name OUI-SNCF.

 

But I would agree with Hank, if possible disembark in Le Havre and spend more than just a few hours in Paris.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Lutèce
Spelling

[rmurray847]

What is Eurorailways? I have never heard of it and suspect it might be some sort of third party agency. You should only ever use the official website of SNCF, the French railway network.

Google SNCF and it will take you to their new brand name OUI-SNCF.

 

But I would agree with Hank, if possible disembark in Le Havre and spend more than just a few hours in Paris.

Wish we could! I'm amazingly lucky as it is to get this time off work for two weeks. So it's just the day in Paris for us. (Thankfully we've been before when we could spend more time.)

 

As far as eurorailways...it appeared to be a site for a high speed train. MANY departure times...so not just some independent thing (like the tourist train from Civitavecchia to Rome).

[Hlitner]

Wish we could! I'm amazingly lucky as it is to get this time off work for two weeks. So it's just the day in Paris for us. (Thankfully we've been before when we could spend more time.)

 

As far as eurorailways...it appeared to be a site for a high speed train. MANY departure times...so not just some independent thing (like the tourist train from Civitavecchia to Rome).

 

Perhaps you will listen to another American :). The French Railroad is called "SNCF" "Eurorailways is not a train....but appears to be a third party web site. They identify them as a "Tour Operator" whatever that means. A quick Google search brings up some very negative things about that site. They are apparently headquartered in Pompano Beach, Florida and have a low "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau. As a long time (and very frequent traveler) I had never even heard of it until you mentioned it....and "Lutece" sounded a warning. There is an authorized North American web site called Raileurope (they are legit) but they should not be confused with what you stumbled upon. The high speed trains in France are generally called TGV.....but that is really not the issue here.

 

Lutece and I are giving you sound advice that the best way to book tickets for the French rail system (SNCF) is to use the SNCF web site. Using many other third party sites will, at best, get you about the same price....but more likely charge you more money and you may or may not even get a ticket. If you do have trouble using the SNCF web site (http://www.sncf.com/en/passengers) than you could try Raileurope.com.....although we have sometimes found they charge higher prices then you will get from the SNCF site. And by the way, most of the trains (there is usually about one per hour) between Le Havre and Paris take about the same amount of time which is 2:15 give or take a few minutes.

 

Hank

Edited February 1, 2018 by Hlitner

[Lutèce]

Hello again

 

I did a dummy booking on a random date in April for 2 return tickets Le Havre - Paris. Eurorailways price in euros (converted from USD) was for 48 per person whereas the official SNCF price was 30 euros per person.

In addition to this, Eurorailways would have you believe this journey would be by TGV - the French high-speed train - but in fact the TGV doesn't operate on this route and it will be a normal intercity train.

 

I would also be concerned as to what type of ticket confirmation you receive as it may very well be that the 'composter' machine on the platform won't recognise it, nor the conductor who checks your ticket on the train.

I'm not trying to alarm you, but why take the risk (and pay more) when you can easily get the official ticket from the official website.

The website Man in Seat 61 is an invaluable source of information of all things rail.

Happy travels!!

[rmurray847]

Hello again

 

I did a dummy booking on a random date in April for 2 return tickets Le Havre - Paris. Eurorailways price in euros (converted from USD) was for 48 per person whereas the official SNCF price was 30 euros per person.

In addition to this, Eurorailways would have you believe this journey would be by TGV - the French high-speed train - but in fact the TGV doesn't operate on this route and it will be a normal intercity train.

 

I would also be concerned as to what type of ticket confirmation you receive as it may very well be that the 'composter' machine on the platform won't recognise it, nor the conductor who checks your ticket on the train.

I'm not trying to alarm you, but why take the risk (and pay more) when you can easily get the official ticket from the official website.

The website Man in Seat 61 is an invaluable source of information of all things rail.

Happy travels!!

 

Thanks to Hank and Lutece and everyone. I appreciate the tips. PLEASE don't infer that I was blowing anyone off. I was just trying to be clear. It's a fairly big decision to make to consider relying on a train (so that we can get to Paris faster). My wife and I always book private tours or public transport (or just walk), as we don't find appeal in mass group tours. But this isn't quite the same as taking a cab from Olympia, Greece back to Katakolon. We're going a LONG way from the port, and I'm trying to make an informed, educated guess. I really DO appreciate the help.

[Julbrt]

My wife and I will be docking at Le Havre on Norwegian Breakaway in late April and would like to get to Paris as quickly as we can. I'd love to hear from others who have done Paris from Le Havre. I'm looking at Eurorailways, the high speed train. Looks like 2 hours, 15 minutes each way. Was thinking of leaving on the 7:56 am train (to arrive around 10:15am at Gare St. Lazar train station). Then return on the 15:50 train...to arrive in Le Havre around 6:15. That gives us nearly 6 hours in Paris. Pretty tight, but time to hit a couple of places. I assume we can grab a cab to and from the port to the train station, as googlemaps estimates that walk at 50 minutes. If all that went according to plan, we'd actually have an hour or so to kick around LeHavre.

 

Anyone think this DOESN'T sound doable? I readily admit that it's been 12 year since I've used public transport in France, so please shoot holes in the plan above! Thanks!!

 

Hello ! This sounds doable BUT you have to notice that there are problems with the railway in France, in fact, 3/4 days a week there is a strike which causes troubles to take the train. Here you can find all the information you need about it : https://en.oui.sncf/en/train/strike

 

Hope I helped you ! Have a nice journey !

 

P.S : Le Havre is a beautiful city too, there is a lot of things to see. It is a beautiful historical place.