Need an advice.

[MrMezentsev]

if I was to take a cruise to France (Med) which one would you suggest? (hope Paris included.)

if I was to fly to France (Paris) and get a rental car for a week or two where else should I travel ?(not far away from Paris)

[Host Kat]

5 hours ago, MrMezentsev said:

if I was to take a cruise to France (Med) which one would you suggest? (hope Paris included.)

if I was to fly to France (Paris) and get a rental car for a week or two where else should I travel ?(not far away from Paris)

 

@MrMezentsev

 

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Thank you for your new thread on the Holiday Exchange - Jingle and Mingle 2019 forum!  👍  However, your thread was off-topic here. This particular forum is only available at this time of year for members to celebrate the holidays of the season with their fellow Cruise Critic members.

 

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Edited December 28, 2019 by Host Kat
Typo due to fat fingers & skinny laptop keys!

[John Bull]

"France (Med)" meaning the Mediterranean?

 

Paris is at the other end of France, about two hours from the northern coast.

So you need to decide - Mediterranean France OR Paris

 

Usual French ports in the Mediterranean are Marseilles plus one of Nice, Villefranche, or Monaco.

Those cruises include Spanish ports like Barcelona and Italian ports like Livorno or La Spezia or Genoa plus Civitavecchia (for Rome) and Naples.

 

Usual ports in northern France are Le Havre or Cherbourg, and smaller ships include places like Rouen or Honfleur- its possible to make a day-trip to Paris from any of those ports but it'd be a long long day with limited time in Paris.

 

Can I suggest you forget the idea of a cruise.

Instead, fly into Paris, spend a few days there without a car (it'd be a millstone in Paris) then rent a car for a week or more to tour & explore 

- the D-Day sights of the Normandy coast

- or the Loire Valley, lots of chateaux and vineyards

- or  Mont St Michel and the wild & woolly coast & fishing ports of Brittany

- or  the Champagne vineyards & cellars of Reims & Epernay, plus the WW1 Western Front sights around Verdun

 

Return the car at your Paris airport (Charles De Gaulle?) for your flight home.

 

JB 

Edited December 30, 2019 by John Bull

[mskaufman]

If you are flying to Paris, you might think about Belgium (within a couple of hours) or places on the Seine (Giverny, Rouen, Normandy, etc.).  Then take a train to wherever your cruise begins.  This summer we are planning a river cruise that leaves from Paris and are planning a precruise in Bruges (Belgium).

[Hlitner]

Certainly try to spend as long in Paris as you can spare...since it is an amazing city.  If you want to rent a car in Paris (to drive outside the city) you should carefully consider where you rent since you should minimize the time (and miles) you would need to drive to get yourself out of the city.  Driving within Paris is not for the faint of heart.  As to where to drive you could literally go in any direction (from Paris) and be in a wonderful part of France.  So you need to do your homework and decide what area or areas best meets your personal desires.  You could head to Normandy, up to the Alsace area, south to Provence, towards the Loire (this area has quite a few chateaus that are now decent hotels), etc.  No right or wrong as it is all good.

 

A couple of warnings about driving in France.  They use speed cameras on many roads.  If you are speeding you will get fined after you return home and it will come from your rental car company.  The fines are often around 100 Euros and your rental car company will add an Administrative Fee.  My advice is to simply heed the speed limits.  Also make sure to carry some Euros as you can never be certain that a North American credit card will work at the toll booths (France has many toll roads).  Our own experience has been that our credit cards work on the toll roads south of Paris and often do not work on roads North of Paris.  Why?  The French contracted with two different private companies to operate their toll booths and one handles our credit cards with no issues while the other company does not.  And you never know until you try :(.  And finally, before you drive in France (or anywhere else in Europe) spend some online time reading about the various parking rules and advice.   

 

One other warning.  Each country has their own driving/parking rules.  For example, Italy has many ZTLs (limited driving zones) in cities where you get fined for just driving into a neighborhood.  London has some similar sections (but they are not called ZTLs).  Italy has some strange parking rules (color coded curbs, parking discs on rental cars, etc) so this country requires more homework then most other countries.   

 

Finally be aware that many rental cars (and most of the cheaper rentals) in Europe have standard (stick shift) transmissions.  If you need or want an automatic make sure that is what you reserve and make it very clear (when you reserve) that its all you will accept.

 

Hank