Who has been on a Carnival cruise that stopped in LeHavre?

[Eli_6]

I want to know specifically about the Carnival excursions in LeHavre. I am interested in either the Paris on Your Own Carnival excursion or one of the Carnival excursions to Mont St. Michel.  Both are 2.5-3 hours away (so a 5-6 hours roundtrip bus ride) from Le Havre. We are in port 14 hours. (I do not feel comfortable going out on my given the places are so far away.)  For those of you who have done either, was the bus ride absolutely brutal?  Or was it worth it?  Anyone who has been to both places have one they prefer over the other?  Any other thoughts or experiences?  There are no reviews on the Carnival website for either...

 

Alternatively, there is an excursion to a nearby Benedectine monastery on the general Carnival website but it isn't listed yet for my specific cruise yet...perhaps it will come up later.  Would doing this be better? 

[KarmaCruisers]

I’ve not been yet..but wife and I booked the “Paris” excursion for this summer..yes it’s a 2.5-3hr bus ride each way..will it be brutal? Hard to say..for us, probably not as we normally drive a lot (I commute 5 hours a day)

[Eli_6]

13 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

I’ve not been yet..but wife and I booked the “Paris” excursion for this summer..yes it’s a 2.5-3hr bus ride each way..will it be brutal? Hard to say..for us, probably not as we normally drive a lot (I commute 5 hours a day)

Are you on the May 28th sailing, too? 

I used to have a really brutal commute, but I don't do that anymore thank goodness.  

[KarmaCruisers]

3 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Are you on the May 28th sailing, too? 

I used to have a really brutal commute, but I don't do that anymore thank goodness.  

Nah; princess in June.

I’ve done it 8 years now; so it doesn’t bother me..(also helped I get paid triple what I’d make locally haha)

[nessz79]

We're doing Le Havre on NCL in 2024 and plan to do the Paris excursion. We have never been to Paris and may not be back so this could be that once-in-a-lifetime trip and worth the really long commute. I have heard from countless others that if you know you'll be back, not to do that long of a trip for just a few hours in Paris...if that helps. Those people seem to be doing beaches of Normandy and I have heard Le Havre is perfectly charming as well.

[cyntil8ing]

Here's a link to my Paris on your Own excursion last summer. In short, I am glad we did it, but would not do it again. The bus ride wasn't bad. We had a rest stop at a convenience store at about 2 hours both ways.  It was about 4 hours in Paris, not counting the half hour we had to wait on the bus for stragglers.

 

 

[Eli_6]

@cyntil8ingThanks for the link!  A ton of useful information.  I was on the cruise before you last year. Were any of the ports tender ports? It doesn't look like it from the information that you posted. 

[cyntil8ing]

22 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

@cyntil8ingThanks for the link!  A ton of useful information.  I was on the cruise before you last year. Were any of the ports tender ports? It doesn't look like it from the information that you posted. 

No, no tender ports. I remember reading about your cruise and the issues you had with boarding right before we left for London. We were very lucky, with no issues at all.

[Eli_6]

1 minute ago, cyntil8ing said:

No, no tender ports. I remember reading about your cruise and the issues you had with boarding right before we left for London. We were very lucky, with no issues at all.

It was not a good way to start the cruise. All the roads were parking lots in Dover due to some issue with the French border.  School had just let out for summer vacation in several of the shires so there was the traffic of people trying to go over the boarder for vacation added to the normal traffic of 18 wheelers with food/supplies coming and going from continental Europe. Roads were completely shut down. It made the international news. The French blamed the British and the British blamed the French. Fortunately, that had all cleared by debark and debark was a breeze.

[BlerkOne]

Years ago (2008) I did a Paris On Your Own excursion through Carnival and the bus left me in Paris. They drop you off at a location in Paris and then tell you the area to meet the bus, but didn't say there would be 100s of buses in the same area. Luckily many of the buses will be for Carnival and I just rode back to the ship on one of them

[jenf22]

We did a Princess excursion to Mont St Michel in July 2022.  For us it was absolutely worth it!  There was a stop at a convenience store both directions for a potty break.  Mont St Michel was extremely busy and it was so hot the day we were there, but hands down a highlight of our trip.  Such an incredible place!