No ship tours to D Day beaches or Mont St. Michel?

[seapointer]

So we booked a Marina cruise in June 2024 from Lisbon to Amsterdam, and our TA sent the excursion catelog. To my surprise, there was no tours to Mont St. Michel nor to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Not from LeHavre. Not from St. Malo.

 

This is such a glaring omission, I am wondering if it is an error or oversight.

 

Does anyone have information about this?

[LHT28]

You could take the  bus to MSM  or  book a private tour

We used Westcapades

[EJL2023]

16 minutes ago, seapointer said:

So we booked a Marina cruise in June 2024 from Lisbon to Amsterdam, and our TA sent the excursion catelog. To my surprise, there was no tours to Mont St. Michel nor to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Not from LeHavre. Not from St. Malo.

 

This is such a glaring omission, I am wondering if it is an error or oversight.

 

Does anyone have information about this?

There seems to be an issue with excursions showing for Marina cruises that time next year. Some have none, some have part, some have listed but no price and some seem all correct. But….for those ports, check the London to London cruise on 9/10/24 on Marina and those ports do at least list excursions to the locations you noted. So my guess is they are working through the issues. Now my cruise in July on Marina has all excursions listed with pricing, so seems hit and miss at the moment. 

Edited July 13, 2023 by EJL2023

[TERRIER1]

When we tendered in St Malo a number of years ago with Oceania there were no excursions offered to Mont St Michel. You were on your own if your wanted to go.

[Queen of DaNile]

Strange.

We're scheduled to do Mont St, Michel with O when we are there on Vista in September.

They are also offering tours to the Normandy beaches from Le Havre.

Try calling Oceania.

Edited July 13, 2023 by Queen of DaNile

[LHT28]

they may be still loading tours  for  cruises  a year from now

It is hit  or miss some days with O

[cruisemom42]

Since I first booked my Insignia cruise over a year ago for Iceland and Greenland, there have been no shore excursions offered for St. Athony, despite it being so close to the famous (and only North American) Viking site at L'Anse aux Meadows. I kept thinking they'd add it -- other lines offer it -- but nothing has ever shown up.

 

I booked a private taxi, but the omission still seems odd.

 

Oceania's thinking remains mysterious. If, as evidenced by Simply More, they want more people to book their excursions, you'd think they'd offer them at least to the most well known places near the ports visited.

 

[redraider1966]

2 hours ago, seapointer said:

So we booked a Marina cruise in June 2024 from Lisbon to Amsterdam, and our TA sent the excursion catelog. To my surprise, there was no tours to Mont St. Michel nor to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Not from LeHavre. Not from St. Malo.

 

This is such a glaring omission, I am wondering if it is an error or oversight.

 

Does anyone have information about this?

We're on the same cruise as post #5.  Full disclosure:  While it's true O is offering D-Day battlefield excursions for our cruise, they are both pricey OS or OE category tours.  There is a good private tour alternative (Overlordtour.com) with more reasonable prices and great reputation, but they won't open a tour as far out as June 2024 until much closer to that timeframe.

[seapointer]

Thank everyone for the responses. It seems there should be sufficient opportunities to get to the D Day beaches, but I guess it will be a wait and see for MSM.

[FlyerTalker]

Second the recommendation for Overlord.  Excellent experience in a smaller van - we had 10 people in our group.

 

 

[ORV]

I went on a tour from St Malo to Mont Ste Michele in 2019 on Marina, so I know they've done it in the past. 

 

I also went to Omaha Beach with Overlord tours and would join in on the positive recommendations. 

[shepherd really]

21 minutes ago, ORV said:

I went on a tour from St Malo to Mont Ste Michele in 2019 on Marina, so I know they've done it in the past. 

 

I also went to Omaha Beach with Overlord tours and would join in on the positive recommendations. 

Was this the transatlantic blizzard cruise in April '19?  If so, that was a really fun trip.  

[ORV]

10 minutes ago, shepherd really said:

Was this the transatlantic blizzard cruise in April '19?  If so, that was a really fun trip.  

No, this was in Sept. From Amsterdam to Lisbon. Just great. 

[the mice]

I think O is working on shore excursions for some ports.  Is you cruise a segment that is offered as part of a longer Grand Voyage or Extended Journey (or whatever the O lingo is these days)?   Reason I ask is that for our Asia cruise in February there are no excursions listed for a couple of ports, BUT if I look at the 2 individual segments that make up our cruise, there ARE excursions for those same ports.  And for one of those, there are no prices listed yet. 

[Lolotte]

Rented a car and went to Mont St Michel on our own and also stopped in Honfleur !

[macaroni]

Overlords was the best!

Edited July 14, 2023 by macaroni

[swayingpalms2]

Overlord still hasn't opened a tour for 09/03/23!  In your experience, how far out have you booked?

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, swayingpalms2 said:

Overlord still hasn't opened a tour for 09/03/23!  In your experience, how far out have you booked?

Have you contacted  them to see when they will have tours  for that date available ?

 I am surprised they  do not have them by now

[the more ports the better]

On 7/13/2023 at 1:05 PM, seapointer said:

So we booked a Marina cruise in June 2024 from Lisbon to Amsterdam, and our TA sent the excursion catelog. To my surprise, there was no tours to Mont St. Michel nor to the D-Day beaches of Normandy. Not from LeHavre. Not from St. Malo.

 

This is such a glaring omission, I am wondering if it is an error or oversight.

 

Does anyone have information about this?

We are on the same sailing.  I am booking a private tour with Overlord.  They can take 4 couples.  You are welcome to join us.

 

We also plan to book a private tour visit Mont St Michel in St Malo.  I believe Overlord does this too but I plan to check other options.

[redraider1966]

2 hours ago, swayingpalms2 said:

Overlord still hasn't opened a tour for 09/03/23!  In your experience, how far out have you booked?

FWIW.  They opened a small group tour (up to 16 pax) for 8/31/2023 to D-Day battlefield on or about 6/15/2023.  I had been in touch with them regularly for about 6 months in advance.  They were very prompt in keeping me apprised of how many had expressed interest in the tour for that date, and told me they wld. not open the tour until at least 8 had shown interest.

[swayingpalms2]

16 hours ago, redraider1966 said:

FWIW.  They opened a small group tour (up to 16 pax) for 8/31/2023 to D-Day battlefield on or about 6/15/2023.  I had been in touch with them regularly for about 6 months in advance.  They were very prompt in keeping me apprised of how many had expressed interest in the tour for that date, and told me they wld. not open the tour until at least 8 had shown interest.

This is what they've told me as well.  We are a group of 3 and another couple from our Roll Call just sent in their request form.  We may just be 3 short now...

[harlor]

We recently took an Overlord tour to the DDay beaches while on the Riviera. Their tours are phenomenal. Ask for Chris as your tour guide.

Loretta

[Queen of DaNile]

58 minutes ago, harlor said:

We recently took an Overlord tour to the DDay beaches while on the Riviera. Their tours are phenomenal. Ask for Chris as your tour guide.

Loretta

How much time did you have in Bayeaux?

[RJB]

On 7/13/2023 at 1:17 PM, LHT28 said:

You could take the  bus to MSM  or  book a private tour

We used Westcapades

We got off the ship and took a taxi to MSM.  Price very good.  He waited a few hours for us and took us back to the pier.  A few hours is all that was needed.  Maybe three.   For he beaches we had a private guide who was wonderful.  Fir the four ou us it was about half the price and twice as good.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[harlor]

On 7/23/2023 at 4:24 PM, Queen of DaNile said:

How much time did you have in Bayeaux?

I think it was 1.5 hrs, but the guide is totally flexible for you to set how long you want. 

Loretta