LeHavre/Paris

[Seatravelers]

Planning on visiting LeHavre/Paris again in 2007 and took the ship's tour in 2004, does anyone recommend any other options and or private tours operators???? We rather not do a ship's tour again and are not keen on doing on our own, etc....thanks in advance for any info

[wwinfl91]

We used a company called Minibus tours for a private tour in 2005. We were in RCL's Jewel coming off a TA cruise when we docked in Le Havre and wanted to see the highlights of Paris. Here is a link to their web site.

 

http://www.minibus-tours.com/index.html

 

I acted as a contact point and found 3 other couples from our roll call who joined us to make it an affordable option. It costs about the same as the ship's tours but I believe we saw more. The company's guide/driver was waiting for us when we were able to get off the ship. The van was clean and in good shape. The long drive to Paris was relatively silent since the guide didn't any amplification equipment and traffic both on the highway and in Paris was heavy. We saw many of the major sites, the Arch de Triumph, Notre Dame, the Opera house, the Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, the Louvre (exterior only) and the Effiel tower. We paid for an extra hour in Paris and used it so people could actually go up in the Effiel tower. We had about an hour or so on our own in the area of the Opera House for lunch or shopping.

 

We made it back to the ship in plenty of time for some of our group to make their early dinners. All in all it was a successful shore excursion that everyone seemed to enjoy.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[Seatravelers]

Anyone else been to Paris lately and tried a private tour???

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

This sounds like a wonderful idea. Thank you for posting it. Happy Sailing, Joy

[Hlitner]

After more than 30 years of international travel (sea and land) Paris remains one of our favorite places on earth. That being said, its sometimes difficult to justify the nearly 6 hour round trip journey from and to LeHavre. There are other options..although it always pains us to skip Paris. LeHavre is actually pretty close to Normandy, and this is a very interesting place..particularly for those interested in WWII. Personally, we prefer to just rent a car and drive ourselves silly in Normandy. One bonus is that many of the French who live in the Normandy region have not forgotten why their country still gets to speak French and enjoy their culture...a memory that seems to have been forgotten by many of our Parisian friends.

 

Hank

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Thank you Hank for your sugestions. I also appreciate your insight. Happy Sailing, Joy