Please advises what to do in Le Havre- France

thank you, taking he tour from princess is starting to look better.

our choice is either honfleur or rouen what do you recommend?

in 2013, 8 of us rented a private van w/ tour guide (my files are in storage -

think her name was dominique - she spoke perfect english - was a lovely guide)

who drove us to giverny where we spent about 4 + hours - plenty of time to walk

the 2 gardens, the home, the huge gift shop, had lunch in a nice restaurant w/ a

nice gift shop before driving

to honfleur for 2 + hours

princess had a tour for giverny & rouen but does not stay that long in giverny

because rouen requires a lot of time - i had spent lots of time in rouen and honfleur

on 2 previous land trips but never been to giverny so this was my major priority -

monet is my favorite painter so i was thrilled !!!

there is lots to see in rouen so if you can go by train you would have plenty

of time on your own to see the cathedrals, joan of arc stuff, have a nice lunch etc.

we spent the night at mont st michel on those 2 land trips - had dinner breakfast lunch -

even if you could get there from le havre you would not have much time to really enjoy it -

an awesome sight to behold from a distance and up close

Thank you for the excellent suggestions. Yes, we know how long the drive will be, but we are a group of three and one person has his heart set on this. He's very accommodating of our preferences, so it's only fair that we try to get to Mont St Michel. We should have lots of time, so we can break up the trip a bit. However, he has agreed that if the weather is poor, we will not attempt all that driving.

 

I honestly don't think I can take the emotion of the WWII memorial sites. Forty years ago I stood on the beach at Dieppe and wept, I was so overcome with the idea of all those young men suffering and dying where I was standing. It's not that I don't want to know or remember, I do.

 

I think Bayeux and Caen sound great for our Plan B. Thank you Hank, I almost hope it rains so I can see that Peace Museum.

If Plan B is Bayeaux and Caen, you might as well include the museum at Juno Beach Center.

The Bayeux Tapestry (Calvados) is embroidery, 70 meters long, made in the 11th century. It is listed as a “Memory of the World” by UNESCO. Celebrating the conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy, this linen canvas was embroidered after the Battle of Hastings on October 14th, 1066, probably in a monastery in the south of England. Vikings ships, Norman and Saxon cavalries illustrate the exploits of William and his opponent Harold, another pretender to the throne of England.

The Juno Beach Centre is a museum and cultural centre, which opened at Courseulles-sur-Mer, France on June 6, 2003. The Centre presents the war effort made by all Canadians, civilian and military alike, both at home and on the various fronts during the Second World War, as well as the manifold faces of contemporary Canadian society.

The Juno Beach Centre Association (JBCA) is a Canadian non-profit charitable corporation that is governed by a Board of Directors. The JBCA owns and operates the Juno Beach Centre in Normandy, France. The founder and past President was Garth Webb (1918-2012), a D-Day veteran.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage has designated the Juno Beach landing site to be a site of national historic significance to Canada.

Juno or Juno Beach was one of five sectors in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. The Juno landings were judged necessary to provide flanking support to the British drive on Caen from Sword, as well as to capture the German airfield at Carpiquet west of Caen. Taking Juno was the responsibility of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and commandos of the Royal Marines, all under the command of British I Corps, with support from Naval Force J, the Juno contingent of the invasion fleet, including the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). The beach was defended by two battalions of the German 716th Infantry Division, with elements of the 21st Panzer Division held in reserve near Caen.

The invasion plan called for two brigades of the 3rd Canadian Division to land on two beach subsectors focusing on Courseulles. It was hoped that preliminary naval and air bombardment would soften up the beach defenses and destroy coastal strongpoints. Close support on the beaches was to be provided by amphibious tanks of the 2nd Canadian Armored Brigade. Once the landing zones were secured, the plan called for the 9th Canadian Infantry Brigade to land reserve battalions and deploy inland, the Royal Marine commandos to establish contact with the British 3rd Infantry Division on Sword, and the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade to link up with the British 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division on Gold. The 3rd Canadian Division's D-Day objectives were to capture Carpiquet Airfield and reach the Caen–Bayeux railway line by nightfall.

The landings initially encountered heavy resistance from the German 716th Division; the preliminary bombardment proved less effective than had been hoped and rough weather forced the first wave to be delayed. The Royal Winnipeg Rifles and The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada took heavy casualties in the opening minutes of the first wave. Strength of numbers, as well as coordinated fire support from artillery and armored squadrons, cleared most of the coastal defenses within two hours of landing.

The subsequent push inland achieved mixed results. When all operations on the Anglo-Canadian front were ordered to halt at 21:00, only one unit had reached its D-Day objective, but the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division had succeeded in pushing farther inland than any other landing force on D-Day.

What to do in Le Havre? Leave! Seriously, Le Havre is not a particularly charming city and most use it as a gateway port to go to various places in Normandy. If you are looking for the closest "cute" town it would be Honfleur. You also can go to the D-Day sites although you would need to be on a tour or have a rental car. Another option is to take the train (or a tour) to Rouen. Many other cruisers will take the long (2/1/2 hours) trek into Paris. As to the docking location, there is only one terminal generally used by cruise ships. However, if there happen to be too many ships in the port on a given day a ship could be sent to any of several other commercial docking sites close to the city. Here is a link to Tom's Port Guide for Le Havre. Tom is simply a frequent cruiser who does a great job researching and writing about ports and the options:

http://www.tomsportguides.com/LeHavre-11-20-2013.pdf

 

Hank

LeHavre, we are going there in a couple of weeks. We plan on taking the train to Rouen. Do research on it a very historical city, very interesting. Vikings were there, buildings a few hundred years old, Notre Dame Cathedral. Joan of Arc was from that city, she was burned at the stake. Lot's of history. The train ride is about 55 minutes, there is on at 9:03 am, we will take a taxi from port to train station. We will return on the 4:00 train. Our ship does not sail until 9:00PM. It will be a fun day, also you can read about Rouen on tom'sportguide.com (a super site, you can download pdf's from it onto your Ipad in the area where you download purchased books). Won't need wifi to read them.

LeHavre, we are going there in a couple of weeks. We plan on taking the train to Rouen. Do research on it a very historical city, very interesting. Vikings were there, buildings a few hundred years old, Notre Dame Cathedral. Joan of Arc was from that city, she was burned at the stake. Lot's of history. The train ride is about 55 minutes, there is on at 9:03 am, we will take a taxi from port to train station. We will return on the 4:00 train. Our ship does not sail until 9:00PM. It will be a fun day, also you can read about Rouen on tom'sportguide.com (a super site, you can download pdf's from it onto your Ipad in the area where you download purchased books). Won't need wifi to read them.

you will have a glorious time in rouen - lots to see and do !!

DW and I also enjoy visiting Rouen. Besides some of the historic buildings, it is a nice size vibrant city with plenty of shopping. The last time we went to Rouen from LeHavre was a lovely Saturday and we also returned on the train around 4pm. We arrived at LeHavre about 5 only to find exactly Zero taxis at the taxi queue, and a few angry locals trying to call some taxis via their cell phones. They were not having a lot of luck. Being France we figure all the local taxi drivers were home enjoying the fabulous weather and a late afternoon drink. This was not a problem since DW and I actually enjoyed the walk back to the port (it felt like 2 miles). But this would have been an unfortunate situation if either of us had any mobilty issues. So regarding a day trip to Rouen, just wear very comfy walking shoes (you will also do a lot of walking in Rouen).

Does anyone know what time we can expect to be off the ship in Le Havre? I am departing the ship in Le Havre and need to make reservation for transportation to Paris.

Does anyone know what time we can expect to be off the ship in Le Havre? I am departing the ship in Le Havre and need to make reservation for transportation to Paris.

The French authorities are normally pretty good in clearing ships so they will probably allow folks off the ship about 30 min after the gangplank is in place. But it can take longer if you are having the ship take your luggage off the vessel. Last year when we left our ship a day early (in Le Havre) we actually booked a later train (around Noon) so that we could relax in the morning, enjoy breakfast, and avoid the early rush as most of the passengers were going off on their tours. Then a little after 10am we walked off the ship (no lines) grabbed our luggage which was waiting in the small terminal, found a taxi, and we were at the station before 10:30.

There were some others that caught the train around 10, which I think was also pretty reasonable. Of course the hassle when getting off the ship early is finding a taxi willing to go to the station. Many of the early taxis are looking for long haul fares and will refuse a short local hop.

Hank

Thank you. I was looking at a 10 am train and think I will book it.

found my red binder from our 2013 trip -

the private van tour of 8 was guided by

dominique eudier of guided-normandy-tours.com

we went to giverny & honfleur but she will take you

wherever you want (if she is not booked already !)

What to do in Le Havre? Leave! Seriously, Le Havre is not a particularly charming city and most use it as a gateway port to go to various places in Normandy. If you are looking for the closest "cute" town it would be Honfleur. You also can go to the D-Day sites although you would need to be on a tour or have a rental car. Another option is to take the train (or a tour) to Rouen. Many other cruisers will take the long (2/1/2 hours) trek into Paris. As to the docking location, there is only one terminal generally used by cruise ships. However, if there happen to be too many ships in the port on a given day a ship could be sent to any of several other commercial docking sites close to the city. Here is a link to Tom's Port Guide for Le Havre. Tom is simply a frequent cruiser who does a great job researching and writing about ports and the options:

http://www.tomsportguides.com/LeHavre-11-20-2013.pdf

 

Hank

I hope you check back to this thread sometime - I can't thank you enough for the recommendation of Tom's Port Guides. I can't believe we haven't found it before in all our cruising. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I hope you check back to this thread sometime - I can't thank you enough for the recommendation of Tom's Port Guides. I can't believe we haven't found it before in all our cruising. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Yep, we do keep checking on the threads. But cannot take any credit for Tom's Port Guides as his free online guides have long been recommended by many here on CC (we learned about them here). A couple of years ago we were actually on a cruise with Tom, but never had a chance to sit down with him one on one and share some port thoughts. But we know that Tom is obsessed with putting together the most useful and accurate info which is terrific for those of us who do most things on our own.

Besides Tom's Port Guides we also like the Rick Steve's series of travel guides....except that we have posted cautions about relying on their dining recommendations. Once Rick Steves mentions a cafe/restaurant in their guide the place will usually become packed with tourists and often raise their prices and lose some of the quality and charm that got them in the book. But we do salute the fact that those guides are wonderful for the independent traveler.

Hank

We really want to rent a car in port to drive Bayeux (highlight of our whole cruise for my wife) and then to Omaha Beach.

Any suggestions for close rental car agencies that might have shuttle to and from port etc??

We were in LeHavre twice last September on a British Isles/TA on the Royal Princess. The first time we took a half day tour to Honfleur, and we loved it so much that we took a cab back on the next leg of the trip, and we spent the whole day there. There were cabs at the port which offered a 30 euro fare each way. We had no trouble finding a cab back to LeHavre for the same fare. We visited the impressionists museum, walked around town, stopped for a lovely lunch on the pier, and shopped. On both days there was a large open air market very near the church, too.

We had been to Rouen, Giverney, the WWII beaches and cemeteries, and visited the Bayeux museum on past trips.

We really want to rent a car in port to drive Bayeux (highlight of our whole cruise for my wife) and then to Omaha Beach.

 

Any suggestions for close rental car agencies that might have shuttle to and from port etc??

I think we recently answered just this question on this board...but we will do it again. You have several options. There is one rental car dealer "rentacar.fr" located right in the port. Europcar and Sixt both have offices outside the port (about a 20-25 min flat walk).

Hank

Can anyone advise what is the best way to spend a day in Le Havre or nearest neighborhoods. I am not the type of tourist eager to spend time in museums. A good local guide for a tour would be a good recommendation for me. Any others tips are welcome.

There are several terminal in Le Havre, or only one? If there are many please advise how can I find the info where the ship will be docked (MSC line). What is the best way to travel between port and tourist area? Some recommendations for tasting some local food?

Thank you!

Just over the Pont du Normandie bridge is a most picturesque, delightful town of Honfleur built around an old harbour. We visit, many many times each year and love it but you'll need transport.

As far as local food goes, moules et fritte - they come in some mouthwatering sauces. Galettes (a savoury panckae) complet is a really tasty light luch washed down with some Rose wine. Absolutel Delicious, dining in a beautiful location watching the world fo by. Mmmmm - I want to be there NOW!