For those who took the train from LeHavre to Paris...

[DeloreanGirl]

For those who decided to do Paris on their own (if only for a few hours) and took the high-speed train from Le Havre station into Paris, were you able to walk to Le Havre's train station from the pier? Take a cab? A shuttle?

 

I know we'll only have 5 hours there, but the 2-hour train ride seems so much nicer to us than the bus (and cheaper) and we'd really like to squeeze this city in since it's a bonus stop for us that we never in a million years imagined we'd get to go to.

 

Any info or help from anyone who has been on the SNCF train between the two cities would be appreciated.

 

Thanks! :o

[hubofhockey]

The information is right here on cruise critic in the ports section. See link below. I would think the taxi direct makes more sense than a ship shuttle and THEN a taxi. After all, time is at a premium.

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=85

 

Getting To Paris : Le Havre's train station is about a mile from the port. In most cases, passengers will take the shuttle from the ship to the center of Le Havre and then a taxi to the station (or take a taxi directly from the port to the station). Trains run to Gare St-Lazare (Paris) roughly every hour, more often before 8 a.m. It's more than a two-hour train ride home, so leave plenty of time to return to the pier. For more information contact RailEurope.com (800-942-4866).

 

If you are doing your pre-cruise in London, it might make sense to just take the train in from London first thing in the morning and then take an 8:13 pm train back to London, which arrives at 9:39 pm local time. You could even do a walking tour in Paris. You wouldn't have to worry about getting back in time for the ship and you might get more time in Paris.

[CruiserBruce]

You might do better on the France ports board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=593

[Hlitner]

We have done the walk between the train station and a cruise pier (keep in mind there are several different possible docking locations) and it took a little over 30 min. Finding a taxi at the port would not have been a problem when we were in port, but sometimes French taxis can be hard to find. The last time we returned to the LeHavre train station (is was about 5pm on a Saturday) there was not a single taxi waiting at the station (there is a taxi queue behind the station) and several passengers were ahead of us waiting for taxis. DW and decided it might be faster to just walk back to the ship (we enjoy long walks).

 

Hank

[DeloreanGirl]

Thank you, all!