LeHavre to Paris private tours

[iluvcrewzn]

I need some help. I can't seem to find much if any information on private tours from LeHavre to Paris. Can anyone help?

[sddsddean]

Probably because there aren't many. Its a long way (around 120 miles) and 2 1/2 - 3 hrs by train, 3 hrs odd by bus. I know when we were there, there was a problem with getting the ship cleared and all the RCI tours to Paris were running about 90 mins late. I think most tours got about 90 mins in Paris and 2 long bus rides! Lots of unhappy passengers!! Personally, I wouldn't go to Paris...its just too far for not very long. Much better (IMO) to stay in Normandy and go to the D Day beaches and museums, or Bayeux and the cathedral and tapestry .

 

Simon

[deb63]

I went through this too. I contacted a few that were recommended on here.

 

Christophe Burtaire was recommended to me on here. And he does have good feedback on Tripadvisor. However, when I wrote him regarding our cruise he wasn't sure if he would continue to do tours out of Le Havre. Here is his website: http://www.driverguidefrance.com/

 

Shoretrips was another one I read about on here. I contacted them - and they will pick you up, personalize the trip and bring you back, but they cost more than other places I contacted.

 

Another is a taxi service at LeHavre. They will take you and bring you back. The only downfall I saw is they are driver's. Not a problem if you are good at finding yoru way around, but to be honest - I wanted a guide. But they get good feedback too: http://www.radiotaxi-lehavre.com/

 

I then asked the guide I booked for London and he gave me some recommendations, I ended up using one of the guides he suggested.

 

www.private-tours-paris.com They offered licensed guides, which I liked - and I could customized the trip how I wanted too. My trip isn't until next summer, so unforunately I can't tell you first hand how it turned out.

 

.

Edited October 14, 2013 by deb63

[iluvcrewzn]

Deb, thanks so much. When is your cruise? We are sailing August 4th.

 

 

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[deb63]

Deb, thanks so much. When is your cruise? We are sailing August 4th.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

We sail August 3rd. :)

[iluvcrewzn]

We sail August 3rd. :)

 

A day before us. So which ship are you sailing? Maybe we can share some information if we are in the same ports. What day are you going to Paris? If it's the same day maybe we can share a tour.

[deb63]

We are on the Ruby Princess.

 

Le Havre is the last port for our cruise, we dock there on Thursday, August 14th. However, I made arrangements with Princess to actually end our cruise here instead of returning to Southampton. This way we could have a few days in Paris before flying home.

 

The ports we hit are:

 

Guernsey, England

Cork/Cobh, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Belfast, Ireland

Glasgow, Scotland

Orkney Island, Scotland

Invergordon, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland

Le Havre, France

 

Are any of them on your itinerary?

 

It is our first trip to Europe, and I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to most.

 

I've read about the different festivals in Edinburgh in August (The Fringe and the Book Festival) which seems pretty unique. I was reading someone's review of the Book Festival from 2013 and J.K. Rowling was there. No clue if she'd be there for 2014, but that would be a highlight for my DDS.

 

Also, there is the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, but we are planning to head there out of Glasgow.

 

My husband is looking forward to Invergordon. He says even as a kid he dreamed of seeing Loch Ness in person. . and of course. . .looking for Nessie (da da da da daaaaaaaa).

[iluvcrewzn]

We looked at the Ruby Princess but it was just a little too long for us to get away with travel time. You will love it. We just got off the Grand for a Coastal California cruise.

 

Your idea to end your trip in Paris is Genius. I would not have thought of that. We do have many of the same ports. Invergordon is the only one we don't have. And we are not in port on the same days. Boo Hiss. We are on the Celebrity Infinity.

 

This will be my forth time in Europe but London is the only portion of the cruise I have been to in the past. I love, love, love London. This will be my third visit. You must see Rome some time. It's unbelievable. If I can help at all with your stay in London let me know. I don't have extensive knowledge but will be glad to share what I do have.

 

Our CC boards are very slow is yours any better? Now wishing we were going on the Ruby.

 

 

 

 

We are on the Ruby Princess.

 

Le Havre is the last port for our cruise, we dock there on Thursday, August 14th. However, I made arrangements with Princess to actually end our cruise here instead of returning to Southampton. This way we could have a few days in Paris before flying home.

 

The ports we hit are:

 

Guernsey, England

Cork/Cobh, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Belfast, Ireland

Glasgow, Scotland

Orkney Island, Scotland

Invergordon, Scotland

Edinburgh, Scotland

Le Havre, France

 

Are any of them on your itinerary?

 

It is our first trip to Europe, and I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to most.

 

I've read about the different festivals in Edinburgh in August (The Fringe and the Book Festival) which seems pretty unique. I was reading someone's review of the Book Festival from 2013 and J.K. Rowling was there. No clue if she'd be there for 2014, but that would be a highlight for my DDS.

 

Also, there is the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh, but we are planning to head there out of Glasgow.

 

My husband is looking forward to Invergordon. He says even as a kid he dreamed of seeing Loch Ness in person. . and of course. . .looking for Nessie (da da da da daaaaaaaa).

[deb63]

Our roll call is picking up. In case you can't tell - I'm chatty. :) And all you have to do to wind me up is mention a vacation destination. Whether I've been there or not, I love to learn about new places.

 

I remember looking at Celebrity - but I wanted Le Havre at the end of the cruise, as I had read about other cruisers ending there in order to extend their time in Paris.

 

I'm pretty excited about London too. I do wish we had more time there. But at the moment we have 3 days London, the 12 day cruise, and then 3 days in Paris. It was all I could squeeze out of my husband. :) He gets 4 weeks of vacation a year, and generally only gives me 10 of those days.

 

We are tentatively booked to see Rome in March 2015. :) I say tentatively as it will depend on how my DDs are doing in school, if they should start struggling between now and then I'll have to move it so they do not miss as much school time.

[Knolmom]

Hi Deb this is Knolmom. I believe we may have exchanged info on another board. We too are sailing next year to the Baltic and are leaving our Celebrity cruise one day early at Le Havre in order to stay for 3 days in Paris. We originally booked this cruise to spend our day in LeHavre as it is the 70 th Anniversary of D Day but most tour companies are not doing tours to the Normandy Beaches or the American Cemetary on that Day owing to security concerns. Even the ship has cancelled their tour. We would like to have private transportation to Paris, perhaps stoping at Giverny on the way. We know it will be expensive, but the train is not an option for us as we will have luggage from a 3 week trip plus I will have a rollator. Both my husband and I have some measure of disability.

Can you share any information regarding private Paris transportation you have come across? Thanks.

[deb63]

Hi Deb this is Knolmom. I believe we may have exchanged info on another board. We too are sailing next year to the Baltic and are leaving our Celebrity cruise one day early at Le Havre in order to stay for 3 days in Paris. We originally booked this cruise to spend our day in LeHavre as it is the 70 th Anniversary of D Day but most tour companies are not doing tours to the Normandy Beaches or the American Cemetary on that Day owing to security concerns. Even the ship has cancelled their tour. We would like to have private transportation to Paris, perhaps stoping at Giverny on the way. We know it will be expensive, but the train is not an option for us as we will have luggage from a 3 week trip plus I will have a rollator. Both my husband and I have some measure of disability.

Can you share any information regarding private Paris transportation you have come across? Thanks.

 

Hi Knolmom,

 

The companies I listed above were the ones I was recommended. Shoretrips came from my travel agent. Private Tours (who I booked with) was recommended by the travel agent I booked for London. I read positive reviews here on cruise critic of Christophe Burtaire and the Paris Taxi Service.

 

I'm sure there are other's, but those were the ones I contacted - listed out what I wanted, and they weighed in on what they had to offer.

 

I booked with Private Tours because they included a licensed guide with their bookings - and I felt some places (Palace Versailles / Louvre) that was important as our time was so short I didn't want to risk getting lost. :) What I arranged with them was:

 

Day 1 - pick us & luggage up at ship, take us to Paris. See Eiffel Tower / Notre Dame, then dropped off at our hotel.

 

Day 2 - See Paris. I gave them a list of places we wanted to see, their price includes the guide & any tickets. We will firm up when it gets closer in case I change my mind on anything.

 

Day 3 - A half day at Versailles - again guide & tickets included.

 

There are a lot of wonderful tour guides listed on tripadvisor for Paris. I found the hardest part was getting from Le Havre to Paris. I know a lot of people will strongly suggest the train - but having never been to Europe, with children and luggage - I wasn't comfortable with that. In the in I knew I'd be paying more doing it privately, but the peace of mind was worth it to me. I do hope to be one of those confidant European travelers some day though. :)

[iluvcrewzn]

I think showing our kids the world is an amazing education. I wanted my kids to know there is a whole world out there waiting to be explored. My son is working on his doctorates in Missouri and is spending thanksgiving in Peru on a medical missions trip helping children. Two weeks is all I could take off work at one time. Well you can chat with me about the cruise any time.

 

 

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[iluvcrewzn]

If you haven't already, you may want to check out the London toolkit. Lots of great information.

 

 

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[deb63]

I think showing our kids the world is an amazing education. I wanted my kids to know there is a whole world out there waiting to be explored. My son is working on his doctorates in Missouri and is spending thanksgiving in Peru on a medical missions trip helping children. Two weeks is all I could take off work at one time. Well you can chat with me about the cruise any time.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

I hope your roll call picks up. Did you find a company to do the Paris excursion with? Perhaps someone on your roll call can share the cost, etc.

 

Peru is pretty cool. It is on my "someday" list. :D Maybe 2017. LOL

 

My DH and I met late in life, so our kids are still young - but we are not. :) We want to see some of the world and make memories for them while we can.

 

I will have to look up London Toolkit, thank you. I think we have London worked out, only because our time there is so short - and one whole day is devoted totally to Harry Potter. So we had to limit what we pick.

[Knolmom]

Thanks so much for your information about finding transportation from LeHavre to Paris. We feel much the same as you...after spending so much on the trip, paying a few hundred more to insure comfortable transportation to our hotel in Paris, perhaps with a sightseeing stop on the way, is money well spent. As I outlined before, the train is not an option for us. We would love to be able to go to the American Cemetary before heading to Paris, and would pay dearly to do this, but it seems as if this is not an option, given the ceremonies planned for that day. I will inquire about a trip that will take us from LeHavre to Paris perhaps stopping at Giverny to see Monet's home and garden. I expect this will be expensive but worthwhile and will break up the trip. I don't believe Versailles will be an option as it would involve too much walking for me. We are considering all options, including trying to see if others on our roll call may want to include us on any of their van tours for a one way trip, where we would pay extra for our luggage and. They would have more room touring and returning to the ship. It's a bit early to pursue that idea, and our roll call is very slow. Thanks again for any additional ideas you might come across.

[iluvcrewzn]

Deb63, I hope it picks up too. I haven't heard any responses to sharing a trip into Paris. In fact no one has posted in the last week or so except me. :-( I am probably about the same age as you and we are not old yet!!! LOL I am leaning toward shoretrips as they have been recommended by our travel agent as well as yours.

 

Knolmom which cruise are you taking?

[deb63]

I almost went with shoretrips myself. There are things I liked about them. And if you do a search on here people find them reliable.

 

The one tip I would offer though is if having a licensed tour guide that can enter the sites with you is important. Verify they are included in your package. I almost booked because the package listed a guide, the price was still higher than others so I assumed I included a licensed guide. But I noticed other companies were stressing the fact the were licensed, so I asked. Some of the tours were driver guides, so they stay with the car and some tours did not include the tickets, so you would need to purchase ahead of time. The woman I emailed with was very helpful, friendly, etc. but in the end I booked with private tours.

 

I turned the big 5 0 this year. I celebrated by treating myself to a trip to the 50th state. :)

Edited October 17, 2013 by deb63

[Knolmom]

Deb, we are on the May 24 Celebrity Eclipse Baltics round trip Southampton. Stops@ LeHavre the day before we disembark .Did CruiseAir with Celebrity and the cost of going into London and home from Paris was the same as London to London from NY so why not. We spent 3 days in Paris and 4 in Rome before our Med Cruise last year on the Silouette and 3 in Paris was just not enough, so here we come. Did the L' Orangerie, the Tuilliers, walked the park and along the Seine to the Louvre, Notre Dame, a Seine Cruise, dinner at the Eiffel Tower, St Suplice Church and on our last day we did a 3 hour open top Citroen Tour of all areas of Paris, including the Marais, Montmartre and the Sacre Couer, the Latin Quarter, and the Champs Élysées. It was a whirlwind 3 days, but we did not see the d'Orsay museum, the Picasso museum, Les Invalides, the Rodin Gallery or St Chapelle chapel and hope to see them on this trip. Would also like to explore the area of the Sorbonne and my DH wants to see a show at the Moulon Rouge. That's the plan fo 2 and a half days. We stay just off Rue Cler so we can walk to the Eiffel Tower and nice unpretentious restaurants and cafés.

[iluvcrewzn]

Great point Deb. I may have to rethink this.

 

 

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[iluvcrewzn]

Knolmom, we are going on the Silhouette for spring break. I keep hoping to talk to someone on our ship as no one has taled on our roll call for 10 days.

 

 

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[deb63]

Deb, we are on the May 24 Celebrity Eclipse Baltics round trip Southampton. Stops@ LeHavre the day before we disembark .Did CruiseAir with Celebrity and the cost of going into London and home from Paris was the same as London to London from NY so why not. We spent 3 days in Paris and 4 in Rome before our Med Cruise last year on the Silouette and 3 in Paris was just not enough, so here we come. Did the L' Orangerie, the Tuilliers, walked the park and along the Seine to the Louvre, Notre Dame, a Seine Cruise, dinner at the Eiffel Tower, St Suplice Church and on our last day we did a 3 hour open top Citroen Tour of all areas of Paris, including the Marais, Montmartre and the Sacre Couer, the Latin Quarter, and the Champs Élysées. It was a whirlwind 3 days, but we did not see the d'Orsay museum, the Picasso museum, Les Invalides, the Rodin Gallery or St Chapelle chapel and hope to see them on this trip. Would also like to explore the area of the Sorbonne and my DH wants to see a show at the Moulon Rouge. That's the plan fo 2 and a half days. We stay just off Rue Cler so we can walk to the Eiffel Tower and nice unpretentious restaurants and cafés.

 

Sounds like an amazing trip!

 

I'm bummed about how little time we get in Paris, and London for that matter. But my Dh doesn't get a lot of time off where he works. He is at the max, 20 days per year. So it's not going to change until we hit retirement age. Hopefully we'll swing back around at some point and spend more time in London and Paris. Or, I have the Baltic on my "to do" list, perhaps I can find a route via London too - and add some time then.

 

Great point Deb. I may have to rethink this.

 

 

If Shoretrips is who you feel most comfortable with, just verify. They will add them onto your package if you need it. My point was just to make sure what you are wanting is included in the price you are okay with. The price I was quoted was high, and it did not include the licensed guide - and that was important to me. So when she verified the price didn't include that - but that she could add it in, it made me rethink if I was okay with paying what they were requesting. But that was just a personal choice for me. Comfort and reliability do have value.

 

ShoreTrips is a middle man. They are US based and arrange your trips with companies in the countries you are visiting, that they have tried & trust. So there is going to be some kind of mark up.

[Knolmom]

Thanks again, Deb. I imagine Shoretrips is like Viatour, they contract with local companies. You can use them in Paris to get a set viewing time to go up at the Eiffel Tower and not wait in line. The disadvantage is that if the weather is cloudy or foggy, you are stuck. We had dinner there at night. Did not want to play roulette and waste our precious little time there touring in the rain or fog. The lights at night were beautiful. Dinner was meh!, but a wonderful experience.

[Knolmom]

ilovecrewzin, you will really enjoy the Silhouette. We did the Solstice the year before last and the Silhouette last year, both times mail Italy and we really enjoyed our trips. Very upscale, we sailed in AQ because I am diabetic and loved the menu in Blu. Enjoed a liitle exercise in the Solarium pool each day and got tose tired legs relaxed and ready for walking. The Silhouette to the Caribbean I imagine will be fabulous. We had little to no opportunity to use the lawn, or even our balcony, so that would be just the cream with the cherry on top. We are cruising on the Allure in two weeks. I will need a scooter for that ship. Cant wait for the Allure, a totally different cruise.

[iluvcrewzn]

ilovecrewzin, you will really enjoy the Silhouette. We did the Solstice the year before last and the Silhouette last year, both times mail Italy and we really enjoyed our trips. Very upscale, we sailed in AQ because I am diabetic and loved the menu in Blu. Enjoed a liitle exercise in the Solarium pool each day and got tose tired legs relaxed and ready for walking. The Silhouette to the Caribbean I imagine will be fabulous. We had little to no opportunity to use the lawn, or even our balcony, so that would be just the cream with the cherry on top. We are cruising on the Allure in two weeks. I will need a scooter for that ship. Cant wait for the Allure, a totally different cruise.

 

You must report back to us about the Allure it sounds amazing. And thanks for the info on Silhouette. We are really looking forward to it. I had been an avid Carnival sailor. I am not high maintenance and their prices were always so good. In fact we are platinum members which we certainly enjoy the perks. But our last two cruises it seemed like things had slipped so I have been sailing on Princess and Celebrity. I guess I have to take a bunch of cruises to build my status on those lines. LOL

[Knolmom]

If you have any questions about the Silhouette just ask. Dont think it will be as lively as Carnival, but the food is really great,Cafe al Bacio for coffee and pSTRIES OR SNADWICHES IN THE AFTERNOON HITS THE SPOT, AND IT IS OVERALL A MORE PLEASANT EXPERIENCE THAN PRINCESS, I THINK.Sorry for the caps. I though Princess was equivalent to Royal and Celebrity was a cut above that.