¡Live! Regal 12 Night UK Cruise (6/25-7/7)

[KKB]

7 hours ago, Scottygirl1 said:

That is how it is in France (in our experience).  They never even try to understand you unless you speak in French.  I tried my best ... it was pretty funny, even funnier for my partner who tried to speak to greet them in Italian (we'd just left Italy).  

We encountered this in Paris in the 80s.

Lady in front of us tried to speak English with a French accent & shopkeeper just kept saying "I don't understand" in French. 

We high schoolers carefully chose our words in French & the shopkeeper then said "It is OK, I speak English, she just make me mad!"

But this is easy--if they don't want my business, THEIR loss!

[KKB]

On 7/8/2023 at 6:32 AM, maggieq said:

@KarmaCruisers thanks so much for doing this live review. Thinking of doing this itinerary in 2025.  How did you find the ship?   Ncl are offering similar itineraries but on a very old ship.  We haven’t been on Princess since 2004 but thinking they would be a better option.  

Princess would be a better option even on an older Princess ship.

Food & service definitely better on Princess.

Tho specialty dining & production shows better on NCL. 

(I have not sailed older NCL ships...and the labor shortages--cost cutting or supply issue, not sure--on our Encore ship has me questioning if we will sail NCL in the future. We have 2 booked yet this year so we shall see!)

[Sulialto]

1 hour ago, georgemoe said:

 

We are on the same sailing in August. We are not doing the bus to Paris or Normandy. We will most likely grab a Nomad car at the port and spend time in HonFleur. That's if we even get off the ship. We are hoping to do a Paris based river cruise in 2026 so we'll save a Normandy excursion for then.

Sorry to be ignorant, but I’m not familiar with Nomad Car? I googled it, but it’s mostly showing me old Chevys🤣 Are you just saying renting a car? We plan on skipping the big trips as well and going to Hon Fleur via the bus from Viator.

[georgemoe]

1 hour ago, Sulialto said:

Sorry to be ignorant, but I’m not familiar with Nomad Car? I googled it, but it’s mostly showing me old Chevys🤣 Are you just saying renting a car? We plan on skipping the big trips as well and going to Hon Fleur via the bus from Viator.

 

Sorry about that. Nomad Cars was a tip I found here on CC that I had not fully vetted yet.

https://www.nomadcar14.fr/fr/ Looks to be a pain in the neck. Another option I saw was using 

https://beelehavre.com/en/how-to-visit-discover-and-travel-easily-between-le-havre-honfleur/ .

Looks like you need to take a taxi to the bus station to catch the shuttle which allows 3 free hours in Honfleur. I might go for that.

[jrmende63]

On 7/8/2023 at 7:32 AM, maggieq said:

@KarmaCruisers thanks so much for doing this live review. Thinking of doing this itinerary in 2025.  How did you find the ship?   Ncl are offering similar itineraries but on a very old ship.  We haven’t been on Princess since 2004 but thinking they would be a better option.  

@maggieq I have changed to Regal Princess after having NCL Dawn booked. I just kept getting a bad feeling about the Dawn.

[Sulialto]

5 hours ago, georgemoe said:

 

Sorry about that. Nomad Cars was a tip I found here on CC that I had not fully vetted yet.

https://www.nomadcar14.fr/fr/ Looks to be a pain in the neck. Another option I saw was using 

https://beelehavre.com/en/how-to-visit-discover-and-travel-easily-between-le-havre-honfleur/ .

Looks like you need to take a taxi to the bus station to catch the shuttle which allows 3 free hours in Honfleur. I might go for that.

So we had heard about the Bee, but there is a a “regular” bus that you can book thru Viator, or somehow directly - we did the Viator bc it was easy and I’m sure not too much $ more! BTW there’s more flexibility with the time - the Bee has very limited service- the Regular Bus goes every half hour.

[KarmaCruisers]

2 hours ago, jrmende63 said:

@maggieq I have changed to Regal Princess after having NCL Dawn booked. I just kept getting a bad feeling about the Dawn.

Good choice I say..I would sail this ship and/or Itinerary again in a heartbeat! (Hell I wanted to do a back-to-back and just do the same ports again! Hahah

[georgemoe]

12 hours ago, Sulialto said:

So we had heard about the Bee, but there is a a “regular” bus that you can book thru Viator, or somehow directly - we did the Viator bc it was easy and I’m sure not too much $ more! BTW there’s more flexibility with the time - the Bee has very limited service- the Regular Bus goes every half hour.

 

Thanks for this. Is there a signup for the regular Viator bus? I went to the site but only found the private (up to) 7 person tour for Honfleur. Thanks.

[Sulialto]

33 minutes ago, georgemoe said:

 

Thanks for this. Is there a signup for the regular Viator bus? I went to the site but only found the private (up to) 7 person tour for Honfleur. Thanks.

SOrry that this is just a screen shot, CC won’t let me copy & paste😔 This is what we booked - cheap & picks you right up at the ship!

[georgemoe]

13 minutes ago, Sulialto said:

SOrry that this is just a screen shot, CC won’t let me copy & paste😔 This is what we booked - cheap & picks you right up at the ship!

 

I must be missing something. This isn't Le Havre and not Honfleur. I cannot find a basic shuttle/bus service on Viator. Thanks.

[ssawjo]

23 hours ago, georgemoe said:

 

We are on the same sailing in August. We are not doing the bus to Paris or Normandy. We will most likely grab a Nomad car at the port and spend time in HonFleur. That's if we even get off the ship. We are hoping to do a Paris based river cruise in 2026 so we'll save a Normandy excursion for then.

I think your plan is a good one.  We did a river cruise to Normandy from Paris and loved it.  Honfleur is lovely and a great place for lunch and a bit of sightseeing.  

 

What is a Nomad car?  Is that like a taxi?  Interested because we will be stopping in LeHarve and have been there several times but would like to go back to Honfluer.  

 

Bill

[Sulialto]

4 hours ago, georgemoe said:

 

I must be missing something. This isn't Le Havre and not Honfleur. I cannot find a basic shuttle/bus service on Viator. Thanks.

Gosh I’m sorry that is clearly the Zeebrugge to Bruge! I had been discussing that with another cruiser. There is regular bus service to Hon Fleur from Le Havre but, we’re not quite sure how far the bus terminal is from port. I found transportation on “Rome to Rio” to be helpful.

[georgemoe]

6 hours ago, ssawjo said:

I think your plan is a good one.  We did a river cruise to Normandy from Paris and loved it.  Honfleur is lovely and a great place for lunch and a bit of sightseeing.  

 

What is a Nomad car?  Is that like a taxi?  Interested because we will be stopping in LeHarve and have been there several times but would like to go back to Honfluer.  

 

Bill

 

I had seen recommending Nomad earlier in our trip planning stages. I'm not able to navigate the site well and can't find how to get a car to Honfleur. https://www.nomadcar14.fr/fr/ 

 

I'm going to stick with the Bee Le Havre bus to Honfluer. $60 r/t per couple but you need to get to their bus terminal in the city centre.15 Place Perret. On the return from Honfleur they drop you right at the port. https://beelehavre.com/en/circuits-en/le-havre-honfleur-tour/

 

Booking the Princess excursion is a lot more money. $105 each.

[georgemoe]

4 hours ago, Sulialto said:

Gosh I’m sorry that is clearly the Zeebrugge to Bruge! I had been discussing that with another cruiser. There is regular bus service to Hon Fleur from Le Havre but, we’re not quite sure how far the bus terminal is from port. I found transportation on “Rome to Rio” to be helpful.

 

No worries all good. I now return this thread to KarmaCruisers. 😀

[nini]

On 7/9/2023 at 7:43 AM, senior lady said:

what a silly statement to make.

 

Excuse me? Can you please clarify?

[nini]

On 7/9/2023 at 9:41 AM, ssawjo said:

That is very hard to believe.  In Paris, sure.  In Normandy, they fly the American flag along with their national flag.  I have a feeling you just didn't like France, or her people based on other comments.

 

As stated, these incidents were in Honfleur and Bayeux, not Normandy. This was our first ever visit to anywhere in France.

This was our experience and not YOURS! And you stated it was due to other people's comments. Not so. We had a complete open mind.

I guess you consider yourself omnipotent and can be a part of my experiences.

[nini]

On 7/9/2023 at 9:41 AM, ssawjo said:

That is very hard to believe.  In Paris, sure.  In Normandy, they fly the American flag along with their national flag.  I have a feeling you just didn't like France, or her people based on other comments.

Will you also invalidate my comment about loving the Regal?

[Jadn13]

21 hours ago, georgemoe said:

 

I had seen recommending Nomad earlier in our trip planning stages. I'm not able to navigate the site well and can't find how to get a car to Honfleur. https://www.nomadcar14.fr/fr/ 

 

I'm going to stick with the Bee Le Havre bus to Honfluer. $60 r/t per couple but you need to get to their bus terminal in the city centre.15 Place Perret. On the return from Honfleur they drop you right at the port. https://beelehavre.com/en/circuits-en/le-havre-honfleur-tour/

 

Booking the Princess excursion is a lot more money. $105 each.

This states there is a shuttle that takes you to meet ip with Bee LeHavre

https://www.whatsinport.com/Le-Havre.htm

[azbirdmom]

21 minutes ago, Jadn13 said:

This states there is a shuttle that takes you to meet ip with Bee LeHavre

https://www.whatsinport.com/Le-Havre.htm

 

The Princess shuttle was $19.95 USD (not Euros) to the city center last Thursday.  We had a tour and didn't take it but they were selling tickets on shore at the port.

[Jadn13]

40 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The Princess shuttle was $19.95 USD (not Euros) to the city center last Thursday.  We had a tour and didn't take it but they were selling tickets on shore at the port.

Thank You! Probably easier to book then a random port bus

[ssawjo]

1 hour ago, nini said:

Will you also invalidate my comment about loving the Regal?

No, why should I do that?

[ssawjo]

1 hour ago, nini said:

 

As stated, these incidents were in Honfleur and Bayeux, not Normandy. This was our first ever visit to anywhere in France.

This was our experience and not YOURS! And you stated it was due to other people's comments. Not so. We had a complete open mind.

I guess you consider yourself omnipotent and can be a part of my experiences.

Honfleur and Bayeux are in Normandy.  Normandy is more than the beaches.  I don't consider myself "omnipotent", but you are the one who started the complaining about French rudeness and so on.  So, get off your high horse and deal with it.  Have a nice day!

[tobyt]

Karma cruisers thank you for this great review! I booked this trip for Sept 2024 and it gives me lots to consider!