Price of Normandy Beaches Tour

[phabric]

Battlebus is taking reservations for next year beginning November 1st.

 

http://www.battlebus.fr/About_Us.html

 

They were fast to reply to my email this morning. They do not do tours from Le Havre which is our port on the Crown. So they are out for me.

[JanetAlice]

I like that hcat. I also looked at Battlebus, because they were highly recommended, but noticed that they didn't accommodate cruisers out of LaHavre.

[hcat]

Looked at a few others too-- right now we will have to try & get the ship excursion & hope for a good guide & bus ; or hope our very slow roll call for July 16, 2011 picks up more people so we could consider the Overlord company..they seem to cater to cruise ships--

 

I could not sign up to pay 800 E without knowing I could fill the van

[JanetAlice]

I did that but am not really nervous about finding 3 other couples. Previous experience on coordinating tours was I had more people request to join us than I could handle. Aren't there two roll calls for your cruise? Are you on both?

[Suzanne123]

phabric-No, I didn't take the tour, but our neighbors did a two day tour with them last summer and loved it. We will be staying at the Churchill Hotel in Bayeux where the tours begin, and they also operate a shuttle to Mont San Michel.

 

hcat-Yes, I heard from Myriam at Battlebus and they will reserve for two persons.

I'm sorry that I didn't realize they could not accommodate cruisers. We're going to be in the area for several days.

[Cruisin Kay D]

Check out http://www.normandy-battlefields.org We booked with this couple for tour from Cherbourg. THE BEST!!! I had no trouble filling a van with them, as the ship we were on did not offer any Normandy tours!!! Sharon & Eddie are a delightful British couple living in Normandy. They have a B&B/chateau. I referred them to a friend who was touring Great Britian, so she took ferry to Cherbourg and stayed at their chateau & took tours.

The website does not specifically mention tours from cruise ships but just email her & ask -- give her the day & time & where your ship will be & ASK! That's what I did & they said YES! Our ship arrived late so she could not have the picnic with local wine!! We snacked from back of van at each stop!

[zukecruiser]

We did the ship's tour off the Crown Princess in April, 2008 and had no problems with it. The bus was air conditioned and the tour guide changed the schedule so we were the first bus at the Normandy Cemetery. It was just our bus and a few other tourists. We enjoyed the quiet and serenity immensely before everyone else showed up.

 

Had a nice lunch at an old barn converted to a B&B, plenty of wine if you wanted it. Most of the people on the tour took it because of the distance from the ship, not wanting to miss it.

 

At the same port, a ship's tour to Paris had the bus break down just outside of Paris. The ship was almost two hours late getting out of port waiting for the passengers to get picked up and back to the ship. If you were on your own, could have been a real problem

 

A lot depends on your tour guide, we were lucky this time.

[JanetAlice]

Point well taken zukecruiser. Many private companies have insurance in case something happens and you don't make it back. We have never had a problem. In fact one of our tour guides in Alaska told us he has insurance so if something happens he will fly you to the next port AND give you a free cruise. It almost made you want his vehicle to break down.

[cruiseidaho]

Six of us rented a van - pick up and return right in front of the ship - last month. It was an easy drive up to the D-Day beaches where we spent time at the sites we wanted to see, including the American Cemetery and museum, the German bunkers, and walks on the beaches. We had time on the return to visit the village of Honfluer and returned to the docks 1 1/2 hours before sailing. An easy drive (except for some confusion down in the Le Havre docks), all for a cost of 175 euros.

[LittleMissS]

hcat...I understand your concerns about having A/C in July. I just spent time in France (including Paris and Normandy) this past July. While Paris was incredibly hot...(there was a heat wave while I was there)...Normandy was not (it was comfortable). Remember that you are on the coast, so it IS cooler. In fact, the photos I have walking of myself visiting the D-Day Beaches...I am wearing a light sweater.

[Cornishpastyman1]

It's great that there's still such interest in the beaches and 6/6/44. I did this in less time than you'll have on a cruise day.

 

 

(Background to the invasion, Arromanches/Gold Beach and the Mulberry Harbour, Omaha Beach)

 

 

(German gun battery at Longues-sur-Mer, Pointe du Hoc, Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer)

[Joy_K]

I have a couple of comments about Overlord Tours to share. This was one of our most anticipated ports and tours on our Crown Princess cruise. Our Overlord tour was booked in April 2009 for September 2010 (17 months in advance). We chose Overlord based on all the positive comments we read here about them and as with our other ports where we tried to choose the most highly regarded guides and book early so we would have the company owner who we have found is usually the best in the company. We booked for 16 people and inquired about one minibus to hold everyone, but were told he didn’t have one. Our tour and pricing was confirmed for 2 eight passenger vans. The 2009 price at the time of booking was €650 for each 8 passenger van. Later the 2010 pricing was set at €800 for 8 passengers. After Alain determined the 2010 pricing he said he would split the difference with us and our price would be €725 for each van and we would have 2 vans.

 

Although I confirmed our tours July 20, 2010 with Alain and for 2 vans, we were in for quite a surprise on day of tour when we were met pier side by Stephane and one 16 passenger vehicle. I asked him if there would be a price reduction because the agreed upon tour was for 2 vans but after calling Alain, the owner, and speaking with him I found he wouldn’t budge on the price of €1450 for 16 people because he said he had to pay €800 for the minibus and driver. IMHO this still left quite a lot to pay the guide, tolls and company profit. We got to meet Alain later that day at our lunch stop where again I voiced my disappointment in the price remaining the same, but still no discount. I am sure if you have an 8 passenger tour with them it would be very good, but with 16 of us and the use of the historical 8X10 photos it appeared Stephane was not use to having a larger group and I asked him several times to show the photos around to everyone gathered around him instead of just the people in front of him. I am not saying the tour wasn’t enjoyable but I think their business practices leave something to be desired. In other ports where we booked 16 passenger vehicles the price was considerably less than 2 individual 8 passenger vans. This is just something I think everyone should be aware of since this is one of the most expensive ports for booking tours. It would have been nice if he had informed us at the time he found/booked the 16 passenger bus and given us the choice to disagree with the price then and if we couldn’t reach an agreement to find another tour company to book with.

 

From our roll call 5 groups of 8 people booked with Overlord. I don’t know if any of the other passengers on the ship booked through them or not, but the website list 4 guides so my guess is he overbooked and because he gave us a discount for booking very early we were then penalized and our 2 vans got combined into one vehicle and we got the short end of the stick. Our guide did point out his own tour van that day with someone else driving it.

[HawkeyeCruisr]

I highly recommend Eric from D-Day Landing Tours (formerly Normandy Town and Country). Five of us had a 10-hr tour with him in July - Ste-Mere-Eglise, Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc, Utah Beach and the American Cemetery. He is not only extremely knowledgeable but is passionate about the D-Day landings. We loved our tour - it could not have gone better! Also, and this is the big one for ship passengers, he will pick you up at the pier in Le Havre or Honfleur. http://www.ddaylandingtours.com/

 

He has a vehicle that accommodates 6 people. I believe the fee is a flat rate regardless of the number of people. Five of us paid 575 euros for the day this summer. So 115 euros each plus the 5 euro lunch.

 

To save time, we all picked up lunch to-go at a boulangerie in Ste-Mere-Eglise and ate it the car while en route to the next site.

 

BTW, Eric told us he had a tour the day following ours in St-Malo, so he does drive all over Normandy and even into Brittany.