scotty63 Posted June 19, 2011 #1 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I am on the Marina cruise on 29 July from Dover and wonder if anyone knows if we get free shuttles at the above port. Seems like public transport could be difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweep Posted June 19, 2011 #2 Share Posted June 19, 2011 I am on the Marina cruise on 29 July from Dover and wonder if anyone knows if we get free shuttles at the above port. Seems like public transport could be difficult. No-one seems to know at which ports we may get the shuttles. Apparently we don't get told until we are on board. We are on the same cruise - why not join our roll call? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkeyeCruisr Posted June 20, 2011 #3 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We were on the Marina's May 26 Barcelona to Copenhagen cruise and had a port stop at Concarneau. This is a tender port and the tender will take you to a small dock right in the middle of the town. There were no shuttles provided at this port, probably because Concarneau itself has some degree of charm and interest - unlike the industrial ports at La Rochelle and Le Verdon where shuttles were offered to the local town center. There are two options for getting to Pont-Aven: public bus and taxi. We were there on a Monday and the bus route was such that we could not have returned to Concarneau in time for our last tender so we took a taxi. [unfortunately, since the bus information was of no use to us, I didn't keep the web site info.] If you don't see taxis immediately available (I understand the town has only about 10 taxis), go to the Concarneau TI office and ask them to order a taxi for you; tell them you need a round trip. Since there are no taxis in Pont-Aven you must make sure to make arrangements with your driver to return to Pont-Aven at an appointed time to pick you up for the return to Concarneau. To avoid misunderstandings between the English-speaking us and the French-speaking driver, we wrote the pick-up time down on a piece of paper, using both the 12-hr and 24-hr notations (i.e., 3:30 and 15:30). Most taxis can accommodate 6 passengers. The round trip cost for 2 of us (in a 6-pax group) was 18 euros. It's about a 15-20 minute ride between the two towns. Pont-Aven is ultra charming and worth at least a 2 hour visit; 3 or 4 would be better. I'd advise going there first and then when you return to Concarneau, spend an hour or so wandering through the Ville Close, which is near the tender dock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted June 20, 2011 #4 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We are on the August 10 sailing and our stop here is from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm... This is one of four ports on our itinerary where we have, at least thus far, elected to not do a tour or shore excursion (the others are Honfleur, Biarritz and Barcelona Note: Honfleur and Barcelona are ports we've visited before often, Biarritz was a late add to our itinerary and none of the few shorexes look that thrilling)... Oceania offers 8 different shore excursions here: **Magnificent Josselin Castle (5.25 hours, $105 **Concarneau & Pont-Aven (3.5 hours, $85) **Historic Vannes (5 hours, $95) **The Carnac Megaliths & St. Goustan (5 hours, $105) **The Artists' Colony of Pont-Aven (3.5 hours, $75) **The Walled City of Concarneau (2.5 hours, $65) **Charming Quimper (3.5 hours, $65) **Crozon Peninsula & Locronan (6 hours, $95) Ours is a very port-intensive itinerary with only one at sea day on a 16 night itinerary...and it looked like this would be a good port in which to just wander locally where the tender lets us off... Should we get more adventurous than that and taxi into Pont-Aven? Or would there have been some reason to take one of the ship's tours here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HawkeyeCruisr Posted June 20, 2011 #5 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We are on the August 10 sailing and our stop here is from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm... . . . . . . Ours is a very port-intensive itinerary with only one at sea day on a 16 night itinerary...and it looked like this would be a good port in which to just wander locally where the tender lets us off... Should we get more adventurous than that and taxi into Pont-Aven? Or would there have been some reason to take one of the ship's tours here? Oh yes, do get over to Pont-Aven! You can wander around Concarneau (esp the Ville Close area near the tender) and you can also wander around by yourself at Pont-Aven. I'm sure you'll find Pont-Aven much more interesting and charming than Concarneau. It'll fit right in with your desire to have a relaxing port day - you just have to get a taxi over there and back. We are never ones for ship's tours. We'd much rather go at our own speed without being part of a big bus full of people. And the cost is so much less as well; that was certainly a consideration for our 16-day cruise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TERRIER1 Posted June 20, 2011 #6 Share Posted June 20, 2011 We also just returned from Concarneau. Here is the the link to the ligne 14A bus schedule. Be careful how you read it since the bus runs on a school schedule and the times pertain to the days of the week. The schedule did not work for us so we stayed in Concarneau which is lovely and took a walk up to Sables Blanc beach. If you wish to go to Pont Avens follow HawkeyeCruisr's advice for a cab with return pick up. Enjoy. http://queteurs.cg29.fr/Mediatheque/Fichiers/Deplacements/Penn-ar-Bed-Pratiques/Horaires-Hiver-08-09/Ligne-14A-Quimper-Concarneau-Quimperle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levart57 Posted June 20, 2011 #7 Share Posted June 20, 2011 Oh yes, do get over to Pont-Aven! You can wander around Concarneau (esp the Ville Close area near the tender) and you can also wander around by yourself at Pont-Aven. I'm sure you'll find Pont-Aven much more interesting and charming than Concarneau. It'll fit right in with your desire to have a relaxing port day - you just have to get a taxi over there and back. We are never ones for ship's tours. We'd much rather go at our own speed without being part of a big bus full of people. And the cost is so much less as well; that was certainly a consideration for our 16-day cruise! We are also not ones for ship's tours. We are also on the Marina 8/10/11. We have been to Barcelona. i think I'd like to go to Normandie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floridiana Posted June 21, 2011 #8 Share Posted June 21, 2011 I'm sure you'll find Pont-Aven much more interesting and charming than Concarneau. I beg to differ. Having spent time in Brittany with friends in Quimper, I have visited both towns and I find Concarneau more interesting and charming than Pont-Aven. The famous painters are not there any more and have been replaced with over-priced art galleries. Right outside the walled city of Concarneau, there is a typical French street market if I am not mistaken on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacmom Posted June 21, 2011 #9 Share Posted June 21, 2011 levart57, join us on the roll call for the trip on 8/10. We plan to meet in Horizon after the muster drill. Roll call was started by Bruin Steve. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzluvers Posted June 22, 2011 #10 Share Posted June 22, 2011 We are also not ones for ship's tours. We are also on the Marina 8/10/11. We have been to Barcelona. i think I'd like to go to Normandie. Yes, do come join us on our rollcall. We've got a great group and lots of good info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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