Cherbourg - ship to train station in half an hour doable?

[andtyl]

I will be on Celebrity Contstellation docking in Cherbourg Sept 9 and want to go to Bayeaux. We dock at 9:00 and the train to Bayeaux leaves at 9:46. Will I be able to get to the train station on time to catch it? I can buy the ticket ahead of time on the internet, so I don't have to allow time for that.

 

Why don't you just take the next train, you ask. On Friday there are fewer trains and the next one is at 12:46. That would leave me only 1/2 in Bayeaux before I have to turn around and come back....definitely not worth it.

 

Thanks.

[moyaroo]

"dock at 9:00" does not equate to get off boat at 9:00. Do not buy your ticket in advance as you may not be needing it if that 12:46 won't work. Truth is Cherbourg is a long haul to Bayeux (note spelling) an hour each way by train and you appear to be setting yourself up for a headache. Hiring a car and driving may be more money but will reduce somewhat the stress.

[andtyl]

Thank you moyaroo. Unfortunately renting a car is out of my budget :(, that's why I was looking at taking the train.

 

BTW, it's not necessary for you to correct my spelling. I would guess that you're just trying to be helpful, but it comes across as pedantic.

[moyaroo]

Just trying to help you avoid the following mesage from the folks at SNCF

"Aucune gare ne correspond à la ville d’arrivée. Veuillez modifier votre saisie." :D (Though I just discovered that the RailEurope site isn't as picky as the sncf site) One reason for looking at the site in French is that Rail Europe does not always list all of the trains. In your case, unfortunately, they seem to be quite complete.

 

You might want to check on the roll call for your cruise to see if anyone wants to share a ride.

[Hlitner]

Moyaroo gives good advice. Just because your cruise itinerary says they will dock at 9am, it does not mean you will be off the ship at 9, 9:15 or even 9:30. We were recently docked in Cherbourg (Prinsendam) on a wonderful cruise. The ship docked about 5 min late (no biggie) and was cleared by the French in about 15 minutes. But, they had real problems with the gangplank which delayed anyone getting off the ship for another few minutes. When we docked in Bordeaux it took over an hour to get the gangplank in place because the French unions insisted that only they could do the work...and they do not do it fast :) My point is that one can never be sure about getting off the ship fast. And by the way, it takes about 15 min to walk from the port to the train station if you are a fast walker.

 

Hank

[andtyl]

Thanks Hank. The 15 minute walk is what I was looking for. It's hard to tell from google maps.

 

I realize that the actual debarking time is plus or minus from the schedule. But I don't recall ever being an hour late, except maybe once in Mexico where a drunk passenger fell off one of the other ships and so we all had to cruise around in the harbor looking for them.

 

When I go the the SNCF site, I just put in "Bay" and then it gives me a choice of three cities. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go to Bayon or Bayonne, which leaves only one choice.

[Hlitner]

We understand that your have your heart set on the train, but for the sake of others we should mention that it is easy to rent a car in Cherbourg (unless its a Sunday or holiday) and driving in rural France is quite simple. We recently rented a car for the entire day from Hertz (closer to the port then the train station) and managed to get to a few places we had missed on previous trips to the region including Utah Beach (this beach is often missed on tours from LeHavre) and St Mere Eglise. The latter turned out to be a delightful village, and we happened to be there on this year's D-Day weekend (in our case it was June 4) when they had an entire weekend of activites to commemorate D-Day. The day after we left (June 5) they had a scheduled parachute drop with US, French and German soldiers. We were delighted to meet quite a few US Airborne soldiers who had been flown over (from the US and Italy) for the weekend. As to Bayeux, we have previously visited that town and the Tapestry is certainly an interesting artifact. I mention this because if one were to rent a car (about $100 for the day) it takes about 1:15 min (each way) to drive from Cherbourg to Bayeaux and St Mere Eglise is right along the same route (as are quite a few other rural places).

 

Hank

[eh2zed]

I agree with Hlitner. Renting a car is easy as is the drive in the area. However, you have to be comfortable with that.

[tartanexile81]

It certainly isn't a long walk from the ship to the station in Cherbourg. I'd say 20 minutes and you need to head for the big Carrefour sign - they're a large supermarket chain in France- and the railway station is just a bit further on and to the right of it.

We went by train to Bayeux from Cherbourg and really loved it. It was very easy and we visited the cathedral which we liked more than Rouen, the Tapestry museum of course, the Commonwealth War Cemetery and the lovely town itself. Would highly recommend.

[Cruisin Kay D]

Just some advice: Do not count on being docked by 9 AM -- sometimes your ship docks early & sometimes late -- in 2009 our ship was nearly 2 hours late docking at Cherbourg, due to what?...we never knew....but our tour guide had to shorten our tour of American beaches considerably!!! Sometimes if a ship is real late into port, the departure time will be extended and on the other hand, often the departure times will NOT be extended....