Looking for recommendations for a Normandy tour guide during our stop in Le Havre

[Tina-Ann]

We will be on the Caribbean Princess in July 2013. I am proud of the fact that I have researched all ports of call (on cruise critic) by reading and not having to start new threads when there is massive amounts of information already available - However, Le Havre is a different story. We are a family of 6 and want to do a tour of DDay Normandy. After reading CC, I contacted Overlord Tours which are highly recommended - their rates are 960 euros for 2013. That is a van seating 8 (again, we are a family of 6). That just seemed high to me, in fact it is a bit higher than taking Princess' excursion. I emailed a few tours guides from Trip Advisor, however I can't find any that do tours out of Le Havre, apparently it makes for an unreasonably long day for the guides as they do not live in the Le Havre area. The guides that turned my down forwarded my email to their guide cohorts which most turned me down as well. So, did anyone else run into this problem? Do I just do Princess or pay 960 euros for 6 people?

[Janice621]

We are taking a British Isles cruise on the Celebrity Infinity. We had a bigger problem as we are 9 people and all the vans can only accommodate 8. I did e-mail several guides and found they had some good suggestions and were quite nice. I do not know if I can list them on this thread but if you wish to contact me you can at jgs621@hotmail.com.

 

Janice

[CruiserBruce]

If you look on the France board, which also covers the Normandy area, you will see many comments about Overlordtours dot com. Excellent operation. Highly recommended.

[ell52]

I am in a group taking a tour with Normandy Sigthseeing Tours.

 

They gave different pricing based on the number of people in the van - e.g. 1-5; 6-7; or 8 (full van).

[LHT28]

Most of the tours are very pricey

One thing to watch make sure they will pick you up at the port.... some charge extra for that

Some tours start in Caen so be sure to confirm all the details

[KirkNC]

We used Overlord tour, excellent job by Oliver. I would recommend them.

[hubofhockey]

Our Overlord guide was outstanding. But vehicle lacked A/C and PA system and I sat in back. But tour was good. They do get you back to the ship before 5:30. So if you really want to see more, consider a car rental.

[Chesie]

We are on a tour with Overlord for a van of 8 next August. Pricey yes, but I'll never get back there and Normandy and the Tattoo are the reason I'm going on this cruise. I'm cutting back on a couple other ports we have already been to. Overlord gets rave reviews but only you can decide.

[Turtles06]

As suggested above, do look on the France board too, as there have been some recent discussions with names of guides besides Overlord Tours.

 

I will say, though, having just used Overlord in May from Le Havre, that they were terrific. Our price then for 8 in the van was 800 euros (we booked in 2011 and were charged that price), so prices have definitely risen. Only you can decide if the price is worth it to you, but I will say that there is generally no comparison between a ship's tour, with 40 or so pax being herded around on and off buses, and a private tour with 8 people.

[caripoo]

We used OVERLORD (Stephan) They are excellent....It will be nice to have just YOUR group...No waiting around for that last person in the potty or gift shop...You can design the day the way YOU want it. And you will get much more out of your trip by going with them.....WORTH the $$.:p:p

[hubofhockey]

I just looked at Overlord's website. They did increase prices. But it appears to be only 80 euros to 880. I think that's still a good deal and probably a better tour than you will get on a Princess bus.

[canuck.qc]

We will be on the Caribbean Princess in July 2013. I am proud of the fact that I have researched all ports of call (on cruise critic) by reading and not having to start new threads when there is massive amounts of information already available - However, Le Havre is a different story. We are a family of 6 and want to do a tour of DDay Normandy. After reading CC, I contacted Overlord Tours which are highly recommended - their rates are 960 euros for 2013. That is a van seating 8 (again, we are a family of 6). That just seemed high to me, in fact it is a bit higher than taking Princess' excursion. I emailed a few tours guides from Trip Advisor, however I can't find any that do tours out of Le Havre, apparently it makes for an unreasonably long day for the guides as they do not live in the Le Havre area. The guides that turned my down forwarded my email to their guide cohorts which most turned me down as well. So, did anyone else run into this problem? Do I just do Princess or pay 960 euros for 6 people?

We were in LeHavre this past Sept. and booked a Full Day D-Day Tour, 280E paid the day of tour,with Pierre DOUBLET[cabtourservices@orange.fr] It was one of the best tour of our 15 day cruise. He is fluent in Eng, extremely knowledgeable, and passionate about history. He has worked for the Tourist Board & other tour companies and he is well aware he could charge more but he chooses not to. We were only 2 couples and Pierre was flexible with the schedule ...we were able to visit more sites than the other tours.

[LHT28]

We were in LeHavre this past Sept. and booked a Full Day D-Day Tour, 280E paid the day of tour,with Pierre DOUBLET[.

Was that for all of you or PP?

Did he go to the Canadian sites?

 

Thanks

Lyn

[canuck.qc]

Was that for all of you or PP?

Did he go to the Canadian sites?

 

Thanks

Lyn

Hi Lyn,

It was 280E for the van. When I found the old post on a CC Search, I thought the price difference was a lot, it had me concerned, but all the popular tours were booked so I figured I'd give him a try. We were not sorry & as I mentioned, it was one of the best tours of our trip! I communicated with him online and decided on a full day Canadian D-Day tour, pick up at the ship 9AM, payment day of tour. We shared the tour with a wonderful Australian couple from our RCall. The van was spotless & comfortable and we made several stops to take in the sites, photos and a quick bite to eat. He was very flexible with the time schedule & proposed (in addition to the standard tour) either Bayeux or the Amer.Cemetery. We chose to visit the American Cemetery & Museum. When comparing our tour with fellow passengers we found that we saw far more than the other tours & they were in larger vans or buses, plus they paid far more. We've been looking at the photos from that day & I can't mention enough how Pierre, with his knowledgeable commentary, brought everything to life about D-Day etc...I do not hesitate to recommend this tour.

[Tina-Ann]

I just looked at Overlord's website. They did increase prices. But it appears to be only 80 euros to 880. I think that's still a good deal and probably a better tour than you will get on a Princess bus.

 

Yes, that is what their website said, however they confirmed that those are the 2012 prices...2013 went to 960 euros

[hubofhockey]

Yes, that is what their website said, however they confirmed that those are the 2012 prices...2013 went to 960 euros

 

When we toured with them three months ago, it was €800. I suppose they are the only game in town if you want a tour with a professional guide. They are good.

[LHT28]

Hi Lyn,

It was 280E for the van. When I found the old post on a CC Search, I thought the price difference was a lot, it had me concerned, but all the popular tours were booked so I figured I'd give him a try. We were not sorry & as I mentioned, it was one of the best tours of our trip!

Thanks for the info

I wish I had found that before we went

I could not find any Canadians to share a tour on our Roll call & was not about to spend 800E for the 2 of us

Maybe we will get back to France some day & do the tour

Tried to get DH to just fly to France & drive the sites but that did not go over well ;)

 

Lyn

[Tina-Ann]

Well, thank you everyone for your input and suggestions, especially to Janice621 as well as canuck.qc. I did contact your recommendations. Canuck.qc, while Pierre was available (at the price of 420 euros - which I thought was great), he was very set in his schedule of pick up and drop off with no room for flexibility or so I understood. Anyways, I ended up going with a guide named Bruno Bessin (he was referred to me by yet another guide that would no longer pickup in Le Havre). While he is an official guide, he has no website and seems to be a bit unknown. His rate is 680-770 euros (770 being for 11 hours) for 6 people. What I did appreciate was his total flexibility and willingness to travel to Utah beach (which many guides don't want to travel that far). Anyways, once again, I do so much appreciate your time and advice. Cruise Critic is such an incredible source of information! Happy cruising everyone!

[hubofhockey]

Well, thank you everyone for your input and suggestions, especially to Janice621 as well as canuck.qc. I did contact your recommendations. Canuck.qc, while Pierre was available (at the price of 420 euros - which I thought was great), he was very set in his schedule of pick up and drop off with no room for flexibility or so I understood. Anyways, I ended up going with a guide named Bruno Bessin (he was referred to me by yet another guide that would no longer pickup in Le Havre). While he is an official guide, he has no website and seems to be a bit unknown. His rate is 680-770 euros (770 being for 11 hours) for 6 people. What I did appreciate was his total flexibility and willingness to travel to Utah beach (which many guides don't want to travel that far). Anyways, once again, I do so much appreciate your time and advice. Cruise Critic is such an incredible source of information! Happy cruising everyone!

 

It's great to get to both Omaha and Utah beaches as well as the cemetarty. Have a great tour. Our tour with Overlord was 9.5 hours. If we had an extra 1.5 hours, I would have wanted to stop in either Bayeux or spent time in one of the museums. It is a long day and our disembarkation was the next day. So, maybe it was better that we didn't have 11 hours. But I would have liked more time.

[Tina-Ann]

hubofhockey,

indeed, 11 hours is a looonnng day. And we too disembark the next day. Who knows, we may call it earlier in the tour, I just wanted the option (at a somewhat) reasonable price. We tend to be that family that dies trying, cuz you can always sleep later, right??

Ya know, we stumbled across cruise critic when planning our 3rd cruise maybe, and it has been such an amazing source of information, not to mention the foundation for some terrific friendships in our lives. Sometimes I think us cruisers have this special bond of empathising with one another over the over-indulgence of planning. When you have such a limited time to absorb a new place or new culture...you just wanna make the most of it - taking the most direct path, avoiding the longest lines, seeing the most, getting most experience you can. Anyways, pardon my ramble....

[hubofhockey]

Tina-Ann,

 

Have a great time. It's a great and emotional experience.

 

Len

[hubofhockey]

Deleted

[Ontario Cruiser]

We are Canadians and 6 of us in a mini van (500euros) are going with ddnormandy1944.com

christophe_rault@hotmail.com answered us and we have set up a tour to all the cdn sites. I checked him out on trip advisor. Rave reviews.

We have booked him for May 8th 2013 (Emerald Princess)

Ontario Cruiser

P.S. The underscore didnit show up between christophe & rault.

[Tina-Ann]

We are Canadians and 6 of us in a mini van (500euros) are going with ddnormandy1944.com

christophe_rault@hotmail.com answered us and we have set up a tour to all the cdn sites. I checked him out on trip advisor. Rave reviews.

We have booked him for May 8th 2013 (Emerald Princess)

Ontario Cruiser

 

I had contacted ddnormandy1944, but he was already booked.

[Ontario Cruiser]

He recommended some others for me maybe you could ask him. When are you going?

Ontario Cruiser