Would you sail from LeHavre?

[KruzPrincess]

I’m planning to go on a British Isles cruise next year. My friend has already done this cruise, but hasn’t been to Paris. She really wants to spend time in Paris before the cruise and sail from LeHavre. I would love to go to Paris, too, but I’m worried about sailing from LeHavre after reading about the problems others have had. Here are my questions:

 

Does anyone know how often ships skip LeHavre?

 

Will Princess handle getting you to the next port if you book your air through EZ Air? I believe I read that some of the connections Princess booked were a nightmare.

 

Am I worrying too much? I have kind of an anxiety disorder. Would you sail from LeHavre?

 

I think it would be better to sail from Southampton and go to Paris separately.

 

Thanks for your opinions.

 

 

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[Pam in CA]

No, I wouldn’t chance it.

 

When sailing from Copenhagen a few years ago, I booked our flight to Paris. We spent several days there before flying to CPH. I booked that flight separately on a really cheap flight rather than booking from LAX to LHR with a stopover in CDG.

[2pbears]

There is no way in the world I would do that. Too many things can go wrong and I don't need that much stress in my life (especially at the beginning of a cruise). I would go a few days early, fly directly to Paris, spend some time there and then catch a short flight to London or take the train.

[moki'smommy]

No, but I'd fly to Paris, enjoy my time there, and then hop a flight to London and cruise from Southampton. Flights around Europe are quite inexpensive.

[AF-1]

Ditto what everyone else said. Fly to Paris and spend two days sightseeing; then fly to Southampton or Heathrow. If you go to Heathrow you can take bus straight to the port; that can be arranged with Princess.

[broberts]

Go a bit earlier and sail from Southampton. If you have the time and are interested you might even take the chunnel train (Eurostar) from Paris.

[Hlitner]

Guess it falls on me to be the contrarian :). We would have absolutely no issue in embarking (or disembarking..which we have done several times) from Le Havre. How often do ships miss this port? Very rarely, although it sure gets a lot of publicity when it happens. If you book through EZAIR they do offer a next port guarantee, and getting you from France to England is not the most difficult thing in the world for travel professionals.

 

Nothing is certain in life or cruising. If embarking from Le Havre works for your personal schedule, then go for it and trust that all will be fine. Knowing that there are multiple ways to get you to the next port, if necessary, should make this a relatively easy decision.

 

As to Paris, DW and I have traveled to more then 100 countries and the City of Paris remains DW's favorite city in the world. Given an opportunity to go to Paris (for a day, a week or a month) DW would run...not walk. And you might consider that we have spent a fair amount of time in Paris including having rented an apartment. But we would both happily return tomorrow if it fit our schedule.

 

Hank

[HomelessBear]

Agree wouldn’t try and start or end the cruise in LeHavre. However you could go to Paris for a few days pre cruise and then fly straight to Southampton. Could even spend a night there. No going to London Heathrow or any London airport and it’ll be a shorter journey to get the ship in Southampton. You’ll need to arrange a taxi / transport from the airport to the dock (or hotel if you stay the night), but this must also be a less expensive and a less stressful experience than going all the way to London to come back down to the coast.

Just a thought.

 

 

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[Retired_Army]

We had booked a transatlantic from Le Havre leaving 9 Sep (yep a week from today) but switch to the Southampton embarkation one day later 10 Sep. Reason wasn't fear of the shop not making it into port, but rather cost. When we made the change, we upgraded from an obstructed balcony to a mini-suite and saved over $3,000. That include the extra costs of additional hotel night and transportation to Southampton. We found a direct flight from Charles de Gaulle to Southampton for less than $100.

[KruzPrincess]

Thanks everybody! I appreciate your thoughts. Flying from Paris to Southampton is an interesting idea. Thank you!

 

 

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[kitkat343]

I wouldn’t risk it with kids, but if the next stop is southhampton it isn’t that hard to get there independently. I’d research the travel options to the next port, and get travel insurance if I thought it would be easy to get to the next port. It really would depend on that port, and how easy it is to travel there independently for me.

 

When I was in Vietnam, the only flight to our next destination was a tight connection from the time our cruise ended on halong bay. I researched the train and next day flights prior to leaving and was fully prepared to deal with it if we missed our flight (there’s only 1 road from halong bay to the airport so the company running our junk couldn’t guarantee we’d make it if there was a serious accident Thankfully everything worked out fine.

[Roatanfans]

We just got back from a Mediterranean cruise and flew into Paris a week early- we drove to Normandy for a couple days and loved it. If you have the time the Normandy region is wonderful and my husband and I can't wait to go back (we also enjoyed Paris, but Normandy is just beautiful!)

[caribill]

When we missed the stop at Le Havre it was because of a strike by dockworkers. It is hard to predict how often this might occur.

[Coffeeluvr05]

Our April 2017 cruise skipped Le Havre and after talking to other people and reading other Le Havre stories on here, I will never sail on a cruise that embarks or disembarks there. Skipping it as a port of call is one thing, and at the time it was pretty upsetting, but I’m not dealing with it otherwise.

 

 

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[sunsetbeachgal]

I would never do something that would make me worry, and clearly this would be the case for you. Vacations are for fun, not stress! Just fly into Paris, spend a few days then fly or take Chunnel to London. It’s all part of the adventure!

 

 

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[skynight]

My take is this. If you book a pre-cruise Paris package with Princess, then Princess will take care of you including the transfer to the port or getting you to Southampton just in case the ship misses leHarve. If you book it on your own, you are just that, on your own. If you are on your own I would also examine how easy or difficult it would be to get from Paris to LeHarve. It's about 2 1/2 hours one way by road.

 

If it were me and really wanted to visit Paris pre- cruise I would allow an extra day to fly or train to London and then onto Southampton with an overnight there. Another alternative is to do Paris post cruise, then fly home. Seeing Paris when the ship stops at leHarve is a very long day. 2 1/2 to 3 hours each way by bus, plus all the sites in Paris. I've seen passengers dragging when they come back on board in the evening.

Edited September 3, 2018 by sknight

[rocklinmom]

We are doing this cruise next summer and I would have loved to sail from Le Havre (or Dublin) as we have sailed from Southampton before. But there definitely have been some issues with passengers booked out of Le Havre this summer and I don't want to chance it. Not to mention the World Cup will be hosted in France next June with games in Paris, Le Havre, etc. so it will be even busier than usual. As mentioned above, you could spend time before or after your cruise in Paris and take the train or fly to Southampton. I believe it is Flybe airlines who flies that route for Air France. The train would involve a stop in London (I think at St. Pancras station) and then down to SOU. Or you could book multi-city flights and fly to London or SOU to begin your cruise and fly home from Paris after spending extra time there after the cruise. That might be the simplest way.

A bonus of sailing from SOU is that the fares have been the lowest (so far).

[Hlitner]

My take is this. If you book a pre-cruise Paris package with Princess, then Princess will take care of you including the transfer to the port or getting you to Southampton just in case the ship misses leHarve. If you book it on your own, you are just that, on your own. If you are on your own I would also examine how easy or difficult it would be to get from Paris to LeHarve. It's about 2 1/2 hours one way by road.

 

If it were me and really wanted to visit Paris pre- cruise I would allow an extra day to fly or train to London and then onto Southampton with an overnight there. Another alternative is to do Paris post cruise, then fly home. Seeing Paris when the ship stops at leHarve is a very long day. 2 1/2 to 3 hours each way by bus, plus all the sites in Paris. I've seen passengers dragging when they come back on board in the evening.

 

Not sure why most folks would want to drive between Paris and Le Havre to catch a cruise. The train connections are excellent with about 1 train per hour. Once in Le Havre (via train) its an easy 10 min taxi ride from the station to the pier,

 

Hank

[zogrand]

I wouldn't do it. We have been on two cruises with Le Harve as a stop, both times it was cancelled due to weather related issues. Even if Princess would expedite travel to the next stop I wouldn't want to have to deal with it. I agree with most of those recommending flying to Southampton from Paris.

Carol

[cruisequeen4ever]

We sailed roundtrip Southampton this summer but can share what I heard and saw about Le Havre. A couple we talked to did not like boarding in Le Havre because the traffic getting from Paris to Le Havre was awful with loads of big trucks transporting goods to the port. Only 300 pax are able to embark/disembark there we were told. From what we saw, it was a very easy and quick embark/disembark for them.

 

I second/third/fourth the advice to fly into Paris, spend time there, and then take the train to London or fly to Southampton and board there. Then you won’t have as much stress.

 

 

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[KruzPrincess]

Thanks again for all your thoughts. I appreciate it. It makes me feel better that I’m not the only one who feels this way. I simply don’t want all the worries. I completely forgot about the World Cup. I’ll be sure to take that into consideration. ❤️ Thanks.

 

 

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[lucksak]

We missed the port for La Harve plus 2 other ports We stayed on the ship in Southampton for 2.5 days because of a hurricane approaching Southern England. This was on Crown Princess October 2013 TA. Weather is risky at this time of year. Decisions have to be made hourly to keep the passengers, crew and ship safe. Personally, I wouldn't risk it. Don't count on a cruise ship to visit a place you want to see.

 

Ciao

Ollie

[zogrand]

We missed the port for La Harve plus 2 other ports We stayed on the ship in Southampton for 2.5 days because of a hurricane approaching Southern England. This was on Crown Princess October 2013 TA. Weather is risky at this time of year. Decisions have to be made hourly to keep the passengers, crew and ship safe. Personally, I wouldn't risk it. Don't count on a cruise ship to visit a place you want to see.

 

Ciao

Ollie

 

We were on that cruise too! After missing Le Harve then and a second time we gave up on seeing Normandy by cruise ship and visited Normandy by car for 2 weeks including a two day private tour. Much better than a rushed one day trip!