Thoughts, impressions, and observations for the World Cruise.

island lady · March 13

6 hours ago, pstone1 said:

We have done that tour and it is fantastic - worth the long drive! Not sure about that particular day though! 😳

Actually had no idea the Olympics were going on there when I booked it. Sigh...still have not visited Paris in our travels, except the airport. 😉

Drats...bad timing. Will see if they cancel it. Otherwise we still want to go, and being RCI tour...should make it back..at some point. 😮

Norwich Cruiser · March 13

1 hour ago, island lady said:

Actually had no idea the Olympics were going on there when I booked it. Sigh...still have not visited Paris in our travels, except the airport. 😉

Drats...bad timing. Will see if they cancel it. Otherwise we still want to go, and being RCI tour...should make it back..at some point. 😮

If the tour goes ahead it’s an extremely long day but definitely worth doing.

sgmn · March 13

7 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

We're staying on the coast. No way I'm going onto city

I think we're going to hire a car as we're in Le Havre overnight. DH is happy to drive on the continent and we've been to France multiple times

Another_Critic · March 13

7 minutes ago, sgmn said:

I think we're going to hire a car as we're in Le Havre overnight. DH is happy to drive on the continent and we've been to France multiple times

Beware of the speed cameras. I apparently was caught twice (about 20 minutes apart) near Mont Saint-Michel. That was May 2022. The rental car company charged me (€19.99 x 2) for handing over my info to the authorities, but haven't received anything further.

frosty52 · March 13

On 3/10/2024 at 3:53 AM, CSHS1979 said:

John's bridge pics finally came in

Edited March 13 by frosty52
Very Cool!!

CruiszBug · March 13

On 3/10/2024 at 11:46 PM, ShazM said:

You aren't allowed to take cameras or phones up in case they were to fall onto traffic crossing the bridge below.

Looked like John was wearing a GoPro video camera?

Rogueperson · March 14

21 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Beware of the speed cameras. I apparently was caught twice (about 20 minutes apart) near Mont Saint-Michel. That was May 2022. The rental car company charged me (€19.99 x 2) for handing over my info to the authorities, but haven't received anything further.

I'm always curious about the legal ramifications of this. Speed cameras are charged against the vehicle, not the driver. They are like parking tickets. I hate them because they require you to proof you didn't trigger the speed camera or are automatically guilty. There's also a whole hosts of ramifications on why this is legally gray, because unlike a parking ticket, a vehicle cannot speed by itself and must have someone actually doing it, but you're trying to hold the car and its registered owner responsible for all its actions. This is specifically true here, as a corporation literally cannot drive a vehicle. I always thought the rental company would just charge you the fine and a "service charge" to do so as the rental company would be on the hook for the fine as owner of the vehicle.

Edited March 14 by Rogueperson

mo&fran · March 14

On 3/13/2024 at 9:35 AM, CSHS1979 said:

We're staying on the coast. No way I'm going onto city

Good idea. we did that tour on our first TA, and we decided no way would we ever do tour like that again.

mo&fran · March 14

On 3/13/2024 at 10:19 AM, pstone1 said:

We have done that tour and it is fantastic - worth the long drive! Not sure about that particular day though! 😳

I guess some like it. Maybe it is better now.

mo&fran · March 14

22 hours ago, sgmn said:

I think we're going to hire a car as we're in Le Havre overnight. DH is happy to drive on the continent and we've been to France multiple times

At least you drive on thee right side of the road.

Another_Critic · March 14

17 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

At least you drive on thee right side of the road.

My past couple of pre or post cruise stays have been in the UK. Next are in Spain and Italy. It's going to be weird driving overseas on the right side of the road.

---------

I had taken several trips to the UK and Ireland. My next trip was to Denmark; picked up the rental car, came to a stop sign to make a left turn. Thinking to myself: I'm suppose to go the right side of the road after I turn, right? 😄

pstone1 · March 14

49 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I guess some like it. Maybe it is better now.

We did it more than 10 years ago. Yes, we enjoyed it. We had a fantastic lunch with plenty of wine on a lovely cruise down the River, and also saw the major sites in Paris. We probably won’t go back to Paris, so I’m glad we went.

island lady · March 14

1 hour ago, pstone1 said:

We did it more than 10 years ago. Yes, we enjoyed it. We had a fantastic lunch with plenty of wine on a lovely cruise down the River, and also saw the major sites in Paris. We probably won’t go back to Paris, so I’m glad we went.

When I booked, we expected that type of experience. Now....though I no idea when I booked it...was the summer Olympics going on. If I had known, I would not have booked the tour. Though I have a feeling this tour may be cancelled.

bobmacliberty · March 14

On 3/13/2024 at 4:26 PM, island lady said:

Actually had no idea the Olympics were going on there when I booked it. Sigh...still have not visited Paris in our travels, except the airport. 😉

My first dozen or so trips to "Paris" were plane changes in CDG. Business trips to Europe always went through there. I Never had a chance to leave the airport. Finally, I took a train from Brussels to CDG and stayed at the Sheraton in the airport overnight before a morning flight the next day. I got to the hotel around 4:00pm and asked the concierge about seeing the city in a couple of hours. He had obviously been asked this before as he pulled out a map and gave me directions for a whirlwind tour. Take this train then that metro to this stop. Go up and see Notre Dame. Go back down in the Metro and take this line x stops. Go up and see the Eiffel Tower. I saw all of the big highlights in about 3 hours, never looking at one thing for more than about 5 minutes. I felt like Chevy Chase looking at the Grand Canyon in National Lampoon's Vacation.

#55worktoplay · March 14

On 3/10/2024 at 11:03 PM, ringers0815 said:

Yes

Me too. The spelling of your name gave me a clue 😀

pstone1 · March 15

2 hours ago, island lady said:

When I booked, we expected that type of experience. Now....though I no idea when I booked it...was the summer Olympics going on. If I had known, I would not have booked the tour. Though I have a feeling this tour may be cancelled.

If you have to find something else, we took a fantastic (private) tour to Normandy with Overlord Tours. I think there were 8 of us so it was easy to organize.

CSHS1979 · March 15

On 3/13/2024 at 7:32 PM, CruiszBug said:

Looked like John was wearing a GoPro video camera?

Photo pkg by tour operator

CSHS1979 · March 15

John made it to the reef

Edited March 15 by CSHS1979

njkruzer · March 15

When we went to the reef area on the Radiance the seas were so rough we had trouble getting off and onto the tour boat. We didn't go into the water but saw it from the glass bottom boat. Had trouble getting back on the ship also. Glad it worked for John. Looks calm.

pstone1 · March 15

9 hours ago, CSHS1979 said:

John made it to the reef!

Glad John made it to the Great Barrier Reef! Thanks for sharing these photos! I had no idea this vessel is what you would find when you got there. What a setup!

CSHS1979 · March 15

14 hours ago, pstone1 said:

Glad John made it to the Great Barrier Reef! Thanks for sharing these photos! I had no idea this vessel is what you would find when you got there. What a setup!

John says people live on it as well