Le Havre cancelled

[pat714]

Currently aboard the Carribean Princess and have been advised that we will not sail to our scheduled Le Havre port. The dock workers are on strike and the Port is closed. Princess is re-routing us to Portland England instead. So disappointed, as Normandy was the highlight of this cruise for us. 
Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that this port is experiencing closures at this time. 

[cruisinsince75]

Very disappointing!

[insidecabin]

Happens a lot Le Havre getting canceled by strikes.

[Arizona Wildcat]

There are several strikes each month at Le Havre ranging from a few hours to all day.  Been going on since June.  Was told there is a schedule published with the dates.  No idea where to.find

Did see news a massive strike planned for 1 October to protest pension reforms.

Edited 10 hours ago by Arizona Wildcat

[blloyd78]

For us, the real shame is that neither Le Havre nor Portland is a particularly exciting destination. Both are clearly itinerary fillers:

* https://www.journeyintodarkness.co.uk/grey-town

* https://www.journeyintodarkness.co.uk/pointless-portland

[Arizona Wildcat]

27 minutes ago, blloyd78 said:

For us, the real shame is that neither Le Havre nor Portland is a particularly exciting destination. Both are clearly itinerary fillers:

* https://www.journeyintodarkness.co.uk/grey-town

* https://www.journeyintodarkness.co.uk/pointless-portland

Disagree about Le Harve.  You port near there then go along the Normandy coast to visit outstanding places like the D Day beaches, Honfleur,  Mont St Michel or go inland to Paris.

[blloyd78]

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

Edited 9 hours ago by blloyd78

[Arizona Wildcat]

8 minutes ago, blloyd78 said:

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

Many ports are industrial areas.  Civitivecchia/Rome, Southampton,  Bayonne/NY, San Pedro/LA, Seattle, Whittier AK are all rough areas one would not want to spend the day.  Thus you get a taxi or bus and leave the port to visit nearby points of interest.  Actually the same for Portland UK and nearby towns where a shuttle was available on my last visit.

[Boku]

56 minutes ago, blloyd78 said:

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

I disagree, we really enjoyed our recent stop at Le Havre. We had a lovely walk around the town. 

[mtnesterz]

1 hour ago, blloyd78 said:

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

By your reasoning don't bother cruising in Japan, because most ports we visited were a long shuttle to anything one might consider an excursion. Our home ports of Long Beach and San Pedro are industrial ports, with a couple of walkably nearby attractions. 

LeHarve gets you to Rouen at half the distance to Paris with all the history it offers. The list is short, Naples and Alaskan ports as examples, where one can walk from the port to the town area so picturesque, you'd consider it an excursion in itself.

Edited 7 hours ago by mtnesterz

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

There is a schedule for strikes but it’s not always kept to. Strikes are added to or cancelled last minute. Transport in and around France can be often disrupted.

 

Tomorrow and 1st October large protests are planned. I’d avoid Paris 100% those days. Tension is high in France currently. If anyone planned to go to Paris from le Harve it really is best they don’t. Strikes often go alongside the protests too.

 

I’m not passing judgment on what’s happening. As a Brit we frequently have some transport issues when they go on strike. And we are well aware of the current political climate. 
 

I do appreciate it’s so frustrating for you all though, especially if you have travelled from a long way away. It’s easy for me to be matter of fact when I can get to france quicker than I can get to Portland from where I am.

 

I hope you enjoy Portland or get to go on an excursion to somewhere near by. Durdle door and the Jurassic coast is beautiful. A lot of the Island of Portland is pretty. There is Chesil beach, the castle, Portland bill lighthouse and the D-day centre too.
 

 

 

 

[pat714]

40 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

There is a schedule for strikes but it’s not always kept to. Strikes are added to or cancelled last minute. Transport in and around France can be often disrupted.

 

Tomorrow and 1st October large protests are planned. I’d avoid Paris 100% those days. Tension is high in France currently. If anyone planned to go to Paris from le Harve it really is best they don’t. Strikes often go alongside the protests too.

 

I’m not passing judgment on what’s happening. As a Brit we frequently have some transport issues when they go on strike. And we are well aware of the current political climate. 
 

I do appreciate it’s so frustrating for you all though, especially if you have travelled from a long way away. It’s easy for me to be matter of fact when I can get to france quicker than I can get to Portland from where I am.

 

I hope you enjoy Portland or get to go on an excursion to somewhere near by. Durdle door and the Jurassic coast is beautiful. A lot of the Island of Portland is pretty. There is Chesil beach, the castle, Portland bill lighthouse and the D-day centre too.
 

 

 

 

Thanks I appreciate your insight. 

[Jadn13]

We experienced this at Le Havre in the past and felt bad for anyone who was looking forward to planned excursions to Paris or Normandy. These are big trips for some even once in a lifetime visits.
 (Luckily, I have visited often so was OK with the cancellation)

[DCThunder]

4 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Many ports are industrial areas.  Civitivecchia/Rome, Southampton,  Bayonne/NY, San Pedro/LA, Seattle, Whittier AK are all rough areas one would not want to spend the day.  Thus you get a taxi or bus and leave the port to visit nearby points of interest.  Actually the same for Portland UK and nearby towns where a shuttle was available on my last visit.

If you think those ports are bad, you've obviously never docked in Callao, the port for Lima, Peru.  You must take a shuttle bus from the ship for about 15-20 minutes to a very rough looking transfer station where the tour buses or taxis meet you for a good hour-long ride into downtown Lima.  And Lima traffic and drivers makes Rome look tame.

[Coral]

Normandy was the highlight of my last European cruise. It was one of the best tours I have been on.

 

So sorry you are missing it.

[Coral]

4 hours ago, blloyd78 said:

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

So are a lot of ports. Though from there, there are great places to go to. The Normandy trip was one of my favorite all time excursions. It meant a lot to me as my grandfather died in WWII. 

[startedwithamouse]

5 hours ago, blloyd78 said:

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

You've described most ports.

[dns65]

5 hours ago, blloyd78 said:

True. But Le Havre itself is nothing but an ugly old ferry port with little to see within walking distance of the dock.

This was pretty much every port on a recent South America cruise except for Buenos Aires and Santiago.  No cruise terminal, just industrial port facilities in the middle of nowhere.   

[Boku]

On our recent stop a La Havre there were quite a few people disembarking so they could spend a few days in France before flying back home to US. We were told this was quite common so there would have been a lot of upset cruisers.

[Coral]

20 minutes ago, Boku said:

On our recent stop a La Havre there were quite a few people disembarking so they could spend a few days in France before flying back home to US. We were told this was quite common so there would have been a lot of upset cruisers.

I had a cruise which was supposed to take place in April of 2020 (which was cancelled). We could have booked it so it ended in either La Havre or Southampton. I had it booked so I would end in La Havre for that reason. So this wasn't "a requested disembarkment" but the end of my cruise. Though there is nothing that can be done in these situations.

[karatemom2]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Normandy was the highlight of my last European cruise. It was one of the best tours I have been on.

 

So sorry you are missing it.

Agree. I really feel bad for the OP as we would have been terribly disappointed if we missed Le Havre on our British Isles cruise. Going with Overlord Tours to Normandy for Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery, as well as stops at Bayeux and Honfleur, was a special day.  

 

OP, I hope you can make a nice day of it in Portland and plan another future cruise that gets you back to Normandy.  
 

 

[beg3yrs]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that this incident should serve as a caution to the many people who wish to disembark the ship at Le Havre instead of Southampton. It can be done with advance arrangements from Princess but ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN B!