Stranded in Le Havre
 

The best plans somehow can get screwed up. Traveling on a transatlantic Princess cruise, we had made special arrangements to depart the ship in Le Havre prior to the itinerary termination in London the following day. THE PLAN: take the train from Le Havre to Paris spending three days in Paris and fly back to USA from Paris. THE PROBLEM: the are no direct trains running on Saturday May 10, 2014 into Paris with the exception of trains leaving at 7:50 AM. In fact, according to Rail Europe, the ONLY trains into Paris that day leave at 7:50 AM.(working on the train tracks). The ship does not arrive until 7AM and does not give us enough time to clear France's customs and immigration in time to take a 7:50 AM train. NEW PLAN: we will book an excursion into Paris with Princess cruises, throw our luggage on the bus, get off in Paris and take a taxi to the hotel. NEW PROBLEM: Princess says "no way" because the tour leaves early in the morning and we have to clear customs, we would hold up the excursions plus anyone on the excursion MUST return to the ship. OK, I am now stranded in Le Havre unless I find a driver to take my wife and myself into Paris. DOES ANYONE KNOW A RELIABLE COMPANY THE CAN TAKE US FROM LE HAVRE TO PARIS. Help!!!!

Some things you might give a try.

One, visit Rouen the first day, perhaps by bus or taxi and go to Paris the next day. I have not been there, but the pictures look so beautiful, you might feel lucky to have the chance.

Two, have you joined the roll call on cruise critic for your cruise? You might see if any people who have formed groups to do their own tours to Paris have any extra space. They would not care if you left the group in Paris and might be able to accommodate the bit of time you need for customs.

We have done what you are doing a couple of times, and I believe we filled out customs form, etc. the night before and didn't have to do anything much the next morning. We took our luggage off ourselves, so no wait on that.

Check out bus service. Might be slower, but you would get there.

<< according to Rail Europe >>

Rail Europe does not have a comprehensive list of train schedules.

<< the are no direct trains running on Saturday May 10, 2014 into Paris with the exception of trains leaving at 7:50 AM >>

The 7:50 is not a direct train. There's a change at Mantes La Jolie at 9:30.

I see direct trains at 13:58 and 16:11.

You can view train schedules on http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml and purchase tickets from voyages-sncf.com for journeys within France.

http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/train-...result?hid=TTM

Also, Honfleur, closer and more likely to have bus service could be lovely for a night before Paris.

I see you had a lot of help on your other thread. Perhaps you should read those responses since you were given lots of web sites and information.

Your one comment was that your French is limited so you could not use the French train site. In the upper right corner is the French flag. Click on the flag and choose UK for English. Many (or most) foreign web sites use the same system of flags to indicate language.

When you're asked where you're picking up tickets put in France.

Le Havre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to the quality of its postwar design.

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...-heritage-site

Honfleur is also worth a visit.

Can you cancel your "special arrangements". Then, take Eurostar to Paris from London?

I agree with Adrienne, I think you were given info on the other thread. However, of course you can get to Paris from Le Havre somehow by a private driver, you can bet on it. I sort of recall this question before on here and I think I found some. your hotel would be the best place to ask that, actually, if you had one in Le Havre (maybe you don't).

Here's one company, but very expensive it seems http://www.parisconnection.fr/paris_...o_le_havre.php (490 euro for 2 people). However, Le Havre is a distance, of course.

here's the page of transport services by Le Havre tourism
http://www.lehavretourisme.com/en/in...companies.html

Cars Fromentin on that list looks like it might do what you want, other than a big bus, of course.

Well. bahn.de is showing 2 trains with no changes that Sat afternoon. And I would trust them in a second versus Rail Europe.

Agree to go to the French rail site, switch to English using the flag and saying you will pick up the tickets in France - at the station in Le Havre.

Do not believe everything Raileurope says.

I think the issue here is not whether there are EVER direct trains from Le Havre to Paris but whether there are direct trains on that day. What it sounds like is the French equivalent of the dreaded " weekend engineering works" in the UK.

I personally think taking the bus might be really interesting, but the suggestion by djkbooks to bag the special arrangements, go on to London and take the Eurostar makes a lot of sense if the traveler is a worrier.

Answered on your Trip Advisor thread. There are trains running that day but tickets are not yet on sale:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic....html#57073006