Paris Full Day Journey from Le Havre Cruise Port & Seine Cruise

Sick Tour guide & short toilet breaks

Tour Guide Coughing & blowing nose. Walked too fast, she was short & had no sign or flag to follow her. Only 10 minutes to stop for restroom breaks. Viator tours are normally very good but for the money we paid this tour was not good.

Response from the operator: We regret to hear about your disappointment. However, with a 10-hour tour duration limited by your cruise ship's visit, our itinerary must be carefully organized to cover the advertised highlights of Paris. Unfortunately, this leaves little room for leisurely sit-down lunches or extended restroom breaks. Regarding your comments about the guide, please understand that autumn in Paris brings colder weather, and occasional sniffles or the need to blow one's nose are perfectly natural and hardly unusual at this time of year. We recommend choosing private tours for future excursions if you prefer a more relaxed pace, flexible scheduling, and longer breaks. Safe and happy travels!

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Fun trip

Our guide was very knowledgeable of the area and talked to us on the trip into Paris. Once we were there, she gave us plenty of time to take pictures and free time for shopping and food.

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Paris July 3026

We took this tour be advised that it was a 3 hour ride to Paris with no tour guide only driver. One hour in you stop at a gas station store for bathroom break, this was done there and back. Bus was hot very little AC. Tour guide came on in Paris around the corner from Eiffel Tower and was really hard to understand in English. Stops included Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, and Notre dame outside for 1 hour you also need to find lunch during this break. You than have a cruise on the Seine which starts by Eiffel Tower and is in all languages by using a barcode on boat. We would give the tour a five for sights and the bus driver. If you don’t mind a bus trip of 6 hours and four of your basically own walking your it is great. Also tour guide by Notre Dame did not count people and started pulling away with a woman missing .

Response from the operator: We regret to hear about your disappointment, even though your feedback appears to have arrived from July 3026 😊 Regarding the guide service, the tour description clearly states that it is not provided during the transfers from Le Havre, but only in Paris. We do not have any issues with the air conditioning on our modern buses, which is why your feedback raising this concern is the only one received from the entire group. Since Paris is approximately a three-hour drive from Le Havre and we do not use helicopters—at least not yet—we naturally have to spend around three hours travelling each way. The alternative is to enjoy exploring Le Havre. 😊 Since your concern about the guide’s English is also the only one received from the entire group, please understand that not many guides speak American English. Most speak internationally understood English with a local accent—Greek in Greece, German in Germany, French in France, and so on. To become more comfortable understanding accented English, we recommend travelling outside your home country more often. To cut a long story short, when booking future activities through Viator, we strongly recommend basing your expectations on the published description, inclusions, and itinerary rather than on personal assumptions. Safe travels!

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Expensive Lesson Learned the Hard Way

We started working on our June cruise in January. We researched shore excursions for every one of the ship’s stops. My wife printed banners from different vendors as compared the Norwegian sanctioned tours with the independent vendors like Viator. La Havre was our last stop; thus we spent much effort on it as we knew Paris was 3-hour ride. Viator had several offerings that used the same Paris picture in the headline banner. The difference between the offerings was very subtle, so we tried reading between the lines to determine what trek offered the best bang for our buck. We contacted a Viator rep, and she helped us make that determination. From the explanation we got from the rep my wife and I were led to believe that the "coach" would be a van, something more intimate than a bus. We booked this tour primarily based on that very incorrect assumption. When we got to the Cruise Terminal, we were looking for a van. For an agonizing 30+ minutes we walked around and around the lot asking every driver, guard, and anyone else we could tackle for the JAT driver. All were clueless. Finally, from behind a fence the JAT lady appeared and we latched onto her. She walked us to a bus parked behind a tall green fence. We were mortified when we finally boarded, as we looked like the village idiots who made everyone late. For a time we struggled with how we could have possibly gotten it so wrong, but we were determined not to let this error ruin our day. We were excited as we rode into Paris and first saw the Eiffel Tower at a distance. The bus then parked and a Tour Guide got on the bus; told us to cross a street and walk to a parade landing, so we could view the Tower and be back in about 20 minutes. We then learned that “Free Admission” in the Itinerary meant “You get to get off the bus.” Instead of walking us to there as a group and giving us insights about the Tower the Tour Guide said she would wait for us at the bus. When we arrived, we saw hundreds of people aimlessly milling around, then we were immediately accosted by men who kept asking us the give them our phones so they could “take our picture.” These guys also had rings of cheap Tower replicas that they kept aggressively peddling. They continued to hound us even though we repeatedly told them No! The Eiffel Tower was picturesque from that vantage but far away. That was the saving grace for that first stop. We made back to the bus as the guide told us our next stop was the Arc de Triomphe. As we rode there, she told us we had 10 minutes to view it. We all hurried off the bus, but had no idea where the crosswalk was. I finally saw the guide pointing to one about a block away. We hurried there, ran through a tunnel under the street and climbed the stairs to reach it. I had enough time to snap a few pictures then scramble back to the bus – more “Free Admission.” Then we entered the “Pass By” phase of the trip. The guide was in the front of the bus rapidly trying to explain some of the building we were riding by. Unfortunately, she knew what building she was talking about, but we didn’t. I found myself scrambling to grab any photos I could manage, as sometimes the building in question was on the right side and other times on the left. The bus just kept moving forward solely on the speed of the surrounding traffic. We then headed to the Norte-Dame Cathedral. One of the principal reasons we selected this tour over the others is that the rep told us that this tour offered Free Admission to the Cathedral while others only did a Pass By. But when arrived we were told we had 20 minutes and it was impossible to go into Cathedral at such a short stop. Once again, we grabbed a few pics and jumped back on the bus. We were then driven to a side street and the bus parked. We were told that we could get something to eat at a small bakery or a restaurant, and if we bought something we could use the one-stall bathroom. We bought some ice cream and waited in line for our turn. Once back on the bus we did a lot more Pass By as we weaved through congested traffic. The guide often offered some very interesting information, but we usually didn’t know where to look. We finally made it to The Seine boat ride. This was by far the pièce de resistance of the tour. But once again, instead of the guide bundling us together, then riding with us to offer her expertise on the historical buildings the 40-minute ride offered, she said she was dropping us there and would not be there when we returned. She pointed to where the bus was parked and after arguing with the attendant on the loading platform she left us to our own devises. The boat ride was very nice. We boarded the bus and headed back to the Cruise Terminal. As we drove the bus got warmer. The bus driver told some people near him that the air conditioner was broken. I guess that wouldn’t have mattered on a cool day, but that day it was anything but. My wife and I looked forward to seeing Paris for the first time, and we were thankful we got to see what we did. Paris is indeed an amazing place. We hope to travel back that way some day. We realized in advance that 3 hours in Paris was going to be a sprint, so we expected the best from a company that is very experienced in such rapid-fire presentation. We were willing to pay for it, and we thought we had done so. European Essentials did not come through. I would NOT RECCOMEND this tour. When you are making your selection find one where you have a dedicated Tour Guide that will walk you to and from each location. Question the Tour reps extensively and specifically; do not rely on vague flowery words in the Tour description that could ultimately lead you down a primrose path. Finally, if like us you were dissatisfied with the Tour don’t look for any accommodation from Viator or the contracted touring company. They are quite adept at justifying their actions, even if their outcome proved mediocre at best. Good luck.

Response from the operator: Thank you for your detailed feedback. Sorry, I am not retired yet and do not have that much time, so I will reply to all the concerns briefly: 1. In order not to look like “the village idiots who made everyone late” we recommend reading and understanding easy pickup instructions, which clearly state pickup at the pier, not at the parking lot, not asking drivers, security officers, or anybody else unrelated to Viator tours. From our perspective, nothing can be easier than meeting at the gangway, but for the most gifted travelling individuals, this mission is impossible. 😊 2. We do not promise any vans, minivans, semi-private, or private tours. Please take a closer look at the tour description. 3. Unlike “ Admission included” “Admission free” on Viator products means exactly that no admission is required, as the tour explores exteriors only. There is no admission to the Eiffel Tower, which during high season takes at least two and a half hours to explore from inside, while this tour consists of 6 hours spent in transfers and 4 hours for the entire Paris visit. If you want more time, please address your concern directly to your cruise line suggesting spending more time in Le Harve. 4. This tour has never included Notre-Dame Cathedral admission. Please take a closer look at item 3 above. 5. We did not have any issues with the air conditioner on our brand-new coach. That is why your complaint is the only one received from the entire group of your fellow cruise passengers. When booking your future activities with Viator, we strongly recommend basing expectations on the tour description, itinerary, and inclusions rather than on personal assumptions. Safe travels.

via Viator

It was a good way to see...

It was a good way to see Paris quickly. Arrived via cruise in La Havre. The bus ride was fine, no information given just a drive to Paris. Picked up the guide in Paris. She was nice, informative, and a good tour guide. The tour was rushed and there wasn’t a ton of time at each stop. The river cruise was very nice.

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