“Impressions From The Seine” Trip Review April 8 – 17, 2024 (Part 3)
April 14 The Sapphire Day 5 of Cruise – Normandy D Day Sites
Breakfast was available from 6:00 am as the bus left for the excursion along the Normandy Coast at 7:45am. We had a 2 hour bus drive with a rest stop at the one hour mark to visit Pointe du Hoc. We were divided into 3 buses and picked up our local guides on the way. Our bus really lucked out with our guide Florent Plana. He was so passionate about anything having to do with WWII and especially our US Veterans. Florent is a French native with a strong passion for WWII History. He traveled around the US for three years interviewing WWII veterans, in order to preserve their stories and show his gratitude for what they did to liberate his country of France. He previously worked for the Normandy American Cemetery. He really made D-Day come alive with the personal stories of many of these Vets. This was an amazing day. We drove along a road bordering Omaha Beach and visited the various sites and memorial. We stopped for lunch at a lovely Chateau La Chenviere. It is actually a Hotel with beautiful grounds. The food and wine were excellent. What a treat. After lunch, we continued our tour to the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. Eight members of our Tour Group who are also Veterans were chosen to lay a wreath at the Cemetery. There was a very moving speech, the playing of our National Anthem and Taps, which is always very emotional and I think everyone had tears streaming down their face. What a day! Well done, Tauck. We then boarded our tour buses for the 2 hour return trip to our ship.
Dinner was at 6:30 in Compass Rose. At 7:30 there was a chocolate extravaganza buffet in the Panorama Lounge. At 9:00pm, there was a Crew Dance Party, which we didn’t attend. It had been a very long, jam packed excursion and we decided to call it a day.
April 15 The Sapphire Day 6 of Cruise – Les Andelys, Chateau Gaillard and Farm Visit
Our Group was split into 3 groups with tours starting at 8:30, 9:00 and 9:15. I am glad we took the first tour at 8:30 as there were only about 11 of us on the bus. The small group was nice. The other groups had about 30 people. We began our Tour at a local farm to hear the story of how the farm began and did a tasting of various Ciders and Calvados. The owner was very passionate about his farm and the products they produce. It was very interesting and the Cidar and Calvados samples were wonderful. Great tour. We then drove up to view the Ruins of Chateau Gaillard, built for Richard the Lionheart. We observed the Chateau from high above on a hilltop. We then descended to the lovely village of Le Petit Andely where our local guide showed us around the town. We then walked back to the ship from that point. We had lunch at the Compass Rose
There were a couple of activities thru the afternoon; a cooking demo and a River commentary about the Seine. Our ship arrived in Vernon and an orientation walk or short bike ride was available in Vernon. We didn’t attend these but chose to just relax in our cabin. The Chef’s Signature Dinner was held at 6:30 in the Compass Rose and we were then entertained by a Parisian Can Can performance. It was a fun act.
April 16 The Sapphire Day 7 of Cruise – Claude Monet’s Home & Gardens in Giverny
I was so excited about today’s excursion as Claude Monet is one of my favorite Artists. Breakfast opened at 6:00 and our bus left at 8:00. It was only a 10 minute bus ride, shortest of the entire tour. Thankfully, Tauck gave us a half hour private early opening visit. OMG. The gardens were awe inspiring. The light was perfect and the sky a bit overcast which was perfect for taking pictures. We even saw a rainbow twice. That was just “icing on the cake” as the saying goes. The house was absolutely lovely. We then walked up the main street to visit the Impressionist Museum at our leisure where we were supplied with an audio-guide. It was a wonderful museum filled with many Impressionist Paintings.
We then returned to the ship for lunch and decided to try out Arthurs as we both had a craving for a Cheeseburger and Fries. It was delicious. I also need to mention that I had several Capuchinos from the coffee machine during the week. It was a short walk down the hall from our cabin. We then attended an ice Cream Social after lunch. Wheelhouse visits were available in the afternoon but we had already done that on our previous cruise down the Rhine River. There was also a scarf tying demo activity for those who were interested. The Captain’s Farewell reception was at 6:00 followed by dinner at 6:30 and piano music at 8:00pm. The ship set sail for Paris during the night and would arrive at 2:00 am. We finally made it to the original docking location by The Eiffel Tower as the waters had finally receded.
April 17 The Sapphire Day 8 of Cruise – Debarkation
Our Tour was over. We had a 1:10 pm flight from CDG to Raleigh, NC. Our transfer time was set for 9:10 am with a luggage pull time of 8:40am. The Driver was a bit early but did a great job of getting us to the airport in about 45 minutes. There was still a lot of traffic but at least it was moving at a steady clip. I have to say that the return trip thru the airport was a “breeze” compared to arriving the week prior. Flying Business has its perks. It was very organized and before we knew it, we were enjoying the perks of the Air France lounge. Our Flight left on time and was very uneventful this time around. I watched two movies, ate a lot of good food and took a short nap.
SUMMARY
So, as I stated in the beginning of this review, our trip started out a bit rocky thru no fault of Tauck. We just seemed to encounter a series of unfortunate incidents that tested our faith in Tauck. Sometimes, life doesn’t proceed as smoothly as you wish but the tide eventually turned in our favor and restored our trust in Tauck. They provided us with an amazing Tour and we appreciate all of the little things they do that make the trip special, including a private car to get you from the airport and back again.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around to the end of this review and if you have any questions about this Tour, I will be happy to answer them for you.
Comments
It can be disappointing when your vision of a tour doesn't become reality. There's no doubt that traffic in Paris - even if the ship doesn't have to dock further away - is bad. Same for London. A boring amount of time just sitting on the coach. We took the version of this cruise that also includes London back in 2016 and it sounds like you had some nice opportunities we didn't like the art class and more options for Paris.
There's always talk about low water on rivers affecting tours but not so much about spring high water levels. Since you have to book most cruises a year or more in advance it's impossible to predict.
Another thing about expectations - our first cruise on the Rhone has remained our favorite. Our second on the Rhine/Moselle my husband and I were a tad disappointed. But it was my sister and BIL's first and remains their favorite. So... my theory is whatever was your first is your favorite and everything after is compared to that.
Hi Claudia. Thanks for your comments. Expectations can definitely cause some issues. This was actually my 4th Tauck Cruise. My first cruise was cruising down the Rhone from Paris 10 years ago. It was a fun cruise, but definitely not my favorite. I think my favorite was the 2nd trip Budapest to the Black Sea on the Danube. I also enjoyed the 3rd trip Amsterdam to Basel down the Rhine, which was my Husband's first trip, so perhaps your logic about the first trip does make sense. LOL.
This recent cruise from Paris to Normandy was actually a good one, I loved the itinerary. I just think there was a cascade of little issues, the Tauck transport situation at the Airport, hard bed at the Hotel, broken tooth, jet lag, extreme crowds, etc. that snowballed into creating a negative atmosphere. Of course, being docked 1 hour outside of Paris was really the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, when all of the Paris excursions took place within the City Center for the first couple of days. That was enough to put anyone in a bad mood. The River Gods are in control of the River, not Tauck.
In hind sight, after being home and looking back at the cruise, we both agreed that we had a great time, once we were out of Paris. LOL. Tauck does a great job and I am sure we will travel with them again. They make it easy for you and everything is included and I love all the little surprises thru the week that may not have a large dollar value but make you smile. All of the meals, on and off the ship were spectacular. The wines were wonderful and the D-Day and Giverny excursions were beyond fabulous. All of the supporting staff did a fantastic job, especially the servers and housekeeping. They always had a smile on their faces.
Sometimes life just throws you a curve to mix things up a bit and keep you on your toes. If everything was perfect, we wouldn't have all of our interesting travel tales to talk about and that's part of the joy of traveling.
Good points Travel Maven. I know so many here rank Classic Italy as their number one land tour and for us it was disappointing. Some of that was things on Tauck (some of the hotel rooms, a change in dining venue, several early starts at the beginning when we were jetlagged, etc) and some on us (my husband tripped and fell at Pompeii, we missed a museum because I got confused on times, etc) and some things no one to blame like the hotter than expected weather, Roman crowds, etc. We have lots of great experiences on that tour but overall not our favorite. Hasn't stopped us from booking more tours.
travel maven: “Travel leaves us speechless and then turns us into storytellers”. Happy to know you ended up having a good time on your tour despite the annoying glitches. C’est bon!
How much time did you spend at the D-Day beaches? Did they take you to the cafe and the bridge that were highlighted in the "Longest Day?" (where the French resistance fighters would gather). It's near where the Canadian glider planes landed. Were you able to explore the old German pill boxes and the big pits left by the bombs? I'm just trying to manage my expectations of the beaches on this tour-- there is so much to see and do.
Dinamo: We left the boat at 7:45 am and I believe we were back at around 6:30 pm. We had 3 buses so plenty of room to spread out. It was a 2 hour bus drive to the D Day sites in Normandy with a bathroom break after 1 hour of driving. The break was about 20 minutes or so, it was a large facility with bathrooms, snacks, souvenirs, etc. It was quite crowded with tour buses, but our bus was the first to arrive. We also picked up our guides after this. Our Guide spoke to us during the balance of the drive. We first arrived at Pointe du Hoc and also had time to explore the old German pill boxes and the big pits left by the bombs. I believe we were there for about 90 minutes or so, I felt it was enough time to take in the scene, take pictures, listen to the Guide and explore a bit. We then boarded the bus and took a short drive that runs along Omaha Beach. I think we were here for about 45 minutes or so. There was enough time to walk down to the water, take pictures of the Monuments and listen to more stories from the Guide.
We then boarded the bus for lunch, driving about 15 minutes to a lovely Chateau La Cheneviere, a 17th century manor house with beautiful grounds. It is actually a Hotel. The food and wine were excellent and we then had time to walk around the grounds of the estate which are lovely. This was about 90 minutes, I think.
After lunch we drove for about 15 minutes to the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-mer. I believe we were there for about 90 minutes. We walked around the area with our Guide who told us more stories about our American Vets. We then walked over towards the main memorial where there was a short ceremony, speech, laying of a wreath by about 8 of our Tour Members who were Veterans (tour members raised their hand to volunteer during one of the discovery meetings on the boat), singing of the National Anthem and playing of Taps. It was all very emotional. After that, we still had a bit of time to wander a bit with our guide and hear additional stories.
All of my times mentioned above are just educated guesses, but I felt that we had sufficient time to spend in the area and explore. I don't remember going to a cafe and bridge, as hi-lighted in the "Longest Day" movie. Keep in mind, that we only saw Omaha Beach, not the remaining beaches. We had a 2 hour bus ride to return to the boat, with no rest stop this time. We did see some good examples of the Hedge Rows from the bus on the way back to our boat. Our guide talked about the difficulties encountered with these hedge rows for our troops.
My husband and I really enjoyed this excursion, it was one of the reasons we went on this tour, along with excursion to Monet's Giverny. There is so much history involved with the D Day landings and I am sure we only scratched the surface, with the emphasis on the US Troops and Omaha Beach.
Hope this info helps.
Dinamo: Here are a couple of images I took. These were at Pointe du Hock, bunkers, one with view looking towards water, one with closeup of bullet holes, a couple of images at cemetary.
@travel maven That's a great picture of the crosses at the American Cemetery.
The memorial that you have a picture of honors the 1st Division, 2nd Division (landed on June 7th), and the 29th Division which landed on this beach. But it must have been paid for by veterans of the 1st Division because 1st Division definitely got first billing on the monument
Several of us on the tour were veterans, and the guide kept using the term "casualty". In military terms, casualty has a very specific definition. Casualties are those who are missing from roll call. That includes killed in action, wounded in action, sick, missing, captured, deserted, anything that would remove a person from the fight. It was unclear if the guide was using the term correctly or to mean “killed in action”. Our attempts to get her to clarify were unsuccessful. Maybe she didn’t know.
Thank you Mike. That picture is one of my favorites. Thank you for the additional info about the Memorial.
Travel maven great pictures, it brought memories from when I was there in 2022, interesting picture of the crosses.
Thank you TravelMaven. This is awesome and nice pictures.
The Normandy tour was also the reason I selected this tour. When I first went to Normandy I was overwhelmed with the enormity of the area and the planning to take this vast amount of land from the German occupiers. My husband has never been to Normandy and I have been telling him we must go. Like I mentioned I had done a day trip to Normandy from Paris. This was 2003 and I searched for the tour company but could not find it or a similar tour. I was curious what we would see and how much time we would have. Your information has been very helpful.
I just looked at a map of the Normandy landings. Tauck focuses on the American areas. Which makes sense. The Pegasus bridge and Cafe (I looked it for this response!). Is part of the British/Canadian areas. The bridge and cafe are at the direct opposite of Pointe du Hoc as I can see, so those spots are probably many miles away and not part of the flight path of the bus route.
Thank you again for all the details and your debrief of the trip. It is so helpful! We are going on this trip in October and can hardly wait.
This is a bit off topic, but I'd like to mention it for those who go to the Normandy beaches.
One reason the D-Day invasion was successful was that a major portion of the German army was destroyed on the Eastern front. Close to 200 German divisions were destroyed there, at terrible cost to both sides. The Soviet Union lost approximately 25 million soldiers and civilians killed in that war, about 13 percent of their population. By comparison, the United States lost a bit fewer than 500,000 soldiers and civilians in WWII, which includes both the European and Pacific theatres of war, less than 1 percent of our population (0.32 percent to be exact).
The D-Day Invasion was a great victory, but its success was built on some really horrible warfare on the Eastern Front.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties]
Dinamo: You are welcome. Enjoy your trip in October, it was wonderful.
Mike: Thanks for the additional info. My husband watches alot of WWII documentaries and I do remember the one documentary that talked about the Soviet Union's devastating loss. It is all so overwhelming as are all wars.