French Escapade 08/22/2025
We are arriving for this cruise one day early and want to plan our self guided itinerary. We understand that the day we leave Paris on the train we will have the morning free. Can anyone who has taken this trip inform me of the approximate time that we have to gather to depart for the train? We are trying to plan a last minute walk after breakfast and want to know our time constraints. Thank you.
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Hello. If no one replies please. Do call Tauck and ask.
Tauck will aim to get you to the ship about 3pm. The high speed train takes about 2 hours. The TDs will get you to the station in plenty of time so I'd estimate needing to be back at the Tauck tour hotel by noon minimum for the drive to the station. Possibly earlier. You can call Tauck and the agent will have a schedule for major evolutions like that.
When we did the savoring France The time was 130. Looking at the TGV schedule the best guess options are the 1252 or the 1353 train. More likely the later. We have never gotten to the ship before 4 pm.If you can’t get a definitive answer my guess is hotel bus pickup will be 1200 at the earliest and more likely 1230 or 1300. If you need to kill time, a quick stroll through the Lafayette shopping area is close by. You will need to collect anything you left with the bellman and be ready to go.
You will not have much time in the Gare Lyon Paris station to grab food or go to the restroom
As noted above, we have never been allowed to embark the ship before 1600 so as to allow sufficient time for the crew to prepare the ship for the next tour group.
I would be sure to be back in the hotel’s lobby by noon. Paris’ traffic is notoriously unpredictable and the coaches may wish to leave earlier.
My wife and I along with two sisters are on this trip and fly through JFK arriving early Tuesday morning for our extra day. We are hoping we can manage an early check-in at the hotel. Looks like we could have some rain on Thursday and Friday so bring your raincoat on your walk Friday morning.
We did this cruise last month. We had to be back at the hotel to leave about 11:00, as I recall. (We did have time to walk up to Montmartre and back beforehand. So we got some exercise on that travel day!)