Disney Magic 12nt. British Isles
Monday, July 10, 2017
Cruise Day 2 – Le Havre, France
our weather July 10, 2017:
Morning:
Le Havre – (In Port) overcast wind light drizzle 63 °F / 17 °C
Afternoon:
Normandy cloudy high 67 °F / 19 °C
Paris high 73 °F /15 °C
France being our first port of call
ever in Europe, makes Le Havre the test subject for excursion readiness on a British Isles cruise.
Our morning routine was pretty typical:
Check times and weather
Hit the showers
Decide what to wear
Figure out what we’re packing
Grab an early breakfast at Cabanas
Collect the ID / tix / paperwork and money
And let’s go!!
But being prepared while touring via cruise is not a subject to take lightly. Especially if you’re new to overseas travel - like us.
There were a few significant hurdles to contend with at 8 ports of call.
Time Management
Attire and Weather
Electronics
The Day Bag
And the dreaded VAT refund (ugh!)
Safe to say we did not have this down to a science.
Hurdle #1 – Time management
Sounds basic but for
this type of vacation, punctuality is a very big deal.
We constantly had to get the times down and know what time it was -
all the time!
Every morning in port we’d be asking:
“What time is it?”
“What time is our excursion?”
“What time does Cabanas open?”
and “how much time before we leave?”
Lucky for us, the Magic puts a digital alarm clock right next to the bed.
And JQ and IM were using their phones on the ship to access the DCL app and track time. (nobody used the stateroom phones)
Both worked great provided we didn’t forget that hour lost getting to France. Omg!!
I say this because we never bothered to reset the clock and the phones won’t update for a time difference when the wifi is off.
So we had to be on top of this when the zones changed.
(fortunately only France/Portland had this issue on the cruise)
Ok let’s be honest. On board really isn’t the place time management became much of an issue. The information is everywhere.
But that all changes the minute we venture off the ship.
Didn’t matter what stop – over and over again, we’d have to know exactly where and when to meet back at a tour bus or shuttle.
Solution: Wear a watch. No kidding. It's an important item for any packing list. Cell phones die and timing is critical on these excursions.
(Here's JQ inadvertently modelling his "Casio G-shock" as we visit the Garden of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial)
Another thing we kept doing was double checking the return times and pickup points with our guides.
(After that Evan Evans drop off situation in London, we made sure to avoid any confusion.)
And a lot of times I’d snap a photo of the bus upon exit to distinguish which one was ours or recall where we were dropped off.
I keep emphasizing this for a lot of reasons:
- With all that hop on / hop off activity - all day - every day: It’s easy to forget where you are or what time you're due back the minute you walk away from the bus.
Dublin is a prime example. Here's the DCL free shuttle in Dublin dropping us in the middle of nowhere we knew.
(which we've come to learn is Merrion Square - Oscar Wilde House / American College Dublin)
- also, Cruisers can really hold things up when returning back late. (myself included)
Here’s our tour guide helplessly looking for 2 missing people for a good 10 minutes while we sat on the bus at Arromanches, France
- and Private tours have little or no give if something or someone causes a setback. Which means plans may get modified on the fly to accommodate this.
Examples: Invergordon tours got a very late start due to Gavin’s confusing pick up location at the port. This resulted in several cut backs with timing.
And Liverpool - Busy Bus had a family return over 15 mins late at Conwy Castle by mistakenly having the wrong time - which affected our stay at other stops. (they felt really bad)
Here we are staring longingly back at the castle entrance out the bus window with no sign of our missing travelers.
- Finally, new Ports of call might encounter excursion problems simply due to a learning curve.
Portland, England - We had a major problem at Glastonbury Tor with an inadequate shuttle bus transfer that sprung a surprise cash fee charge on everyone upfront
(no US$ accepted)
This shuttle was too small and had to make multiple trips which really cut back our time at the Cathedral City of Wells.
I’ll talk more on all this but you get the general idea. Hopefully our mistakes will help others.
And that's only Hurdle #1
Stay tuned. France and more hurdles coming right up.