A city as world-renowned as Paris is not something to pass up visiting ever, but is it worth it to spend just a few hours there on a 3 hour bus ride each way?
I had never been to Paris, but when my Royal Caribbean cruise ship offered a visit to Paris during my 7-night Anthem of the Seas cruise, I was too intrigued not to give it a try.
The "catch" with this tour is the extreme distances between where the cruise ship docks and the destination. In the case of Paris, it's about a 2.5 hour ride each way without traffic or any stops along the way.
These sort of extreme bus tours are common for cruise ships, because the allure of visiting these special places is too great to ignore.
I had done a similar 2 hour each way bus tour to Bordeaux, France earlier in the week, and came away loving the city.
The issue is does the transportation time back and forth outweigh the experience in Paris.
The beginning of a long travel day
Our day began at 8:40am when we reported to meet up for the tour. Like all shore excursions, they typically begin in the theater of the cruise ship.
Once our tour was called, we boarded coach buses to begin the journey.
The seating is quite tight, and I found the leg space to be very sparse. That's fine on a short journey, but after a couple of hours it gets uncomfortable, especially if you're big or tall.
The ride was uneventful, with a pit stop at a gas station along the way. Unfortunately, we were delayed an extra 10 minutes because one couple took longer to return. This can happen on any group shore excursion, but every minute counts in Paris.
Arriving in the city, there was weekend traffic to contend with and we were dropped off right at the Arc de Triumph at 12:20pm.
Our tour escort informed us to return back to the bus at 3:45pm so we could depart at 4pm. That's just about 3.5 hours of total time to enjoy Paris.
A short window to do a lot
It was a bit overwhelming deciding what to do once we got to Paris given it was already lunch time and we only had a few hours.
I opted to simply walk and see as much as I could on foot in that timeframe.
My goals were to see a few sights, eat some local food, and grab souvenirs for the family back home.
I purposefully skipped museums or tours just because I could not afford to spend 2 hours at just one activity.
I found tickets for the Musée d'Orsay, which is a fabulous museum dedicated to French art, but I'm not nearly into art enough to make that worthwhile. It's a microcosm of the larger issue in having so few hours in a city like Paris.
I started at the Arc, stopping only to snap a few photos before power walking down the Champs-Élysées. I think it benefited me that I grew up near New York City, so the Fifth Avenue vibe of this area was lost on me and I was okay bypassing it.
I was pretty hungry, so I made a few stops for food to power me through my day.
I found a kebab place for a quick (and cheap) bite to eat, followed by tracking down a great French coffee shop across the River Seine.
I followed that up with a chocolate croissant and a baguette. I felt I ticked those necessary boxes, although it would have been nice to actually sit down at a cafe or restaurant.
A passing rain shower halted me in my tracks for about 15 minutes before I decided to brave the weather and duck in and out of souvenir shops.
The rain passed, and I got the Eiffel Tour.
Once again, no time (or tickets) to go up and get a view. Rather, I circumnavigated the park around it and got my photos.
While a museum has a lot to offer, I really feel monuments like the Arc de Triumph or Eiffel Tower can easily be seen, photographed, and then moved on from. Maybe that's my weird take.
By now I had less than 2 hours left, and I crossed the Seine again on a mission to pick up a few more souvenirs and find a restroom.
Even though I was alone and was able to power walk a lot, it was difficult to find time to even crack open a smidge of what Paris has to offer. It reminded me a lot of Washington D.C. back home, in the sense there's just so many places to go see.
I considered a hop on, hop off bus tour, but didn't think the timeframe I had to work with was worth it. If I had 2-3 more hours, it might have changed that equation.
I made it back to the bus right on time with a few minutes to spare, souvenirs in hand, and an empty bladder.
Worth it if this is your only opportunity
There's no question a shore excursion like this is not the way to see Paris, but for a lot of people, this may be their only opportunity.
I had never been to Paris before and I really wanted to go. Plus, I'm not sure when my next opportunity will be to visit Paris.
In addition, if I didn't go to Paris, I would have been relegated to touring Le Havre, where my ship docked. While I'm certain Le Havre is a nice city, it's not Paris. And I fear I would have had FOMO the entire day from having not gone and regretted wasting my chance.
One critique of the tour was we got back much earlier than I anticipated. Our bus got us back to the ship exactly at 7pm, but all aboard was not until 9:30pm.
The main reason I booked this tour instead of taking the train on my own was for the piece of mind I would not miss the ship if we were late coming back. However, we could have easily had another 1-2 hours in Paris and that would have added so much value.
Ultimately, a 3.5 hour visit to Paris with 5-6 hours of bus rides is not ideal and not convenient. However, it's better than nothing and a good taste of what the city has to offer.
Your better bet is to visit Paris before or after your cruise, and get a few days to explore. Couple that with a few days in London and you have a great European vacation!
