Cherbourg cruise port, France
Titanic's last call on mainland Europe, on the evening of 10 April 1912, and she never came alongside: tenders carried the passengers out to her. The terminal built here twenty years afterwards is the Cite de la Mer now, with a French nuclear submarine you can walk through. Taking this harbour intact was one of the Allies' first objectives after D-Day.
Worth knowing. It went up in 1933, in Art Deco, for a transatlantic trade that had barely a decade left in it. It is one of the grandest railway stations in France and no trains have used it for years.
What to do in Cherbourg for free
The marina and the old town are ten to fifteen minutes from the terminal and it is flat the whole way. That is the whole free half here. The two things people come to Cherbourg for both charge, and both are worth the money.
What costs money
The ship's own excursions usually cost more than booking the same trip yourself. Two things come with the price. The ship waits for its own excursions and does not wait for you. And if the port is missed, P&O refunds its own without you asking. A trip you booked yourself is a claim on your travel insurance, so check what your policy covers. The ship sells its own trips to all of these, and the desk is open on board if you would rather do it that way. That advice points at links I am paid for, so weigh it accordingly.
I get a small commission if you book through these links. It costs you nothing extra.
Cite de la Mer. Inside that terminal. Le Redoutable is the largest submarine anybody is allowed to walk through, and there is a room about the evening Titanic called here in 1912.
The D-Day beaches. Omaha, Pointe du Hoc and the American cemetery on the bluff above the sand. It takes most of the day and it is why most people come ashore here.
Which ship calls at Cherbourg, and when
Every call here between 15 August and 28 November 2026, with the hours ashore P&O published. These times are a guide, not a promise: the captain gives the real ones the day before.
| Ship | Sails | Day | Ashore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iona | 29 August 2026, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 24 October 2026, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 8 February 2027, 5 nights | Day 5 | 08:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 11 April 2027, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 18 April 2027, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 23 May 2027, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 30 May 2027, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 1 August 2027, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 8 August 2027, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 15 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 23 October 2027, 7 nights | Day 2 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 26 March 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 26 March 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 2 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 9 April 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 9 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 16 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 23 April 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 23 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 30 April 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 7 May 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 7 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 14 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 21 May 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 21 May 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 11 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 18 June 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 18 June 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 9 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 16 July 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 16 July 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 6 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 13 August 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 13 August 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 3 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 14 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 10 September 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 10 September 2028, 14 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Arvia | 1 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 14 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 08:00 to 19:00 |
| Iona | 21 October 2028, 7 nights | Day 7 | 09:00 to 18:00 |
How long you get ashore in Cherbourg
The published times give you between about 9 and 11 hours alongside, depending on the sailing. Take off the time it takes a few thousand people to get off, and the time you need to be back on board before the ship leaves, and that is your day. P&O give the real hours the day before, and the all-aboard time is earlier than the departure time.
The other stops on these cruises
Every one of these is on at least one of the sailings that calls at Cherbourg.
- AlesundThe whole town burned down in one night in January 1904 and was rebuilt at speed in Art Nouveau, with materials Kaiser Wilhelm II sent by ship.
- Getxo (tours to Bilbao)Basque country, at the mouth of the river up to Bilbao.
- HamburgA Hanseatic free city that ran its own affairs for centuries and still calls itself the Free and Hanseatic City.
- HaugesundNorway calls this its birthplace: Harald Fairhair, who pulled the country into one kingdom in the 870s, had his seat at Avaldsnes, just down the coast.
- HellesyltA waterfall runs straight through the middle of the village and into the fjord.
- KristiansandLaid out as a grid in 1641 by Christian IV of Denmark-Norway, who wanted a fortress town guarding the entrance to the Skagerrak and had one built on the sand at the river mouth.
- La CorunaThe Spanish Armada sailed from this harbour in 1588, and it is still guarded by the Tower of Hercules, a Roman lighthouse from about the year 100 which has never stopped working: the oldest one on earth still doing its job.
- OldenA village of a few hundred people at the head of Nordfjord, 100 km in from the open sea.
- RotterdamThe centre was destroyed by bombing on 14 May 1940 and never reconstructed as it had been, so the Dutch city that looks least like a Dutch city is a deliberate choice.
- SkjoldenThe innermost point of the Sognefjord, about 200 kilometres from open water.
- StavangerA herring and sardine-canning town that struck North Sea oil in 1969 and became Norway's richest city.
- VigoEurope's biggest fishing port by weight landed, and it smells honestly of it near the market.
- Zeebrugge (for Bruges)The port is entirely man-made, pushed out into the sea from 1895 because Bruges had lost its own access to it: the Zwin channel silted up in the 1400s and the city simply stopped, which is precisely why it is still medieval.
Money and language in France
Euro (EUR, €). Cards are fine almost everywhere. A boulangerie queue moves faster if you have coins. Onboard is always charged in sterling, so this only matters ashore.
A greeting in French before you switch to English is worth more here than anywhere else on these itineraries.
| English | French | Say it |
|---|---|---|
| Hello | Bonjour | bon-ZHOOR |
| Goodbye | Au revoir | oh ruh-VWAR |
| How much? | Combien ça coûte? | kom-BYAN sa KOOT |
| Thank you | Merci | mair-SEE |
| Please | S'il vous plaît | seel voo PLEH |
Free, and it works with no internet. Give it the dates you sail and it works out your own stops and saves the street map for each one. It shows you round the ship too.
All the ports written up so far, the things to do before you sail, or the ship pages for Iona and Arvia.