Sail from the heart of Paris along the River Seine and enjoy four nights on the five-star, exclusively-chartered Uniworld Joie de Vivre. Call upon the well-preserved villages of Les Andelys, tour the gothic port city of Rouen, discover some lesser-known WWII history at La Roche Guyon, and learn about Operation Jubilee in Dieppe. After the cruise, transfer deep into the breathtaking countryside of Normandy, where you’ll spend four nights in a stunning, historic château. Once in Normandy, delve into D-Day and the battles that took place in the summer of 1944. Featured expert historians Craig Symonds and John McManus will guide you as you visit all five landing beaches and learn of the tremendous obstacles our troops faced as they pushed inland. McManus is among the world’s foremost experts on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy. His books focusing on the 1st Infantry Division on Omaha Beach have provided the narrative used by nearly every guide and historian in Normandy. Symonds is one of the foremost scholars of the United States Navy and his book Operation Neptune describes the greatest seaborn assault in history on June 6, 1944.

Guests may choose to add an optional three-night post-cruise program, The Liberation of Paris.

  • Trip Itinerary

    Day 1. Depart U.S./Canada/Arrive Paris, France next morning/Transfer to S.S. Joie De Vivre
    Day 2. La Roche-Guyon & Les Andelys
    Day 3. Versailles or Auvers-sur-Oise
    Day 4. Rouen & Dieppe 
    Day 5. Disembarkation / Bayeux
    Day 6. British Sector, Normandy
    Day 7. US Airborne: Sainte-Mère-Église & Utah Beach
    Day 8. Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, & Normandy American Cemetery
    Day 9. Depart for U.S./Canada

  • Trip Highlights

    • Four-nights accommodation aboard the 5-star S.S. Joie de Vivre.
    • Four-nights accommodation in Normandy at a 5-star château.
    • Visit La Roche-Guyon, the famous 12th century château on the Seine, where Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had his headquarters. 
    • Visit the Palace of Versailles and the famous Hall of Mirrors, the site of the treaty signing. Enjoy an exclusive tour of the royal apartments.
    • Enjoy the town of Rouen, described by Victor Hugo as “the city with a hundred bell towers."
    • Take a trip to Longues-sur-Mer, the only German battery in Normandy with the original guns still in place.
    • Explore Utah Beach and visit the Utah Beach Museum.
    • See Pointe du Hoc, where the 2nd Ranger Battalion landed at the base of a 100-foot cliff and scaled the vertical face in order to neutralize this heavily fortified German position. 
    • Visit Omaha Beach and Normandy American Cemetery to pay respects to the 9,387
      Americans buried in the ground they helped liberate.