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France/United States

D-Day to the Allied Victory: A Transatlantic Voyage on QM2

Program No. 24969RJ

Learn about the end of World War II from the D-Day landings up to the Allied Victory on the shores of Normandy and on a transatlantic voyage on Queen Mary 2.

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Length

14 days

Rating

New

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14 days

13 nights

33 meals

12B 10L 11D

In Transit to Program

In Flight

Arrive Paris, Check-in, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

Paris

Liberation Museum, Memorial de la Shoah

Paris

Invalides Army Museum

Paris

Versailles, Omaha Beach

Bayeux

St Mere l'eglise, Utah Beach

Bayeux

Check Out, D-Day Museum in Arromanches, Embark QM2

Le Havre

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

At Sea

Arrive New York, City, Disembark, Program Concludes

New York City

View Full Itinerary

At a Glance

Calling all history buffs! This will be a look into World War II that you’ll never forget — join us on an epic learning adventure that pairs firsthand visits to sites like Omaha Beach and the Museum of the Liberation with a transatlantic voyage. Your journey begins in Paris, where you’ll explore museums including the Hôtel National des Invalides, a vast monument that houses the Army Museum and an interactive exhibit on Charles de Gaulle. After further exploration of Paris and Normandy, take your learning to the seas onboard the renowned Queen Mary 2, with in-depth lectures from a historian traveling with you. By the time you come into port in New York City, you will have deepened your knowledge and fascination of World War II history from the D-Day Landings to the end of the war.

Activity Level

Keep the Pace

Walking 2-3 miles daily on field trips; paved streets with some cobblestones, gravel paths, beaches and grass lawns. Extent of walking and other activities aboard ship according to personal preference.

Best of all, you’ll…

Explore D-Day landing sites in Normandy and learn about these battlefields with a historian.
Marvel at the architectural wonder of Versailles and get a new perspective of Paris during a river cruise along the Seine.
Learn from a history expert on board Queen Mary 2 as they share their insight into the political and military history of World War II.

Featured Expert

All trip experts

Spencer Jones

Dr. Spencer Jones is an award-winning historian and author with a special interest in the First World War, Second World War and the life of Sir Winston Churchill. He is a Senior Lecturer in Armed Forces and War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and serves in the British Army as the Regimental Historian of the Royal Artillery. His most recent publication is "The Darkest Year: The British Army on the Western Front 1917."

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Spencer Jones View biography

Barbara Gigi View biography

Barbara Gigi was born in Milan to a family of southern Italian origins. Skilled in languages, she graduated from the School for Interpreters and Translators, learning French, English, and Dutch. Her career in the fashion industry lasted until she decided that life was too short to be involved in activities not related to one’s own passions, specifically learning and traveling. When not leading groups, Barbara is a graduate student in anthropology at the Ecole des hautes études en Science sociales in Paris.

Suggested Reading List (12 books)

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D-Day to the Allied Victory: A Transatlantic Voyage on QM2

Program Number: 24969

180 Years of Cunard

by Chris Frame and Rachael Cross

Cunard’s first ship, Britannia, set sail across the Atlantic on 4 July 1840, inaugurating a service that has endured for 175 years. Cunard’s success is in part due to its continuous technological advances; from the early years of wooden paddle steamers to steel-hulled leviathans, electric lighting to steam turbine engines. But it is the ships themselves, the shipbuilders, managers, crew and guests that have had the greatest impact on the success of the line, creating unique environments full of personality. This book uses stunning photographs and personal stories to explore the history of these magnificent ships.

D-Day Through German Eyes: The Hidden Story of June 6, 1944

by Holger Eckhertz

Almost all accounts of D Day are told from the Allied perspective. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day? This book sheds fascinating light on these questions, bringing together statements made by German survivors after the war, when time had allowed them to reflect on their state of mind, their actions and their choices of June 6th.

Everything We Have; D-Day 6.6."44

by Gordon H Mueller

June 6, 1944—D-Day—is a date that will live forever in history. More than 150,000 troops landed on five beaches, with over 20,000 reported casualties on both sides. Rather than looking at the big picture, recounted so often, Everything We Have: D-Day 6.6.'44 tells the personal stories of the people involved, in their own words. Rare documents, artifacts, and firsthand accounts from The National WWII Museum’s official archives provide rare and poignant insight into the thoughts and feelings of those soldiers who fought on the beaches of Normandy.

A Traveler's Guide to D-Day and the Battle for Normandy

by Carl Shilleto, Mike Tolhurst

A compact guide to Normandy's WWII battlefields, memorials, sites and cemeteries.

Bletchley Park and D-Day: The Untold Story of How the Battle for Normandy Was Won

by David Kenyon

The untold story of Bletchley Park's key role in the success of the Normandy campaign. Using previously classified documents, David Kenyon casts the work of Bletchley Park in a new light, as not just a codebreaking establishment but as a fully developed intelligence agency.

D-Day June 6, 1944, The Climactic Battle of World War II

by Stephen Ambrose

Written by the best-selling historian Stephen Ambrose, this well researched book draws together interviews and government documents to tell the gripping tale of D-Day. This comprehensive account contains 32 pages of photos and eight maps.

From Beachhead to Brittany: The 29th Infantry Division at Brest, August-September 1944

by Joseph Balkoski

In this highly anticipated sequel to Beyond the Beachhead, historian Joseph Balkoski follows the U.S. 29th Infantry Division out of Normandy and into Brittany in the northwest corner of France, where the division was tasked with seizing the port of Brest. The German defenders, including elite paratroopers, fought fiercely for every inch of ground and inflicted heavy casualties on the Americans during bloody house-to-house fighting.

Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944

by Joseph Balkoski

Balkoski is sometimes referred to as the finest living D-Day historian. In this unforgettable narrative of D-Day, Joseph Balkoski describes the minute-by-minute combat as it unfolded on Omaha Beach, allowing soldiers to speak for themselves as they recall their attempts to maneuver bombers through heavy cloud cover, the claustrophobic terror aboard transports, and the relentless fire that greeted them on the beach.

Every Man a Hero: A Memoir of D-Day, the First Wave at Omaha Beach and a World at War

by Ray Lambert & Jim DeFelice

Omaha Beach legend Ray Lambert's unforgettable firsthand account of D-Day. Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now Ray Lambert, ninety-eight years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs of our time, a tour-de-force of remembrance evoking his role as a decorated World War II medic who risked his life to save the heroes of D-Day.

The D-Day Atlas: Anatomy of the Normandy Campaign

by Charles Messenger

Charles Messenger’s vivid study of the landings and subsequent campaign chronicles the gradual evolution of the invasion plan, encompassing the intelligence efforts, the Ango-US strategic debate over where the Allies should attack, and the elaborate deception put in place to fool the Germans about the true D-Day objective. At the heart of this fascinating re-creation of the D-Day campaign are seventy-one maps in full color, which incorporate the latest computer technology. Many are in fact based on the very same maps used by the Allies in 1944. Specially commissioned reconstruction drawings and 82 contemporary photographs help bring the beaches of Normandy to life. 178 illustrations, including 71 color maps

D-Day Through French Eyes: Normandy 1944

by Mary Louise Roberts

Mary Louise Roberts turns the usual stories of D-Day around, taking readers across the Channel to view the invasion anew. Roberts builds her history from an impressive range of gripping first-person accounts of the invasion as seen by French citizens throughout the region.

Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy

by Joseph Balkoski

Beyond the Beachhead examines the experience of one infantry division-the 29th-during forty-five days of combat from Omaha Beach on D-Day to the liberation of St. Lô. Using interviews, official records, and unit histories and supplementing his narrative with meticulously detailed maps, Balkoski follows the 29th from the bloody landings at Omaha through the hedgerows of Normandy, illustrating the brutal realities of life on the front line.

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D-Day to the Allied Victory: A Transatlantic Voyage on QM2

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At a Glance

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