My mother-in-law rented a small barge in France with 6 friends. They ate breakfast on the barge then bicycled to a preset spot to meet the barge for lunch. After lunch they biked to their dinner spot, and spent the night. They had a chef making amazing food, and a small crew taking care of them.
The barge cruise is so relaxing especially you sit on the deck and enjoy Southern France sunshine sailing by the vineyard along the canal, my best memory ever!
I haven’t been on a river cruise but did a barge cruise on the Loire river in France some years ago. It was so relaxing, the tempo just right. Sometimes my land tours leave me feeling exhausted but not this one. I can recommend this way to travel. Thank you for your very informative cruise info. I’m looking forward to my first ocean cruise to Alaska next year.
I don't know if I will ever get to do any cruises but I really appreciate this, I feel better informed in case I do find myself in the position for a trip like this!! Thank you so much.
Thanks, Gary. I was wondering if you were going to cover this interesting option, as I remember a travel documentary from some years back titled “Barging Thru Europe”, which was quite interesting.
I understand the excursions and alcohol,etc are included in all the river cruises and there is less people on the cruise, but it is extremely pricey in something like four times the cost as a regular cruise ship charges and has less amenities. What is your explanation to believing it is worth the price that justifies the cruise lines cost?
I would love to try barge cruise however am currently in a wheelchair so I fear that it wouldn’t be possible! We did do a two week river cruise in 2013 and it was amazing, however so busy and I really wish there was just like you say half a day to just sit and enjoy the scenery and relax…!
There are around 45 hotel barges in France, 2 in Scotland, I each in England, Ireland and Italy. So there's quite a choice, and they vary hugely in size (number of cabins/guests), luxury level and price, and where in France (for example) they cruise - and there are a couple of barges that cruise on the River Rhone for example. Because everything is included and food, drink, excursions are all top-quality (5-star or better) cost comparisons with river (or ocean) cruising are interesting even if the headline price is expensive. Gary's CrosiEurope cruise was great, as I would have expected, but the fleet is slightly more mid-market than others are. Check out the French Waterways channel; we're world experts.
It sounds like you definitely prefer river cruises over barge cruises. But the characteristics of barge cruises that sounded like they were meant to be drawbacks struck me as positives. Having viewed your video, I think that a barge cruise, for me, would be a much more pleasant experience overall.
Another great video… However such a lot of this stuff was absolutely obvious… Smaller boats barges cannot provide the facilities of all of those huge cruise ships… I much prefer a smaller boat but had an unfortunate experience on a barge
So, basically, a River cruise boat has 3 decks. A barge cruise boat has 2 decks and so can go in shallower waterways and pass under lower bridges, but can't carry many people or supplies, so the meal choices are far more limited and less to do on the boat.
That was very interesting. Did you see somebody having a different menu than the rest? as vegan, who finds it ok to have some milk in coffee, but definitely wouldn't eat a cheese course and no dessert because of the sugar, I wonder, if that kind of diet would challenge a french cook? even, if I would say, I can go without dessert. just give me an extra salad or a bigger portion of the main course, most cooks don't know, how to deal with vegans. I wonder, if it would be too much to ask for?
River cruises on waterways like the Murray, houseboats on places like Gippsland Lakes, Lake Eildon, some NSW estuaries and some other rivers, but no barge cruises in Oz.
