My husband and I have decided to book a one week luxury river cruise in France. We have found a website http://french-waterways-cruises.com/
which proposes a very interesting offer. We would like to have some testimonials of people who have already lived this experience or your felling about this offer to help us to make the good choice!
Thanks

Hi picolo and welcome to HT!

I don't believe we've ever had a query regarding a river cruise so I'm not sure if any of our members will be able to help, but hopefully someone might.

I've had a look at the website and it looks really nice.

If you do decide to book, let us know the name of the ship and we will have it added to our Cruise Reviews site ready for your review when you return.

luci

I have not been on these cruises but I have seen the boats that are used for them. Twice, when I have been in Honfleur, I have seen them moored there. They were big and looked very luxurious. I imagine these boats are used on cruises from Paris, along the Seine, to Honfleur.

In fact, 2 itineries are proposed for these cruises : Alsace or Champagne. It is not Paris but it looks very nice!

Speaking as one who loves canal boating holidays in the UK and who now lives in Alsace, I would comment that the Alsace itinerary looks good and has all the main points for the Bas Rhin (department 67).

The Chocolate Museum is good fun - the choc demonstrator will speak English and answer your questions if you ask him! The tea shop attached is excellent - might I recommend you try the Degustation of 4 chocolates which are 4 small hot chocs (totally different to Cadbury's!) to which you add various flavourings - red chilli, pepper, orange water and cinnamon. Strange as they sound, they do make the choc taste extra good. You also receive a small 100g goody bag to take home free!

The Alsacian museum in Strasbourg is compact and very interesting. No great intellectual fore-knowledge required!!

It all looks very good, but I have one reservation - they do not have any Alsacian wines on their wine list!! Those wines they do offer are extremely good ones ... and this means they are BOUND to be expensive.

I didn't really look at the prices, but the content seems sound.

Oh and PS - the Inclined Plain at Artzwiller is certainly a high point of the navigation for boaters and gongoozelers alike!

Thanks a lot Alsacian, I reallly appreciate your post!!! Very accurate!

Hi,

We have just returned from a 4 day cruise on the Danube with Austrian River Cruises (rivercruisedirect.co.uk) aboard the Johann Strauss. I would just like to say that it was excellent. Food and Crew were both excellent and the standard of cabins was lovely. They have only just started to take English passengers, in fact we were the only 2 independant English travellers on board, there was a party from Travelsphere and the rest were German and Austrian.

I feel like the poor relation in this forum talking about river cruising but I am hoping that some of you could give me some idea of what the weather will be like in October when we cruise (?) from Amsterdam to Basle with Travelscope.

Our children bought us a 4 day Paris cruise for Christmas, which we took in February 06 and we could not fault it. Both my wife and I fell in love with the idea of seeing Europe with a water bourn hotel and the way we were treated both on board (the MS Renoir) and on the excursions convinced us that Travelscope knew what they were doing.

I have just booked a Rhine cruise with Travelscope. Could anyone give me any information or tips about this holiday.

avrildalton, My wife and I have just returned from the Amsterdam to Basle Rine cruise with Travelscope and to sum it it - it was great value for money! We were on MS Arlene and the crew were brilliant, the fact that ther ship was only half full probably helped but the food and service could not be faulted. The excursions that were on offer were very entertaining and it gave you a topic to discuss back in the lounge after dinner. We had previously done the 4 day cruise to Paris and in that instance the boat was full but because of the size of the river cruise boats that Travelscope use we found it very intermate and got to know most people on board. Unlike ocean cruising where you may see a couple on the first night and then not see them again untill the end of the cruise. We did have a technical fault towards the end of the cruise, with the forward propeller I belive, which prevented us reaching Basle as scheduled and so the last coach trip to Lucern was amended and they took us from Strasbourg to Basle and then back to Breisach which I thuoght was just as interesting. I will repeat what I said at the begining - Travelscope cruises are definitely value for money, I looked at a number of cruise opereators who do the same trip and was astounded to see that I was only paying half of what the others were charging. Have a wonderful time and let us know how you get on.

Thankyou very much derekb for that information.It was good to know that you enjoyed your cruise with Travelscope. I was wondering do you dock overnight at each destination so that you can sample the nightlife in the towns after dinner or are you expected to stay on board?

Avrildalton, we usually had dinner at about 7 o'clock and were then at liberty to go ashore and wander around the local area. On two nights there was entertainment on board but if you decided to go ashore you would not be missing much.
Generally the ship left at 5:30 -6:00 am and sailed to the next port of call arriving in time for lunch, after which, if there was an excursion, returning in time for dinner. The visit to the Musik Kabinett in Rudesheim was in the evening and we were taken there by road train and after we made our own way back to the ship. (Stopping on the way to sample the local hostelry!!). Some places were not very close to any amenities but a group of us usually went for a walk after dinner because the weather was so mild. I hope this answers some of your questions but if there is anything else do not hesitate to ask.

Me and the wife quite fancy a river cruise this summer in the Danube or Rhine area. I've been looking at Travelscope's offers and they seem reasonable. Anybody got any advice or experiences they'd like to share?