Cruisers are saying ‘oui’ to French river voyages, Jane Archer discovers
Like this and want more details? Click here to download and save as a PDF.
With modern tonnage, more itineraries and even a new river set to enter the overnight cruise market, France is a worthy contender for the title river cruise hotspot of 2014.
Folk have been cruising the Rhône and Seine for years, but the French rivers have always lagged behind Germany and Austria in popularity. Clia UK and Ireland counted 57,800 UK cruise passengers on the Rhine and Danube in 2013 but just 14,100 on the French river duo.
However, things look set to hot up for our Gallic neighbours. Viking River Cruises and Uniworld River Cruises are putting modern new river ships on the Rhône this year, a major step given that all the vessels launched in the past couple of years have been on the Rhine and Danube.
Scenic Tours is not only launching its first river cruises on the Seine this year, but they will be on a new ship. Avalon Waterways will also have a new river ship on the Seine, but in 2015, and at the same time it is moving one of its new Panorama-class vessels to the Rhône.
It’s all happening on the French waterways, with more companies launching cruises on the Seine and the rivers in Aquitaine, and cruises that allow passengers to combine rivers becoming all the rage.
Meanwhile, CroisiEurope is building a specially designed river cruise vessel to sail the shallow waters of the Loire. Powered by a side-mounted paddle wheel, Loire Princesse will be the first cruise vessel with cabins to cruise on the river. It launches in April 2015, offering five and eight-night itineraries that visit Guérande, Saumur and Angers, and famous Loire chateaux including Azay-le-Rideau, Villandry and Ussé.
SEINE
Capacity on the Seine has rocketed in the past couple of years, with AmaWaterways and APT launching there in 2013, US tour company Tauck and Scenic Tours both making their debut there this year, and Austria’s Amadeus by Lüftner Cruises adding the river in 2015.
The Seine flows through Paris and north into Normandy, emptying into the English Channel at Le Havre, so most cruises are one-week round trips from the French capital, with visits to Monet’s garden at Giverny, Richard the Lionheart’s ruined Chateau Gaillard and Rouen, Honfleur and the D-Day Landing beaches among highlights.
Tauck’s new Rendezvous on the Seine itinerary adds two nights in Paris to the end of a one-week cruise, while Scenic’s Gems of the Seine, on the new Scenic Gem, spends 10 nights on the river, with two days in Rouen and two in Honfleur, with included tours along Normandy’s cider route and to the D-Day Landing beaches.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day this June, several river cruise companies have also enhanced their excursions to the beaches.
AmaWaterways’ new tour, available throughout the season, is visiting the Gold and Juno beaches in the British and Canadian sectors, the Canadian cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer, the Pegasus Monument in Ranville, Canada’s World War Two museum and Arromanches battlefield.
CroisiEurope has a new D-Day tour from Honfleur that includes Omaha Beach, the US cemetery near Colleville sur Mer, and Arromanches, famous for its Mulberry harbour created by the British as a temporary landing jetty. The tour must be pre-booked and costs from €93 per person.
The French line has a range of Seine cruises including one-way itineraries from Paris to Honfleur and vice-versa, and five and eight day voyages round-trip from the French capital.
RHÔNE AND SAÔNE
Viking River Cruises has not only increased capacity on the Rhône this year, but also enhanced its offering with the launch of three Longships – Viking Heimdal, Hermod and Viking Buri – on its eight-day Portraits of Southern France itinerary between Avignon and Chalon-sur-Saône.
It’s not the only river cruise company moving new stock to the Rhône. Uniworld’s new SS Catherine, which launches in April, will be sailing eight-day Burgundy and Provence cruises between Avignon and Lyon, while Avalon Waterways is moving Avalon Poetry II to the Rhône in 2015. The vessel was christened in Dordrecht, Holland, on March 22.
Most Rhône/Saône river cruises start or end in Lyon, where the two rivers converge, as the city has good air and rail links. From there, the Rhône flows to the Mediterranean near Arles, where most itineraries end.
These cruises cut through wine country, so trips to vineyards and tasting sessions are among the highlights – AmaWaterways has a themed wine cruise on its November 20 cruise from Arles to Lyon – but there is also a lot of history and food to enjoy.
Lyon is known as the gourmet capital of France, while Tain l’Hermitage, as well as being famous for its wine, produces the celebrated Valrhona chocolate. Visitors can see the remains of a Roman temple and amphitheatres in Vienne and Arles; in Avignon there are the remains of the Pont d’Avignon.
CroisiEurope, AmaWaterways and Avalon all offer combi-cruises linking the Rhône and the Seine to create a two-week holiday.
GARONNE/GIRONDE/DORDOGNE
Until this year, CroisiEurope pretty much held the monopoly in river cruising from Bordeaux, increasing from one river ship to two in 2013 – the new Cyrano de Bergerac was named in the city in May last year – to meet demand.
Now both Viking River Cruises and Uniworld River Cruises are getting in on the act and basing vessels in the city, in Aquitaine, southwest France. Viking’s seven night Heart of Bordeaux cruises on Viking Forseti started on March 22; Uniworld’s Bordeaux, Vineyards and Chateaux cruises on River Royale run from April 6 to November 9.
More growth follows in 2015, when Scenic Tours bases a vessel in Bordeaux. Scenic Diamond will be there from July to November, sailing 11-day itineraries.
The Bordeaux cruises are unusual as they take in three rivers but include little actual cruising. The itineraries vary slightly but all start in Bordeaux, which is on the Garonne, visit Pauillac and Blaye on the Gironde, and call at Libourne on the Dordogne.
On most days the vessels will be cruising close to or past Bordeaux and all itineraries allow time for sightseeing in that city, which has a beautiful riverfront and historic old town that is easily reached from the ships’ moorings.
Highlights on all the itineraries include excursions to the Médoc wine region, the medieval town of Saint-Émilion, and Cadillac, to learn about the sweet Sauternes wine.
Viking has an optional excursion to Cognac, Uniworld has guided bike rides through the Médoc vineyards and Scenic has a complimentary evening of wining and dining in a Médoc chateau.
DO THE DOURO
Already the fourth biggest-selling European waterway in the UK, the Portuguese Douro is keeping up with its French counterparts when it comes to popularity. It is set for growth this year and next as Viking River Cruises and CroisiEurope launch new vessels on the river.
Viking’s Viking Hemming entered service on March 21, with sister vessel Viking Torgil joining it from the beginning of April. Both are scaled-down versions of the company’s Longships (they hold 106 passengers instead of 190) so they can fit through the Douro’s smaller locks.
In 2015, meanwhile, CroisiEurope is launching a new vessel on the river. There are no details yet, but it will be the cruise line’s fourth ship on the Douro, where it offers a selection of six and eight-day cruises.
Riviera Travel is featuring the Douro for the first time in 2015. The company is chartering Douro Spirit for seven-night cruises, with prices from £1,499 per person including flights, transfers and daily tours ashore.
The Douro, which flows from Porto in northern Portugal into Spain, has long been popular with older river cruisers – in 2013, it attracted 10,700 UK passengers, according to Clia UK and Ireland, just behind the French Rhône and Seine rivers combined (14,100 in 2013).
The attraction is the picturesque scenery (think a narrow winding river valley lined with vineyards, trees and craggy rocks) and the fact that it’s a very easy cruise, mostly just a week sailing from Porto to the Spanish border and back without too many challenging excursions.
There are usually included or optional tours of Porto and Salamanca in Spain (two hours’ drive from the border), for instance. There are also excursions to the tiny hilltop hamlet of Castello Rodrigo, and from Régua to the baroque Mateus Palace, or to Lamego, to see the Shrine of Our Lady of Remedies church built at the top of an ornate baroque staircase.
Riviera Travel’s new itinerary, available in July and August 2015, includes a day in Salamanca with lunch and a flamenco show, and a visit to a port wine cellar in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river from Porto.
Uniworld has an excursion from Pinhão, in port wine country, in September and October that includes a bread-making demonstration in the village of Favaios and a chance to help pick and tread grapes in a local Quinta – and then buy a bottle of Uniworld-labelled Muscat.
For something very different, Titan Travel offers eight-day tours that combine a three or four-night cruise on the Douro on the 30-passenger Spirit of Chartwell, the barge used by the Queen during the Thames River Pageant in 2012 Jubilee celebrations, with three or four nights in a pousada (available only as a four-night cruise and three-night land stay in 2015). Prices start from £1,595 per person departing May 10, including flights, UK and overseas transfers and all sightseeing.
New this year, Shearings has chartered CroisiEurope’s Fernao de Magalhaes and Infante don Henrique to offer eight-day Douro cruises from £1,039 including flights but excluding tours.
AmaWaterways unusually offers seven-night cruises one-way from Porto to Vega Terrón (or vice-versa) on the border with Spain that can be combined with three nights each in Lisbon and Madrid. From £2,948 per person cruise-only departing October 25, including a wine-themed cruise.
