Do you enjoy drinking wine and other alcoholic beverages?

Most cruise packages include water, tea and coffee, but beyond that, policies vary. If you don’t drink wine or other alcoholic beverages, you can usually save money on a cruise that doesn’t include these or only includes wine with dinner, for example.

The usual options, depending on the cruise, are:

1. Wine with dinner only, all other alcoholic drinks extra  (soft drinks may or may not be included with meals)
2. Wine with lunch and dinner, all other alcoholic drinks extra
3. Wine with lunch and dinner, plus open bar between meals

Most cruises include at least one or two wine tastings of local vintages, but if you’re really interested in wine, look for a wine theme cruise. Many of the smaller luxury barges offer these for group charters. We even offer a “Wine and Chocolate Cruise” in the Chablis region of Burgundy. This cruise is open to both individuals and groups in the spring and fall.

Do you want to do a lot of sightseeing or just relax?

Most cruises include at least one sightseeing excursion per day, and these are usually included in the price of the cruise. However, it’s a good idea to find out if any of the excursions are “optional,” i.e., you have to pay extra for them. In addition to wine tastings at local vineyards, excursions can range from visiting a village farmers market to touring nearby chateaus and cathedrals.

If you just want to relax, you can skip the excursions, of course. And with a barge charter, your group can decide to do things like additional wine tastings instead of sightseeing.

Do you have a special interest?

Besides wine cruises, you can take a cruise focused on a special interest, like garden cruises, golf cruises, bicycle cruises, etc. Most of these require putting together a group for a charter, but this can be arranged for groups as small as four people.

As you can see, there are a lot of choices available for cruising in France, from larger boats that cruise the Seine and Rhone Rivers to small luxury barge-hotels that travel the networks of canals and smaller rivers in Burgundy, Provence, Champagne, the Loire Valley and other regions. So, whatever your interests and budget, you’re sure to find the perfect cruise that will provide a lifetime of wonderful memories.

Questions to ask yourself and your travel agent before booking your river or canal cruise:

Will this be your first visit to the country?

If you’ve never been to France, you may want to see ”don’t miss” sights like Paris, the Loire Valley chateaus, or the Champagne region on your cruise. But if you’ve “been there, done that,” then taking a barge cruise through the Burgundy countryside or the wild landscape of the Camargue will offer a totally new experience.

How many people in your group?

If you have a family or a group of friends, you may want to charter a barge. That will give you the most flexibility to choose how to spend your cruise. The barge captain will have lots of suggestions - all you’ll have to do is agree among yourselves! If you prefer a larger riverboat and have a big enough group (usually 10 or more), you may be able to get a group discount or a free cruise for one person.

If you’re traveling as a couple, you’ll be with other people. So, the question is, do you want to be with a lot of new people or just a few new people? Remember, you’ll be spending a lot of time together on the boat and on the sightseeing excursions.

A single person will want to pay close attention to single supplement fees, which can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars more up to as much as double the single price. A few barges and riverboats have single cabins, but most do not.

Do you want a luxury experience or do you need to watch your pennies?

Generally speaking, the larger the boat, the cheaper the cruise. Because the ratio of staff to guests is much higher on the smaller barges, they typically aim for the high-end experience. Gourmet meals, fine French wines, and personal attention are the selling points of a luxury barge cruise.

Larger riverboats offer several sizes of cabins, with corresponding price breaks, while barges usually are outfitted with several similar staterooms. In many cases, the cabins on a barge can be made up as either twin or king for maximum flexibility. A few barges even offer staterooms with bathtubs.

There are no inside cabins on riverboats or barges, but window sizes vary considerably, from sliding glass doors opening onto a French balcony to small, fixed porthole-style windows. This is not as big a concern as it might be on an ocean cruise where you spend days at sea. But if you think you will want to spend time alone in your cabin instead of in the lounge area or on the sundeck, it’s something to check out.

Cruises in France are most expensive in the late spring, early summer and early fall because that’s when the weather is usually the best. If you want to save money, plan to go during the low seasons.

Next time, we’ll take up a few more things to think about when deciding on a cruise that’s right for you. In the meantime, you may want to check out our Frequent Questions page.