[Idyllchat] Re: Barge Tours

[Ed Comer]

My wife and I went on a barge tour of Provence, 
France but not with the company  whose web URL 
you posted. A brief report that I posted on 
CruiseCritic is below. If you have other questions, just let me know.
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Trip dates: March 16 - 29, 2005
- The Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) barge trip 
of Provence was one of our most enjoyable 
vacations, well run but with significant 
independent time to explore on your own. OAT 
purchased the Continental Waterways' 9 ships 
after the post-911 travel slowdown killed their 
business. OAT intends to keep the well-recognized 
Continental Waterways name. Our barge was the 20 
passenger "Caprice". It has 11 cabins with a crew 
of four. It is 17 feet wide and 128 feet long. 
Our cabin was about 7 feet wide and 15 feet long, 
including the full bathroom. The electricity was 
240Volts with a French round 2-prong socket. A 
hair dryer and flashlight were also furnished. 
The room is heated and air conditioned with 
individual controls per room. There are eleven 
bicycles on board which we chose to use in near the village of Vallabregues.
- The barge "Caprice" was much roomier than we 
had expected. There was room to store 4 empty 
rolling duffels in the compartment under my bed 
(we only brought two), a good-sized wardrobe with 
8 hangers, and two large drawers under my wife's 
bed that hold all but the hanging clothes. The 
bathroom was larger than our last hotel in London 
with toilet, sink and shower. The room is quite 
sound proof and you never hear voices from the 
next room. It is quite silent at night. The 
exception is each morning there is a serenade of 
pumps as everyone showers and uses their toilets. 
Our room had two portholes that we could open for 
fresh air. There was plenty of light to read, 
which we did on some evenings prior to retiring for the night.
- What really made the entire barge trip 
wonderful was the young, energetic crew of four. 
They were so very friendly and accommodating - 
much better than any staff that we have ever had 
on a cruise ship. Of course the wine paired four 
course gourmet French meals also helped make the 
trip a joy, even if we did put on a few extra pounds.
- The dinner every night, was a copious and 
delicious four course gourmet meal with meat, 
fish or fowl, green salad with local cheese, a 
bottle of local wine per couple and typically 
three deserts such as crème Brule, berries and an 
ice cream on chocolate. Each night, at each table 
for four, there were two bottles of wine that was 
local to where we were at that time - one red and 
one white. At each meal our tour leader would 
stand and explain the origin and character of 
each wine, which she also did for each of the 
cheeses in the cheese/salad course. The chef was 
a classically trained French chef, very talented 
and accommodating. If you simply mentioned some 
food that you liked you would later find it on 
your plate, sometimes in addition to what he had prepared for everyone else.
- Our trip started with two days in a hotel in 
Lyon and finished with three days in a hotel in 
Aix en Provence. The barge sailed from Avignon to 
Sete via the . Along the way, we explored the 
towns of Avignon, St. Remy, Le Beaux, 
Vallebruges, Arles, Aiques-Mortes, Montpellier, 
Sete, Aix en Provence, Isle Sur la Sorge, 
Senanque, Gordes, Plateau D'Valenance, 
Roussillon, Lourmarin and leisurely sailed 
through the bird rich Camargue wetlands.
- For anyone planning this trip, I would 
recommend April 15th as the optimum time - warmer 
than March but not the sweltering heat in the 
Camaruge that you'll find in the summer. However, 
we were never cold in March but we did need a windbreaker most mornings.


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..wondering if anyone has had any experience with barge tours....