Is April a bad time to do Southern France cruise?

My husband and I are thinking about taking the "Portraits of Southern France" Viking cruise, probably in April of 2016. We are tacking on 6 extra days in Paris -- that city has been on our "bucket list" for some time now. I have done some reading here on Cruise Critic, and notice that this past April and even May and June there were a lot of times when the water was too high and people were bussed from one port to another. Has anyone else had this experience? Did you come back to the ship at night and for meals? That sounds like you are spending all the time on a bus; we are choosing a river cruise because we love the idea of unpacking once. We did the Viking Romantic Danube cruise a few years ago in November, and loved that experience. Would perhaps November be a good time to do our French cruise also? Would it be horribly cold then? Obviously, we would love the air fare savings in spring, but if it will not give us the experience we are looking for, it will not be worth it. Any advice??

"April in Paris" -- the lyricist of that song admitted that April is not a very good month in Paris, but that May didn't fit the music.

Could you go in September? That's when we did Paris to Normandy/Paris to Provence. No problems with flooding and the local people were relaxed and fun to be with since they had come from their August holiday!!!

We love river cruising in September-dry weather, tourists have returned home so nothing is very crowded and everything is still green and flowering. (plus often there are sales going on in the shops!)

We did our 'Portraits of Southern France' river cruise this past first week of April. We had generally good weather. A couple of mornings with rain, but otherwise, nice, sunny weather requiring only a light coat or jacket, if that. We did not experience any high water, but our upper deck was not open during sailing, due to the many low bridges we passed under. I really loved this cruise, both the ports and enjoying the passing scenery while cruising.

Becki

My husband and I did the Viking Portraits of Southern France cruise in early November of 2012. The weather was wonderful--jackets and light coats, but never uncomfortable. A few days of walking I wore gloves with my layered sweater and jacket. The little towns were not crowded at that time which is a bonus. Having said all that, we did not do Paris on that trip as we had been there several times before but the people who did it before the trip (in late October) gave great reviews of the weather there also. We chose November only because the price drops dramatically at that time. We were in Paris in April of 1999 and it was cold and rainy the whole time. It didn't keep us from doing anything, but we used rain gear and umbrellas every day. Thus, I guess I vote for autumn!

Good to know about the autumn weather, as we are likely planning Viking's 'Paris & the Heart of Normandy' for our next river cruise. Thx for your input, SfromATX.

Becki

My big nature "want" in Provence is to see (and smell) those fields of lavender you see in every travel brochure. Unfortunately, they are only in bloom like that in summer high season, which is also likely to be very hot. So you have to make choices. We're going in September because that should be better for crowds and temperatures. I'll just have to spray a magazine ad with perfume. ;)

My big nature "want" in Provence is to see (and smell) those fields of lavender you see in every travel brochure. Unfortunately, they are only in bloom like that in summer high season, which is also likely to be very hot. So you have to make choices. We're going in September because that should be better for crowds and temperatures. I'll just have to spray a magazine ad with perfume. ;)

LOL!

Yes, I was originally looking at September as well, after consulting the weather averages for temps and precip. Although I realize averages are just that, September does seem like the ideal time to go, what with having the added bonus of fewer tourists.

Becki

Thanks to all of you who offered advice. We will probably play it safe and go in the fall, most likely the first week in November since, as you say, the prices are significantly lower then, especially the airfare! I do wish there were more daylight hours in November, though!!