French river cruising

Having enjoyed the German waterways I am looking towards next year and perhaps doing the French ones.

Has anyone done one of these trips? I would be interested in hearing about your experiences and particularly to know how close the ship actually is to the towns. On our recent trip to Bremmen we were actually quite a way out and needed to rely on shuttle buses, is it the same in Rouen or Bordeaux?

What kind of tours were on offer?

Any help much appreciated.

We did a five night one on Braemar over the last May bank holiday. We had two nights in Rouen and one night in Honfleur. We arrived at Rouen at lunch time and departed after lunch two days later. This was obviously designed so that we sailed down the Seine in the daytime. Unfortunately there was thick fog for the arrival so we saw nothing, but the sail out was in glorious sunshine and was very scenic. There was even a commentary over the speakers on deck telling us what towns we were passing etc.

In Rouen we docked just outside the city, just before the Gustave Flaubert bridge, if you want to look at a map. There were shuttle buses into the centre. I suppose you could just about have walked it, but it was quite a distance. I saw a big shopping mall close to the ship but didn’t visit it.

The first day we wandered around Rouen and also took the land train tour around. It is a lovely place. The second day we did the tour to Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny, which I had been wanting to see for some time. We were lucky both with the weather and the time of year as the gardens were beautiful. It was a good tour because the guide told us about it on the coach and then left us to go around on our own. There was time to buy a snack lunch too.

In Honfleur, we did the tour to the Bayeux tapestry, which was interesting to see. We didn’t go into Honfleur as we are very familiar with it from land holidays, but it is a beautiful little town. We docked just outside and there was a shuttle bus or you could have walked at a pinch.

We enjoyed the whole cruise very much.

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They are both lovely ports. Rouen is a shuttle but there is also a very good shopping centre in walking distance. Bordeaux is right in the middle of the city centre and is a wonderful place if you like people watching. The locals use the grassed area in front of where the ship is docked to jog, walk dogs, play games and lots of them sit having a picnic on the grass in front of the ship. We were there overnight and it was one of the more memorable ports we have visited.

Thanks to both. It sounds really good then.