1. Cheryl LeJune

2. Ocean Cruising
Coral Princess
Guest Capacity: 1,974
Number of Crew: 895
Length: 965 feet
Height: 203 feet
Number of Decks: 16
Guest Cabins: 1,000

3. River Cruising
Viking Longship Bragi
Guest Capacity: 190
Number of Crew: 48
Length: 443 feet
Number of Decks: 4
Guest Cabins: 156

4. Canal Barge Cruising
Savoir Vivre
Guest Capacity: 8
Number of Crew: 1 (+2)
Length: 80 feet
Width: 16 feet
Number of Decks: 1
Guest Cabins: 4

5. Canal Barging
 What?
 Where?
 When?
 Who?
 How Much?
 The Burgundy Canal
 Our Trip

6. What is Canal Barging?
 Barges are vessels carrying 4-22 passengers that cruise
through European canals, primarily in France.
 Canals were originally built (1700-1800s) to provide
easy access from farms to markets.
 Barges were built to spec to fit in the canal locks. Tow
paths run along side of canals for tow animals to pull
the barges.
 Barges have now been repurposed, or built specifically
for, the hotel canal barge business.
 Today, canals are used mostly for tourism.

7. Where is Canal Barging?
 Europe
 France, Holland/Belgium, Ireland, England, Scotland and
Germany
 Most barge cruises are in France.
 Available through barge brokers, not travel agents
 Most barges privately owned
 Use full-service brokers to help sell their capacity

8. Barging in France

9. When is Canal Barging Season?
 Barge season is typically from mid April – the end of
October.
 Each canal has a season decided by the government
and could change slightly each year depending on
weather.

10. Who Canal Barges?
 Couples
 Groups of Couples
 Families
 Women
 Many times a barge is chartered by a family or group of
friends.

11. What is Cost?
 Total vacation cost includes:
 Airfare
 Hotel to/from barge
 Train
 Cancellation Insurance
 Barge
 There are various ratings of barges: Charming, First Class,
Deluxe and Ultra Deluxe
 Barge typically includes all meals, drinks and tours
 From $3500 per person for Charming Class; barge only
 From $6500 for Ultra Deluxe; barge only

12. Our Trip
 My bucket list
 Planning while convalescing with friend
 Where to go, how to decide?
 Used The Barge Lady
 Asked about when to go
 How much it cost
 How to organize train, transfers, etc.
 Meal planning
 Great help answering our questions

13. Our Trip
 We decided:
 Go in fall; low season
 Pick Charming Class
 Pick barge that gives us dining ashore each night
 Very happy with our decision, Savoir Vivre
 We used mileage for airfare
 Barge Lady booked RT train tickets from Paris to Dijon
 We booked our hotels in Paris on each end of trip

14. Our Trip Savoir Vivre

15. Our Trip
 Total distance traveled, 30-40 mi
 Barges travel about 6 km/hr (4 mi/hr)
 Barged 2-4 hours a day and toured other half of day
 3 Staff:
 Captain Richard stayed on board
 Hostess Anaϊs lived near by and came aboard for meal
and cleaning
 Tour guide Laura lived near by and came to pick us up
for tours

16. The Burgundy Canal
Canal de Bourgogne
 Canal is 242 km (150 mi) long with 190 locks
 Plans started in the 17th century
 Construction from 1775 to 1832
 Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea
via the Seine and the Yonne to the Saône and Rhône rivers.
 Highest point, Pouilly-en-Auxois, is 378 m (1240 ft) above sea
level. At this point, canal goes through a 3.3 km (2 mi) tunnel.
 Lowest point, at junction with the Yonne, is 79 m (259 ft)
 Reservoirs were created to feed the canals

17. The Burgundy Canal
Canal de Bourgogne
 Upon completion traffic was not as anticipated
 Lock sizes were a constraint on volume
 Tunnel too narrow to allow passing barges
 Railways soon began to compete with barges
 Current uses of Burgundy Canal
 Commercial barge traffic restricted to small areas
 Privately owned boats
 Hotel barges
 Tow paths for hikers, bikers and joggers
 Maintenance on locks and canal done during winter

18. The Burgundy Canal
Canal de Bourgogne

19. Miter Locks
 Design invented by Da Vinci in 1497

20. Pictures