We booked this cruise through great rail journeys. We had originally booked to go through champagne region, but a couple of weeks before they contacted us and said we couldn't go because of lock maintenance. We were offered a refund, a later date or an alternative route. After much conferring, we chose the alternative route, which embarked at Joigny. When we received our itinerary we noticed that they were sending us on a dog leg route, quite pointlessly sending us on another train after the Eurostar, and then a long coach ride. After this was pointed out, it was changed, and we had a two hour trip on an extremely uncomfortable mini bus. Not the greatest start!

We were a party of eight, and we discovered that the rest had cancelled. The barge has the capacity for 24, so we were more than delighted to have it to ourselves. When we arrived we were warmly welcomed by a crew of six, all of which were absolutely fantastic. They were Laurie, Sylvie, another Sylvie, Nicky, Mohammed, and Alain the captain. Nothing was too much trouble, the food was excellent, all the excursions were brilliant, with knowlegeable guides, and the barge was superb. We enjoyed cycling along the tow paths. We spent our last day seeing Paris, and moored under the Eiffel Tower. Champagne in the hot tub is recommended. So do book this fabulous trip, but do it direct with croisi Europe.