Having had a wonderful cruise on the Seine (Paris-North-Paris) we looked forward to the Portraits of Southern France. The Viking dock site in Chalon is not a beautiful but we enjoyed the walks away from the ship. We were surprised when we were told that we were having to hurry along to get to Lyon because we needed to pass through the locks before May 1 closures due to May Day. Since May Day arrives annually on May 1, we were disappointed that whoever made up the schedules hadn't taken this into account. Instead our itinerary was changed to get us to Lyon quickly.

Lyon is a great place to visit and we enjoyed the walking tour. The Delling is lovely. We reserve the least expensive cabin when we travel because we only sleep in it. That means we enjoy what the rest of the ship offers. We appreciate that the libraries on the French cruises stock information, fiction, non-fiction that relates to the areas through which we pass. From Lyon we went to Vienne. And that was the end of our cruise. High waters caused the river to be closed.

From then on we were on a bus tour. But with a bus tour, one progresses on one's journey. We had to travel the same roads every day for longer and longer times to access the rest of the itinerary, returning to the ship each night. Boring and tedious are not words that one should have to use to describe an expensive holiday. Read more