We are serial river cruisers but this year we were only able to make a relatively late booking, due to unforeseen domestic circumstances. We had not experienced Shearings river cruises before but, at fairly short notice, Shearings were the only company that could fly us out of Bristol to Paris CDG.
Our transfer from CDG to the ship was by a private hire car - very impressive - although we were quite concerned about the driver who seemed to spend lots of time looking at his phone and drifting into adjacent traffic lanes! We didn't see any of the well known parts of the city during the 30 minute drive, and finally stopped at a small and un-cared for river berth in a seedy part of the city about 15 miles from the centre of Paris.
On all the other river cruise companies that we've used, a different and interesting excursion is included in the price each day. Shearings included only 3 excursions, and the others were 'optional' and had to be paid for.
The ship was clean and tidily presented, as was our cabin, although it was rather tired with carpets faded at the edges and small chips on the edges of wardrobe doors. We fully understood that a double bed could not be provided, as per our request, and two single beds had been pushed together. However, it would have been nice to have had a double or king duvet instead of two singles. The bathroom was spacious but badly needed an effective exhaust fan to remove the shower steam build-up.