seafox

Does either Batobus or Vedettes de paris have recorded commentary (in English) on their boats such that the first time visitor will know what they are seeing while on the boats?

lennyba

Batobus has live announcements in English, French, and Spanish IIRC. Not really tour commentary.

ParisAmsterdam

Vedettes had a young lady providing live commentary in English in the summer of 2007.

Can't say for Batobus.

Our apartment was only a few feet from the river and every time a Bateau Mouche came by we heard the same commentary so I'm guessing theirs is a recording.

Rob

GeoffHamer

Batobus doesn't have a commentary. There are four firms running sightseeing trips with either a live or recorded commentary: Bateaux Mouches, Bateaux Parisiens, Vedettes du Pont Neuf and Vedettes de Paris.

Fodorite018

Vedettes has live speakers, in English. We went on their cruise two years ago and enjoyed it enough that we will be doing it again in a few weeks. On their website, you can print off a coupon for a discount, or prepurchse and save 5 euro. We did the prepurchase option as there is no set date/time. We did this last time as well and it was so easy. Just show up with the printout and skip the ticket line.

MrNuke

Batobus is a tourist transportation provider (not a tour boat, although some do use it as such). The others are more tour operators and will have recorded or live commentary.

Fodorite018

Sorry, I should have clarified, we used/will use Vedettes du Pont Neuf.

seafox

Thanks to all for the info!

GeoffHamer

Note that "vedette" just means a passenger boat. There are two operators in Paris with the word in their titles, and several others around the rest of France. The two in Paris are Vedettes du Pont Neuf (www.vedettesdupontneuf.com), based by the Pont Neuf, and Vedettes de Paris (www.vedettesdeparis.com), based near the Eiffel Tower.

Cathinjoetown

You can use Batobus to hop on and hop off at sites along the river; ticket is good for entire day. As others have mentioned, no commentary other than announcement of the next stop.

seafox

Thanks all they used Vedettes and it worked out perfectly.

An FYI - they were on an NCL cruise and were brought into the city by bus - the drop off in Paris is Place de la Concorde.

KYJudy

We also did Vedettes de pont Neuf and prepaid..... Made it easy and we enjoyed it, esp at night w all the monuments all dressed in lights.

adrienne

If you want recorded commentary you'll need to use Bateaux Mouches. I prefer Vedettes du pont neuf but the commentary is live, not recorded. Either way it's difficult to understand the commentary; pick up a brochure at the ticket office so you can see which buildings you're passing.