petecheltenham

My wife and I are planning to book one of the two cabins aboard a fabulous looking barge called Nilaya. Www.bargenilaya.com
We were wondering if others had cruised aboard her in the past. We were pleased to read that their French barge cruises have been listed by Rick Steves who's advice has never let us down. The owner Kevin seems friendly competent chap and barging through the canals of France has long been our dream. We start and end the cruise in Burgundy and have a week either side of the barging trip to see the area more in hire cars. Any help very much appreciated. Thanks Pete

Gretchen

We have barged in Burgundy aboard the Lafayette with 20 other people.
Personally I would not care for a week's trip with one other couple and the captain, if I read your description correctly.
The food and wines we had on the Lafayette (French Country Waterways) was absolutely superb as were all the sightseeing services along the way with a little van that took us to our sites and vineyards, etc.

eastenderusvi

I have been looking for reviews of various barges and canals. Would love to hear if anyone else has comments. It seems as though it is similar to crewed yacht charters. I see that some take you to local restaurants at night, some cook everything onboard. Also opinions on the very small and the larger barges?

AtlTravelr

We did a luxury barge trip two years ago. Link below is to my trip report. We enjoyed it so much that we are taking the exact same trip again (well, as much as any trip can be the same) this fall. Ours was a small boat with 4 bedrooms and our friend had rented the entire thing, so we were with people with whom we were acquainted. I loved that though there were group activities and group dinners, there was lots of time to do things separately. We highly recommend the boat Prosperite with Captain Spencer and the lovely and knowledgeable Rejane. We booked through Ellen Sack - The Barge Lady is the name of her company. We have only been on one other "cruise" -a large Caribbean boat and hated it. The Prosperite was the opposite in every way - personalized, custom service, incredible food and wine. We call it "the once in a lifetime experience that we are happy to do twice"!

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...in-3-parts.cfm

Michael

As for other things to see in the area, these pictures are geo-tagged, and could help in organizing a car trip in Burgundy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...55059630/show/

eastenderusvi

Nilaya appears to be partly self-catering. I can't find Lafayette. And AtlTravelr, you are very lucky! That is a heck of a trip! I guess it is difficult to find reviews because this isn't a mass market vacation. The well-known cruise website doesn't have a section for barging, just river cruises. I know there are good and bad aspects of all of these barges, it is sure difficult to match up a barge and crew with our needs. Thanks for sharing! If anyone else has any ideas....;-)

MarySteveChicago

Have you used the search engine here? Someone posted this summer with photos and their trip looked fantastic.

MarySteveChicago

Found it. http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ire-valley.cfm

Gretchen

We thoroughly enjoyed our 22 person (4-6 crew members) barge--Lafayette. It was an elegantly outfitted barge. the front deck was partially covered, and there was also indoor lounge seating. The crew would obtain ANY item requested--one person wanted Johnny Walker Gold and it was there the next day. The dining tables were reconfigured in different numbers in order that different groups could be seated together. There were 2 groups of 4 and the rest of us were duos. Very interesting people. The chef would pair wines with the meals, and also cheeses. We cruised during the day and moored at night. You could get off and bike along the canal--or walk and meet the boat at the next lock.
Here is a google page--Lafayette is mentioned in several.
https://www.google.com/#q=Lafayette+...ntry+waterways

eastenderusvi

Gretchen: Lafayette doesn't seem to be associated with French Country Waterways, or any of the other clearing houses. It is fun researching this idea. Currently thinking a half board trip would be best for us; some dinners ashore in the local village bistro.

Thanks, MarySteve!

As I said, I wish there were MORE reviews and especially comparisons.

petecheltenham

I thought I'd pop by and give you an update.

We did book Barge Nilaya (http://www.bargenilaya.com ) and shared this amazing experience with two delightful Canadians. English Kevin and his Belgian wife Isabelle are a really lovely couple and boy, can they cook! The breakfasts, home cooked lunches and two regional 'gourmet' dinners they prepared were unmatched by any other meals, even those taken ashore. This said though, we loved that we were free to dine out on four of the six evenings. You get a real taste of France that way.

The restaurants were only ever a short stroll from each mooring and Izzy had really done her homework! Exceptional meals, local restaurants and at a reasonable cost too. None of the food matched the home cooked French cuisine we enjoyed on Nilaya though!

The whole experience was intimate and personal and we particularly didn't want to be on the bigger hotel barges such as Lafayette, because we don't like being waited upon hand and foot. Being aboard Nilaya was like having your own private barge and we loved that. If we wanted a coffee, glass of wine, bike off the back, we just helped ourselves! It's also far far more affordable than the more crowded super lux barges.

I can't speak highly enough about barge Nilaya and if you look closely at their Facebook page, you might even spot us drinking Champagne on the huge flower covered sun deck!

https://www.facebook.com/barge.nilaya

We enjoyed our travelling companions company so much, we've booked another week aboard Nilaya together and can't wait to discover Lorraine this summer.