My youthful 95 year old mother & I were looking forward to Viking's 'Portraits of Southern France', our first river cruise in April, 2013. When we arrived in Lyon, we learned our ship, the Europe, had moved down river to Macon, to avoid being trapped behind a low bridge in Chalon-sur-Soane. What a smart move (thank you) because as the river rose during the week, we also learned the flooding river was too high to allow travel. Being more centrally located on our northern portion of our trip meant that we didn't have as long travel time to see all the scheduled sights, or an overcrowded pier.

As the week passed it became apparent our ship would not be moving from our berth. On Friday, we were bused to lovely accommodation in Avignon, and our now 'bus' tour resumed for the southern portion of our trip.

Although it wasn't the trip we'd anticipated, my mother & I were treated so well by the staff, and we thoroughly enjoyed our 'altered' trip. The altered tours to Chateau Cormatin & Hameau DuBoef were especially interesting. Read more