Having been on 13 ocean cruises, we decided to try a river cruise. I researched on CC and decided on a southern France itinerary then started research on the various companies. Summer '13 was a good year to do that with all the flooding in northern Europe. My mantra became "A true measure is not what happens when things go well, but when things go bad". Our choices came down to AMA & Vantage. I contacted both by e-mail. Via AMA, I received an e-mail from an online travel agent (??), while directly from Vantage I received a "Personal Travel Guide attachment. We found the guide very helpful as a starting point to develop questions & it brought up things we hadn't thought of. In the meantime, I continued to receive e-mails from the online travel agent asking me to call them re: AMA (?) and we watched the online videos on the Vantage website plus continued to read remarks on CC about both companies. We called Vantage in August with our questions we had developed from the guide and in a few days booked with them. We added the pre & post extensions to the French Waterways - Paris & Barcelona. After looking at Vantage's airfare offer, we booked our own and our own travel insurance. We eventually received a catalog from AMA.

When we arrived in Paris, we were taken to the hotel with a Vantage transfer we purchased earlier - a bit of a cost, but easy for jet lagged guests arriving from Seattle. Vantage's City Host met us at Le Meridien Etolile (not in the center of Paris, but close to a Metro stop and walking distance to the Arc de Triumph). She spent the morning trying to get us in our rooms early - before 3pm. There was 42 of us. Buffet breakfasts were good, fast service and the 2 included dinners were pretty good. Included tours - all day bus tour of Paris & the Louvre. We didn't sign up for the extra cost of the Versailles tour, but did so for the extra cost of the "Illuminated Paris with Dinner & Cabaret". The cost was worth the show - the food was ok, plenty of wine and champagne poured, but we did NOT see any illuminations! One night we went on our on via metro (easy) near Notre Dame to a Rick Steve recommended restaurant - Tastevin. Great food!

After 4 days, we left Paris on the fast train for Dijon (tour included) & to embark on the MS River Discovery II at Chalon sur Saone. Thinking back, I realize our Cruise Director was on the train with us and in Dijon - meaning, he was available to us before boarding the boat. Also our City Host stayed with us until we embarked. Personnel exchanges were seamless - there was always someone from Vantage available (except for the flight to Barcelona). Read more