We took the cruise “From the Châteaux of Chambord and Chenonceau to the Loire Valley” Sep/12 - Sep/18 Just some dry stats Time spent sailing: 16 hours Time spent on excursions: 20 hours Time spent in the bus: 24 hours Time spent on a boat at the dock: 61 hours The planning department of the company could have done a much better job. So little time sailing and so much time on a bus can not be attributed just to the river conditions. Many times while we were bussed to the excursion the boat was simply following us on the river. In summary it felt more like a bus tour, with docked boat used as a hotel. While the corporation certainly messed up, the crew and the boat must be commended. The boat architect did a nice job designing the cabin layout. Despite the obvious size limitations there is plenty of compartments to put your stuff in. The suitcases can be nicely hidden under the bed. The bathroom is very convenient to use. The shower cabin is quite spacious. The crew was extremely attentive and courteous. The kitchen did outstanding job, very delicious French food was served every day. We truly enjoyed every single meal on board. All announcements were done subsequently in French, English and Spanish, so sometimes it didn't help the clarity of the message. Probably the corporation could have invested more into printed booklets and more detailed information shown on TV. Read Less

I want to say that, in general, we enjoyed our cruise immensely. The Loire Princesse is very well designed and appointed and kept in excellent condition. The staff are all lovely and the food, as I had expected from our previous experience of Croisi, was excellent. We do, however, have some criticisms, which we have passed on to the cruise company. These relate, in the main, to the excursion programme generally and to some excursions in particular. Firstly, though, when booking I would advise you to check out the cabin allocated to you very carefully before you accept it. The paddle wheels are quite noisy when running, so I would advise trying not to be too close to them. The other thing is that there are a number of cabins on both decks that are smaller than standard, due to the stairs between decks. We noticed that cabin 234, for example, which happens to be the one that we were originally allocated by Croisi before, at our request, we got changed to 243, is one of those smaller cabins. I have to say that we would not have been at all happy if we had had to keep cabin 234 and only found out that it was smaller when we got there! In regard to the excursions, firstly, some general comments. As English speakers, we felt that we were disadvantaged by some of the guides who translated only a fraction of their French commentary into English. The notable exception to this was the guide Jean-Louis, whom we felt made every effort in that respect, switching between French and English commentary much more frequently than the others. We also had some concerns that one of the coach drivers spent an awful lot of his time speaking to the passengers with a microphone in one hand and only one hand on the steering wheel; even when executing turns, and negotiating roundabouts! It seemed to us that, on occasions, he was trying to usurp the function of the guide, and rather liked the sound of his own voice. We have suggested that if it is the intention that drivers should provide commentary, then for the safety of passengers, they should be provided with hands free microphones so that they can keep both hands on the wheel! We felt, in general, that the excursion plan was a little too intensive, especially with so many early starts. I appreciate that we could have opted to not have taken the whole excursion package, but it is very difficult to know, beforehand, which excursions will really be worth going on, and which it would really be no loss to miss. We believe, also, that the planning and execution of some of the individual excursions could be improved. These are our comments on the particular excursions that we took. Guerande - The visit to Guerande itself was lovely. The visit to the Salt pans was mediocre. The English translation here was particularly sparse. As there were other passengers who did the "dynamique" tour, so that the coach had to return to Guerande to pick them up, it would have been nice if we had had the option for some free time in Guerande instead of the Salt pans. Nantes tour - We felt that less than a third of what our guide Eva said in French was actually translated into English. She also went into far too much detail in places. At the cathedral she must have spent at least 20 to 30 minutes going into every single detail of the tomb of Duchesse Anne's parents! Even French people were getting bored and wandering off. At the castle, it would have been better to have had a shorter guided tour and some free time to visit the walls and Royal rooms or, as there were only a few English, perhaps to have supplied them with the audio guides and arranged to meet later. Erdre cruise - This was OK but I did not think it was worth the price to sit in a closed-in river boat on uncomfortable plastic seats. It was impossible to take any good pictures through the glass windows, but whenever they were opened, there was an overpowering smell of fuel. Muscadet Road tour - From here on in Jean-Louis was our guide and the quality of guiding, and ratio of English translation improved immensely. The visit to Clisson was pitched perfectly in terms of timing and content. The visit to Cassemichère was also very good, with three very nice wines offered for tasting. Saumur & the Cadre Noir - This excursion was a little disappointing. The visit to Saumur consisted only of seeing the town hall and the castle, fairly briefly, from the outside, before moving on to the riding school. There we were ushered directly into the arena to take up our seats. I have to say that I feel that we have seen better horse displays and it was disappointing that, although the audience was clearly an international one, commentary was solely in French. Angers - The castle was interesting but we felt that far too much time was taken up in explaining almost every individual panel of the Apocalypse Tapestry. Again, a lot of people seemed to be getting bored and wandering off. An option here to either stay with the guide or for some free time to explore other aspects of the castle and meet up later would have been welcomed. The short walk through Angers and look in the Cathedral after the castle visit was interesting. Castles of the Loire - A very full and quite tiring full day excursion, basically at least 10 hours away from the boat. The two castles and one garden visited, though, were all delightful. Corniche Angevine - We felt that there really was not much substance to this excursion, other than the visit to Domaine FL and the wine tasting there, which took up a large part of the excursion time, although the scenery was pleasant enough and there were a number of short stops to see specific things. For us, a wine tasting that early in the morning did not seem ideal. Unfortunately, we were not alone in feeling that the wines offered for tasting were not very palatable, judging by the amount that was being tipped away by everybody, rather than being drunk! Finally, so as not to finish on a negative note, I would just reiterate that we had a really lovely time, but we hope that, perhaps, improvements might be made in the excursions, and particularly for English speakers, as a result of the detailed comments that we have made. We have already seen that Croisi are commissioning a number of new boats over the next couple of years, so we will be looking at their itineraries in due course, with great interest. Read Less

This river cruise exceeded our expectation. We participated in all the "optional" excursions which added greatly to our enjoyment. It would not have been the same trip without them. All were interesting and for the most part unique except for the "cruise" on the Erdre River which we found to be beautiful but not any more beautiful than other rivers of its ilk. Furthermore, the outing scheduled at 9 p.m. after a bountiful meal, was at a time when we "seniors" would prefer to be winding down. It grew quite dark and it was not possible to see the chateaus and villa alongside the river as the night wore on. The Loire Princesse is lovely--new, quiet, and well-maintained. he lounge and dining room are spacious and furnished pleasingly. The food, of course, is wonderful, although the breakfast cook did not fry eggs to American tastes! It was fun that the villagers, old and young, along the river came down to the banks to see us sail by and wave, the Princesse being the ONLY boat on the lower Loire. We appreciated the efforts of the staff to include non-French-speakers in all announcements. Two separate buses were provided for excursions; one with a French-speaking guide, one with an English-speaking guide, and a dedicated guide for those who only spoke Spanish. It was a positive experience in every way, even including transportation from the airport before boarding and to the train station at the termination of the cruise. Read Less

MS Loire Princesse 8 days on a Deluxe French Barge Châteaux of the Loire Valley July, 2015 took the 8 day cruise on the MS Loire Princesse on the Loire river in France. We had a wonderful time. Pros: Very new vessel – very well designed and extremely clean – plenty of room Rooms with balconies are especially nice for viewing the scenery during the cruise The top deck is great to have a drink and watch the world go by Shower in bath is full size – great water pressure Convenient plugs (be sure you have a converter) Food is great – 3 courses at lunch and dinner – including duck, venison, lamb, chicken, veal. Buffet breakfast. All of the staff was great. They speak English very well. Great excursions from the boat each day – you can choose which ones to prefer – some are free – some you pay extra for Be sure to take the organic wine tasting tour Cons: Wifi is available in the rooms, but may not work and can be very slow – to the point that at time it is not very useful River is unreliable – we were not able to go as far as expected because the river was too low – but there was a bus that took us to the expected spot. I did not feel this was an issue. I would take the cruise again. Read Less