We chose this cruise to coincide with our 50th wedding anniversary and I requested at the time of booking that flowers and champagne be provided on our anniversary date. I also confirmed this with the cruise director on embarkation.

It did not start well as Air France lost our luggage and we spent an hour filling in forms at the airport. Fortunately the taxi transfer waited our arrival but then we were taken on a tour of the industrial heart of Lyon to the ship. I explained to the driver that we were to pick up the ship in Chalon but he said "non Lyon". We then spent 20 minutes while the driver rattled gates, blew his horn and drove up and down the road before two cruise staff came walking through a small park to accompany us to the ship which was the scenic sapphire and not the emerald as we had been informed. The cruise director then explained that the ship had been changed due to high river levels making it impossible for the cruise to start in Chalon due to low bridges upstream. He took charge of chasing up our luggage but we had to miss the tour on the first day as we had to shop for essentials. Fortunately the luggage arrived that evening but again we missed the following days excursion with unpacking and sorting out creased clothing.

Cruising was delayed due to a lock keepers strike which meant a noisy overnight sail and missing the programmed "sundowners" excursion. Read more