Firstly River Cruising is my favourite form of travel and cruising. 'Gems of the Seine' on the Scenic Gem from Paris down the Seine River to the Normandy Coast and back is a journey through history and breathtakingly beautiful scenery. The ship is excellent, the staff cannot do enough for you with outstanding service from housekeeping, dining, reception and the lounge/bar, the ship is spotlessly clean. Some of the chairs in the lounge are not very comfortable and difficult for some passengers to get in and out of.

The satisfaction with shore excursions is primarily reliant on the guide, we had some excellent enthusiastic passionate guides and some that were very poor. This was my greatest disappointment on this cruise as I love to learn about the places I visit. The Cruise Director also lacked enthusiasm and failed to engage with the passengers which is unusual on river ships as it is a closer relationship with the guests than on larger ships.

Embarkation had to be moved from Paris to Poissy due to river heights which required meeting at a hotel in Paris and being bused to Poissy, all went smoothly. Disembarkation was a transfer from the river ship to a number of Paris hotels for passengers staying on in Paris. We thought it expensive, we were told the fare was 60 euro for four of us travelling together, eight were sardined into the van which made it 120 euro, a bit rich for the distance travelled.