MS Déborah: Champagne and the Marne, in purple, silver and matt black
The MS Déborah was built in 2016. She is a hotel barge 38.50 metres long and 5.07 metres wide, carrying 22 passengers in 11 cabins with 6 crew, across 2 decks. CroisiEurope rates her at 5 anchors, its top level for this type of vessel.
Her interior combines purple, silver and matt black. On a 38-metre vessel a colour decision registers differently than on a 110-metre ship: there is no space to dilute it. This one works because it commits to the contrast rather than reaching for the reassuring beige found everywhere else on the rivers.
Champagne seen from the water
The Déborah sails the Marne and the Seine, through Champagne. The region is usually visited by car, house to house, and the waterway offers another reading of it: the slopes seen from below, wine villages reached by the quay rather than the car park. Locks are worked one at a time, a few metres from the towpath.
The format sets the pace. A barge moves at cycling speed, and on most itineraries passengers step off to walk between two locks. This is a cruise where the vessel is not trying to keep its passengers on board.
What to know before booking
Cabins start at 8 square metres. An accessible cabin for passengers with reduced mobility, at 11 square metres, is provided. But the vessel has 2 decks and no lift, and the restaurant, lounge-bar and jacuzzi are all on the upper deck. We check the real accessibility of each itinerary with CroisiEurope before you commit, because an accessible cabin is not enough to make a barge accessible.
There is no evening show, no second restaurant, no pool. With 22 passengers, life on board fits into one dining room, one lounge-bar and a sun deck. That is exactly what people who choose this format are looking for, and exactly what disappoints those who did not understand it before leaving.
The figures, so you can compare the 6 barges: 38.50 metres long, 5.07 metres wide, 22 passengers, 11 cabins, 6 crew, 2 decks, 5 anchors, built in 2016. All 6 share those dimensions to the centimetre and came out between 2013 and 2016. Only the region really separates them: Champagne and the Marne for this one, Provence, Burgundy, Alsace and Belgian Flanders for the other 5.
Getting there from Montreal
Paris is served non-stop from Montreal-Trudeau, and Champagne is under 2 hours away from there. Along with Burgundy and Belgian Flanders, that makes this one of the shortest approaches in CroisiEurope's river fleet. We still place arrival the day before embarkation.
What is included and what is not
The barge formula covers full board, drinks with meals and at the bar, and the excursions in the programme. Gratuities are not included. Travel insurance never is. We give you the line-by-line detail, with the scope of Quebec's FICAV fund, before anything is signed.
Who she suits
Anyone who already knows Champagne by road and wants to take it again differently, small groups, and travellers who prefer 22 passengers to 150. If the region does not suit, the MS Jeanine covers Alsace, the MS Danièle Burgundy and the MS Madeleine the Alsatian and Lorraine canals. The full fleet is on our CroisiEurope cruises page.
