MS Jeanine: the oldest of the six barges, refurbished in 2017
The MS Jeanine was built in 2013 and refurbished in 2017. She is the only one of CroisiEurope's 6 hotel barges to have had a refit: the other 5 came out between 2014 and 2016 and have not needed one yet. In practice, her hull is 13 years old and her fit-out is 9. You see the figure, you decide.
She is 38.50 metres long and 5.07 metres wide, carries 22 passengers in 11 cabins and has 6 crew, across 2 decks. CroisiEurope rates her at 5 anchors, its top level for this format. Cabins start at 8 square metres, and an accessible cabin for passengers with reduced mobility, at 11 square metres, is provided on board.
The canals of Alsace and Lorraine
The Jeanine sails the Alsatian and Lorraine canals, around Strasbourg. This is not the Rhine: the 110-metre ships run on the river, the barge runs beside it, in a network of narrow canals where locks are worked one at a time and the bank is three metres away. You pass through half-timbered villages rather than glimpsing them from an upper deck.
CroisiEurope programmes Christmas market departures on this barge in a port-to-port format, which makes winter a genuine season on this itinerary rather than a quiet stretch. Alsace in December is a product in its own right, and the barge adds the fact of sleeping alongside in the centre of town rather than on the outskirts.
Getting there from Montreal, and where it gets harder
Strasbourg is not served non-stop from Montreal-Trudeau. Every carrier routes through a connection, usually Paris or Frankfurt, and a ground transfer follows. It is the longest approach of the 6 barges: the MS Déborah in Champagne and the MS Raymonde in Belgian Flanders are both reached after a single flight. We mention it because on a one-week trip, an extra travel day out and back is close to a third of the holiday.
Two decks, no lift
The restaurant, lounge-bar and jacuzzi are on the upper deck. The sun deck above is laid out with loungers. There is no lift, and the accessible cabin does not change that: we check itinerary by itinerary, with CroisiEurope, what is genuinely accessible before you commit.
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, and on an itinerary requiring a connection it deserves a serious look. We itemise every line and explain the scope of Quebec's FICAV fund before you sign.
Who she suits
Travellers targeting Alsace specifically rather than a region at random: the extra journey is only justified when the destination is the reason for the trip. Winter travellers, for the Christmas markets. Small groups. Compare with the MS Madeleine, which covers the same canals with no refit to her name because she is newer, and find the full fleet on our CroisiEurope cruises page.
