From June 2027 this ship no longer sells to couples
The MS George Eliot dates from 2018. One hundred and ten metres, 70 cabins,
132 travellers, on the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle and the Danube. Swiss hull,
British operation.
And a change of vocation worth reading before you book. From June 2027 this
ship will sell only to solo travellers: sixty-eight people aboard, each in a
double cabin, with no single supplement. A couple will no longer be able to
book her. If you are aiming at 2027 and travelling as two, another hull is the
one to look at. If you travel alone, she is on the contrary one of the more
interesting propositions on the European river market.
The ship until then
Eighty-two dates with us for the current seasons, across four basins. One
hundred and thirty-two travellers over one hundred and ten metres is a moderate
density for this size: roughly ten per cent less than on the large hulls of the
same fleet.
Panorama lounge, one dining room, a lift, a sun deck. A real balcony exists
on four named cabins; other upper cabins have a sliding wall with a railing,
and the lower deck a fixed window.
The other ships
The MS Emily Bronte and the MS Geoffrey Chaucer cover the same rivers with a longer hull. The MS Oscar Wilde adds a
pool. The MS Riviera Resplendence is the newest in the fleet.
The owner, the operator and you
Three roles that get confused, and that matter the day there is a problem.
The ship's owner is a third party: Swiss for most river hulls, Portuguese for
two of them, Dalmatian for the six coastal hulls. The commercial operator is
the British tour company, which owns no hull. And you buy through a Quebec
agency, which adds a protection discussed further down.
This arrangement explains something that often puzzles people: the
specifications published by the owner do not always match those published by
the operator. These are not typos; they are two separate businesses describing
the same ship.
When the doubt bears on a figure that changes your choice — density aboard,
for instance — have it confirmed in writing before you pay a deposit.
The fare in detail
Included are the cabin, full board, hot drinks throughout, wine and beer
served at dinner on the river ships, the announced excursions, port taxes and
guidance aboard.
Two structural exclusions for a client from here. First: air travel and
transfers are not part of the North American product, while they traditionally
are part of the same operator's British product. The British site redirects to
the North American one from Quebec, which makes online comparison misleading
through nobody's bad faith.
Second: crew gratuities are included on no ship in the fleet. They stay on
your account, for the ship as for local guides. We say so because the item
weighs on a seven- to fourteen-night trip and it distorts comparison with the
lines that build it in.
The spaces, the cabins and what to know first
Panorama lounge, one dining room, sun deck: the geography of a river ship
fits in three places and you tour it in ten minutes. What fills the day is the
port call, not the ship.
The balcony question comes up in almost every call we take. Here is the
exact answer: only four named cabins have a real balcony. The rest of the
upper cabins have a French balcony, a sliding glass wall with a railing and
nothing behind it. The lower deck has a fixed window. Two realities, one
word.
On accessibility, no wheelchair-accessible cabin is documented across the
twenty ships in the catalogue. Depending on the river level the gangway can be
steep, and a side-by-side mooring means crossing a neighbouring ship's deck.
We would rather say so here than let you find out with a suitcase in hand.
What this trip asks of you from Quebec
A flight not included in the fare, transfers to arrange, and a hotel night
before embarkation that we recommend every time. Door-to-door travel often
exceeds what the brochure suggests, especially when the embarkation city needs
a connection.
The protection question comes up weekly with clients, so let us be clear.
Nothing establishes that this British operator holds a Quebec travel agent's
licence; its North American entity is a Florida corporation. That is not a
fault on its part, simply the structure of the market.
Protection comes from the agency that sells. Voyages AquaTerra holds a
licence from Quebec's Office de la protection du consommateur, deposits your
payments in a trust account, and your file falls under the Compensation Fund
for Customers of Travel Agents. Write to us and we will look at what the
season allows.
