A lift that does not go down to where you sleep
The MS Jane Austen has sailed the Seine since 2015. One hundred and ten
metres, 74 cabins, 140 travellers. The hull belongs to the Swiss owner; the
British operator charters her for departures from Paris towards Normandy.
One thing has to be said that the brochure puts quickly. This ship does have
a lift, but it links the upper deck to the middle deck and nothing else. The
deck with the least expensive cabins and the sun deck are reached by stairs.
The owner, for his part, advertises a lift serving every deck except the sun
deck. Two versions, one that binds: the operator's, which is the contract's. If
stairs are a problem for you, choose your cabin category accordingly.
The Seine, Paris and Normandy
One hundred and three dates with us, almost all on the same route: Paris,
Vernon and Giverny, Les Andelys, Rouen, Caudebec and Honfleur on the longer
itineraries. It is a calm river with shallow locks and closely spaced calls.
You sail little and step ashore often.
The flip side of that closeness is dense days. Excursions follow one
another, and anyone who walks slowly will find the pace brisk, especially in
Rouen and Honfleur where everything happens on foot over old cobbles.
Neighbouring ships
The MS Lord Byron shares exactly the same hull on the Rhone. The MS Thomas Hardy is larger. The MS Emily Bronte
covers four basins. The MS Oscar Wilde adds a pool.
The hull and the brand, two different things
Let us name things. This hull does not belong to the brand selling you the
trip. Across the twenty ships in the catalogue, the number of hulls the
operator owns is zero. It is a British tour operator, not a shipowner, and it
charters its entire fleet.
Practical consequence: when the operator's sheet and the owner's diverge on
capacity, build year or cabin count, two sources are describing the same ship
without coordinating. We keep the operator's version, which is the one in the
contract, and we flag the gap when it is notable.
Second consequence: the same ship may sail under another banner in another
season, with different inclusions. Compare line by line rather than by the
ship's name.
The fare, item by item
Included: the cabin, full board, tea and coffee throughout, wine and beer at
dinner on the river ships, the excursions written into the itinerary, port
taxes and the work of a cruise director.
Not included from North America: air travel, airport transfers, pre- and
post-cruise hotel nights, travel insurance, drinks outside meals and optional
excursions. Note this: in the United Kingdom the same operator sells the
flight and transfers within the package. The two markets do not sell the same
thing, and the British site redirects to the North American one when consulted
from here.
Gratuities are included nowhere in this fleet. They stay on your account and
at your discretion, for the ship's crew as for the guides ashore.
Aboard
A panorama lounge forward, one dining room with a single seating, a sun deck
with loungers, sometimes a small pool or a golf practice net. River ships of
this size have neither theatre nor casino: evenings happen in the lounge, with
a pianist or a local talk.
Now the cabin. A real balcony is found on four cabins the owner names, and
no others. The rest of the upper cabins have a French balcony, meaning a
sliding glass wall with a railing and no outdoor space. Lower-deck cabins have
a fixed window, high and narrow, close to the waterline. The word balcony
therefore covers two very different realities in one brochure.
No wheelchair-accessible cabin is documented on this fleet. Side-by-side
mooring, common in high season on the Rhine and the Danube, sometimes means
crossing another ship's deck to go ashore.
Leaving from Quebec
The flight is not included in the North American fare, nor are transfers,
nor pre-cruise hotel nights. Arrive at least a day before embarkation; two if
you are crossing the Atlantic and the time change weighs on you. That margin is
used exactly once, and on that day it saves the trip.
On consumer protection, a useful clarification. The British operator has no
established Quebec travel agent's licence; its North American entity is a
Florida corporation and the contract points to the courts of Fort Lauderdale.
What protects you here is the licensed agency you book through.
Voyages AquaTerra holds that licence. Trust account, Compensation Fund for
Customers of Travel Agents, and a single file bringing together flight, cruise,
hotel, transfers and insurance. One call is enough to check what the season
really allows.
