A pool and a golf net on a river
The MS Oscar Wilde entered service in 2017. One hundred and thirty-five
metres, 88 cabins, 167 travellers, a chartered Swiss hull. Her sun deck carries
two features you do not find everywhere on a river ship: a small pool and a
golf practice net.
Let us say what that is worth. A river ship's pool is a cooling basin, not a
swimming basin: a few strokes and you touch the side. The net lets you hit into
mesh, not play. They are real comforts on long sailing days on the Danube in
July, and they replace nothing ashore.
The ship day to day
Eighty-six dates with us, on the Rhine, the Main, the Moselle and the
Danube. Panorama lounge, one dining room, a lift that does not reach the sun
deck, and the same balcony rule as the whole series: four named cabins with a
real balcony, the rest with a sliding wall.
The sun deck closes when the ship passes under the low bridges of the Main
and the upper Danube, which happens several times a day on some stretches. If
the pool matters to your choice, check the itinerary first.
Nearby ships
The MS Emily Bronte and the MS Geoffrey Chaucer share the same hull without a pool. The MS George Eliot changes
vocation in 2027. The MS William Wordsworth stays on the Danube all season.
Who owns this ship
The tour operator owns no hull. None, out of the twenty ships it sells. The
river ships belong to a Swiss family shipowner or to a Portuguese one, the
coastal ships to Dalmatian families. The operator designs the trip, fills the
ship and sells the package; the owner runs the hull, hires the crew and
maintains her.
The most direct proof is published by the operator itself: its own site
hosts the owner's conditions of carriage, where the carrier is named and where
it is written that the cruise was booked through an independent agency with no
link to the shipping company.
This is not a fault in itself; it is the dominant model in European river
cruising. But it says who answers for what the day something goes wrong
aboard.
What the fare covers, and the two-market trap
Included aboard: the cabin, all meals, tea and coffee, the excursions listed
in the itinerary, the services of a cruise director and port taxes. Wine and
beer accompany dinner on the river ships.
Here is the trap. This operator sells two different products under one name.
In the United Kingdom the package traditionally includes the flight and
transfers. In North America the fare is a cruise fare: flight, pre-cruise
hotel and transfers are sold separately. Yet the British site redirects to the
North American one from here. A reader who has seen a page found online may
arrive with the other market's inclusions in mind.
Crew gratuities are included on no ship in the fleet. Several river
competitors in the same market build them into the fare: a gap worth knowing
before you compare two quotes.
The cabin, the balcony and the decks
A word on balconies, because it is the leading source of disappointment in
European river cruising. On these hulls a real balcony, one you step onto and
put a chair on, exists on four named cabins only. Everywhere else what is
called a balcony is a French balcony: a sliding glass wall with a railing and
no outdoor floor at all. On the lower deck the window is fixed and its sill
sits close to the waterline.
This is not a hidden defect; it is a river-cruise standard. But between
reading "balcony" in a brochure and understanding that you will not step
outside, there is a gap many cross only at embarkation.
On accessibility, plainly: no wheelchair-accessible cabin is documented on
any ship in this fleet. River quays are often reached by a narrow gangway and,
when two ships moor side by side, you cross the neighbour's deck to reach the
bank.
From Quebec
Air travel is not part of the North American product. From Montreal, expect
a direct flight or one connection depending on the embarkation city, and plan
to arrive at least the day before: a river ship leaves on time and does not
come back for a delayed traveller.
A word on protection, because the confusion is common. Nothing establishes
that this operator holds a Quebec travel agent's licence: its North American
entity is a Florida corporation, and its contract provides for Florida law and
the courts of Fort Lauderdale. Your protection comes from elsewhere: from the
Quebec agency you buy through.
Voyages AquaTerra holds a licence from Quebec's Office de la protection du
consommateur. Your payments move through a trust account and the Compensation
Fund for Customers of Travel Agents covers your file as the law provides.
