The sun deck closes more often here
The MS Thomas Hardy is the oldest of the one-hundred-and-thirty-five-metre
hulls in this series: 2016. Eighty-eight cabins, 176 travellers, a Swiss hull
chartered by the British operator.
Her ground explains a peculiarity brochures rarely mention. She sails the
Rhone, the Saone and the Danube, and the Rhone has the lowest bridges and the
deepest locks in western Europe. The sun deck closes there frequently,
sometimes several times a day, and the wheelhouse lowers to pass. It is neither
a fault nor a surprise to the crew: it is the river. But a traveller who came
for hours in the open air should know it when choosing a route.
Aboard
Seventy-eight dates with us, the shortest calendar of the five hulls in this
series. Panorama lounge, one dining room, a lift that does not serve the sun
deck. A real balcony exists on four named cabins; other upper cabins have a
sliding wall with a railing.
One hundred and seventy-six travellers over this length is the highest
density in the series. On the Rhone, where sailing fills long hours, it shows
more than on a route with closely spaced calls.
The other ships
The MS Lord Byron and the MS Jane Austen are smaller and cover neighbouring rivers. The MS William Wordsworth stays on
the Danube. The MS Riviera Radiance is new and roomier.
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.
