Table Of Content
After a month in Europe, it had been too long since I’d had a “Netflix and chill” kind of night. The ship also offered free WiFi, which was generally fairly good except in the evenings when everyone jumped online. The tough thing about cruising is that pricing is usually per person, based on double occupancy of a cabin. Like most cruise lines and many tour companies, AmaWaterways charges an additional “solo traveler supplement” on top of the per person price if you aren’t sharing a cabin with anyone. I’m going to address the elephant in the room right away because this is often the number one concern I hear from people in my age bracket (50s) and younger when it comes to river cruising.
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The Romans were the first to plant grapes here, and this was the first vineyard region to be protected by UNESCO because of its history. Shops brimming with wine and wine tools line the steep cobblestone streets; medieval ramparts that bore witness to battles for control between French and English monarchs still stand; and vineyards encroach upon the village. Of all the sights, however, perhaps the most extraordinary is the 12th-century church carved into a cliff. Its numerous underground galleries provided refuge during periods of strife, and include the grotto where St. Émilion, for whom the town is named, lived out his life in the ninth century.
Bordeaux River Cruises Down The Garonne
Unlike Libourne or certainly Bordeaux, the shopping and sights are fairly limited. We needed to get back on board though because the ship needed to leave dock in time for the tidal bore. Between June and October, the tidal bore is a strong wave that happens at the change of low tide to high tide. While it isn’t a tall wave, it is strong so the river boat captains need to plan and maneuver around it. We returned to the ship in time for dinner, where we were invited to dine at the Captain’s table.
Day 1
In 1855, when Napoleon III asked for a classification of the best wines in France to give visitors, some 60 Médoc wines were awarded Grand Cru status—out of 61 total. You’ll turn off the road and enter one of these châteaux for a private tour and a tasting of superior wines. Fans of scenic days on the river should know that the compactness of the region means there aren't many chances for daylight sailing. And while the region is utterly beautiful, it doesn't have the stark, dramatic topography of a Rhine River or Danube River cruise.
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These two rivers meet northwest of Bordeaux and form what is known as the Gironde Estuary. Enjoy sailing the scenic Garonne River and admire vistas of hillside vineyards. Enjoy sailing along Bordeaux’s scenic river and admire vistas of rolling farmlands. Pair regional vintages with Bordeaux cuisine, including oysters, a local delicacy.
Lunch and dinner would typically start with a salad, which always had fresh greens and vegetables. This would be followed by a soup course, which I typically skipped because it was often cream-based, but my husband enjoyed them. This was followed up by an entree/appetizer plus main at dinner or just the main course for lunch.
The AmaWaterways Taste of Bordeaux river cruise itinerary is onboard the AmaDolce, which can hold up to 144 passengers. As I mentioned previously, our sailing in July was less than half full, so we never felt crowded on board. I don’t know if that is typical or not, but we always had a choice of seats in the dining room, lounge, or on deck. The AmaDolce has a capacity of 144 passengers but on our cruise, there were only 63 passengers onboard.
Embark on a scenic drive from Blaye to Bourg along the Route de la Corniche Fleurie and marvel at the sights of Blaye Fortress and Lansac Windmill along the way. Slow things down in Libourne and on your return to Bordeaux with multiple wine tastings, village tours, a farmers’ market visit and Bordeaux heritage walking tour. I should mention that most of our excursions, outside of the bike tours or walking tours that left from the ship, started with a luxury coach ride. While the coaches are large, we often only had 6-15 people on our excursions, so it wasn’t like those giant tour groups following the umbrella-carrying guides. For the walking tours, they did provide what they call “Quiet Voxes” in each stateroom, along with a wired earpiece. Luckily our groups were small enough and our hearing good enough that we rarely needed them.
Bordeaux ~ Cadillac/Sauternes ~ Blaye/Medoc ~ Libourne/St Emilion
You’ll journey through the vineyards to Château Royal de Cazeneuve, a polygonal 14th-century fortress with a royal pedigree. A favored residence of Henry IV, who inherited it from his mother, Jeanne d’Albret. The beautifully restored château still belongs to descendants of the Albret family. After your intimate visit you will meet Louis and Caroline de Sabran-Pontevès, the owner and his wife for a Sauternes toast, sampling the unique perfume and flavor of the area. The French phrase “la douceur de vivre” is an accurate description for your time in Cadillac, known for its deliciously flavored dessert wines.
Actually, if you are truly a passionate enthusiast you may prefer to visit the region by land and arrange tastings and tours at the Chateaux of your choosing. If you are looking for beautiful scenery and castles along the river banks and stops in large cities, I’ll be honest with you and tell you that you might prefer one of AmaWaterway’s other European itineraries. The Garonne and Dordogne Rivers are the color of chocolate milk, due to the strong tides stirring up the river bottom, and the river banks can be a bit bland, with the exception of some vineyards and a few chateaux in the distance. The primary reason to choose a Bordeaux river cruise is to get to taste the wines of Bordeaux and experience a few of the region’s chateaux and small villages. If your river cruise ship features onboard bicycles, you’ll find the entire region to be very cyclist-friendly. Cycling between towns (and wine tastings) is offered by some river cruise operators.
Right next to the cruise manager’s desk, off the entry atrium, there is a small library. The library has a selection of books and games that can be borrowed and enjoyed on board. In addition to the desk chair, there were also two arm chairs in front of the French balcony doors, so you don’t always need to sit on the bed. The room also came equipped with a hair dryer and complimentary water, which was replenished daily. I also found it easy to refill my water bottle in the lounge whenever I needed.
Today, honored as a City of Art and History, Bordeaux is a “Little Paris” of beautiful boulevards, Gothic and baroque churches, and lovely parks and gardens. The towering spire of the flamboyant Basilica of St. Michael is visible from all over the city, while the city’s green spaces are a delight to explore on foot. More days means more to discover, with extension packages you can add before or after your Viking cruise or cruisetour. Enjoy additional days to explore your embarkation or disembarkation city, or see a new destination altogether with a choice of exciting cities.Pre & Post Cruise Extensions vary by itinerary and are subject to change.
In the morning, we boarded the coach to visit the impressive Castle of Roquetaillade. This amazingly preserved masterpiece of medieval military architecture has been owned by the same noble family for 700 years. Alternatively, we could have gone wine tasting to the Sauternes wine region, but since neither of us are fans of sweet wines, we chose the castle instead.
If you can swallow the price tag as a solo traveler, I think you will still enjoy your cruise if you are social. While many of the passengers are couples, or part of family groups, we also encountered sisters traveling together and all sorts of passenger combinations. We often started chatting with others during the “Sip and Sail” pre-dinner cocktail hour and then ended up sitting with them at dinner. To answer these questions, I’m going to walk you through our experience and cover the cabin accommodations, on-board facilities, dining, crew, excursions, our itinerary, and more. French-waterways.com is the most comprehensive and authoritative online source of inspiration and information about enjoying the rivers and canals of France – on the water or by the water.
I was a little nervous about biking through the city, especially after staying there for a few days previously and observing the aggressive bike culture. Most river cruises depart from Bordeaux and travel northward to the Gironde Estuary and the Dordogne River. Cruise ships travel only as far east as Libourne on the Dordogne, and visits to Saint-Émilion or Bergerac are by motorcoach from Libourne or by bicycle. Because of that, this isn’t a good itinerary for those who prize their long, lazy days of scenic cruising; most ports will take only a few hours to sail between. While this gives guests more time in port (including overnight stays in select ports of call), it does limit the amount of time your ship is actually sailing. In a single week, guests typically visit multiple vineyards for lessons on past and present production methods and samples of the local wines, which can even include dessert wines like Sauternes.
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