Cruising the Seine from Honfleur to Paris

Transat Discoveries and CroisiEurope recently invited PAX on a river cruise from Honfleur to Paris aboard the Botticelli, a 110-metre vessel with a capacity of 156 passengers.

Fifteen of us boarded the Botticelli in Honfleur. We arrived at the dock where the boat was moored around 5 p.m., after the two-and-a-half hour drive from Paris. The other passengers had come by bus, from regions such as Gascony, Savoy and Picardie. Most were French or Belgian, although a couple of passengers from Lebanon and South Africa were also taking part in this cruise, receiving an English translation of the comments provided during the trip. A total of 110 passengers took part in the voyage.

My cabin on the upper deck resembled the standard cabins of ocean ships, although a little smaller (12 square metres or 133 square feet, I'm told). But the storage spaces are cleverly arranged, so that one has plenty of room to unpack his suitcase and slide it under a bed for the rest of the stay.

I had just enough time to take some pictures in the Vieux Bassin, an ancient 17th century port to which the narrow streets of the historic centre converge, before returning to Botticelli for the welcome cocktail and presentation of the crew.

The ship featured a crew of 26, mostly from Hungary. In the morning, they clean and tidy cabins while we go on tour. During lunch and dinner, they provide service to the restaurant and bar and I was told that during the day, they give a hand in the kitchen ruled by a chef whose Alsatian-sounding name - Laurent Metzger - recalls that CroisiEurope was born in this region of eastern France.

Most of the 43 vessels in the fleet are also registered in Strasbourg, with four of them sailing on the Seine between Honfleur and Paris. In Honfleur, we were moored against the Renoir and another ship - the France - came to anchor in the neighbouring basin during the evening.

For our first meal on board, the chef had prepared a scallop walnut salad into a cod fillet served on a bed of creamed spinach and for dessert, iced cake on mango coulis.

"It is through the stomach we get to know our customers," joked Axel Arasckiewicz, head of external relations for CroisiEurope, accompanying our group during this four-day river cruise. More than half of the line's passengers are repeat guests, requiring CroisiEurope to branch out to new destinations.

"For loyal guests, we must offer them new locations,” he said. “That is why we have positioned the boats on the Irrawaddy in Burma, in Naples to the Amalfi Coast, on the Elbe, from Berlin to Prague, and soon in the Peruvian Amazon and the Mississippi.”

To remain competitive, CroisiEurope introduced all-inclusive packages on board its ships two years ago. While some champagne and selected wines and spirits must still be purchased, wines (along with beer and other alcoholic drinks) included in the package are a far cry from basic plonk. For white wines, passengers have the choice of a few Alsatian wines and Chardonnay du Languedoc and Beaujolais to the Cotes du Rhone, while red drinkers can choose from the wines of Languedoc.