On L’Estello families with children are welcome too!

This season we cruised again with families. Already for years we propose a special ‘children’s itinerary’ for groups up to eight on L’Etoile. A big hit, and I really enjoy to do these cruises myself. L’Etoile has a little plunge pool on deck, lot’s of games, and the atmosphere is casual. When I purchased the 20 pax barge L’Estello last year, I hoped it would be possible to cruise with families on this barge too. I imagined three-generation parties, grandparents, their children and grand children meeting on L’Estello, using the barge as their home in France for a week…

It worked, and I hope you enjoy reading this comment:

‘In a word, it was PERFECTION! Cobie and her team were warm and welcoming from the moment we boarded the barge. The accommodations were excellent and the beds were very comfortable. The food was well prepared, beautifully presented and plentiful. Cobie prepared platters for the children so that each parent could serve their own children, taking into account their likes and dislikes and portion sizes. Adults were served individually.

The sightseeing and biking activities were perfectly tailored, taking into consideration that we had three children between the ages of three and four children ages seven to twelve. Cobie, Nico, her assistant, and Christian, the captain, were always flexible with regard to meal times and sightseeing requests. They even babysat the children for one night when we had an adult dinner at a local restaurant in Arles.

When we left this morning Cobie asked if there was anything that she could have done to make the trip any better. I’m sorry to disappoint her but our trip was 110%! And you can certainly share this email for marketing purposes).

Our family would happily and unconditionally recommend your services and L’Estello with enthusiasm. Good luck with your business and the impending new addition to your family. And a very big “thank you” for arranging this wonderful holiday for us.’

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A good story to tell

L’Etoile collision with Bull

One of our guests reported this very special and exciting event, while cruising with us on L’Etoile.
I wish I had a picture. I don’t, you have to try to picture it yourself!

As we arrived in Aigues Mortes to moor for the night, I saw that a bull was loose and running along the park next to the canal. People were chasing and yelling and the horsemen were running up and down to try and head him off and the bull was darting in and out of traffic and down the side of the hill. The shore had small groups of onlookers cheering and yelling. I watched it with interest, meanwhile checking out our mooring spot.
Suddenly the bull plunged into the canal and began to swim towards L’Etoile. It rammed horns-first right into the side of our barge and tried to swim in front of it. I think I yelled something, because suddenly our guests left their lunch and came on deck to see what was going on. I tried to direct captain Christian to miss the bull. Really, I am born on a barge, have been around on barges for all my life, but being broadsided by a bull, that was another first-one!

This is what our guests reported:
‘The bull climbed up out of the canal into a section of the park that was gated on both ends. That meant that the chasers could not get in unless they climbed over the gate. We watched this spectacle take place over the next half hour from the safety of our barges across the canal. The bull was literally a hundred feet from us. We had a front row seat and took a ton of pics.
The boys chased and taunted the bull and scattered to the trees and up onto walls whenever the bull made to chase them. At one point the bull was taunted, bull-fighter-style, by a young man holding something like a cape. The bull fiercely bobbed its head and horns and stomp its hooves in warning to keep your distance.
The police came. They saw the situation and drove off to find tools to dismantle the gate so they could drive a livestock truck into the area and capture the bull. They finally got the gate open. The horsemen came in first riding their proud, gray Arabians. There were eight of them and another dozen or so chasers. They hemmed and hawed and waited for the truck to arrive. Meanwhile the bull was going back and forth and stomping and bobbing and the chasers were taunting and running away.
Finally the trucks came. There were two. They parked side by side right near the edge by the canal. The horses went around the bull and began to herd him towards the trucks. We took bets as to whom would go into the canal first, the bull, the horsemen, or the chasers. Within a minute, with a lot of yelling and horses chasing, the bull came running up one of the ramps of the truck.
They quickly closed it…and that was that.’

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Happy New Year!

HB Cruises added a new boat and now has a fleet!

The barge L’Estello can accommodate up to 20 passengers in 10 comfortable cabins. Cruising in year 2010 will be mainly in the South of France, the beautiful region of Provence.

This is the perfect boat for family reunions, three-generation parties, meeting up with all your friends, or business meetings!

If you go to http://www.hbcruises.com, you can read all about this new boat, and if you have more questions, feel free to e-mail me on hotelbarges@orange.fr

We look forward to cruising with you on this new boat!

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Children are Welcome on L’Etoile

 

Climbing in Sete

Last summer we cruised several times with children on board. These cruises were delightful and very much appreciated. I so much enjoyed to cruise with these happy families, that I decided to write a special itinerary for families with children. You can check this out on our  cruise itineraries. We already booked our first family cruise 2009!

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Guest-Chefs in Action!

Halfway the cruising week, two chefs decided to cook a meal for everyone, including all five crew, eightteen people in total.

I thought that was a great idea, although the idea of having all guests running around in my barge kitchen was a little scary, but why not…. 

In order to do this meal we suggested to go to the big covered market in Avignon, Les Halles. An amazing place! There are poissonieres (fish mongers), bouchers (butcheries), fruits et legumes (fruits and vegetables), spices and sweets. Also lots of boulangeries and patisseries, of course. They spent a good hour racing around the open market to find the best ingredients. Tour guide Nico had quite a job to keep track of all thirteen people, but he succeeded to come back on the barge with all of them. They even had the time to tour Avignon town, he brought cold bags to store the shopping.

The first idea of the chefs was to prepare a Salad Nicoise with lots of veggies. I think I looked a bit disappointed, because that is something we often eat ourselves for lunch. There was a lot of discussion going on and then this was their proposal:

 

Jay - One of our Guest-Chefs

*As a starter a leek and pear soup, followed by Ceviche (Poisson Citron) from three kinds of fresh fish including a beautiful swordfish, with crudités of assorted veggies, salad and citrus-braised Brussels sprouts.
*As the main course BBQ’d Tuscan Ribeye, on the barbeque, marinated in lots of fresh garlic and a good handful of rosemary (from the barge’s herb garden), a potato dish they had learned from a Tuscany adventure.
*As dessert two large apple and pear galette’s

The guests had to cook in both barge kitchens while cruising. That took some coordination. It was very serious cooking. They made their own chicken stock out of carcasses and a fresh stewing hen (purchased complete with feathered head and feet – luckily, they knew at least how to ask the butcher how to cut the head off!) All fish, meat and vegetables fresh and nicely cooked, the dessert was made from scratch. It took some time to convert the measurements, to find all pots and pans they needed, but it worked! It can give some funny things if you do not speak or read the French language, like trying to beat milk into whipped cream, just fun!

It was the first time guests offered us to make a meal and also the first time I’d ever sat eightteen people for dinner on L’Etoile.

It all was absolutely divine!

We were impressed, a big “thank you” to our guests!

With this group we were able to dine outside, on the sundeck of the barge, the weather was still great, although we cruised in October!

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Greetings to All!

It has been a long, long time ago I wrote something on this blog. I cannot believe, almost another cruising season ending! There are so many stories to tell, I find it difficult where to start. This season I cruised mainly in beautiful Provence and in the natural park of the Camargue and it has been great! The flamingos showed themselves each cruise and several times we were really lucky to see them flying over the barge. One of our guests succeeded to take great pictures, hopefully I will receive them one day, I cannot wait to add them on the web site.

We still have two barge cruises lined up, very special, L’Etoile will cruise in tandem with other barges. Next week we will receive a group of 22 people and the week after 13 people, I will tell you all about it after those weeks! This Sunday we will depart from Avignon and cruise towards Agde on the Canal du Midi. The next week we start our cruise in Marseillan on the Etang du Tau and cruise along the oyster beds towards Beaucaire on the Canal du Rhone a Sete.We are looking forward to these weeks, cruising, special tours on request, it is all possible!

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