Posted July 2007

I had the pleasure of spending a few days in May onboard Le Premier, a 127-foot luxury barge that offers charters along France’s Burgundy Canal. Le Premier is one of perhaps a half-dozen barges in Burgundy and France being run by former yacht crew, in this case Richard Shields and Kathy Williams, a British couple who previously ran the 70-foot sailing yacht Pellele off the coast of Turkey. They organize charters onboard Le Premier the same way they did onboard Pellele, taking a maximum of six guests at a time and providing nearly one-on-one service by their crew.
     In doing so, they have become part of the changing charter market in France’s wine country—a place where historically, barges were crammed with guests and service was so-so, but where today, the marketplace is starting to look more like the higher-caliber yacht charter industry.
    There are three kinds of barges available for charter along the canals that wind through the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions:
     • Houseboats, or self-drive barges, are the equivalent of bareboat yachts. You have no crew at all and do the work of cruising down the canals yourself. Houseboats typically accommodate between two and 12 people a night.
     • Bed-and-breakfasts are just what they sound like, barges that stay in the same place along the canals and offer a place to sleep with a meal in the morning. They typically accommodate between six and 12 people a night.
     • Hotel barges, sometimes called charter barges, are the most comparable to fully crewed private yachts. They  cruise up and down the canals with a crew to take care of six to several dozen guests at a time. The barges that take the fewest number of guests are not necessarily smaller, but are typically more luxurious in terms of service onboard. (Le Premier is a good example, as she is one of the biggest barges in France but takes only six guests each week.)
     The top of the market right now for hotel barges is about $48,000 per week for six to eight people, or about $6,000 per person for the week, according to Isabelle Farion of H2Olidays in St. Jean de Losne, France, a travel agency that specializes in hotel barge charters. Those barges are typically all-inclusive, she says, meaning the only extra expense you should have is the crew gratuity.
     Le Premier is a good example of what you get with these hotel barge all-inclusive rates: Her weekly base rate is $31,400 for six guests and includes pickup at a Paris airport or hotel, first-class high-speed train tickets to Dijon, transfers to the barge, most excursions, three meals daily including a four-course dinner, and a good selection of local wines onboard.
     This is different than most high-end yacht charters, which usually do not include food, wine or train transfers in their base rates. And not all barges in France operate the same way as the handful of hotel barges being run by former yacht crew.
     “You pay for what you get,” is how charter broker Jody Lexow of Newport, Rhode Island, explained it to me when I interviewed her for my book Have the Whole Boat: The Insider’s Guide to Private Yacht Charter Vacations. “That doesn’t mean the less-expensive barges are unacceptable, but you need the broker’s knowledge of each product and where it might fit with each client.”
     Only a handful of reputable charter brokers have good knowledge of France’s barge market, and Lexow is perhaps best-known for her work in the region. My trip onboard Le Premier was organized beautifully by Ann-Wallis White (awwyc@comcast.net), a charter broker based in Annapolis, Maryland, who also keeps a close eye on the evolving wine country options. 
     Having thoroughly enjoyed my few days onboard Le Premier, I’m going to keep an eye on this charter market, too. It has a lot of potential to grow into a proper charter marketplace, especially with barges like Le Premier leading the way in terms of quality construction and crew service.—Kim Kavin