River levels on the Seine
I have approximately 5 weeks until the start of our Tour "Impressions from the Seine: Paris to Normandy". I am a member of a Facebook group called "Les Frenchies-Paris Travel Tips (which is a great site for all things pertaining to Paris and surrounding areas) and there have been a few recent posts as of a couple of days ago that the water levels on the Seine in Paris are high and several of the Seine dinner cruise reservations are being canceled as the water is too high for the boats to pass under the bridges. The owner of Les Frenchies website stated that this is not always unusual for this time of year but is most likely due to the current daily rains. He stated the water levels should start receding in about 2-3 weeks. Let's hope so. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the waters will recede by the time our boat departs Paris.
Anyway, I just wanted to post a couple of interesting website links which monitor the current water flow levels for all of you "nerds" out there. The main web site: "French Waterways" https://www.french-waterways.com/practicalities/cruising-conditions/ has all kinds of different information and it references a link to https://www.vigicrues.gouv.fr/ which has a great interactive ability to see the various trouble areas along all the rivers in France. As of today, parts of the Seine from Paris to Rouen are coded yellow which states "risk of flood overflow".
As a side note, I received a package from Tauck yesterday that contained a lovely little wallet with a 10 Euro note tucked inside which included a little note to enjoy your first refreshment ashore on us. I know there has been a previously posted discussion about people receiving various little gifts prior to their upcoming trips, but I think it is a nice gesture on behalf of Tauck. This is the first time I have ever received a little gift from Tauck and I have traveled with them on a few trips since 2002. It appears to be something new that Tauck has initiated. I like it.
Comments
Has anyone received a lagniappe before a US/Canada trip?
Travel Maven - thx for this info. I just read your reviews of the Impressions tour; I was disappointed to see that you had to dock outside Paris. We’re doing the Rendezvous trip in June and have booked a nighttime tour of the Eiffel Tower after dinner on day 2, Tauck has told me several times that there is no issue with doing that. We don’t have to pay until 2 days prior, so I’ll monitor the websites you referenced and cancel if we need to. I just checked and the rivers are in green now.
BTW, RDU is our airport as well. So easy, especially Global Entry on the return.
Mfrancis: Yes, I was monitoring the rivers the last month prior to our trip and about a week prior, everything looked green and then Paris had alot of rain everyday and everything was back to yellow again right before we had to leave. I hope everything goes well for you. April is usually a very rainy month, but we haven't had issues in the past on 3 previous river cruises as we always book our trips in April. I think you will be ok in June. I am already missing my daily croissants and cappuccino. I bought some Pillsbury Crescent rolls yesterday to easy me thru my withdrawal and I will have to dust off my cappuccino machine, the one on the boat was so nice and easy, just press one button and you are good to go. We are easing back slowly to our daily routine, but it is so hard to start cooking again. We got very spoiled on the River Boat. LOL.
Speaking of RDU, Delta used to fly the small, old 767-300s on the RDU to CDG flight, but last Spring we were on the much nicer A330-300. I hope the change is permanent. When flying to Europe we often fly to JFK or Atlanta first to avoid a stop at CDG, however.
Another bit of info for those who regularly fly out of RDU- you can get a non-stop flight from RDU to Iceland on Icelandair. We'll be doing that in 2025.
NOTE: Icelandair's business class is like domestic first class. No lie flat seats. For the cost savings, and shortness of a direct flight it is very acceptable. We flew Icelandair non-stop from Seattle when we did our Iceland tour. Plus the lounge in Reykjavik was decent, it case you want to use it prior to your return flight.
Alan: When Air France changed our flight from the Boeing 787-9 to an Airbus A350-900, I was very happy, especially with all the latest issues with Boeing airplanes. It looked newer and better than the Boeing Dreamliner, but alas the aircraft was changed back to the 787-9. The plane was fine but is showing its age. The passenger seated in front of me had a seat that would not respond to the control and the Steward said he would need to report it. On my trip to Lisbon last April from Newark, the entertainment system on the United Airlines Dreamliner was not working for my seat. I don't know why Delta's site showed us flying on an Embraer 175, that was hilarious! Perhaps it was a placeholder, I don't think Delta has Dreamliners from Raleigh.
Good to know about Raleigh having a direct flight from RDU to Iceland. That may be the next Country that we fly to.
The EMB 175 had to have been a placeholder, unless it planned to stop for fuel mid-Atlantic!
In the fall, instead of flying out of RDU to the west coast and continuing on to Hawaii in Delta domestic first class, we are first flying to ATL. From there we will be on a non-stop DeltaOne flight to Hawaii that bypasses all west coast airports AND uses an A330-300 with lay-flat seats in business. My wife doesn't care for flying so I sometimes go to extremes to arrange the best flights.
The tour ends in Maui and although we could fly home from there on a single Delta ticket, it is actually cheaper and better for us to fly Hawaiian Air to Honolulu first then non-stop to ATL on Delta with lay-flat business seats- the reverse of our outbound routing. To do this and also more efficiently use a few Skymiles, we will be on 3 separate tickets, 2 Delta (RDU - ATL - RDU and ATL - HNL - ATL) and 1 Hawaiian (OGG - HNL), however.
It is still 21 weeks away, but needless to say, I check on the bookings every week or so. So far so good!
Now, if I could only shorten the two hour drive from E.NC to RDU!
Alan: I agree. I love RDU but it is a 2 1/2 - 3 hr drive (depending on traffic) for us from Western NC. However, it is better than having to do a layover in another City. Works for me. As a side note I checked out the Tauck tour to Iceland. Holy cow, the prices sure have gone up. For 2025, it lists the price from 10K (rounded up), but when you open the individual cabin section, the prices start at $13K pp (rounded up). That is a lot of money for just 8 days plus the additional cost for airfare. I will have to look into alternatives.
We’re 90 minutes from RDU and use it more often than Wilmington. I like the direct flight to Heathrow as well, we’re American Airlines people. Quite often it’s significantly cheaper to overnight at LHR on the return and get that direct morning flight.
When I first looked several months ago I thought the website prices were screwy, too. They still are. I just looked and the tour page banner for 2025 still says "From $9,990." "Pricing and Availability" shows $9,990 (and all dates "Available"). However, when you expand a date to see cabin categories the lowest price shown is $12,990! (all dates and cabins show "Limited Availability!"). Anyway, we paid our deposit on 30 Jan 2024 and our Financial Summary says we will be paying $9,990.00 each for a lower tier, Deluxe Stateroom on Deck 3. The Tauck website also says we are on Le Champlain but the Financial Summary says Le Bellot. It is one of the two newest of Ponant's six "Explorer" class vessels and was delivered in Mar 2020.
You really can't tell from the website, but you might give Tauck a call about availability the CORRECT pricing!