Rare notamermaid Posted July 2 #1 Share Posted July 2 (edited) This river in the North of France has seen river cruise ships in the past and is not an unknown entity for commercial traffic at all. But this quiet landscape is not well known for river tourism as the Oise and the canal connecting the Dutch lands and the Scheldt river with the Seine is a combined waterway that is small compared to other rivers of Europe. Part of the network of French waterways it is not navigable for large barges or modern river cruise ships. The ships with cabins that sail are little bigger than barges, i.e. they are the types that are used for bike & barge tours. Some years ago the plan to modernize the waterway connecting Amsterdam with Brussels and the Seine was approved and work started last year. This a cut-out from the waterways map, showing the section next to the orange number II and the river Somme which is in broken line. That is the altered river and new canal section: The orange II is the class of waterway - too small for large transport. There are restrictions as regards draft and headroom - part of the problem. This the project and the article proudly announcing that work has started: https://seine-scheldt.eu/en/seine-nord-europe-canal-first-diggings-in-the-oise/ notamermaid Edited July 2 by notamermaid clarification 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nippy Sweetie Posted July 3 #2 Share Posted July 3 Interesting. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 3 Author #3 Share Posted July 3 So which river cruise ships - former barges - sail the Oise? This is one, the MS Fluvius: https://www.dutchcruiseline.nl/en/rivercruiseship/ms-fluvius/a100a71a-1379-4ff5-8c72-30b4ce3d4be6 I have written a little about small ships here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2535554-want-to-go-beyond-the-standard-rivers-of-europe-and-scenery-downsize/page/2/ River cruising has always been a by-product of commercial traffic but these are modern times so as the French decided to have a "new" waterway they this time have decided to make this attractive for tourism from the start. This is the website of the tourism initiative: https://oiseriverside.com/en/potential/ I mean, which river cruise company would not like to be the first to sail on this new/altered waterway with a splendid big ship? notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlantaCruiser72 Posted July 4 #4 Share Posted July 4 I would venture that Viking might be an early entrant into this market, potentially building 2-4 more ships of their Seine River fleet (smaller than the Longships) to offer Paris/Amsterdam cruises which would sell very well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 4 Author #5 Share Posted July 4 I agree, sounds exactly the sort of thing Viking might do. The Seine ships are 125m long, for those not having looked into this: the standard is 135m, the Elbe has much smaller Viking ships due to the nature of the river, the Seine ships Viking decided to built that size after the authorities refused permission to dock in Paris at the dock that CroisiEurope for example uses as it was not deemed safe to turn the 135m ships in the area. CroisiEurope's ships are 110m long. But speaking of which - we should have a look at CroisiEurope in this topic. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CielBleu Posted July 5 #6 Share Posted July 5 CroisiEurope has a barge cruise on the Oise, possibly a more southern route than what is detailed above. I think it visits Auvers-sur-Oise, Chantilly, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 5 Author #7 Share Posted July 5 4 hours ago, CielBleu said: CroisiEurope has a barge cruise on the Oise, possibly a more southern route than what is detailed above. I think it visits Auvers-sur-Oise, Chantilly, etc. Thank you. Yes, that is exactly what I was hinting at. They use their purpose-built modern barge MS Raymond. A trip on the Seine and Oise: https://www.croisieurope.travel/en/destination/the-oise-valley notamermaid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 5 Author #8 Share Posted July 5 What intrigued me about the itinerary of the MS Fluvius - and is also a stop/visit on the itinerary of the MS Raymond - is the Chateau Chantilly. I recognized it as "the one of the crème". So I had a closer look... https://www.chantilly-senlis-tourisme.com/en/the-destination/creme-chantilly-et-cotignac-des-arenes/ I mean, Versailles is nice and all that I assume, never been. But this is what I really would like to see. And on that route is Compiègne where history was written. Would like to see this place. With all that history the big question is why river cruise ships do not have a detour onto the Oise up to Compiègne and then sail back onto the Seine. Have they ever done? I see the first locks are big enough, the space for small* river cruise ships is there (5.25m headroom, 2.5m depth of channel) and as we have seen there has been commercial traffic for a long time. I could not find a particularly low bridge either. I wonder what I am missing. *like 105m by 9.5m with only two passenger cabin levels notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted July 6 #9 Share Posted July 6 Chantilly was to be a highlight of our Scenic Seine cruise, but it was closed that day because they were filming a new Three Musketeers movie. Hopefully they aren't working on a sequel yet... [Scenic substituted the gardens of Versailles, which was a good backup but wouldn't work as well from the barge location.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 6 Author #10 Share Posted July 6 (edited) 7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said: Chantilly was to be a highlight of our Scenic Seine cruise, but it was closed that day because they were filming a new Three Musketeers movie. Hopefully they aren't working on a sequel yet... [Scenic substituted the gardens of Versailles, which was a good backup but wouldn't work as well from the barge location.] Sorry that you missed that. What a great excursion with Scenic, easily doable from Conflans Saint Honorine (confluence of the Oise with the Seine). It says online that they filmed until June 2022, back to back, i.e. the sequel* is already done. 😊 A French-European production. *technically this may be more of a two-part saga notamermaid Edited July 6 by notamermaid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Host Jazzbeau Posted July 6 #11 Share Posted July 6 7 hours ago, notamermaid said: Sorry that you missed that. What a great excursion with Scenic, easily doable from Conflans Saint Honorine (confluence of the Oise with the Seine). It says online that they filmed until June 2022, back to back, i.e. the sequel* is already done. 😊 A French-European production. *technically this may be more of a two-part saga notamermaid Thanks for finding the film info. Seems to have gotten good reviews (rotten tomatoes 98% for part 1), but our local library system doesn't own the DVDs. I am reading the ongoing new translation of the Dumas series, and since it will be published as 9 books running from D'Artagnon's entry to The Man in the Iron Mask there's still room for many more sequels... But I will get to Chantilly some day – and I will sing a tribute to The Big Bopper! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 6 Author #12 Share Posted July 6 5 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said: I am reading the ongoing new translation of the Dumas series, and since it will be published as 9 books running from D'Artagnon's entry to The Man in the Iron Mask there's still room for many more sequels... Reading all those, now that is determination. The adaptation with Michael York is ingrained in my childhood/teenage memories. I am tempted to watch this modern adaptation in the original French, I would understand little, but quite frankly with all those costumes and historical backdrops the visual delight may make up for the "I get very little of the plot" problem. I think one little place on the Oise is frequently visited on excursions - Auvers-sur-Oise. Has something to do with guys thinking "hey, I like that, will paint it". Especially Vincent van Gogh. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canal archive Posted July 7 #13 Share Posted July 7 I dragged my DH kicking and screaming to Auvers on our first Seine cruise but he eventually did appreciate it. It’s a moving experience to walk up to Vincent and his brother’s grave site. Now I’ve completed two Van Gogh experiences with Scenic Auvers and Arles well worth it to respect such an amazing artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canal archive Posted July 7 #14 Share Posted July 7 Being closely connected to one of our inland waterways reading about the new routes in Europe is music to my ears. I suspect we’re to small an island for this to happen but I say go for it expand the waterways - well it is the green way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 7 Author #15 Share Posted July 7 As a side note - part of the promotion is to take loads off the roads onto barges and statistics in general prove people right in that. The French decide to built a "giant new" canal in the countryside (I guess with a few complaints) and the Germans struggle to agree that 20cm more depth in the Middle Rhine valley would take loads of load and strain off the roads in the area in low water and be good for business. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare notamermaid Posted July 7 Author #16 Share Posted July 7 Just to give all this a bit more context and detail on a map, here is the screenshot taken from marinetraffic.com some minutes before writing this post: The meandering Seine is showing the SS Joie de Vivre sailing downstream. The Jane Austen is docked at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. The name Conflans says it - the confluence. You can see all the different coloured dots at the harbour areas of the town both on the Seine and "round the corner" on the Oise. Apparently some of these have permanent berths as converted floating homes/house boats. Further up on the Oise we see more green dots (barges). On the Seine sailing downstream some distance before the confluence is the Zwaantje. This is a passenger ship and indeed one with cabins (signal is from earlier today, so fainter it its colour). She is one of the few converted barges than can and do sail up the Oise and through the canals all the way to the Scheldt and the Rhine river basin. notamermaid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now