For 2013, European Waterways is highlighting the longer repositioning cruises its canal barges take between destinations.
While the repositionings have always been a part of canal cruising, for the 2013 sailing season European Waterways worked on formalizing some of the repositioning itineraries and highlighting them in more detail in the brochure.
“Our longer cruises really allow passengers to understand in greater depth the whole way the canal network in Europe works, usually linking two major cities along a trading route which often dates back hundreds of years,” Derek Banks, managing director of European Waterways, said in a statement.
Banks provided the example of 13-day canal cruise from Bruges in Belgium to Paris through the Picardy region of northern France. That itinerary is offered on the barges Panache, Savoir Faire and La Nouvelle Etoile.
The Longer Waterway Journeys average between 11 and 13 nights, while standard European Waterways cruises are one week in length. The longer cruises are offered in France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.
There will also be an extra-long late fall cruise, which will be a six-week/1,000-mile cruise from Provence, France, to Holland through several countries and along rivers such as the Rhone, Seine, Moselle and Rhine.