BON VOYAGE!
A DIFFERENT TYPE OF CRUISE
Photos courtesy of Barge Lady Cruises
If the crowds and hustle-and-bustle of traditional cruising aren’ t your speed, consider a smaller, slower-paced luxury barge trip along the canals of Europe.
BY JILL BECKER
There are trips that you enjoy and remember, and then there are trips that make a lasting impression and that you dream about taking again and again. My journey aboard a luxury barge on the canals of France was one such trip. It was decades ago, and despite my notoriously bad memory, I can still remember intimate details about the adventure and, more importantly, all the feels the trip stirred in me.
If you’ ve never heard of canal cruising, aka barge cruising, it’ s similar to river cruising, but it takes place on manmade waterways in countries with a system of canals, like France, Holland, Germany, and Belgium. Canal cruises are typically designed for smaller groups of people, they move at a slower pace, and guests can disembark at their leisure. The accommodations, food, and other amenities are top-notch, and like with luxury river cruises, the fee for a canal cruise is all-inclusive. And just to clarify, the word“ barge” is misleading, as we’ re talking about well-designed, well-kept ships that are equipped with everything from hot tubs and hair dryers to skylights and sun decks.
I actually took two canal cruises back-to-back, both of which were arranged through a family-owned company out of Chicago called Barge Lady Cruises. They’ ve been around for more than 30 years and are experts at helping you plan your dream canal cruise,
16 | NW GEORGIA LIVING JULY / AUGUST 2025