The Barge Lady

To give anyone that’s reading this review some frame of reference, my wife and I are in our early 30s (yes, you read that correctly), and we started our cruising career on then RCCL’s Sovereign of the Seas, and have done 9 «traditional» ocean cruises with RCCL, Disney (actually sort of fun), Carnival (not repeatable), and most recently in February of 2014 — we got married on St. Thomas while cruising with Celebrity.
In December of 2012, we took a diametric route and embarked on our first river cruise with Viking to see the Christmas Markets along the Rhine River. We had a fantastic time, and as we began to plan our honeymoon in recent months — we didn’t want to exclude any options that might be viable, even if they weren’t what we were used to.
I initially came across Barge Lady Cruises as a result of perusing (the literal sense of the word) the Small Ship Cruises website. After finding several viable options for barge cruises, I cross referenced the names of the vessels with companies that specialized in barge cruising. I selected BLG because the company’s website was simple but functional, and more importantly — they’re located in Chicago and I knew that if things went sideways, I could always go to them in person. A review follows, below:
Website: 4.5 out of 5
As alluded to earlier, a simple, clean, and functional website that’s easy to navigate and read. For those of you used to traditional online booking, you won’t find it on this site or others because BLG is simply a facilitator for the booking on the vessel of your choice. Think of BLG as a niche travel agent for barge cruising, similar to how MLS works for the real estate market. One can narrow the cruise search function by price, destination, and capacity. As an alternative, you can always just slowly take your time to look at all of the itineraries that are offered. There are no annoying pop ups, no in your face features, and the contact information is prominently displayed.
Customer Service for Planning: 5 out of 5
This is likely a result of the fact that BLG doesn’t get inundated with calls or e-​mails in the same way that a large® company might, but Ellen responded to be within 4 hours of my first e-​mail. Each subsequent e-​mail from all of BLG’s staff were professional, timely, and courteous. I had a question at 9pm one day for them, and Karen responded within 5 minutes via personal e-​mail. Another example of their great customer service arose when my banks had a little mixup of a scheduled transfer (more on the benefits of paying with check in a moment) and I needed an extra day before I could be assured that my payment could go through. I e-​mailed my request in, and the answer was the same from each person: «Sure, Andy, just let us know when we can deposit your check.» The follow up from them on boarding documents was prompt as well. Notably, BLG also offers the option to assist with pre cruise planning, e.g., hotel stays and train tickets, as applicable. Since I don’t need too much hand holding, my interaction with them on these fronts consisted of «Hey, this is what we’re planning on doing, is this ok?» to which they responded with an affirmative or with a beneficial suggestion. I can’t say enough good things about the customer service.
Selection of Itineraries: 5 out of 5 (for France)
Yes, I understand that barge cruising is possible in more places that France, but if you take a look at the itineraries offered by BLG, 91% of the itineraries are located somewhere in France. You have option to do private charters for groups as small as 2 — 4 people, and you also have the option to book a vessel that can accommodate ~20 people. Prices range pp from around 3500 on the lower end to 6500+ on the upper end. Wine lovers rejoice, and non wine lovers be wary… because many of the cruises that are offered in France go through one if the country’s many famous wine regions/​styles.
Value: 4 out of 5
It’s hard to give BLG a really objective rating on the value that they offer. For one — there’s not a real way that I can ground truth the prices offered by any of these companies for a specific vessel, right? Take for example a cruise on a traditional ocean liner. I can go to the company’s website and say, «Hey, they’re putting these on sale for 750pp» and then cross reference those with travel agency websites. Because barge cruising seems to be very niche, the only way that my perception of «value» can be swayed is if I look at what BLG’s competitors are doing, and from what I can tell — each of their US competitors offered the same sailing on the same date for a price that was within +/​-​50 $ pp. A 5% discount was offered if we paid via cash/​MO/​check, which is not inconsequential.
Overall: 5 out of 5 (for now)
I’ll update this review after we return from our sailing in August.