About Us

 

Company information

Our company was started in 1998 to specialize in European barge and river cruise products. We represent most of these European companies that sell these products.

Europeanbarging, is an ARC accredited company located in Spring, Texas, a suburban area north of Houston, Texas.

 

Our products

We have products that include luxury barge and river cruises, casual bike and barge cruises, and small ship cruising.

Our river cruises (from 3 - 21 days) include the Rhine, Mosel, Neckar, Elbe, Main-Danube in Germany, the Danube river running through central Europe through Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Romania, the Seine, Bordeaux, and Rhone in France, the Po River in Italy, the Douro in Portugal, and the Guadalquivir in Spain.

Our barges are cruising almost all areas of France, including Burgundy, Chablis, Alsace, Loire, Provence, Canal du Midi, and Bordeaux, as well as in Holland and Belgium, the Thames River in England, the Shannon River in Ireland, the Caledonia Canal in Scotland, Venice Lagoon in Italy, and the Mosel in Germany

Experience

We visit Europe at least twice a year to sail on these vessels and inspect them thoroughly. We are in touch with the owners who keep us updated on improvements to their barges, changes in itineraries, and events such as water levels, weather, and travel advisories, etc., to make sure our clients have a good experience.

We took our first barge cruise on the Continental Waterways Chanterelle barge in the late 1990s and were hooked on barging. Our first river cruise was a 5-night Seine River cruise with Croisi in 2003.

Through the years, we have enjoyed meeting the different barge and river cruise captains and visiting their cruising areas. The captains/barge owners and staff often have such fascinating life experiences, and how they came to be involved with this industry.

In 2004, we were invited to a Waterways Symposium in Belgium. We were not exactly sure what the conference was about, but we were honored with the invitation. This conference had representatives from most European countries and was designed to figure out how to clean up the waterways of Europe and how to bring canal cruising to new areas. One discussion was a company looking to bring barge cruising to the Danube Delta, south of Budapest. This conference and meeting with so many people involved in the canals really gave us a bigger overview of canal cruising.

Many of the chefs on the barges have trained in Michelin Restaurants. One chef was actually a personal chef to a famous singer when she was in Europe. The food was always excellent. I happen to be a vegetarian, and the chefs were always making me special meals - never putting less thought into my meals than the complex regular meals.

Most barge owners are French or British, but there are a couple from the US. One such couple from the Cest le Vie, we were surprised to find they were from our own town near Houston, Texas. We got to experience their barge, and it was a great cruise. The barge was originally built as a private barge for a family, so there is a lot of storage and great decor.

 

Shortly after our first barge cruise, we experienced our first river cruise on the Seine River. At that time, Croisi Europe was expanding into the US market. The cruise line was French and English speaking, and we did not speak any French. at that time, we and a representative from Air France were the only English-speaking guests. Since then, Croisi Europe has grown a lot in the US market with their affordable barge and river cruise as well as offering short river cruise itineraries to many different waterways - such as the Loire Valley and Elbe River by paddleboat.

A year after our Croisi river cruise, we had our first experience with the German/English language cruise line A-ROSA. Again, we spoke no German. A-ROSA was different from Croisi as the food service was food stations, and they have a full spa facility on almost all of their ships. They, too, have grown over the last twenty years with the American market. As well as offering short river cruise itineraries, A-ROSA is popular for offering children 15 and under cruise free on the lower deck of the different ships. Their newest ship - the Sena, has family cabins that can hold 2 adults and up to 3 children under 15 can cruise free.

In the early 2000's we started working with AmaWaterways after the Peter Deilmann line closed. This is an English language cruise line that is pretty much all-inclusive except for gratuities. They offer a wide range of excursions - multi-choice in most ports and many themed itineraries. Multi-choice seated meals, wine and beer with dinner, a 1-hour happy hour each day before dinner, Wi-Fi, and bike (including e-bikes) for independent cycling. One of the themed cruises is wine-hosted cruises. We have been hosting several cruises with wineries located in Texas for over 7 years.

We have experienced many other river cruise lines, and have booked guests on them, but the above 3 river cruise lines, we enjoy working with and they are often very accommodating when special needs or requests arise.

 

 

Contact information

Europeanbarging 330 Rayford Rd suite 704 Spring, Texas 77386
Telephone: 713-240-6753 fax 281-419-3920 Toll free 1-888-869-7907
Email: jan@europeanbarging.com