First look: Inside the new floating boutique hotel taking wine lovers to Bordeaux vineyards

Editor’s note: TPG’s Gene Sloan accepted a free trip from Avalon Waterways to get an early look at its new France itinerary. The opinions expressed below are entirely his and weren’t subject to review by the line.

Looking for an intimate and elegant place to stay in the heart of France’s Bordeaux wine region? There’s a new option as of this week — one with a twist.

Avalon Artistry II is a 64-room boutique property and river ship that will move with you as you tour the area’s many famed wineries, known as “chateaux,” and historic sites.

Operated by well-known river cruise company Avalon Waterways, the small vessel will be based along the riverfront of the city of Bordeaux starting Tuesday for weeklong voyages on the Garonne and Dordogne rivers.

The twin waterways meander through the core of the vineyard-lined Bordeaux region, offering easy access to some of the world’s best-known wineries and wine towns, including Saint-Emilion — the UNESCO World Heritage Site-listed medieval village at the center of the Bordeaux region’s Saint-Emilion wine area.

Originally designed to sail on Europe’s Rhine River, Avalon Artistry II isn’t newly built. It was launched on the Rhine in 2013 and sailed in Central Europe for the past 12 years. But it’s new to the Bordeaux region as of this month, and it underwent a major makeover in advance of its redeployment.

TPG got a sneak peek at this makeover during a preview sailing for media and travel agents. Here is a first look at the vessel’s new design and what you can expect on board if you book a stay.

Stylish lounges

As is typical for small river ships that sail in Europe, Avalon Artistry II has just a handful of public areas — nearly all of which were revamped in a big way during the ship’s makeover.

The ship’s main lounge (called the Panorama Lounge) at the front of the vessel has always been a spacious, light-filled space with walls of glass that offer stunning views of the passing scenery. But now it features all-new decor with stylish contemporary furniture and flooring.

Serving as the main gathering spot for passengers on the ship during the day and into the night (you might just call it the ship’s living room), the Panorama Lounge is lined on its right side (when facing the front of the ship) with cozy seating clusters, perfect for a predinner drink with new friends.

On the left side of the room, a semicircular bar and groups of tables and chairs offer additional seating, with a small dance floor between the two areas that can come alive at night.

The Panorama Lounge often hosts live music at night, and there’s a dedicated space for performers with a permanently placed piano and soundboard just off the dance floor.

There are more lounge chairs toward the front of the room, and there’s an area of tables and chairs that morphs into a casual secondary eatery called the Panorama Bistro for lunch and dinner. (See below for more information on the ship’s main eatery.)

Notably, there is enough seating in the Panorama Lounge to hold all Avalon Artistry II passengers at once, even when every room on the ship is full — something that isn’t true for all river ships.

Just in front of the Panorama Lounge, at the very front of the ship, is a forward-facing outdoor seating area with one of the best views on the ship. As part of the ship’s makeover, it received new table-and-chair sets where passengers can take their bistro lunch outdoors on sunny days.

Also getting an overhaul during the ship’s makeover was the back-of-the-vessel Club Lounge, a smaller lounge space with a 24-hour self-serve beverage station offering complimentary espresso drinks, hot chocolate and teas. Cookies and other snacks also are available throughout the day.

If the Panorama Lounge is the ship’s living room, the Club Lounge is its family room — a laid-back and usually quiet space where you’ll find a small library of books and games for group play, such as Apples to Apples and Scattergories.

Eateries

As noted above, a small secondary eatery called the Panorama Bistro opens during lunchtime and dinnertime in the ship’s main lounge. But the main eatery on the ship, where passengers go for most meals, is the Panorama Dining Room at the front of the ship below the Panorama Lounge.

The restaurant is filled with light thanks to walls of windows along its sides. It offers buffet breakfasts and lunches augmented with table-served options (you can order eggs Benedict in the morning, for instance, and burgers at lunchtime from your waiter). There’s a more formal, four-course, table-served dinner every night.

One notable feature of the Panorama Dining Room is that it offers many two-person tables, so single travelers and couples never have to sit with strangers if they don’t want to — something that isn’t always the case on river ships. That said, the seating is arranged in a way that allows for these tables of two to be pushed together into bigger units to allow for larger groups.

There also are set tables for four and six in the room.

With its move to the Bordeaux region, Avalon Artistry II will also offer more light alfresco lunches on its top deck, known as the Sky Deck, where a new Sky Bistro area has been configured just behind the vessel’s bridge.

The Sky Deck also features a new seating area at its front, which was originally used to store bicycles for passenger use. An all-new fleet of bikes now sits in an area farther back on the top deck.

Cabins and suites

Cabins and suites on Avalon Artistry II received a light refresh in advance of the ship’s move to Bordeaux, including all-new mattresses.

Like the cabins and suites on all 16 vessels currently in the Avalon fleet, these rooms were already among the highest-rated in river cruising. In fact, TPG has called Avalon’s standard cabin the best in river cruising.

Avalon Artistry II is part of Avalon’s Suite Class of ships — known for their large number of extra-wide cabins called Panorama Suites. These suites provide a more panoramic view of passing scenery than the standard rooms you’ll find on many other river ships.

Avalon Artistry II has 50 of these Panorama Suites, which offer 200 square feet of living space. That’s about 30% more square footage than the standard river ship cabin.

The suites make up nearly 80% of the cabins on the ship and have several unusual features. Among them are floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall panoramic windows that stretch 11 feet wide and open up 7 feet wide.

Two even larger suites on the vessel, called Royal Suites, are 50% bigger than the ship’s Panorama Suites at 300 square feet, and they boast an even wider wall of glass.

Perhaps the most notable feature of all these suites is that the beds are configured to face the view — something that is rare in river cruising. Most river ship cabins are designed with sideways beds facing an interior wall.

All the Panorama and Royal suites also have small seating areas next to the walls of glass. When you slide the glass wall open and relax in the seating area at the edge of the now-open wall, you get the feeling of being on a balcony.

It’s an “open-air balcony,” as Avalon calls it.

Another standout feature: The ship’s Panorama Suite cabins have larger-than-normal showers. The size is made possible by a slight outward angling of one of the walls of the bathroom, just enough to create a wider space for the shower.

The wall angled outward is shared with the bedroom area, and it cuts into the space available on the side of the bed in the bedroom area farthest from the door. But it’s a reallocation of space that really isn’t noticeable to someone on the bedroom side of the wall.

An updated fitness room

In addition to other revamped areas, travelers booking a trip on Avalon Artistry II this year will find an updated fitness room.

The biggest change to the small space, which has a running machine and sit-down bicycle, is the addition of a Speediance Gym Monster, an all-in-one training machine that allows users to do a wide range of exercises.

Bottom line

The river ship Avalon Artistry II is the newest option for a multiday stay in France’s Bordeaux wine region. It offers all the onboard comforts of a small boutique hotel while moving you from place to place while you sleep.

While not newly built, the 64-room vessel — the first that Avalon has based in the Bordeaux region — underwent a major overhaul before its redeployment to the area from Central Europe, which has left it looking almost like new.

As is always the case for travelers who book trips with Avalon Waterways, a stay on Avalon Artistry II comes with more than just your lodging. Sold as seven-night trips, the Bordeaux voyages that Avalon is launching this week also include all meals, most drinks and, perhaps most notably, a wide range of guided tour options for every day you’re on board. All of this is included in the fare.

For someone looking for an intimate and elegant option for a weeklong stay in the Bordeaux region that includes visits to the area’s famed wineries and other sites, it’s a great new choice.

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