"Carefully created cruises, just for you"™

Cruise with Emma

Hi, I’m Emma James-Aldridge, and my company is dedicated to organising hotel barge and self-drive boat cruises on the inland waterways, canals and rivers of France, other European countries and Canada, for clients from across the globe. If you're a family, group of friends, couples or individuals, I have the perfect cruise for you.

Why choose us
Self-drivesHotel barges

Our clients have awarded Hotels Afloat
★★★★★ (4.9) stars

Discover the best cruise routes

Top cruise destinations

Camargue

Camargue

France

Bodrag River

Bodrag River

Hungary

Shannon

Shannon

Ireland

Charente

Charente

France

A selection of hotel barge cruises

Check out the best deals

Last-minute
Save 20%
L'Impressionniste barge cruise

L'Impressionniste

Burgundy Canal
12 guests
★★★★★
France
Burgundy Canal
La Vie en Rose barge cruise

La Vie en Rose

Burgundy
6 guests
★★★★
France
Saône Valley
Central Canal
Saraphina barge cruise

Saraphina

Midi Canal
4 guests
★★★★
France
Canal du Midi
Best price!
Grand Victoria barge cruise

Grand Victoria

River Saône
6 guests
★★★★★★
France
Saône Valley
Central Canal
River Rhone
Nymphea barge cruise

Nymphea

Brittany
6 guests
★★★★
France
Brittany
Last-minute
Magna Carta barge cruise

Magna Carta

Tested by Jane McDonald
8 guests
★★★★★
England
River Thames
Last-minute
Save 10%
Athos barge cruise

Athos

Midi Canal
10 guests
★★★★
France
Canal du Midi
Camargue
Last-minute
Save 20%
Renaissance barge cruise

Renaissance

Loire Valley
8 guests
★★★★★★
France
Loire Valley

A selection of self-drive boat rentals

Discover the offers and discounts

The price shown is based on a 7-day cruise and indicates the lowest starting price, and excluding any special offer or discount.

Vision 4 Self-drive rental boat

Vision 4

9 guests maximum
4 cabins
Ideal for 8 adults
4 bathrooms
Comfort
From 1279€/7 nights
Terrasse P.1120R Self-drive rental boat

Pénichette Comfort 4 to 6 people

Terrasse P.1120R

6 guests maximum
2 cabins
Ideal for 4 adults
2 bathrooms
★★★
From 1281€/7 nights
N QUATTRO S Self-drive rental boat

Cruiser Premium 4 to 6 people

N QUATTRO S

6 guests maximum
2 cabins
Ideal for 2 adults
and 2 children
1 bathroom
★★★★
From 2059€/7 nights
N800 Self-drive rental boat

Cruiser Classic 2 to 3 people

N800

3 guests maximum
1 cabin
Ideal for 2 adults
1 bathroom
★★
From 712€/7 nights
Royal Classique Self-drive rental boat

Royal Classique

6 guests maximum
3 cabins
Ideal for 6 adults
3 bathrooms
Comfort
From 1319€/7 nights
Consul Self-drive rental boat

Consul

4 guests maximum
2 cabins
Ideal for 2 adults
and 2 children
2 bathrooms
Value
From 859€/7 nights
Haines Rive 34 Self-drive rental boat

Haines Rive 34

6 guests maximum
2 cabins
Ideal for 4 adults
and 2 children
2 bathrooms
★★★
From 1457€/7 nights
Classic P.1107W Self-drive rental boat

Pénichette Classic 4 to 7 people

Classic P.1107W

7 guests maximum
3 cabins
Ideal for 4 adults
and 1 child
1 bathroom
★★
From 1246€/7 nights

Testimonials

Guests have said...

Meant to email sooner but got distracted— just wanted to say again that we had a wonderful time on the Aurora. Thank you so much for alerting us to...

Thank you Sandrine, Maxime. We leave the boat with fond memories. I forgot to mention. a new name for your barge, "the House of Happiness"

We had a lovely time, Emma. Thanks for all your help with making it so.

We had an amazing week with Linzi, Simon and Richard on the Savoir Vivre. Celebrated my 70th birthday on the barge cruise and want to thank all of...

We booked a Penichette 935W but we were upgraded. The boat was wonderful & we had plenty of room.
I rate this boat a 9/10 - as great!
Canal...

All 7 of us thank you very much for arranging our houseboat holiday on the Bourgogne canal, especially the 1300 boat - it was real luxury and we...

We especially liked Savoir Vivre because they arranged dinner at local restaurants rather than all meals on board as the other Burgundy barges had....

The Linssen 32 was new and clean. I'd rate it 10/10
We preferred the southern half of the Midi cruise.
I heard about Hotels Afloat from a family...

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