CroisiEurope weighs anchor! After staying at the quay for four months, the Botticelli, moored at the port of Grenelle (15th century), opposite the Maison de la Radio, will cast off in the evening of Monday with 110 German tourists on board for a one-day cruise. week on the Seine, from Paris to Honfleur (8 days and 7 nights from 981 euros), to discover, over the water, Giverny, landscapes immortalized by the impressionist painters or even the landing beaches . The Renoir and Seine Princess, two other vessels chartered by Europe's number one in river tourism, will head for Normandy in their turn in the coming days.
Very strict hygiene measures
This Sunday, the staff of Botticelli is already on deck. The last cabins are being disinfected. The dispensers of hydroalcoholic gel filled. The refurbished dining room and bar. The chef and his two clerks are already in the kitchen. It remains to receive the last deliveries.
"We have defined, in partnership with the Veritas office and the Ministry of Transport, a health protocol and hygiene measures to ensure the health security of passengers while preserving the magic and the pleasure of this cruise", explains the purser, Julie Scheyder.
They housed caregivers during the pandemic
The Diamond Princess' nightmare in Japan is still on the mind. The crew of 25 people was trained in barrier gestures. Wearing of the compulsory mask (except in the dining room, the bar and in the cabin) disinfection of the boat with appropriate bactericidal products, refitting of the dining room and the bar to respect the rules of distancing, possibility of a double service at table and D-day, temperature reading of passengers before boarding and disinfection of baggage.
These instructions, Julie Scheyder has assimilated them perfectly during the last four months. She welcomed aboard the Botticelli about twenty nurses and nursing assistants from Georges Pompidou and neighboring hospitals, between March 26 and May 29. “Some lived 50 to 150 kilometers from their place of work. They did not return home during this period so as not to contaminate their family, ”says the young woman in charge of hotel management, catering and excursions.
With 50 boats around the world and 1,500 employees, the company offered carers and board and lodging free of charge.
Stopped for four months, the specialist in river cruises is one of the very first to resume navigation since the ban on passenger transport by inland waterways was lifted this Saturday. "By mid-August, says one of the officials, cruises on the five rivers crossing France will have resumed."
75% filling rate
If the family business founded by Gérard Schmitter must make a cross on the American and Asian clientele for which the European borders are closed, it hopes to attract tourists from the old continent, French in mind but also English, Germans, Spaniards, Dutch and Scandinavians … “We have a 75% occupancy rate. It is very encouraging for a restart after four months of shutdown. It is not the gold rush like last year but the resumption of activity is fairly sustained, ”said Louis Espadale, chief operating officer.