1726-S.S. Catherine – FR – Where In The World Is Scott?

The S.S. Catherine is a 450 foot luxury river cruiser housing 159 passengers. Our room was spacious with the entire wall a window on to the river. The staff was wonderful and the food was excellent.

The ship is designed to ply the rivers of France. As you can see from the photos, the boat is long, narrow and not very high. There are many low bridges along the river and everything on the top deck (including the pilot house, railings and all chairs and tables) folds down flat to accommodate some of the older bridges that only have 12” of clearance – yes 12 inches clearance. I was frequently on the top deck for most of the cruising, but at certain times the deck was closed off and they flattened it for a particular bridge.

The boat was equipped with two azipods in the aft and one in the bow. An azipod is an electric-powered propeller that can turn 360 degrees and thus guide the boat in any direction. Literally the boat can sail sideways.

When going under a low bridge all of the deck chairs are flattened, railings and crane are lowered to the deck height and the wheel house lowers to the deck. The Captain pops his head out a hatch in the top of the wheel house to steer the boat. I spoke with the Captain and he told me that at certain times when the water levels are high he only has 6 inches between his head and the bridge.

This can happen when the river is high and the wheel house has a problem lowering.
(I stole this video from the Web)