Delicious Decadense
Burgundy & Provence France Culinary Gay River Cruise 2028

7 nights from Arles to Lyon, France

July 18 – 25, 2028
Avalon Waterways Avalon Poetry II

Seven glorious days to nourish your body, stir your soul, and indulge every sense. Feast on exquisite French cuisine, raise a glass of celebrated wine, wander through places filled with beauty and art, lose yourself in music, and share it all with wonderful people who believe friendship is one of life’s greatest pleasures. This is more than a journey through France. It is a celebration of everything that makes life worth savoring—and of those of us who are still hungry for more.

If you are a gay traveler in the second half of life who is tired of trips that look better in the photos than they felt in the moment — who has money set aside for "someday" and a growing suspicion that someday is now — then join us for Delicious Decadence, eight days and seven nights on a French river with a group small enough to learn everyone's name.

Seven nights. Eleven tastings. Two rivers.

You’ll sail from Arles to Lyon, following the Rhône north into the Saône, with two of your seven nights spent in Lyon—the food capital of France.

Along the way, you’ll taste olive oil where it is pressed, shop an Avignon market and then cook with what you discovered, tour the Valrhona chocolate works, sip Chardonnay in a castle cellar, and enjoy a menu inspired by the tradition of legendary chef Paul Bocuse.

You will come home having cooked in Avignon, tasted Chardonnay in a castle cellar, and eaten a Bocuse-inspired dinner served once on the voyage — with six or eight new friends and the distinct feeling that you have been under-scheduling your own life.

Do you belong on this cruise with us? Mais, Oui!

You have stopped waiting for someone to be free. Half the people you would once have called about a trip like this are caring for a parent, or a knee, or a business. You are not organizing anyone. You are showing up to a table that is already set.

You will not be the odd one out. Single occupancy is priced and available, and on a hosted group this size nobody eats alone unless they want to. Open seating means you sit where you like, with whomever you like, every single night.

You are done with the version of travel that is mostly logistics. One unpacking. Eight days. The country comes to the ship. No 6 a.m. transfers, no rolling a bag over cobblestones, no arguing about who has the tickets.

You want to actually learn something, not watch someone else do it. Two hands-on classes with real chefs — one after you shop Les Halles yourself, one in Lyon. Most culinary cruises hand you a chair and a demonstration. You will be holding a knife.

You are tired of pretending pleasure needs a justification. Wine with lunch. Sparkling wine with breakfast. Cheese before dessert. Nobody here is going to ask whether you should.

Two hands-on cooking classes.

Most river cruises marketed as culinary give you demonstrations to watch. This one gives you two sessions where you actually cook.

The morning you shop, the afternoon you cook.
Day three • Avignon
You walk into Les Halles before the good stuff is gone, with a guide who knows which of the forty stalls is worth your time and is willing to say so. You will buy things. You will not entirely know what they are.

Then you carry them to a chef, and for the next two hours you cook — not watch, cook — and at the end of it you sit down and eat what you made, in Avignon, on a Thursday, having earned it.

Back aboard by early evening. The rest of the day is yours, and the ship does not leave without you.

The city that wrote the cookbook.
Day seven • Lyon
You meet the chef in a kitchen that smells like butter and stock long before you arrive. Lyon is where French cooking became serious, and for the next few hours it becomes your classroom.

You will make dishes this city is famous for — not perfectly, but personally — and then sit down to eat them with the people who have become your crew over the last week.

By the time you carry the last plate to the table, you will understand why Lyon does not just have restaurants. It has a reputation.

You notice the food before you ever see a menu.

Eleven tastings across seven nights, each one tied to the place you woke up in that morning.

It is a little after four on the sixth afternoon and you are coming back aboard from a castle cellar in the Mâconnais, still holding the tasting notes you did not really need. The gangway is warm underfoot. Somewhere below, someone has started the bread.

You go up to the sky deck instead of to your room. The vineyard you were standing in an hour ago is still visible from here, a pale green seam on the hillside, and the river is doing that flat silver thing it does before evening. A cheese tasting is being set out along the rail. You tear one of the gougères open too soon and it burns your fingers, and you eat it anyway.

The woman who sat across from you at lunch on Tuesday comes up with two glasses of the Chardonnay from the cellar you both just left. You did not know her nine days ago. You will be texting her about tomatoes next August.

Tomorrow the ship ties up in Lyon and stays two nights. Tonight there is a Bocuse-inspired dinner being cooked below you, served exactly once on this voyage, and you have nowhere else to be.

Meet the Avalon Poetry II

The Avalon Poetry II offers a delightfully intimate cruise setting. Like its sister Suite Ships, the Poetry II features two full decks of Panorama Suites with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows that create river cruising's only Open-Air Balcony. With a spacious 200 square feet, Panorama Suites are more than 30% larger than the industry standard. Stretch out at day's end and wake to the world at your feet with Comfort Collection bed that faces the view.

It truly is a view with a room! Onboard amenities include an alternative dining option in the Panorama Bistro, complimentary computer use in public areas and complimentary Starlink Wi-Fi access, a Fitness Center, and a spacious Sky Deck with premium lounge chairs, whirlpool, and light al fresco lunches at the Sky Bistro. The Avalon Poetry II truly is poetry in motion!

What's Included?

• Seven nights aboard the Avalon Poetry II in the stateroom or suite category you book

• Chef-prepared breakfast, lunch, and four-course dinner daily, with regional cuisine and Avalon Fresh® lighter options at every meal

• Open-seating Panorama Dining Room, so you sit where you like, with whomever you like

• Panorama Bistro, a more intimate alternative for the nights you do not want a full sitting

• Sky Grill dining on the top deck, weather permitting

• Complimentary regional wine, beer, and soft drinks with lunch and dinner

• Sparkling wine with breakfast

• Daily happy hour, plus welcome and farewell cocktails with sparkling wine and canapés

• Select happy hour cocktails hosted by Dorothy Society, so you never have to guess at the menu

• 24-hour Club Lounge with self-serve cappuccinos, lattes, hot chocolate, and fresh treats

• Complimentary coffee, tea, and iced tea throughout the day

• Afternoon tea daily, with proper sandwiches, scones, and pastries

• Complimentary continental room service for breakfast in bed or a quiet night in

• Classic, Discovery, and Active excursions at every port of call, led by Certified Local Guides

• Personal audio headsets on guided excursions, so you can wander without losing the commentary

• The full culinary programme: olive oil tasting, Les Halles market walk and cooking class, Viviers tasting walk, chocolate and wine tasting aboard, Valrhona Chocolate Factory, sommelier-led pairing dinner, Mâconnais castle-cellar Chardonnay tasting, cheese tasting, Bocuse-inspired dinner, and the Lyon Culinary Walk or second cooking class

• A Certified Sommelier aboard for the voyage

• Live evening entertainment and onboard cultural programming

• Complimentary Starlink Wi-Fi throughout the ship

• Avalon Adventure Center with bicycles, e-bikes, hiking and jogging maps, walking sticks, binoculars, daypacks, yoga mats, and fitness bands

• An Adventure Host to lead active excursions

• Fitness centre access and daily yoga or stretching

• Sky Deck with whirlpool, shade awnings, game area, and premium loungers

• Covered Observation Lounge with panoramic river views

• Elevator access, and a fully non-smoking interior

• Porterage of one piece of luggage per person, so you never carry your own bags on or off

• English-speaking crew and a dedicated Cruise Director

• L'Occitane bath products, robes, and slippers in every stateroom

• A greener footprint, with Avalon contributing to Trees4Travel on your behalf

Not Included?

• International airfare into Marseille Provence (MRS) and home from Lyon (LYS)

• Airport transfers, which can be added at the time of booking

• Travel insurance. Not included, and strongly recommended.

• Optional excursions, including the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct and the wine cellars at Châteauneuf-du-Pape

• Gratuities for local port guides and drivers

• Bar drinks outside of meal service and happy hour, including cocktails, spirits, and wine by the bottle

• Laundry service, available aboard for a modest fee

• Personal expenses, souvenirs, salon services, and premium specialty drinks