Viking Forseti Explorer Suite. Photo Courtesy of Viking River Cruises.

How does stateroom size compare for ships on the Dordogne and Garonne rivers in southwestern France? There is some variation among the different vessels with cabins that range in size from 135 square feet to 445 square feet.

Cruises in this region of France are sometimes referred to as Bordeaux river cruises. Some of the companies that travel these waterways include CroisiEurope, Scenic, Uniworld and Viking River Cruises — and beginning next spring, AmaWaterways.

There aren’t a lot of ships to compare, since most suppliers have only one vessel that travels along the Dordogne and Garonne rivers. CroisiEurope is the only company that has two – the MS Cyrano de Bergerac and MS Princesse d’Aquitaine. Other ships in Bordeaux include the Scenic Diamond by Scenic, River Royale by Uniworld, Viking Forseti by Viking River Cruises and AmaWaterways will be moving the AmaDolce to Bordeaux in 2016.

Let’s take a look at how the stateroom sizes compare for the four different companies.

Dordogne and Garonne River Stateroom Size Comparisons

Single Stateroom Size Comparisons

The Scenic Diamond features single cabins. These spacious staterooms are 205 square feet in size. AmaWaterways also has single cabins on the AmaDolce, which measure 140 square feet.

Smallest Double Stateroom Size Comparisons

For the smallest double cabins on all ships, there isn’t a significant difference in size. Viking River Cruises has the smallest at 135 square feet. And AmaWaterways has the largest at 170 square feet. Scenic’s double staterooms begin at 160 square feet. And both CroisiEurope and Uniworld have double staterooms that start at 140 square feet.

Largest Double Stateroom Size Comparisons

Largest double stateroom size is between 182 square feet and 445 square feet, so there’s a fairly large range for the ships on the Dordogne and Garonne rivers. The largest cabins on CroisiEurope’s ships are 182 square feet, and they are 217 square feet on the River Royale. These are the smallest in the group.

Suites on the Scenic Diamond are somewhere in the middle in terms of size. These staterooms measure 325 square feet.

The largest staterooms are on the Viking Foresti. The Explorer Suites are a spacious 445 square feet, which is more than twice the size of some of the other staterooms.

Most Common Stateroom Size Comparisons

Most of the staterooms on all ships are between 140 square feet and 205 square feet. Each ship has more of certain cabins than it does of others, which is why it’s referred to as the Most Common Stateroom Size. It just means that the majority of staterooms are that size for each river cruise company.

The most common stateroom size on CroisiEurope’s ships is 140 square feet, which is smaller than the other cruise lines. Uniworld is not far behind with the majority of its staterooms measuring 151 square feet. And for AmaWaterways, its most common cabin size is 170 square feet.

Scenic and Viking River Cruises have the largest staterooms. Most cabins on the Scenic Diamond and Viking Forseti are 205 square feet.

Which Company Has the Largest Staterooms?

Viking River Cruises has the largest staterooms overall; however, Scenic has larger staterooms for its smallest double cabins. It’s not a big difference, though – only about 25 square feet.

So, how much does the size of your stateroom matter? It really depends on you. Some travelers don’t place that much importance on it, since most of their waking hours will be spent outside their staterooms. Others like to be as comfortable as possible in their cabins and will always choose the most spacious ones available.

See other articles in this series of stateroom size comparisons: AmaWaterways, A-ROSA, Avalon Waterways, CroisiEurope, Emerald Cruises, Scenic, Tauck, Uniworld and Viking River Cruises.