By Judy Carmack Bross
Thinking of readers planning 2026 European vacations we asked Barge Lady Cruises marketing maven Stephanie Sack to share not only the newest possibilities but also a history of barge trips to secret glorious destinations you probably wouldn’t see otherwise. Although barge trips in France are still the top favorites for luxury hospitality and culinary delights, the Caledonian Canal in Scotland, the canals of Flanders in Belgium and the Po River in Italy and other destinations are also available for barging through a variety of companies.
The Belgian barge Delfine
A toast to barging
You might even visit a frites museum.
“The Belgian barge Delfine, our newest 4-guest “petite peniche” is part of a new, fresh, fun approach to barge cruising — the itinerary includes a breadmaking class; a stop at the frites museum to stuff yourself with freshly made fries (my dream); sampling lots of boutique beers; and, of course, all the chocolate tastings,” says Sack, a longtime friend who also is planning a film festival for the Alliance Francaise de Chicago in February.
Stephanie Sack
We asked Stephanie to share a history of one of travelers’ favorite luxury travel and what you see when you get off the boat.
“A more or less forgotten method of European travel in the shadow of the Industrial Revolution, man-made canals had criss-crossed France from the West to the East and South to the North since the late 17th century, allowing purpose-built vessels to effectively deliver cargo such as produce, wine, wood, and, later, weapons of war from one side of the country to another.
“By the 1980s, the French canals were on a slow but steady ascendancy, undergoing restoration to preserve them as not only historical treasures but as an option for pleasure cruising. These leisurely journeys centered on regional wines, local cuisine, and an unhurried pace of travel.”
“Barge Lady Cruises was founded in 1985 by my mother, Ellen Sack, who at that point was a successful travel agent. I still vividly recall going to the office with her in downtown Chicago and playing ‘business lady’ as she worked, which clearly has proved to be quite a prescient recollection! Ellen’s education was in Art History and she had deep affection for Europe and France in particular. In 1984 she met Derek Banks, a British gentleman who recognized in her the spark he required to launch his new travel concept to the North American market — barge cruising.
“Derek, who is still working, and a few of his equally entrepreneurial English friends had taken old cargo barges out of dry dock, rechristened them with fun new names and fashionable makeovers, and offered fully crewed and catered sailings up and down France’s canal systems.
“Ellen immediately recognized the appeal of this intimate style of cruising and saw an opportunity to introduce North American travelers to a new way of experiencing Europe. Her inaugural season as a barge broker in 1985 sold out, and the concept quickly gained momentum. From these modest beginnings, Barge Lady Cruises evolved into an award-winning specialist in luxury barge travel. The company gradually expanded to represent dozens of barges operating on restored inland waterways throughout Europe, ultimately offering an expansive range of cruise routes and regional itineraries across multiple countries.
“Flashing forward to 2014, I was without a job and at a bit of a professional crossroads. Having collectively spent twenty years in high-end retail, display advertising sales, and event marketing, I was ready for a new challenge. On the recommendation of my father, Nick, who at that point was known in the barge cruising world as ‘Monsieur Le Barge Lady’, I was asked to join the Barge Ladies.
“After a somewhat lukewarm start, in October of that year I was sent to Northern Burgundy on my first barge cruise, and that week was all it took for me to become a total barging believer! The scenery of the cruise route, the warmth of the crew, the coziness of the cabin, the exclusivity of the excursions, and the food, oh my God, the food! Since then, I have been a full-time Barge Lady, evolving over the years from sales to marketing. As Barge Lady Stephanie I have cruised in France, Holland, England, Ireland, and Scotland. I have the best job in travel and work with the best people in the business!”
CCM: Do you have a favorite cruise?
SS: Whenever I am asked this question I always answer: “Whichever boat I am on at the moment.” Each hotel barge is so special, so adorable, and so lovely that it is impossible to select just one.
That being said, there is nothing like the untouched beauty of Gascony. Situated in France’s Southwest between Bordeaux and the Canal du Midi, Gascony’s canals are something out of a watercolor daydream. Bucolic and bountiful, the Canal de Garonne is lined by fertile farmlands and kitchen gardens, each peaceful mooring offering tiny havens of cosseted seclusion. Also, while Scotland is not top of mind as a barge cruising destination, the lochs of the Caledonian Canal provide a fascinating cruise through the country’s raw, wild, rustic natural beauty.
Happily, my assignments as Barge Lady’s marketing maven are aligned with this type of promotional approach; I work with a trusted international team of photographers, editors, experts, writers, bloggers, and influencers to authentically capture and share the barge cruising experience. Luckily, I do not have too much trouble in accomplishing this!
CCM: Tell us about what you experience while afloat.
SS: Barge cruising offers access to Europe’s secret interiors, traveling along antique canals and petite rivers that larger ships can never enter, where villages, vineyards, and countryside are revealed at an intimate, approachable scale. Moving at a walking pace, the barge becomes an unchanging hotel that allows guests to step ashore to stroll or cycle the canal’s towpaths, dissolving the boundary between journey and destination. Days are shaped not by immovable schedules but by the gentle rhythm of lock passages, lazy navigations, and moorings in the heart of small towns, often just steps from daily life.
With only a handful of guests aboard, the experience feels less like a tour and more like a private house party afloat, fostering genuine connection among travelers and crew alike. Meals are shared at a single table, conversations linger over glasses of locally produced wine, and a sense of community emerges naturally over the course of the week. The slow, continuous passage through a single region creates a dynamic sense of place, as landscapes, cuisine, and customs evolve gradually rather than appearing as isolated highlights. In this way, barge cruising transforms travel into something lived rather than consumed, offering a rare sense of discovery, belonging, and ease.
CCM: Barge Lady Cruises is a family affair, how do you divide duties?
SS: My mother Ellen, my younger sister Caroline, and I work as a closely integrated team, blending decades of experience, firsthand knowledge, and thoughtful collaboration to shape every barge cruise recommendation. Ellen brings the founding vision and long-standing relationships that anchor the company’s philosophy and standards, while Caroline contributes contemporary continuity, operational insight, and a unique familiarity with the evolving barge landscape. I work alongside them to refine promotional messaging; maintain the website’s overall presentation; write copy and produce blogs; manage our fantastic email marketing; grow our exclusive collection of photographs; and place media on barge cruises. Together, Ellen, Caroline, and I evaluate barges not just as products, but as complete experiences—considering pace, personality, cuisine, crew, and region as an interconnected whole.
Decisions are typically made collaboratively, drawing on shared discussion rather than rigid hierarchy, which allows nuance and discernment to guide sales strategy and guest satisfaction. This generational partnership ensures consistency of quality while leaving room for innovation and adaptation. The result is a seamless process that feels personal, informed, and deeply considered from first inquiry through the journey itself.
CCM: What do you like best about your job?
SS: I have always been all smiles and high-energy, with big ideas, big dreams — and an equally big laugh! My approach to being a Barge Lady is this: ‘We are not curing cancer, we are not terraforming Mars. We are selling barge cruises and having fun.’ A bit offbeat, yes, but it’s gotten me this far! With such extraordinary access to hidden Europe, I delight in the quirky details that make a barge cruise memorable, from the breathtaking nighttime mooring underneath an illuminated medieval church to luncheon ashore at a lively local market. Best of all, I produce media cruise events that are part travel experience, part creative experiment, and part love letter to slow travel. Equally a professional connector, seasoned instigator, and joyful vibe-maker, I set the stage, tune the frequency, and let the inland waterways of Europe do the rest.
CCM: Tell us about what must be a hectic travel schedule and how you find time for your passion for movies?
SS: My travel schedule is typically based on what Barge Lady requires for the season. We just launched the 4-guest barge Delfine and I am hoping to visit her in Belgium in 2026.
Of course, if I am going to slingshot myself across an ocean, I am going to country-hop to see films! In October 2025 I went to Greece to inspect a new small ship sailing between the Sardonic islands; then headed to Switzerland to attend a film fest featuring Dario Argento, my favorite Italian horror director; next I popped over to Italy to see friends, then spent a few days in France hostessing a media event on La Reine Pedauque, our newest barge in Champagne!
I also love to explore domestically and took a 10-day Great Lakes cruise from Chicago to Toronto in summer of 2025. Finally, I am not above regional weekend road trips just to see a film. A few summers back I headed to Columbus, Ohio to catch another Dario Argento film and was recently at Milwaukee’s Oriental Theatre for a screening of Perfect Blue, one of my favorite examples of Japanese anime.
Stephanie Sack, who definitely appreciates multiple film genres including this German 1994 horror mystery, at Chicago’s Music Box Theater
At the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
CCM: Tell us about February Fantastique at the Alliance Francaise de Chicago that you are planning.
SS: As a lifelong devotee of midnight movies and an unapologetic Francophile, February Fantastique at the Alliance Francaise de Chicago is my nod to the moment where the high art of the 20th century collided with post-war pulp, lowbrow provocation, and lascivious style. I approach the French genre of fantastique as both cultural artifact and contemporary commentary, treating fantasy, horror, and the surreal not as side notes but as essential expressions of France’s artistic anxieties and political preoccupations at the time. I’m drawn to films where realism slips into dream logic, where desire brushes up against danger, and where satire and dread comfortably coexist. Programming is guided less by canon or prestige than by mood, obsession, and intuition. Ultimately, I curate and present cult titles not as novelty items, but as deliberate and often audacious responses to fascist censorship, social change, and creative rebellion.
CCM: How can great cinema change lives?
SS: Cinema works best when it slips past our defenses of polite evasion and modern distractions through a sensory immersion into indelible moments of pleasure, fear, humor, and style. I’m drawn to films that embrace excess, ambiguity, and contradiction, because those are the places in which cultural conflicts and private desires surface most authentically. Genre cinema, especially horror, fantasy, and the surreal, isn’t escapism to me; rather, when done correctly, it’s a flashpoint, a deliberate laboratory where art and anxiety voluptuously collide. Context matters, but explanation should never defang a film; the work deserves to remain strange and dangerous. If cinema changes us, it’s because it gives us permission to feel deeply and think differently, two powerful experiences that are uniquely, messily, beautifully human. My favorite films are titles I can–and have–watch again and again, each time focusing on something new — the score, the costumes, the set design, the homages. One of my favorite games to play while watching films is “Who Stole It From Hitchcock?” — in fact I have a whole film series called “Vertigo-a-Go-Go” in my head to introduce some of my go-to films with themes and plots influenced by Vertigo — Mulholland Drive, Basic Instinct, and Titane are just some of the dozens of titles I have curated. I also adore the technicolor insanity of the Italian Giallo and the melancholy madness of Soviet Sci-Fi as well.
CCM: What keeps you up at night about your job and what are you most anticipating early in 2026?
SS: While Barge Lady Cruises are experts at guiding our guests through the logistics of barge cruising, larger forces both domestic and European are what keep me up at night. International travel from the States to, say, Paris or London is a slog at best, a punishment at worst, and with so many options for American or Canadian cruises, our market is becoming more and more competitive on both sides of the pond. In France, the countrywide canal system requires expensive and ongoing restoration and management, which in the long run is encouraging but on a year-to-year basis can disrupt expected cruise routes and established itineraries. Alas!
I am always plotting and planning for my next round of barge cruises! I have still not yet cruised in the Alsace-Lorraine or the Upper Loire; I would absolutely go back for another cruise in Gascony; and I cannot wait to explore the canals of Flanders in Belgium and the Po River in Italy by barge.
