Sex and the City fans can combine their love of the show with a Paris jaunt this summer, as one cruise company hosts an SATC-mad cruise along the Seine.
Avalon Cruises dropped details of its Storyteller Series on Monday, with a 2022 Paris cruise set to be hosted by the original Sex and the City columnist and Carrie Bradshaw creator, Candace Bushnell, as well as trips with Cheryl Strayed (Wild) and Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl).
On the “Sex and the City of Lights” itinerary, set for July, up to 128 passengers will take a tour of Paris, then sail the Rhine from Paris to Le Havre over nine days.
Along the way they can choose to visit Napoleon and Josephine’s Château de Malmaison in Conflans, see the WWII landing beaches at Normandy and take a food walking tour of Vernon, as well as sitting down to two onboard events hosted by Bushnell, on whom the character of Carrie Bradshaw is based.
The cruise departs on 19 July, and costs from £3,254 in the most basic room category (the swankiest Royal Suite is already sold out), including all meals and optional excursions but not flights or transfers to the departure point.
Bushnell’s creation started out as a series of witty NYC-based columns about the love lives of herself and her friends, which ran from 1994 to 1996 in the New York Observer.
After she turned the columns into a book, the writer was originally considered for the role of Carrie in the TV series Sex and the City, and was heavily involved during the show’s production.
Paris is back in the minds of SATC fans following the final episode of current reboot And Just Like That, in which Bradshaw returns to the French capital.
The original Sex and the City show, which ran from 1998 to 2004 and was nominated for more than 50 Emmy Awards, also featured a double-bill finale set in the City of Lights.
“One of the great pleasures of life is the setting, and what better backdrop to enjoy art, history, food and camaraderie than a river cruise on the Seine, a magical waterway that’s mesmerised and inspired since medieval times,” says Bushnell on the company’s website.
“This Avalon Active and Discovery Cruise will allow you to flow between the centuries without leaving the comforts of the present. Can’t wait to take this journey with you.”
"Our new Storyteller Series will welcome a small group of lucky travellers back to Europe in 2022 to enhance the storytelling tapestry of their lives with a ‘once upon a river’ vacation," managing director of Avalon Waterways, Pam Hoffee, told Travel + Leisure.
“On these exclusive sailings, Avalon guests get to spend a week in legendary landscapes with their favourite storytellers, including enjoying specially planned gatherings that range from book-signings and Q&A sessions to private concerts.”
Both Cheryl Strayed and Gillian Flynn are featuring on cruise itineraries along the Danube, with stops in Budapest and Vienna as well as talks and Q&As with the two authors.
