…new hotel barges, a river cruise boat and a paddlewheel to be added.

French river cruise giant CroisiEurope is expanding its hotel barge fleet next year with the addition of two 24-passenger vessels to sail in Burgundy and along the Garonne Canal.

The Daniele will cruise the Briare Canal between Burgundy and the Loire Valley, while the Deborah will sail between Toulouse and Damazan in Aquitaine, south-west France.

Also new for 2016, the company is launching a 60-passenger river cruise boat to sail the Mekong between Siem Reap in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

CroisiEurope is also building a paddlewheel to sail between Berlin and Prague. The 80-passenger Elbe Princesse, which launches spring 2016, has been designed to operate on the shallow waters of the Elbe and Vltava Rivers.

The nine-day voyage includes two nights docked in Prague and two nights in Berlin, as well as visits to Litomerice, Dresden, Meissen, Wittenberg and Magdeburg. Prices start from £1,396 per person cruise-only in April 24 2016 including alcoholic and soft drinks.

The Elbe Princesse has been modelled on the Loire Princesse, pictured, which launched in April and was designed with two side-mounted paddlewheels so it can navigate the shallow water of the Loire.

The vessel sails alternate six or eight- day cruises round-trip from Nantes with optional excursions including tours of Angers, the medieval city of Guérande and some of the most famous chateaux in the Loire Valley.