Port de Carcassonne

"Lovely place for a walk and people watching."

Aimee Fenech

"Worst port along the Canal du Midi! We were running a bit late and barely made it past the last lock on our way into town. The lock keepers all along that way were great, everyone rooting for us to make it past the last lock on time. We made it and arrived into town after the portmaster's office had closed for the evening, so we docked at the first available spot. The next morning we get a knock on the window and a perturbed man claiming we were in the wrong spot and that we needed to move otherwise the police would come. I guess we had used the wrong spot despite it being impossible for any more boats to arrive because the locks had shut down for the evening. We moved as instructed and moored, tail-end in. Even though we were well secured, he felt the need to redo our ropes. He did not secure them any better. After that things we had a great time in the beautiful city. That is, until the next morning. Now, no instruction was given to us on how to head out the next day and maybe we should have asked, but with the lock in the center of town and having seen the lock keeper move several other boats through, we unmoored and headed into the canal. The lock was not ready and nobody was there for at least 10 minutes. When she finally decided to come out, she immediately started yelling at us in French, none of which we could hear, much less understand. The wind was very strong by now and blew the boat around, making it extremely difficult to moor, yet the lock remained closed despite there not being a boat on the other side. Since she clearly decided not to do her job and prepare the lock, we remoored to the side with the wind whipping us around. And nothing. She's gone and the lock is still closed. We wait and wait and wait. Finally another boat arrives which sails right into the lock that she opens for them. Rude, rude, rude. While we attempt to maneuver with the heavy wind she sits and chit chats with her friend on shore while her friend's husband is motioning to his wife the whole time that she needs to pay attention to the lock. After another significant wait she finally starts the cycle, despite us having been secured within for quite some time. She was by far the rudest and most inconsiderate lock keeper on our entire journey. To be treated this way, not having been given any procedural information is just plain lazy and apparently something to be upset at us about. When people consider French inconsiderate she was a perfect example of that. This was on Sunday, September 6th, 2025, with a shoulder-length blond woman in her late 40's. I hope someone on charge had a chat with her, because she was clearly more interested in being a hindrance more than a help and just plain not doing her job."

Dan Sorak

"Canal cruise was only ok, good guide giving commentary, went through 2 locks and back."

paul williams