The Magic Of Harry Potter Is Coming To Barge Ladies Cruise Lines
If you're one of the hundreds of millions of Harry Potter fans who have always wanted to sail across the Great Lake on the way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you can now get one step closer.
Barge Ladies cruise company has put together an enchanting new vacation opportunity for Harry Potter fans to enjoy late this summer. The cruise is luxurious enough by itself, but it will also stop at several real life locations used during the filming of the Harry Potter franchise.
Find out more about the Harry Potter cruise below.
Unfortunately, this Harry Potter cruise (via Entertainment Weekly) doesn't feature a boat that's all decked out like some kind of awesome wizarding craft, or even like the ship that the wizarding school Durmstrang brought to Hogwarts. Instead, this is more of a cruise with Harry Potter-themed locations.
At first, it seems like the so-called Harry Potter cruise is only trying to vaguely focus on Harry Potter mythology by only serving "Hogwarts-inspired dinners" and heading to places like Hampton Court Palace as an example showing that "J K Rowling's settings are not far from the truth, as many old English palaces and castles actually are very similar to Hogwarts." But thankfully, the cruise improves its focus on Harry Potter locations as time goes on.
The cruise will take travelers to Virginia Water, which is where Harry Potter first encounters Buckbeak in Prisoner of Azkaban. It's also the location where Harry speaks with Barty Crouch Sr. following the second task in Goblet of Fire.
After some regular tourism stops and sights, the tour will move on to Picket Post Close, the real-life location for the filming of 4 Privet Drive in the first Harry Potter film. That's a cool stop, but the best parts of this cruise have been saved for last.
The final two stops for the Harry Potter cruise include Warner Brothers Studios to take part in the magical Harry Potter tour, which includes a guided walk through various sets with tons of costumes, props and more on display. Plus, you'll get to see Oxford's Christ Church College, the inspiration for The Great Hall in Hogwarts, and the grand 16th century stone staircase that was used in Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets.
Now for the bad news. If you want to go on this overseas journey, it's going to cost you $4,190, and that's not even including the fact that you have to get yourself to London, where the cruise sets sail from at Hampton Court. But if that cost doesn't make you bat an eye, it runs from August 5th-August 11th and August 19th-August 25th. You can get more details and book your cruise right here.
Honestly, this feels like it's not nearly as ingrained in Harry Potter as it could be, but that's mostly because it's Barge Ladies version of making their normal cruise options (which aren't the usual massive, all-inclusive cruise vacations you might be thinking of) a little more exciting. At the end of the day, it's still a nice vacation cruise with some Harry Potter highlights, but it would be nice if Warner Bros. came up with an even more satisfying cruise that puts people in the world of Harry Potter even more.