Avalon Imagery Underway to Vienna

Imagery left Amsterdam about an hour ago and we're heading south towards Vienna. We're currently in the Amsterdam/Rhine canal and should be out of the Netherlands and entering Germany sometime tonight. So far, the weather is excellent. Better than normal for this time of year. Sunny blue skies the past 2 days with temps in the low 60's. Buds are just starting to show on the trees. It's supposed to be high 60's tomorrow in Cologne. So far, everyone seems to be having a good time and are up on the sky deck enjoying the sunshine and wonderful scenery. Meals are great and everything is being delivered, as promised, by Avalon. The boat is in beautiful shape. Regards to all.

Enjoy the trip! We will be getting on the Imagery after you get to Vienna! We can't wait for our trip!

Wishing you both a fabulous trip! Can't wait to read your reviews.

An Update - Now into our 4th day on the water. Sailed on the Rhine from Amsterdam stopping in Cologne and Rudesheim. Last night, we passed into the Rhine/Main/Danube canal and are heading for a stop in Miltenburg this afternoon. So far, everything is "perfect" and the amenties and the ship's entire crew simply could not be better. The Cruise Director, Akos, the Hotel Manager, Denise, and the rest of the crew are treating all the passengers with great courtesy, friendliness, and warm hospitality. The meals are great. I'm having to skip lunch because I'm too full from breakfast and don't want to miss dinner! I'll be leaving after we reach Vienna but wish I was staying onboard to go all the way to the Black Sea! I'll definitely be booking with Avalon again for next year! I'll submit a full review at the end of the cruise. Regards to all. Kelvin

Glad to hear all is up to the high standard we would expect from Avalon and that you're having a great time.

I assume some other passengers showed up then? ;)

Hi

So good to hear positive feedback about Avalon Imagery & the European Splendour cruise. We'll be doing the reverse cruise in May & had read several quite negative reviews about the food & the facilities so I was worried we'd made a judgement error..do they give you free time each day to explore as well as tour/guided time or do they rush you back on the boat early ?

Akos will be our cruise director also! We are now counting the hours until we head to Vienna for 2 days prior to joining our tour/cruise!

Thanks for the update!

We just pulled out of Miltenburg about 30 minutes ago. What a charming little village. About 800 years old with many current buildings over 400 years old. We arrived about 1 hour behind schedule due to heavy boat traffic at the locks. But they easily adjusted times and made sure we all had ample time for the scheduled guided tours.

Pudgey - Yes, there's actually about 150 passengers onboard. Many of them from "OZ". On the first day we had a show of hands and it looks like the Candians might just out-number the Americans (U.S.) onboard. Austraiia is also admirably represented onboard with perhaps 20 - 30 of your citizens.

WorldTraveller 5000 - I would be extremely hardpressed to come up with any "negatives" on this cruise. I "grumbled" a bit the first day because there was no ice bucket in our room and I was filling a few glasses at the ice machine and bringing them back to the room. On the 3rd day, I finally got the "bright idea" to ask at the reception desk and was told "of course we have ice buckets" and within 5 minutes one was happily delivered to my room. Any complaints that I could possibly come up with would be those of just "personal taste" rather than something that was really "fallling down" in quality. Example - I happen to be one of about 10 people in the world who happens to like ketchup on my scrambled eggs. At the breakfast bar, they HAVE ketchup...plenty of it...it just happens to be in small individual foil packets rather than in a big botte sitting on my table. No big deal - I've got my ketchup so I'm completely happy. Now I WOULD be a bit upset if there was no ketchup on the boat! The rooms and the entire boat are kept in immaculate condition. Not one complaint from here. All the waitstaff are friendly and helpful and have a smile for everyone. I don't feel the guided tours are rushed or under a tight time contraint to get back to the boat. There is no pressure to choose the guided tour at all, in fact. You can go off on your own and do what you want - provided that you're still back by the scheduled sailing time - which in some of towns along the way might only provide 4-5 hours, but the boat is pulling right up to the town dock and it takes only 10 minutes to walk into the heart of the little town, itself.

Webfoot - I spoke with Akos this morning and he said there was about 30 passengers on our cruise who will be staying on the boat for your portion of the onward trip to the Black Sea. Tonight, we're heading for Wurzburg and will be docked there in the morning. Some of us are signed up for the optional/alternate bus trip to Rothenburg. Regards to all all.

Thanks PingPong1 ... I hope you enjoy Rothenburg as much as we did. We loved the sausages from the little restaurants and I loved the Christmas shopping.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I'm so relieved to hear all that. Enjoy the rest of your sailing.

Webfoot & Others - An update on our cruise onboard the Avalon Imagery from Amsterdam to Vienna. Our journey is no about half over. We're pulling into Bamburg this afternoon and will see if the beer is really that good! Bamburg calls itself the "beer capital of Germany". We'll see! Up until yesterday, the weather was very warm and sunny. Unsually so. Yesterday, in Wurzburg and Rothenburg it was cold and overcast with a bit of a wind. But we just walked into one of the many bakeries (in Rothenburg) after our walking tour and had a cup of coffee and a pastry - life was then "good again"! Our Cruise Director, Akos, is a young man in his later 20's/early30's who is filled with energy and always has a smile on his face. Always friendly and always available to answer a question or offer some help. They must keep a big jar of "happy pills" down in the crew's spaces for everyone to take on a daily basis because you just simply don't see a long face or a scowl from anyone. The service in the dining room is attentative without any "hovering". If there's anything you need, all you have to do is ask. The wine and beer at dinner is plentiful and overflowing. If you don't "cry uncle", they keep filling the glasses. I'm glad I didn't purchase the "drink package". It would have been a waste of money. Regards to all.

Thanks, again, for the update! We leave Dulles tomorrow for Vienna. We have 2 days to do whatever we want before transferring to the Avalon hotel!

We are so glad to hear about Akos. Can't wait to meet him!