Wi-Fi on Avalon Panorama?

Does anyone know if the new Avalon Panorama riverboat has free Wi-Fi for it's passengers?

Also, would a converter or adapter be needed to charge up an I-Pad2? Has anyone used one while traveling on these riverboats?

Thanks for any input.

The Panorama does have free wi-fi in the rooms, and two community computers by the reception desk. On its first cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest access was dependent on the area we were in. In between cities, it was erratic. The last few days we had no access at all. When we arrived in Budapest, I believe that the engineers installed some form of supports to increase reception. The ship uses satellite access as its main source, and reverts to an alternate when needed.

I used my IPad (original) regularly, and accessed wi-fi when we had access. The staterooms have outlets; bring a few European adaptors. I brought a small multi-outlet surge protector and plugged that into a 3-prong adapter - was able to charge up everything without a problem.

Benjzmom,

Thanks so much for the information!! We are on the Panorama in November & I recently purchased an IPad2 and was hoping to be able to use it with free wi-fi access. So...How was the Panorama, is she as nice as the pictures show? I would be interested in whatever info you could provide. We are cruising at Thanksgiving from Budapest to Prague and can't wait!

We enjoyed the Affinity very much last October so our expectations for the Panorama being so new are even higher. How was the quality of the food? Any repercussions food wise from this E-Coli outbreak in Germany and various areas of Europe on what they served at the meals?

Thanks Again:)

Just got off the Panorama last week. The wifi is free but very tricky. I had problems using my IPAD but was able to use my IPhone during certain hours...usually late at night. It takes patience to use it but I used it once a day. Remember, you get what you pay for, and this wifi is free.

GrannyDi, Thanks for the info!

BP Cruiser,

You're not far from me!! Weather was much nicer in Europe! The Panorama is a beautiful ship. The bathrooms are wonderful...marble and roomy...The food was OK except for the first night and the Capt's dinner...those meals were outstanding. We had the best Baked Alaska ever!!!! Our cabin was on the top deck towards the back...very close to the special coffee machine. Dress was very casual. Husband brought a sport coat but never wore it. He wore golf shirts and dockers for every meal. Will be glad to answer any other questions you might have.

BP Cruiser,

You're not far from me!! Weather was much nicer in Europe! The Panorama is a beautiful ship. The bathrooms are wonderful...marble and roomy...The food was OK except for the first night and the Capt's dinner...those meals were outstanding. We had the best Baked Alaska ever!!!! Our cabin was on the top deck towards the back...very close to the special coffee machine. Dress was very casual. Husband brought a sport coat but never wore it. He wore golf shirts and dockers for every meal. Will be glad to answer any other questions you might have.

Granny Di, where are you? We are in Houston. Wonderful news about your experiences on the Panorama. We thought the food on the Affinity last year was great!! Stefan was our chef and he was superb! I am a Foodie so look forward to good meals. We have a cabin on the upper deck, mid ship.... were happy with that location last cruise as it is convenient to coffee room and ice machine at back of ship. Can't wait for our Nov. trip.

We are in Georgetown. Lived in Houston for many years. Son and family live near Houston.

Hi Granny DI,

My brother lives in Houston so does that qualify me to join your conversation?

We leave on the Panorama on the 13th July and reading you say great things about the food makes my mouth water.

A couple of questions.

The offered drinks package. Is it necessary? Are drinks on board expensive?

Do you spend much waking time on board or are you mostly on shore during the day. We have found on Ocean cruises that we are mostly off the ship from 10 till 6. Is this the same for a River cruise?

The on shore excursions. Are they always worth doing or is wandering around by ourselves just as interesting. Again, we have found with Ocean cruises that often the excursion is so far away that we just seem to be sitting on buses all day. Perhaps you could comment on "must do"s and "could miss"s although of course everyone has a different interest. But please generalize.

And lastly, the gratuities. There are prepaid vouchers in our tickets. Are these enough or do you tip in addition?

Many thanks for any guidance you can offer.

The Aussies made our cruise so much fun!!!!! The only person I know who had the drink package was an Aussie! He tried to make the package a good deal...but only a few nights was he able to drink enough to make it pay off!!! The drinks are 2 for 1 during happy hour which is between 6 and 7. We used to order 2 drinks and then share our extra drink with friends. Wine was included at dinner and cokes were free for lunch.

As to shore excursions I think you could set off on your own for those tours that don't require a bus. We finally did that towards the end of the cruise. We usually did both morning and afternoon tours. Our favorites were the optional tours: Rothenburg and Cesky Krumlow. I would do my own tour in Bratislava...we had a terrible guide and missed the old town which is very near the ship. Durnstein is a "short" walk from the ship as is Regensburg,Nuremberg,Bamberg, Wurzberg, Mittenberg, and Rudesheim. We did part of the included Rudesheim tour. We walked into town, shopped and then joined the tour for Rudesheimer coffee @ Schloss Hotel.

If you take the whole tour then there isn't time to shop etc...As to tips we just gave what was suggested. We didn't have any special problems so didn't need any extra help etc...

Will be glad to answer any other questions you might have!

Thanks for that Granny DI.

We are definitely Aussies but not big drinking ones so we will take your advice and hang out till happy hour at 6pm.

We haven't looked really closely at the itinery for a while as we are in England at the moment and then Spain before we head to Amsterdam to start the cruise.

If you don't mind, I will take you up on your offer to answer more specific questions closer to sailing date.

Many thanks again.

I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. Sounds like you are having a wonderful trip. We spent several days in Germany after the cruise. I thought of one tour you can miss. Its offered in Amsterdam and its not included in your cruise package. Its called Zaanse Schans Dutch Village. Its an outdoor museum but there is a shop attached to every building. I love outdoor museums but was put off by all the stores.

I'll chime in and suggest that you take the Nuremburg optional tour of Hitler/WWII historic sites - it was really worth the time and I thought one of the best of the optional tours. The old town market square of Nuremburg is much like the others - you are bussed back to the ship - I'm glad we spent our time taking that tour. We were on the maiden voyage of Panorama from Amsterdam to Budapest in May - did not have Rothenburg as an option. I've written elsewhere on the Boards about our experiences with the side trips, and the food etc. Enjoy your cruise - Panorama is a lovely ship and the staff are wonderful.

The Amsterdam NH, where you will likely meet, is just a few blocks from the Rijksmuseum - we dropped our luggage off, walked over there and bought tickets just down the block, then visited the museum. We also had time to walk through most of the shopping areas and have lunch before we met back at the hotel and were bussed to the ship around 4. Our luggage was in our room waiting for us.

Bring 2 inexpensive 220/110 adapter plugs. The WIFI is fine when it's working. Every time you cross country borders the boat needs to change the decoder card in their Internet receiver. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. If they don't, you will not receive Internet until they do. The other problem is the canal locks. Many times you will lose connectivity when you are in the locks, when you go under bridges, when you are in a river gorge with steep hills blocking signal or if you dock too close to shore and the signal is blocked by trees.

The good news is WIFI is free so just deal with all the dropped signals. You can leave your device on full time so it will connect whenever there is a decent signal.

It just takes some getting used to.

Hi Granny DI and Benjzmom and others,

We are on the Avalon Panorama now, just cruising past the castles and now that the weather has fined up, we are loving it.

Need to make some decisions on the optional tours by Monday. Today is Saturday.

I know everyone has their own opinion but I would value your input.

We don't want to "miss out" on anything good BUT we don't like being cooped up in a bus for hours traveling.

Given that, what are your suggestions between

1. Cesky Krumlov or Salzburg or do Passau, back on boat, do Linz.

Full day tour so don't want to waste the day or make the wrong choice, if there is such a thing as the wrong choice.

Are the following worth doing

2. Weltenburg abbey - we have seen many abbeys, castles, museums, art galleries etc on our recent travels so if amazing, we wouldn't want to miss out but if just another, then seen plenty.

3. Schonbrunn palace - as above

4. Schlossof castle - as above

So these three above. Are any amazing or very different to others.

Or are the towns these are in better off explored in the time that would otherwise be spent on the optional tour.

5. Is the night tour of Budapest lights worth doing of is it jus a drive at night in a bus?

Yes, we are going to do the Vienna concert - we love classical music.

So, we don't want to appear ignorant or ungrateful of the opportunities but with limited time, we would like to maximize it.

Thanks for any suggestions from any Avaloners.

But we do need them before Monday. Thanks

I would say Weltenburg Abbey is worth a visit. IMHO not so much for the buildings there, but they got wunderbares beer ;) And an impressive landscape around the abbey:

http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=donau+durchbruch&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=252l4856l0l5134l25l18l3l0l0l0l469l2607l1.10.3.0.1l15&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1125&bih=1044&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi

Hope this helps. I've written more about the trip in earlier posts. You can search for my posts and find them - posted in early June.

1. Cesky Krumlov or Salzburg or do Passau, back on boat, do Linz.

Full day tour so don't want to waste the day or make the wrong choice, if there is such a thing as the wrong choice. We did not get to Linz or Passau because of water issues - we bussed to the day trips from Regensburg and met up with the ship outside of Passau. We did get a chance (20 minutes) in the pouring rain to run into the cathedral in Passau. Approximately 1/2 the people went to Salzburg, and 1/2 to Czesky Krumlov (I did the latter b/c I'd been to Salzburg) - you can't go wrong with either. In my case, my travel partner and I split up and each did one of these tours.

Are the following worth doing:

2. Weltenburg abbey - we have seen many abbeys, castles, museums, art galleries etc on our recent travels so if amazing, we wouldn't want to miss out but if just another, then seen plenty. This is part of the guided tour and is absolutely a highlight of this trip - don't miss it.

3. Schonbrunn palace - as above - Those who went enjoyed it. I've been there in the past and it is impressive. If you are in Vienna on a Sunday, you should consider it because most of the shops in town are closed and there isn't much else to do.

4. Schlossof castle - as above Not sure which town you are referring to. Most of the castles we saw were part of the guided tours.

So these three above. Are any amazing or very different to others.

Or are the towns these are in better off explored in the time that would otherwise be spent on the optional tour. Most towns you can take the tour then have time on your own to sight see. I would definitely do the WWII tour of Nuremburg.

5. Is the night tour of Budapest lights worth doing of is it jus a drive at night in a bus? This depends on what your plan is for the next morning when you disembark. The ship docks very close to the center of town. You can take a nice walk across the bridge and see lots of lights on your own. The tour leaves around 9 p.m. and lasts about 1 1/2 hours - so, whether you are up for a late night tour is really a personal preference.

Sorry I'm late replying but just saw your post.

1. We loved Cesky Krumlov. Our friends did Salzburg and thought the Sound of Music tour was "cheesy". My husband's family is from the Czech Repulic so we were thrilled and pleased with Cesky Krumlov.

2. Weltenburg Abbey was amazing but the boat ride to the abbey is Disneyworld like:(...the beer was very good and I don't drink beer.

3. Schonbrunn Palace was VERY crowded. We did not enjoy the crowds. We wouldn't visit there during the summer again. We did enjoy the Strudelshow but the "cookie" lady on the Panorama was better!

4. I don't remember visiting this castle/hotel...where is it? Rudesheim? Do you get a special coffee drink? If its Rudesheim skip the musical instruments tour to shop/tour then rejoin the tour for the special coffee.

5. We didn't do Budpaest lights as we arrived in Budapest before the start of the cruise. We didn't do the Vienna concert because the reviews were 50/50 from our friends. If its hot you will NOT enjoy the concert as there is no AC in the room where the concert is held.

Hope you are enjoying the Panorama...its a beautiful ship.

Hi Granny DI and Benjzmom and others,

 

We are on the Avalon Panorama now, just cruising past the castles and now that the weather has fined up, we are loving it.

 

Need to make some decisions on the optional tours by Monday. Today is Saturday.

I know everyone has their own opinion but I would value your input.

We don't want to "miss out" on anything good BUT we don't like being cooped up in a bus for hours traveling.

Given that, what are your suggestions between

1. Cesky Krumlov or Salzburg or do Passau, back on boat, do Linz.

Full day tour so don't want to waste the day or make the wrong choice, if there is such a thing as the wrong choice.

Are the following worth doing

2. Weltenburg abbey - we have seen many abbeys, castles, museums, art galleries etc on our recent travels so if amazing, we wouldn't want to miss out but if just another, then seen plenty.

3. Schonbrunn palace - as above

4. Schlossof castle - as above

So these three above. Are any amazing or very different to others.

Or are the towns these are in better off explored in the time that would otherwise be spent on the optional tour.

5. Is the night tour of Budapest lights worth doing of is it jus a drive at night in a bus?

Yes, we are going to do the Vienna concert - we love classical music.

 

So, we don't want to appear ignorant or ungrateful of the opportunities but with limited time, we would like to maximize it.

 

Thanks for any suggestions from any Avaloners.

But we do need them before Monday. Thanks

Hope you are having a fantastic time. We have 6 of us from Perth (North Beach and North Fremantle) going on the Panorama on 7th September and have been really interested in the info on this board.

Enjoy :)

Beryl

I was mistaken - as Granny Di said, the optional trip to Weltenburg Abbey where the monks make beer is a side trip that includes the Danube Gorge by boat. The drive was nice, the church in the Abbey is lovely, the free beer was OK as were the pretzels. The boat ride is only 20 minutes and water was low so it wasn't anything spectacular. One could take or leave it - depends on whether you want to see some countryside as opposed to walking around the town and looking at more souvenirs.