Questions re: Avalon Rhine Cruise

We are booked on our first River Cruise with Avalon and leave this Fri for Zurich.on the Romantic Rhine. We arrive a day early at 10:00Am and staying at the Movenpick Hotel at the airport. The following day we are booked to take the Avalon ship transfer to Basal, Does anyone have any idea what time that will be at? I understand it is approx. an hour bus ride. If it isn’t till afternoon any suggestions how to spend the morning. We leave in 4 days if there is any last minute suggestions for this wonderful anticipated trip please pass on. I also want to thank everyone for all their help as I have been studying these boards for the past year, Donna

I'm guessing that you received your blue bag and folder from Avalon (or at least I hope so)! In the folder there is a booklet with your name on it. Under "Arrival Information" on page 4 it will tell you the time to meet. The hotel where you are meeting should be listed under "Contact Information" on page 8. I think these are the correct page numbers - we're doing this cruise in the other direction.

Enjoy!

Thanks Shelbyz for your quick response. Yes I do have the booklet and it states we can access the Avalon rep for more details 8Am at the hotel on the day of departure. Thanks for the info regarding the contact numbers on page 8. Have a wonderful trip, Donna

We are leaving in 2 days any last minute suggestions ? Donna

Donna - have a great trip. We did the Rhine with Avalon last June and loved it.

My tips -

1.) Don't over do the wine at the first dinner. Our experience was, we met 2 couples on the first day...one couple from England and one couple from Canada. At the first dinner the steward kept filling our wine glasses as soon as they were empty. Before we knew it, one of the ladies we were having dinner with was pretty well blitz from the wine. It took 3 days for her to get over it. She pretty much slept in those days while we went on our morning excursions. She missed quite a bit.

2.) Unless you really, really, really have to have a cucko clock forget about going on the Black forest bus trip and stay in port. Enjoy Breisach, the port you probably will dock in. We found the bus ride through the black forest was enjoyable enough but the ultimate destination to the clock shop was a huge disappointment. They serve you free coffee and black forest cake but the cake is forgettable enough. I thought they were pushy in the souvienier shop too. They follow you around in the shop and are anxious to ring up anything and everything you pick up. The clocks are nice but $$$$$ and I thought the other carvings looked like imports. Save you time and money and visit Breisach.

3.) In Strasbourg we did the optional Robert Blanck winery tour in Obernai France. It was an OK tour but not what I was hoping for.

4.) In Rudesheim we did the included coffee/brandy and Siegfrieds Mechanical Museum. Unless you love mechanical music boxes skip Siegfrieds and explore the town on your own. The coffee and brandy were pretty good.

5.) Do have a Kolsch beer in Koln but find a place that serves it from the tap and not a bottle. Also, if you like chocolate tour the Lindt Museum and visit the chocolate shop. Yummy goodies, but not real cheap. Also the ship will serve Cologne meat patties for lunch. I have to admit they were one of my favorite lunch servings.

These are just my humble opinions and maybe you will find the experiences more rewarding. We would prefer to explore the cities and towns on our own.

Thanks for the tips, Paulinda. We'll be doing this at the end of the month (in reverse) and appreciate the feedback. I have read comments from other posters who agree with you about the Black Forest tour.

Donna, we're looking forward to any information you may have when you return. Safe travels.

Great Advice Paulinda the exact info I have been looking for....Thank you . I will post a review when I get back Shelbyz. Almost finished packing as we leave Friday...yikes, Donna

We are also plannng a 2012 Romantic Rhine cruise and would appreciate the feed back from those of you going soon.

Clare

Clare - when are you going in 2012? I am booked for the Basel - Amsterdam trip at the end of May. I think we leave the US around 5/24 or 5/25.

I appreciate the input about the tours as well. I am keeping track of the hints / comments to try and help me decide what I want to do when we go.

Kelly

Clare - when are you going in 2012? I am booked for the Basel - Amsterdam trip at the end of May. I think we leave the US around 5/24 or 5/25.

 

I appreciate the input about the tours as well. I am keeping track of the hints / comments to try and help me decide what I want to do when we go.

 

Kelly

Kelly we are going on the 4/1/2012 Avalon Romantic Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam. We will probably go a day or two early and be looking for ideas for things to see in Zurich/Basel area as well as hotels and transportation options to the boat. We will also tour a little in Amsterdam and hope to see the spring bulbs in bloom and other sites, so would like ideas for this also. We are also taking a little Germany side trip from there to visit places where our parents and grandparents were born. We are joining my sister and brother and their spouses for this wonderful river cruise.

Donna, we would love a report and ideas from you when you return from this trip.

Kelly, please keep me posted as you do your planning.

Thanks.

Clare

Clare - we went ahead and booked our 1 day pre cruise in Zurich via Avalon. From what I have read on this board, their hotel is the Movenpick, which is fairly close to the Zurich airport. There is a free shuttle that goes from the hotel to the airport, and from there, you can catch the trains into downtown Zurich itself. The cost of the hotel seemed reasonable compared to others that I was looking at and I figured it would just be easier to let Avalon take care of all of the travel arrangements. Plus, this is the same hotel that they use for the meeting, before boarding the bus to Basel. We will not need to switch hotels with luggage. I am traveling w/ my mom, and neither of us have been to Zurich before. We should have all day the day we arrive and part of the next day to explore. I have read that you need to be at the meeting hotel by 3 pm for the transfer to the boat, but I am sure that we will get much more details next year, as it gets closer to cruise time.

I plan to use Tripadvisor to find things to do in Zurich. We plan to wing it a bit, depending on the weather. We may do a boat ride on the lake, stroll through Old Town, and will probably take in a museum. My mom really enjoys art museums and I am a good daughter and humor her. LOL We will probably try to have fondue in Zurich and I have read that Hotel Adler, AlpenRose, and Le Dézaley are good options. I think at least 2 of these are in the Old Town section.

We are not spending time in Amsterdam post cruise as I am still working and 11 days is about long enough for me to be gone from work. I will have to do another trip to see Amsterdam some time. I'll continue to post as I plan. I would appreciate it if you do the same. I will look forward to your review of your cruise. I will especially be interested in your thoughts on the excursions and which to take / which to skip, much like Paulinda posted above.

How did you book already or know the schedule for 2012? I asked and they said the schedule will not be available until mid May. I have been anxiously waiting, as we want to book in April for our 30th anniversary!

I booked over one month ago. My travel agent called and we were able to book with a $250 deposit. I didn't know the exact date that the trip would be leaving, but I knew that I wanted the trip the last week of May, going from Basel to Amsterdam. She was able to book it. My TA is an authorized Avalon agent, but this shouldn't matter. I am sure that we will need to put a larger deposit down when the dates are officially released. I think we even locked in the 2011 rates for our 2012 trip. You may want to call Avalon and ask what you need to do, or have your TA call. It wasn't a big deal to get them to take our reservation.

How did you book already or know the schedule for 2012? I asked and they said the schedule will not be available until mid May. I have been anxiously waiting, as we want to book in April for our 30th anniversary!

We also put the $250.00 deposit down. We think the dates and itinerary and ships for 2011 will be much the same for 2012 as they are for 2011 so we just have a hold on a reservation you might say. We won't know for sure until the schedule comes out. We think that is about May 18th when the 2012 schedule comes out.

...Clare

Clare - we went ahead and booked our 1 day pre cruise in Zurich via Avalon. From what I have read on this board, their hotel is the Movenpick, which is fairly close to the Zurich airport. There is a free shuttle that goes from the hotel to the airport, and from there, you can catch the trains into downtown Zurich itself. The cost of the hotel seemed reasonable compared to others that I was looking at and I figured it would just be easier to let Avalon take care of all of the travel arrangements. Plus, this is the same hotel that they use for the meeting, before boarding the bus to Basel. We will not need to switch hotels with luggage. I am traveling w/ my mom, and neither of us have been to Zurich before. We should have all day the day we arrive and part of the next day to explore. I have read that you need to be at the meeting hotel by 3 pm for the transfer to the boat, but I am sure that we will get much more details next year, as it gets closer to cruise time.

 

I plan to use Tripadvisor to find things to do in Zurich. We plan to wing it a bit, depending on the weather. We may do a boat ride on the lake, stroll through Old Town, and will probably take in a museum. My mom really enjoys art museums and I am a good daughter and humor her. LOL We will probably try to have fondue in Zurich and I have read that Hotel Adler, AlpenRose, and Le Dézaley are good options. I think at least 2 of these are in the Old Town section.

 

We are not spending time in Amsterdam post cruise as I am still working and 11 days is about long enough for me to be gone from work. I will have to do another trip to see Amsterdam some time. I'll continue to post as I plan. I would appreciate it if you do the same. I will look forward to your review of your cruise. I will especially be interested in your thoughts on the excursions and which to take / which to skip, much like Paulinda posted above.

Karen,Thanks for the great information about your plans in Zurich and how to get from hotel to airport to city etc. We will look into the precruise package there. Do you remember where you saw all those details about things like the meeting in the hotel before going to the ship etc.? I have not been able to find much about the Romantic Rhine cruise from past cruisers. Maybe I am not going to the right site.

Clare

I have gleaned all of this info from this site. Just search this board for Avalon Rhine and you will find posts from people who have taken this cruise over the last two years. They have posted reviews and answered questions from other posters. I have taken to reading every post about Avalon, regardless of the trip, and all posts concerning Rhine River cruises. I have gotten a lot of info / input from this. I will continue to post as my plans gel more. I think I'll have firm dates by the end of the month, since I think Avalon is releasing the 2012 schedule on 5/18/11.

For 2011 - the extra night in Zurich pre-cruise was $88 pp. As stated they are using the Movenpick Zurich Airport this year. From what I have read and researched, this seems like a very competitive price plus the convenience of having Avalon take care of transfers, not needing to change hotels to meet up, etc. When the 2012 schedule is released, the rates for the hotels may come out as well. Hopefully it is similar to 2011.

Good luck with your research / planning. Feel free to continue to ask questions.

Kelly

Kelly,

Do you live in Dublin, Ohio? I grew up in Ohio and graduated from Ohio State....many years ago.

Clare

We are also plannng a 2012 Romantic Rhine cruise and would appreciate the feed back from those of you going soon.

Clare

I will plan to post after our trip. We leave Thursday for the May 22nd Zurich (Basel) to Amsterdam trip on Avalon Felicity.

Thanks Chicagogal. We will look forward to your review. Have a great trip.

Clare

My husband and myself are booked on the Basel to Amsterdam for the 24 September 2011. I to am interested in any suggestions or advise for sailing on Avalon. We have been on many cruises but never on a river cruise. If anyone out there is on our sailing please reply.

Kelly,

Do you live in Dublin, Ohio? I grew up in Ohio and graduated from Ohio State....many years ago.

Clare

I actually grew up between Dublin and Hilliard. I attended OSU for my PhD classes and am a huge OSU Fan. I actually live in Mansfield now. My screen name, is for Young Dubliners, my favorite Irish Rock Band.

I just got an e-mail from Avalon yesterday that my sailing next May has a special of $1000 off per cabin w/ their air $500 per cabin without air. The May 31, 2012 sailing has $1300 off per cabin. Our sailing the week before is a better bargain for me because we locked in on 2011 prices, which are lower than 2012 prices.

Kelly

I actually grew up between Dublin and Hilliard. I attended OSU for my PhD classes and am a huge OSU Fan. I actually live in Mansfield now. My screen name, is for Young Dubliners, my favorite Irish Rock Band.

 

I just got an e-mail from Avalon yesterday that my sailing next May has a special of $1000 off per cabin w/ their air $500 per cabin without air. The May 31, 2012 sailing has $1300 off per cabin. Our sailing the week before is a better bargain for me because we locked in on 2011 prices, which are lower than 2012 prices.

 

Kelly

We grew up in Dover, Ohio which is fairly close to Mansfield. So glad you are a huge Ohio State fan. They are fun to follow. I was hoping Kansas U and Ohio State would both make it to the NCAA basketball finals...but sadly neither one did even though they were both number one seeds. We are also huge Kansas University basketball fans. We have lived in Kansas since 1959 right after graduation from Ohio State and our three children went to Kansas University and Kansas State and made fans out of us.

We finalized our Avalon Romantic Rhine trip yesterday for six of us..my siblings and spouses. We are excited. It seems expensive but we are used to ocean cruises so we shall see how it all compares after doing this river cruise.

Sounds like you got a great deal. I assume it was just certain itineraries that had the special offerings.

Clare

Clare - I have family in Dover / New Philadelphia so I know where you are from. I hope you checked Avalon's site before you booked because there were new deals / specials this week. The $1300 off per cabin was for the Romantic Rhine leaving Zurich on 5/31/12. I think this was the only date so far for 2012 with a discount for that itinerary. Our travel agent stays in fairly close contact w/ Avalon to make sure we are getting the best deal.

Kelly

Clare - I have family in Dover / New Philadelphia so I know where you are from. I hope you checked Avalon's site before you booked because there were new deals / specials this week. The $1300 off per cabin was for the Romantic Rhine leaving Zurich on 5/31/12. I think this was the only date so far for 2012 with a discount for that itinerary. Our travel agent stays in fairly close contact w/ Avalon to make sure we are getting the best deal.

 

Kelly

Kelly,

That is interesting that you have family in Dover/New Phila area. Both my husband and I still have family living in the area. Yes, we did see that special. We decided we really want to try to see the spring flower fields near Amsterdam and April is a better month for that. Also we have a grand daughter graduatiing next May so wanted to stay away from that time frame. The early April cruises are cheaper to begin with. Weather can be an issue but we will just take our chances it will not still be too cold. Thanks for letting us know. I don't know if I told you, we are booked on the April 1 cruise from Basel to Amsterdam. We had to go up from B to A category because all the B category rooms were already taken, but still saved some by putting down the 250 deposit early.

Clare

Clare - I hope you will enjoy your cruise. I just put in a request to get the 2012 Avalon brochure, just so I have something to keep looking at. I'll keep you posted on how my planning goes. I am looking forward to reading your review when you get back. This year can't pass quickly enough. I still have just over one year to wait.

Kelly