dolllover

I’m just looking for people who have been on both and can compare the two.

 

 

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I’ve been on both but prefer Viking . On Avalon it looked like they were short staffed , busses not as good and preferred the food and tour guides on Viking . I still really enjoyed both trips . I would book another Avalon trip but only if it’s an itinerary that I really want to go one that I can’t find on another river cruise.

I traveled on my first river cruise from Vienna to Amsterdam in 2001 with GCT. At the time Viking, Uniworld, and GCT were the only lines (that I know of) that catered to Americans. Each only had a few ship. There were more barges on the rivers than passenger ships. There was no rafting and we always dock in the center of town. My trip last July was terrible. We docked in industrial areas more than not and the rafting in Vienna was ridiculous. Vikings expansion is mostly to blame for this but AMA keeps adding ships also. I decided that the Danube is no longer in my future. The Rhine, Rhone, and Seine are better options for me.

If you're going to go in July expect it to be terrible. Isn't that peak tourist season? We traveled off season in October on the Danube and it was fantastic without too many crowds.

I have read through this whole thread and it has been very helpful. Daisi showed me where it was. Thank you.

 

Some family members & I are going on an Avalon cruise & we've never been on Avalon before. We've been on Uniworld & Viking. While you've answered so many questions, I have a few more:

 

1) Do you have to run into dinner at 7:00? One of the very few things that annoys me about river cruises, is that the port briefing is right before dinner. We like to relax a little & then go into dinner. We could do that Uniworld so I'm wondering if we can on Avalon.

 

2) How large are the tables in the dining room? Are there tables for 2 or 4? We like meeting new people, but occasionally we like to be by ourselves. I'm particularly concerned about large tables after seeing the discussion on the noise in the dining room. I think the smallest table on the Viking cruise in China was for 8 or ten people & you literally had to shout at the person sitting next to you because the place was so noisy. It was very unpleasant.

 

3) If buses are used on the tours (either the free ones or the ones you pay for) how crowded are they? Uniworld & Viking filled maybe a third of the buses. Even with family members, its nice to spread out a little & have leg-room.

 

4) Someone earlier in the thread said that cocktails were "reasonably" priced. I wonder if anyone has any more specific information. On vacation we'll definitely indulge in a fun martini & I'm just wondering what the price would be like.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

On our Avalon trip we had the briefing before dinner like we did on Viking. As far as I remember there weren't any tables for just 2 with the tables being large.

I found the busses on Avalon not as nice as Vikings.

Pre existing coverage is very important to us as DH has severe asthma that can put him in the hospital. Thankfully it hasn't happened on a trip. We always buy the gold standard with Travel Guard within a few days of our booking to make sure we are covered.

We recently cruised with Viking and loved every minute with them. Enough to book two more cruises. The boats are very clean and modern with a great and helpful staff. The food was outstanding as well. Now to me where they really excel are the tour guides. The best we have ever had. Ama and Viking are both outstanding lines so I'm sure you can't go wrong with either of them.

I'm excited to read this. It's a trip I want to do.

We did this trip in Oct with Viking and loved it. I would recommend staying a few days in Prague and Budapest pre and post cruise.

I've had no problem asking Viking to move my final payment.

We did the Terezin optional tour with Viking and really enjoyed the experience. Prague is easy enough to walk at night on your own.

I pre booked all the excursions I wanted last month for my Oct cruise so that it's one less thing to worry about. Just bought my hotel and flights as well.

This is on my bucket list. Thanks for the review and pictures.

Wow my daughter and son in law would love to do this.

Hi, we just came back from a fantastic cruise with Viking on the Danube. It was so good that we booked the Lyon to Avignon with them.

We will be arriving in Aruba at 3 pm . What to do in the late afternoon? Since this is an overnight in Aruba, the next day we are doing a tour of the island with beach time. Are there any decent art galleries on the island or is the port area interesting enough to walk around for a few hours.

You really can't go wrong booking a land tour with Tauck. They are highly rated. I recently booked my first land tour with them after years of DIY trips and I feel very comfortable using Tauck. There are much less expensive tour companies but the consistency of a great product is what you will get with Tauck.

We took a Tulip cruise with Avalon and saw an individual in a wheel chair getting help from the crew. You might call Avalon and check with them.

No further action so I'm going to discontinue this thread ...

 

I'll add pictures to other threads when they help answer questions about a particular island or place of interest.

Just because people aren't responding doesn't mean they're not watching.

Thanks for sharing your review. How were the busses? The busses on my two river cruises Avalon and Viking were like night and day. On Avalon older busses and the AC was not great versus Viking which were exceptional being newer Mercedes busses with excellent leg room,toilets and AC. Looks like internet is spotty on all these river cruises. Glad you had a great time.

On September 10th my wife and I and 34 neighbors from our Del Webb community took the American Empress riverboat from Clarkston Washington to Vancouver Washington (not Canada). The costs were $9189 not including flights, gratuities or transfers. I am happy to report that service was superior, food was excellent, Entertainment (Frank Chase) was exceptional,and everyone had a great time as we were all friends prior to this trip. We were however, disappointed that we completely missed the major scenic portions of the river due to the Oregon fire and the Native American salmon fishing rights which prevented our docking at The Dalles.

Due to the fire, we completely missed the Columbia gorge, Mt. Hood, Multnomah Falls, The Old Scenic Highway, Bonneville Dam, and Timberline Lodge. We did feel American Queen SteamshipCompany let us down, when they decided to compensate us with a day in Vancouver Washington, a very small suburb of Portland Or, with an included 15 minute hop on-hop off bus trip, and a second day in Astoria Oregon with anincluded shopping trip to Cannon Beach and Seaside beach (local beaches).

 

The bottom line is the fire and the blockage of The Dalles port were completely out of American Queens control, however their replacement options simply fell way short of the missedexperiences to say nothing of the $1000 a day cost.

Fun on the boat, but missed much of the scenic Columbia River.

If you bought insurance for this trip would that help cover the loss? I was thinking of doing this cruise but having second thoughts now.

Can you tell us what excursion was canceled.

But bright side, i think then announcing did accelerate plans by ACL and ASQC to move beyond the Victorian Paddlewheeler and think more European.

I hope ASQC never gets rid of their Paddlewheeler.

Would you accept the price increases for the increased number of crew needed.

Yes I would.

But what is AMA's relative price in the market? Africa is more expensive than Europe for most package vacation options. Is AMA the most expensive of all the options? Or is it still in the middle compared to tauck, Uniworld or others?

In regards to Africa for the land and rails 2 week package for two is 24 grand. Now Tauck's Africa is around 15 grand for two. In comparison to my Viking Danube cruise I paid 10 grand for two including air, insurance and 3 day pre and post stays. And this was with a balcony cabin. I just checked out Ama's and they cost more than Viking. I would put them more in line with Uniworld and Tauck in being more luxury but are not all inclusive.

AmaWaterways is midpriced. Yikes. Don't let Caviargal, know. :halo:

 

JC

Not if you book Africa with Ama. I was thinking of booking Africa with them and just about passed out from the price.

Can you compare Avalon and Viking? Those are the 2 lines we are considering.

 

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I cruised recently on both and loved Viking so much I booked another cruise with them this morning. Avalon was fine but wasn't crazy about the older boat they used called the Luminary. Food was amazing on my Viking trip as well. I would cruise again on Avalon but on one of their newer ships. One thing to consider the buses were much better on Viking than on Avalon. Tour guides were great on both.