Daisi

Glad you got everything ok.

@JillSR - you download the AvalonGo app. It's got everything on it - maps, menus, excursions etc., so it's all handy. There was one lady on our tour that had the excursion sheets printed out, not sure if the reception did it for her or not. I just d/l everything once I was home, transferred from .pdf to .dox for easier reading, and saved it for future reference. One of the dinner menu's is wrong, we were handed paper ones when we arrived into the dining room and they had a total different menu. Everything was tasty (but I eat meat). I know some passengers were gluten free, and they worked well for them - even had croissants that one of them said tasted just as good as normal ones, and were really flaky.

@JillSR, they should be in your inbox now. Have fun. When you board the ship, they hold a meeting for those with special dietary needs. Join in on that, and they will work with you the best they can to help you have more than salads & soup.

Missed Nuremburg because of low water, but they re-arranged things great. I have your e-mail, you can erase it from the post if you wish. Will e-mail shortly.

Yes, I can email them, I have all (breakfast, light & regular lunch, and dinner). Would you like them as well? If you are on the Blue Danube Discovery cruise I can send you the dailies, however ours switched a bit because we ran into some low water levels....but they will give you an idea of what to expect. Just don't expect times to be the same. We started off with 2 days in Budapest, ended with 2 days in Prague...missed Nuremburg unfortunately.

@JillSR Sorry, tried to d/l some of our menus from our Sept Danube cruise, but it won't allow me to d/l .pdf or .dox

Dinner starts at 7:00. You can arrive later, but you will be seating at a table where others are already into their dinner. We had a couple join us, and they kind of held back our meal so they could catch up. No problem for us, we were enjoying the conversation, so time went by quickly. Tables are arranged mostly for 6, one couple will sit down, others join in. There are tables for 2 as well, but they are quite close together so you may as well be at a larger table. The larger round tables are usually taken up by larger groups travelling together, I think they hold 8-10. You can go to the Avalon site and take a virtual tour of the dining room to see how it's arranged, even tour your cabin. We haven't met any one yet who prefers to be on their own, we usually sit at an empty table and by the time meals are served, it's full. You will love touring, most we have met are very friendly and outgoing.

Ok, our first cruise with Avalon, we did our own pre & post cruise, but they still booked our tickets at no charge. We didn't get transfers, but that was no problem, as the hotel we stayed at had a free shuttle, so only had to get a short ride by taxi to the train station in Basel.

Trying to understand the air deviation/extension charge. Is that for when Viking sends you your flights if you wish to change them you have to pay? Avalon allows you to choose your flights (they offer a selection, but you just have to easily check what is available) at no extra charge. The only extra charge I paid for was upgrading our seats from economy to premium economy. Also, my TA and I went online to see what flights were available, and even though they weren't on the Avalon site, Avalon still booked them for us at their rate.

First, if you've never river cruised, check out the stickies on the top of the main page so you know what to expect. That way, you can get some idea as to what you want out of your tour. Are you both fairly fit? Walking around Europe on rough cobblestones can be tough, especially if you are using a walker, and most tours involve about 1 1/2 hr minimum walking on hills, stairs etc., so it's best to be prepared. My next suggestion is to talk to a travel agent (can't recommend any here, but do some research, you can talk to a couple until you feel comfortable choosing one), and ask what cruises they have been on. If they have covered a couple of lines, they should be able to find one to suit both your expectations of what you want (how much included and how much extra you wish to pay), and your budget. River cruising isn't for everyone, but I'll warn you...if you do like it, you can get hooked pretty quickly! Enjoy your planning, come back and ask any questions you wish, we are a friendly bunch that are all hooked.

Yes, because they offset the hallway so the more expensive veranda cabins have more room. This is one thing Viking has done that I agree with, as I'd be pretty mad to realise that the neighbour across the hall paid less and actually had a larger cabin because they had a French Balcony over my Full Balcony. The river ships are limited to width for the locks, so unlike Ocean cruising where your balcony is an extension of your cabin, on a river ship, it's actually part of your cabin's floor space.

We prefer the French balconies, as you don't lose any floor space (unless travelling with Viking, and they have their reasons for it - pay more for a balcony, you should get a bigger cabin), you can have the window open almost across the entire cabin and also have the comfortable chair and love seat to sit on while you are in your cabin. We don't pay extra for having an outdoor balcony that you can't use if rafted, and we like our fresh air.

As a kid before allergies kicked in, we had 2 big real Christmas trees, one for upstairs, one for downstairs. The parent's friends had no kids, so that's probably why we had 2, as they would come out with us to cut them down. We have Angels as our topper, but one tradition we've had since kids was a crystal spider. It always went on the tree in the prime spot so lights flash on it. Here's the story behind it :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Christmas_Spider.

Avalon allows you to pre-pay your tips for the ship crew, and if desired, you can casually hand them extra with a personal thanks. I like it that way, as the gratuities collected are split amongst all crew members, so this way I can not only personally thank someone who has given me exceptional service, but hopefully they get to keep their tip. The guides & bus drivers gratuities are all included (I was surprised, but it said that right in our info), so you can do the same if you have an exceptional one.

I came home with a really bad cough, no voice....but no Covid. It never left my throat, and no sore throat either. One week of rest, cooler weather and I am fine with just a bit of cough left. Hope you recover quickly, and your wife only has the cough.

https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Uniworld-charter-two-former-Crystal-river-ships?fbclid=IwAR1a5Lricwklbu7TPJkTEpt8a6qNyYyzkJoPCtSoHJ8b7iXK1o3RL17DGso

Sorry, I'll try again.

@romanm keep that attitude, maybe it will rub off on some of your fellow travelers. I was rather surprised how well received our new itinerary was amongst our fellow guests, having expected some grumbling. Yes, some who had early flights were a little upset to not return to the ship after the last stop (they were bussed straight to Nuremburg for a hotel for the night), but I think that was just because they didn't want to leave. Enjoy the rest of your cruise, hoping for rain at night, good weather during the day for touring for you.

We were on the Envision for the Blue Danube Discovery tour in Sept. This is the bikes they had available for daily use, for tours, they brought in more.

Do you go past Passau? That is usually where the water level problems start. Have a great cruise, we had perfect weather (well, a little on the hot side), no rain. Hope you do as well.

Ours was the same, nice scenic country, and we were the only bus at the rest stop. We passed a couple of other busses from our ship at their stops, so I guess it was well planned as to who was stopping where. We also didn't have a full bus, so the rush for facilities probably wasn't as bad. 🙂

A further add to @franski's comments, we just completed our Danube cruise. After our 3rd stop it was announced water levels were to low to travel the full way, so they switched things up. Instead of sailing from Durnstein to Passau, we sailed to Linz, then Engelhartszell. After that we sailed to Passau, and were bussed to Regensburg. We totally missed Roth (and the excursion to Nuremburg). So if you organise tours along the way, you may not reach your ports at all. I can't complain about our cruise, the two extra stops were great, sad to miss Nuremburg, but what do you do when there is no water to sail on?

Our cruise on Avalon Envision is ending in Passau. They are stopping in Engelhartszell, then Passeau. No rain except for a few drops this morning, but at least it’s cooler.

We will be trying our tags out this weekend. I'll have to remember to turn my Bluetooth on, we tend not to use it unless doing Airdrop's between our phones. I can just see a panic coming on because I've forgotten. 🙂

Got a call from our TA yesterday, she had a "gift" for us from Avalon....a cable organiser and luggage tags. I looked at organisers before, and figured not worth it, but this one fits nicely under my camera in our knapsack, and frees up my front pouch. Pretty much ready to go, just have to do some final things, and we will be set. Best news is that Hurricane Lee has decided to take it's time, and not hit the East Coast until after we leave! Happy Dance!!!!!