Oyster Bar

My computer comes up with an error message and then immediately goes to the correct place.  It has only done this for the last few days....prior to this, it didn't happen.

I can't see what changes were made to newer boats....Visionary was launched in 2009.

Actually, I just saw another post that said Visionary was a 2012 boat so it's not that old so I don't know why there was the noise problem. Hope all cruisers have a great time....beautiful areas to see and learn about.

I can't see what changes were made to newer boats....Visionary was launched in 2009.

It makes me wonder if this dining room noise problem was specific to the Visionary. A number of other people on our cruise (on the Visonary) brought up this issue. As I mentioned, we had a good time but we would not go on this particular boat again.

Even with our usual table of 4, we found it very difficult to hear each other. We had to ask each other to repeat things....and fyi, we do not usually have any problems with hearing. This was unusually poor acoustics which we all have experienced occasionally in certain restaurants. To deal with this at every dinner was unacceptable. I'm sure that Avalon could make improvements to deal with this issue on this particular riverboat.

Noise from the engines or generally loud passenger noise ? - hard surfaces?

We were bothered by the poor acoustics in the dining room...people noise, maybe low ceilings and not enough noise reduction insulation or whatever is done for this....not engine noise.

We just recently completed a cruise in Southern France on the Avalon Affinity and the noise level in the dining room was very loud. We sat at the same table for eight every evening and one could not talk to the whole group, just the person next to you.

 

I have found that the noise level in the dining rooms on all riverboats is very loud. I don't quite understand why this issue has not been resolved when the new boats are built.

 

Also, I thought the food on Avalon was just so so. I asked for half portions of salad and the main course and was told that it could not be done. I was told to eat what I wanted and just leave the rest. I have always been able to get half portions on Viking and Grand Circle. I don't want a whole portion and I don't like to waste food.

Thanks for this info, Sharon....much along the lines of our feelings on Avalon Visionary re food, service and especially the noise level. In the future I would hope our "next" travel agent will have information like this because so many people I've heard from on this post or in person have said that they have had better experiences than we did when they were with other companies or on newer ships of Avalon's.

Thanks for letting me know this. It was noisy in our room also but luckily we are not light sleepers so we were ok....our friends were bothered by the engine and thruster noise at night. I don't even know is the Visionary is a newer or older boat in the Avalon fleet. I just can't imagine that all river boats have this dining room noise problem or I would have heard about it from friends who have taken other river boat cruises or from our TA or from reviews. Same with the service, which as I mentioned, was not "service with a smile." I think we just happened on an unlucky week of ok food, unsatisfactory noise in the dining room and some rather unfriendly staff. Only way to solve this is to try again, and likely with a different river cruise company.

I would like to hear if anyone else on an Avalon river cruise had the same main complaint that we did....the nearly unbearable noise level in the dining room at dinner time. That would have made even the best dinners less tasty. (We didn't do the smaller tasting menu but we should have....we never decided in time to pre-book which was our fault.)

KathyK13....re the food: Every dinner was decent and good and the portions were good, but only one dinner was what I would describe as "very good." That dinner was the Captain's Dinner and it was the calibre I had thought we would see every evening. I know they are working from a small kitchen but the selections were very ordinary in taste. For example, the Caesar salad was fresh and ok, but quite tasteless. The steak (which is offered every night along with chicken or fish as an "always available" if you don't want any of the day's dinner selections) was fine but needed some sort of sauce. On the evening of the Captain's dinner, I chose the steak but this time it came with a very tasty sauce which took the meal up to very good. ( I like steak with no sauce, but the steaks served needed something.) The fish and chicken were also good, but nothing special. I guess what I'm trying to say is just everyday ordinary....like we would get at a restaurant that I might choose to take my family and grandkids to for a nice meal. I must say, my favourite dish was a late night snack that was offered one evening....goulash....excellent flavour (and that's what I found lacking in the dinners....flavour). As far as breakfast and lunch, there were lots of choices, but I would describe the buffet to be more like a small smorgasbord. Again, we were spoiled to the max on Oceania and didn't expect that level of food and service, but this offered nothing close. Add to that the noise problem (acoustics in dining room) and the service that was "just ok," that's what was disappointing. Seriously though, maybe we just got a weak week.....not sure.

We have been home for about 10 days now, after our Avalon Visionary cruise....Prague to Budapest, with a 2 day extension in Budapest (at the Prima Fashion Boutique Hotel....great room and location). Unfortunately, our Avalon experience was not as good as what has been written above. Our room was good and nicely kept. Room attendant was efficient but not much personality or interaction. We had ok weather for the first half of the trip and great weather for the 2nd half. The better weather allowed us to sit up top and enjoy this extra space. We enjoyed the coffee machine and cookies/doughnuts that were available 24/7. We did the same two extra excursions, Chesky Krumlov and the Vienna concert, and thoroughly enjoyed both....guides and performers were excellent. Our disappointment was the food and the staff. The food was ok....good but not very good. The servers did what they had to do but didn't go the extra mile. It was not "service with a smile" and it did not come close to comparing to our service on an Oceania cruise we did last year. The dining room noise level was a huge problem for many of us.....surely there is some sound proofing that could be done to improve this. I don't know if this problem is just on the Visionary or if all of the boats have this problem. It really took away from the dinner time and we did not have the relaxed dinner feeling. This was something that many people brought up. As someone else said, the Captain was great and we saw him helping with everything and he was very pleasant to talk with. He made time to mingle a bit with everyone. Also, Jerry, the director of the cruise, was excellent....he did give the special service to us and to everyone else that I saw him with. He interacted in a happy and friendly manner.....and I guess this is what we expected to see from all of the staff. The reception desk had an efficient woman but again, one did not feel the "happy to help you" attitude. We loved the places we visited on this trip, we enjoyed the passengers (nice group) and all of the included bus and walking tours were good. Staff training maybe needs to be done to bring the service level up. Would we do it again? Yes....because we have many friends who have had wonderful river cruise experiences and we think we just maybe had an unusual experience. We like enough about this trip that we would try it again.

Thanks for any info about the Avalon cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest, with 3 days in Prague at the beginning and 2 extra nights in Budapest. We cruise in 3 weeks. Can't wait!

 

Sonia & Dave

We had the same question as you and we, too, appreciate the colourful & informative response.