Queen of my Heart

I am booked on a river cruise at the end of this month starting in Nurnberg and finishing at Mainz. I have read all the comments about water levels on the Rhine and Danube but the Main and the link canal is rarely mentioned. Does anyone have any info on whether the Main is affected? I have emailed the cruise company but just got a generic reply about them watching the situation carefully. Many thanks for any info/thoughts.

Many thanks. I will try that, though I get the sense that it's mainly North Americans and Riviera doesn't sell to that market afaik.

Has anyone had any experience of Riviera cancelling river cruises since operations recommenced after covid? I am due to travel with them on a river cruise starting 31 August but my reading of cabin availability on their website seems to indicate that bookings are only just into double figures. I have twice asked them whether it is going ahead and have been told each time that there are no current plans to cancel the cruise. Does anyone have experience of Riviera cancelling due to low numbers and how far in advance of the sailing date have they done so? Any thoughts would be most welcome.

I did have a good time and, despite my worst fears, having only twenty passengers aboard proved not to be a problem at all and it turned out to be like a large house party. This was my first time with Avalon and, on the whole, I was impressed. The ship was lovely, staff very attentive, staterooms a good size, well equipped and nice shower-rooms with a reasonably sized shower cubicle. My main quibble was their insistence on everything being done electronically (daily menus, programmes etc only available on the app or tv, neither of which on occasions worked) and the removal of little touches like a shower cap, all in the name of sustainability. They did however seem happy to print out reminders about settling bar bills promptly!! I very much liked having a wide choice of excursions and to their credit they continued to offer the full range even though we were so few. I chose not to leave the ship on several occasions as it was so hot and I was sure that I would find city walking too much for me. I was slightly disappointed in the Vienna city tour - I have previously been on one which covered more of the sights over a longer tour - so felt a bit short-changed. I loved Regensburg for its waterside location and delightful centre (it was the only place where we were rafted apart from Budapest at the very start) and am always very happy to return to Nurnberg which is one of my all-time favourite places. It was however very hot and we were all wilting after walking/standing in the hot sun for much of the morning. The Nurnberg itinarary had to be amended as we had to moor at Kelheim and be bussed there (1.5 hours each way) as the Danube was closed for the annual Roth triathlon, which is something to be aware of in future years for anyone planning a river cruise that passes on that stretch of the river/Main canal in Early July. This was my first summertime river cruise (I'd only ever done them in spring, autumn or Xmas before) so it was wonderful to be able to sit outside and enjoy the ever-changing view. There was quite a lot of daytime sailing as well as overnight so there was plenty of opportunity to just chill in the warmth (if you get my drift). As an aside, it was rumoured aboard that Avalon were cancelling some of the subsequent cruises following this itinerary. We saw ships from all the cruise lines at one time or another but none looked full or even approaching that and the towns/cities weren't rammed although there were many parties of local school pupils in evidence. There was some rafting happening but it seemed that cruise lines were trying to do so alonngside their own sister ships.

Daisi. Home again now and I am trying another way to attach the menu. Do let me know if it works! If so, I will attach more. Unfortunately they are PDFs so I can't cut and Paste. I will say that the food was universally excellent. Some of us feared that, with such a small complement of passengers, they might offer reduced options but that was not at all the case.mthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfmthmzp39-Damthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfmthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfmthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfmthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfy_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfmthmzp39-Day_2_Dimthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu[651].pdfnner_Menu[651].pdf

Yes, we left about 6pm so we were able to see the city in early evening sunshine, but it depends where the boat is moored how much you get to see and there is no commentary. One of my fellow travellers also did the Budapest extension but Avalon failed to met her at the airport so she had to organise a taxi herself. They will reimburse her the cost but still.....you might like to double and triple check any arrangements you have with them.

Daisi. Some random bits of info for you. The cruise has more daytime sailing than any other river cruise that I have been on. It's very pleasant to be able to sit in the sunshine on deck and the scenery lovely. I'm not doing the cesky tour as it's 2 hours on a coach in each direction but I will gather feedback for you. Salzburg is the same length of journey and seems to be sound of music focussed. The food continues to be excellent and a fellow passenger said that it's better than on Viking. The Vienna orientation bus tour was disappointing - too short and followed by only a moderately interesting walking tour (in temps over 30). There is more than enough time there to sort out your own tour or use the hop on hop off bus that stops at the cruise ship docking area.

Oh dear. When I get home I will try to reload the menus. I'm doing this on my smartphone and I'm not exactly proficient in its use.

Sorry, I meant to say that Schiphol airport was a total nightmare. Avoid if you possibly can. Almost an hour and a half queuing for passport control, lengthy walks made worse by many travelators being out of order and lack of baggage handlers (only one poor man to load all the baggage for our entire aircraft which was full). Also the aircraft fuel fillers forgot to do the plane equivalent of putting the fuel cap back on after filling up!

Good afternoon from the Danube. Daisi is quite right, Avalon doesn't do paper info now - it's all electronic before and during the cruise, which means you end up printing it out yourself and it can be a nuisance when you just want to quickly scan a daily schedule or something. Also means no luggage labels etc. The info is drip fed between booking and departure and use of the app is almost unavoidable. As to their admin I will say more after the cruise is finished. Now to the cruise itself. The ship is lovely, staterooms excellent.. but only 20 passengers! It can't be making any money from running it and I have a few thoughts on why they would do so. The food so far is very good and I have downloaded the menus from today and yesterday for your info. Only 20 guests (a mixture of Americans, Canadians and British makes for an entirely different dynamic to any river cruise I've been on before and subgroups are already forming. 8z8zcd22-Day_1_Dinner_Menu.pdf 8duzfuaf-Day_2_Lunch_Menu (1).pdf mthmzp39-Day_2_Dinner_Menu.pdf

ah, thank you. I will post copies of the menus as and when I am able - let me know if there is anything else you would like info on while I am on board.

Daisi. Ah, I see now - thank you for clearing this up for me. I have looked and, as far as I can make out, only 12 suites are booked! I am amazed that they are still going ahead with the cruise and not combining it with any others (I wouldn't have minded over-much if they had done so as I am flexible on dates and to a certain extent on itinerary). Surely they must be taking a huge financial hit on going ahead with the cruise.

Hi Daisi. From my experience (admittedly limited) the Avalon website always asks you to get a quote - never gives any indication of suite availability. Riviera's is much better for that - shows in real time the exact suites which can be booked. I suppose it's to get your details so they can contact you and do a sales pitch. I know I will enjoy it though I am still getting to grips with travelling solo on river cruises rather than as half a couple.

Daisi. I will definitely see if I can post some menus for you and let you know which tours I go on and what I think of them. Though I have been on river cruises before I've never done so with Avalon before so it will be interesting to compare with Ama, Riviera and Noble Caledonia (though the less said about them the better.)

Hi. I think I will be on Illumination II. I'm not taking any extensions - I took advantage of an exceptionally good offer for solo travellers a couple of months ago for the cruise only. At that time I think they had a very small number of bookings (less than 10) so I doubt it will be filled to capacity, but I'm hoping there will be more than can be comfortably seated in a minibus.

I am new to this forum so would like to start off with offering any info that people would like on Avalon's Blue Danube Discovery cruise (Budapest to Nuremberg via Vienna, Passau and Regensburg amongst others) which I will be on next week from 27 June to 4 July. I am a solo traveller in my 60s. If you have any questions about the boat, ports, tours, Avalon's admin etc etc I'll do my best to answer them (on-board wifi permitting).