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Kenster

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. The only thing that will be available for lunch on the ship is soup and sandwich in the lounge. Maybe basic salad stuff. I know a light lunch is available for early arrivals on boarding day. I assume it would be available to departing passengers who are lingering. 🙂
  2. I’m confident it won’t be an issue with the ship. You can also talk to the CD about getting an earlier transfer. You might prefer getting through the airport earlier over just sitting around the ship.
  3. Run it by the reception desk but you should be fine hanging around until early afternoon. You’ll have to be out of your cabin by 9 AM. You can sit with your bags in the lounge. Just stay out of the way of the staff and crew and incoming passengers. But, if I were you, I’d ask to leave the bags with reception and go out and explore a little bit. Then, depart the ship in plenty of time to travel to the airport and check in. Curious why you booked a flight so late in the day if you’re just going to kill time on the ship until your transfer time?
  4. We’ve done five Avalons (so far). Except for the Moselle, we have duplicated the Rhine and the Danube rivers a minimum of twice for some sections and three or four times for others. We don’t care! We just love river cruising. On our last cruise: Budapest to Amsterdam, we frequently skipped the morning excursions, slept late, had a late breakfast, then went ashore and explored parts of town we hadn’t seen before because it’s not included in the tours. Or we sign up for an excursion that we haven’t done previously. Avalon offers so much variety! Sometimes, the ship repositions up (or down) river while everyone is off on excursions. We like to stay on board and relax while we cruise- having the whole ship to ourselves. There are many cruises that overlap a little with other cruises. That should never deter one from booking it! Cheers!
  5. Consider the fact that Viking crams 196 people on the exact same size ship that Avalon maxes at 164. How do they do that? Obviously the cabins have to be much smaller. Avalon’s standard Cabins are 200 square feet. Viking’s largest non suite cabin is about 170 square feet. Many are around 139 sf. Even Avalons basic cabins are 179sf, larger than Viking’s fancy “Veranda” cabins. Avalon’s standard 200sf “Panorama” cabins have an entire wall of glass facing the river that opens up to a French Balcony. And the beds face the river! Viking beds face the wall. Now, consider how thirty two extra passengers affect the public spaces of the Viking ship? Crowded lounge. Crowded dining room! Avalon serves wonderful gourmet meals. The wines are top notch and change nightly, reflecting the regions through which you’re sailing. Viking serves the same old “Red or White” generic house wines every night, UNLESS you buy a premium drink package. Now imagine the awkwardness at dinner each night when you’re stuck with the same house wine while your dinner table companions are enjoying premium wines. Most days, Avalon offers three choices of included excursions, and great choices of optionals. Think about all of that before you sign up for Walmart… I mean… Viking. Cheers!
  6. So your cruise is actually AMS to Basel. Not sure of this exact itinerary. We’ve been through that stretch three times as part of longer cruises. I hope you have an evening in Cologne. If so, get off the ship after dinner and walk back into town. Walk around the center/cathedral area. Find a little pub and enjoy the wonderful local beer: Kölsch! We really enjoyed the optional day excursion into the Black Forest. That’ll probably be on your last day before sailing into Basel. Have a great time!
  7. I pretty much stick with a half sandwich and a cup of tea at Afternoon Tea. But it’s a struggle. 🙂
  8. Join the “I Love Avalon Waterways” Facebook group. It’s very active and you can learn a great deal about Avalon in general and your cruise in particular. There are also many YouTubes about Avalon cruises, ship tours. Etc.
  9. If you booked the pre cruise hotel through Avalon, it includes transfer to the ship. They will handle one large suitcase per person. You’re suppose to handle your carry-ons yourself. You’ll be able to store roll-aboard size carry-ons in the baggage bay of the motorcoach, if they use one. Otherwise, the van driver will store it. Once at the ship, a crew member(s) usually will out front to take your bags. If you’re early and your cabin is not ready, they will tag the bags and deliver it to your cabin when it’s ready. They may, or may not offer to handle your carry-ons. Avalon/Globus policy for porterage is one bag per person. Laundry: there is a laundry service available. It’s a little pricey but reasonable for the convenience. We always do carry-on only and had never used the laundry service until last year’s 16 day Budapest to Amsterdam. There are laundry bags and tickets in the closet. Fill out the form, put the clothes in the bag, and leave it on the bed. They’ll take it during the evening turn down service and it will be returned the next day. You can save some money, if you wish, by washing out smalls in the bathroom sink. There is a retractable clothes line in the shower. have a great time. We are ready to book Avalon cruise #6!
  10. Nuremberg is the origination port. I wonder where the actual high water conditions are. Seems unlikely to be anywhere in the canal.
  11. Did it say where the high water was? The Danube is a very long river. Just a few days ago they were doing low water swaps around Passau, which is a perennial low spot.
  12. Always need to have a little local change. Kind of a hassle having to get many currencies. We found mist places in Budapest took Euros but we’ve never been farther east than that.
  13. Shouldn’t be an issue for Avalon though you’ll be expected to handle the carry-on and tote yourself as porterage is (officially) for one bag only. Should be okay on the airline as long as your purse is in the tote bag and not a third carry on item. This assumes you're not among the last to board a full flight and they run out of space in the overhead bins, in which case you’ll have to gate check your larger carry on and stow the tote under the seat in front of you.
  14. But not all the 110m ships are “IIs.” Visionary, for example.
  15. [ usually Viking; others keep sailing much longer – especially AMA to my knowledge. I don't know where Avalon fits in there.] My experience with five Avalon cruises (three of which were under low water concerns) is that Avalon may be the last line to stop sailing in low water. Example: 2018. The river from Passau to Vienna was lined with cruise ships, unable to sail, and being used as hotels while their pax were forced on bus trip for hours every day. But we sailed on through. When we got to Vienna, ships were rafting three deep and lined up along the docks. The pax on the Viking ship we rafted with were shocked to see us. We were the first ship to come into Vienna in three days.
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