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We just returned from an Avalon cruise from Zurich to Amsterdam on the Avalon Visionary July 1-8. I want to thank YoungDubFan again for your review. I relied on it and this review on TripAdvisor heavily before and during our trip. Since our trip was probably 80% the same as the those two, I'll only supplement some of my experiences that differed.

ZURICH & LUCERNE

Originally we planned to book pre-nights with Avalon in Zurich but since they only offered a maximum of 2 nights and we wanted to stay for 3, I ended up doing my own research and we stayed 3 nights in Lucerne instead. What a wonderful decision this turned out to be!

Our flight landed in Zurich Airport Thursday around 4pm. We cleared immigration and customs with ease, crossed the street to the train station, bought tickets (CHF27 one way each) to Lucerne (accept US credit cards at ticket window. I could not get my card working at the machine), hopped on the 4:47pm train and arrived Lucerne at 5:49pm.

Lucerne is an absolutely beautiful city in all hours of the day. The scenery was a definite highlight of our trip. Mostly any hotel you book will put you in the heart of the city, within walking distance to all major sights. Our hotel was 2 blocks away from the train station and half a block from the Chapel Bridge. This was a major selling point for us compared to staying at the Movenpick Airport in Zurich, which while being a perfectly nice hotel, you need to hop on the bus & train before getting anywhere. On Friday we took a tour to Jungfrau and on Saturday we did our own half day Mt. Pilatus trip (bought the silver roundtrip package at the railway station, they were doing a CHF80 promotion including all transportaion 1.train 2.cogwheel 3.gondola 4.cable car 5.bus 6.CHF10 voucher for food & drink on top of the mountain 7.a free hat). Being based in Lucerne you can easily do a number of Swiss mountain trips using the railway system. We really loved this trip. While Jungfrau had higher elevation and more spectacular views, we felt rushed to cover such a distance in 8 hours. On Pilatus we took a leisurely pace and still managed to return to Lucerne by 1pm.

In the afternoon the city started buzzing with the annual Lucerne Fest underway. There were lots of street vendors and entertainments in all pockets along the river. The festivities lasted into the night, with a firework show from 10:30-11pm, with huge crowds of people pouring into the city onto the streets. We were super impressed by the Swiss street cleaning crew. The fest lasted until 3:30am and left a mess. By 7am the next morning, the entire city was super clean as though nothing had happened the night before.

On embarkation day we took the morning train from Lucerne to Zurich Airport, met the Avalon rep there who showed us the free shuttle to the Movenpick, found the Avalon hospitality room set up in the hotel, gave them our luggage, had some free coffee and set out to explore Zurich on our own around 11am. We had just enough time to do a quick Zurich city tour following the Rick Steves' guide book (saw the Chagall windows mentioned above) before returning to meet the transfer bus to Basel at 3:30pm.

Personally we loved Lucerne so much more than Zurich and would recommend anyone staying more than 1 pre-night to consider this option! I suppose we could be a bit biased since it was sunny during our 3 days in Lucerne and rainy on our only day in Zurich. If you're staying only 1 night and the weather is good, do take the optional Avalon excursion to Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus. They are offered at a fairly good price and it's worth the trip.

STRASBOURG

We did not take either optional tour to the Black Forest nor Wine Tasting. Avalon provided a free bus to town at 1:40pm and back at 5pm. We took the bus to Place de la Republique. Walked to Petite France for some better pictures since the weather had improved since our morning canal cruise. Strolled around town a bit more but did not want to wait until 5pm for the free bus, so we took took Tram F to the last stop and walked 5 minutes back to the ship. We were originally planning to get a taxi back (should cost ~10E), but taxies weren't exactly abundant and the Tram was easier than expected (1.6E each ticket bought at machine at tram stop).

RUEDESHEIM

TIP: If you'd like a colored map of the river, cities, castles along the rhine from Basel to Amsterdam, Avalon sells it onboard for 9.5E. Almost every shop in Ruedeshiem carries the same map for 6-7E, so you can save a little to buy this during your free time in Ruedeshiem, just in time to use it the next morning sailing through the middle rhine / gorge area. There is also a shorter version of the map covering just the Mainz-Koblenz portion for about 2.5-3E available in most shops.

This night we did our only optional excusion, the German dinner. Only about 20 people from the ship went on this, but we were joined at the restaurant by several groups from other river cruises. The 44E included transportation both ways by the little train (similiar to the afternoon tour).

meal: (basically on par with what we had on the ship, no better no worse)

- alchohol of your choice: 2 people sharing 1 bottle of wine, 2 people each having a bottle of beer, or orange juice

- 1st course: green salad

- 2nd course: cream of potato soup

- main course buffet: carving station with 4 different sausages, roasted chicken, roasted pork w/ gravy, sauerkraut, cream of cabbage, mashed potatos

- dessert: apple struddle

- coffee

entertainment: (this was the fun part! very entertaining with lots of audiance participation opportunities)

- various instruments & singing

- slow dance, line dance, bell playing, snapps group drinking

- the restaurant did an excellent job creating a fun atmosphere. While many other restaurants on the street also had a band, this was the only place with a full house

and a line to get in

- It is a bit pricy considering the dinner onboard is already paid for, but a decent alternative if you've gotten tired of the dining & entertainment onboard by then.

On Thursday morning everyone was excited to cruise through the Middle Rhine, but there was a freighter accident that caused a portion of the river to be closed. We were forced to be docked in Ruedesheim until lunch. So we went back to town and visited the Wine Museum. The Museum was ok (5E entrance including a high-tech audio guide) and ended with a great rooftop terrance view of both the river and the vineyards.

MIDDLE RHINE / KOBLENZ

We ended up leaving Ruedesheim around 12:45pm after the river reopened and arived Koblenz at 4pm.

Due to our delay arriving in Koblenz, we had to make a choice between the included walking tour and taking the cable car up, and we decided for the latter. It is definitely worth the 8E roundtrip if the weather is good. Riding up across the river is very unique. Once on top there is a good viewpoint without admission to the fortress. It's not obvious but the ticket seller recommended it to us. Simply walk straight along the long green grassy area in the opposite direction of the fortress. You will get to a large multi- story wooden platform, where you can get very good view of the Rhine & Moselle intersection, the Wihem statue, and the town of Koblenz. After taking plenty of pictures, we rode down (after waiting for about 15 minutes when they stopped the cable car for potential thunderstorm in the area, had us a bit worried but we made it down with plenty of time left). We than took some more pictures around the Wihem statue and walked through town back to the ship before 7pm all aboard time.

COLOGNE

This was the only day they offered a grilled BBQ lunch on the sundeck. Sign up early if interested. Space is limited and filled up quickly. They had grilled steak, chicken, sausages, fish, corn on a cob, potato, salad, ice cream. A nice variation to the daily lunch buffet.

AMSTERDAM

We were incredibly lucky that it turned out to be a rare sunny day in Amsterdam. We actually had a decent canal cruise (better than previous reviews and our canal cruise in Strasbourg). Obviously the weather and the guide has a lot to do with it. Afterwards we did the diamond tour (about 25 minutes with demo followed by sales pitch), then walked to the flower market, where we were greated with plenty of flowers, souveneirs, and cheese shops.

In the afternoon we went on a city bike tour (not by Avalon). Amsterdam is a great city to bike in. Very flat with bike lanes everywhere. It was fun to be honking at pedestrians rather than being honked at for a few hours. The tour covered all parts of town and gave us a 10 minute stop in the Red Light District. It was just enough to be able to say we've been there and saw that. Since our group were all avid bikers and were ahead of schedule, the guide added a beer stop next to a windmill in the city. All in all very fun. By this time we were a bit tired of walking tours and biking was surprisingly less tiring!

Sunday morning we got off the ship at 8:30am, took a cab to the train station (15E - very close but did not want to walk dragging our luggage), stored our suitcases, then took Bus #391 for 40 minute ride to Zaanse Schans (family ticket 13.5E roundtrip for two). We went up to a paint windmill, saw a clog making demo, visited some more shops. It started to rain shortly after we arrived. This day didn't quite live up to my expectations set by all the pictures I saw previously.

By the way Avalon did not offer the Zaanse Schans excursion on our cruise, but instead had a visit to Volendam & Edam for 31E. Those who went seemed to really enjoyed it.

GENERAL TIP

When using a credit card in Switzerland and Germany, almost all the shops showed the option to be charged in SwissFranc/Euro or USD. If your bank does not charge a foreign exchange add-on fee (ex. Capital One credit cards in US), choose the SwissFranc/Euro option and the conversion rate will be much better. One vendor just pushed the USD bottom without asking me. Was not happy about this but let it go since it was a fairly small purchase so did not lose out much.

OVERALL

We had a wonderful time on this trip. The cruise portion exceeded my expectations. The Visionary was a brand new ship (5 weeks old) and there were little improvements in many departments from our last Avalon trip on the Danube. They made very efficient use of the cabin space. Love that the beds now face the river. Love the back lounge with the coffee machine. The cruise director Sabine was very knowledgable and capable. The food was just ok for me (exec chef Michael) but food is never a big focus point in my cruising experience. I personally liked this Rhine itinerary a lot. While I was unfamiliar with most of these cities before our trip and focused more on pre and post cruise, all the places we visited turned out to be plenty interesting and beautiful. Hope some of our experiences can help you in your trip planning and decision-making! :)

Thanks so much for sharing such a detailed review. We're going on the same Avalon route in 3 weeks. Knowing the approximate time of all the activities ahead of time is very helpful!

Not sure if you've finished posting yet. If so did you skip Amsterdam? Would love to know when the ship gets to Amsterdam and things you did there. :)