suddarbe

YES! I was on the Avalon Luminary for 12 nights June 2017. I often "paddled" down the hallway to coffee lounge at night, after say 11:00 PM. Usually no one there. Just made my coffee (which was some the best ever!) and "paddled" back to room to enjoy. Robe and slippers were perfect.

And just to add to the discussion, we cruised the Danube on Viking a couple years back. I went to the coffee bar in my robe at 6 most mornings. No problem. Even met another passenger a couple of times -in their robe! Lol. No one cared. As we've often said, "we're on vacation and nobody knows us!" 😆

I checked with Avalon to see if you could do the tour to the wine region and the tour of Strasbourg, and they said that you could, there would be no conflict. Keep in mind that the wine tour will not be like you see in North America...the wineries are usually ran from someone's house, and the vineyards may not be accessible. I am looking to see more of the country side so will be wanting to go on that. I am looking to go to Colmar (would go there over the Black Forest), and they said they were pretty sure that it would be included as well. They haven't set up the optional tours yet. I have heard mixed reviews on the Black Forest. There is an open air museum that is one of the included tours, which could be interesting, but Colmar is so beautiful, I really want to go there.

Thanks, Daisi. I haven't heard of Colmar but will certainly look into it now.

:D Oh I'm so glad my thread got resurrected! :D I just read thru the whole thing again and it brought back such nice memories!:hearteyes:

Hi Suddarbee! As far as the optional tours (very reasonably priced) that Avalon offered we might have been open to them but two things stood in our way. We had just flown from New York 2 days before and we were pooped.. just happy to sit and relax on our computers that afternoon. It also didn't help that it was really cold and rainy out.

The people who did take those optional tours seemed to enjoy them. They didn't come back raving about their experience but we didn't really hear anything negative either.

I do know the people who took the optional tours in Amsterdam had a great time.

Hope that little bit helped.:confused:

Great information, Sleep7! I'll keep that in mind. This will be our 4th time in Amsterdam so I don't think we'll need any tours there. I am hoping to get to the Anne Frank house - haven't done that yet, but otherwise, we've seen and toured all of the sights listed. Thanks again.

Sunday in Strasbourg.. we all met at 9am for the included walking tour of the city. I thought it was fantastic that they had a regular tour and a tour that included less walking as well. The stork is the symbol of Strasbourg.. who knew?:rolleyes:

Started out cloudy.. then by the end of the tour we dashed back to the bus as it had really started to rain.

In the afternoon three very reasonably priced (about 45 Euros pp) optional tours were offered. There was a visit to the Maginot Line, a visit to the Alsatian countryside with wine tasting, or a Black Forest tour.

We actually just stayed on the ship and relaxed on our computers. Having free internet for the week was awesome. No signing in and signing out of your account like on other cruises we have taken. It was so easy to keep in touch with our kids and to enjoy the internet without keeping track of how many minutes we had used. Most of the time the connection was perfect.. just a very few spots along the way it was slow

Did you happen to talk to anyone who took the optional tours? We're looking for recommendations. I was thinking that I would enjoy the wine tour or the Black Forest but I read one review (by a person who didn't seem to enjoy anything abut the cruise so I'm hesitant to put much credence in what they wrote) and they did not enjoy the Black Forest tour. They felt it was just a tour to get you to spend money at a cuckoo clock store. Any recommendations would be gratefully received.

Great write up, we are getting ready to book our trip soon (as soon as the 2018 prices are up). One question, on the tour of Strausbourg, was there a canal cruse included? I've seen pics of others on the cruise and it looked really nice.

Hi Daisi;

We just booked our 2018 cruise. We are doing Amsterdam to Lake Como on the Tranquillity II in Sept so I'm finding this thread so interesting. I sure wish there were Roll Calls for the River Cruises buy I haven't seemed to be able to find them. Enjoy your trip.

Bev

I'm late joining this group: our trip begins with a flight leaving one week from tomorrow! I can't tell you how nervous I am about gaining back done of the 37 lbs I have lost because it has taken me forever to get that far. I am okay about limiting dessert to almost nothing but it is the wine and cocktails that kill me every time. :cool:

I will keep all of you in mind while I am on the ship and will let you know how I make out after 19 days away from home cooking! Wish me luck. ;)