peterdkiwi

If you are happy making your own arrangements suggest atleast 2 days at

Lucerne, we actual hired a car and drove, then came back to Movenpick early afternoon to pick up Avalon Transfer

We have only sailed on Avalon, (twice) and have found service, beds, food etc extremely good. Will continue to use this company in future.

 

Points that were important to us. Staterooms, 200sqft, beds, face the river, not parallel to river, refrigerator in all rooms (very important to us, no on some other lines), small number of guests to some other lines.

Itinerary and tours suited us better.

 

Very Important factor was their reputation for looking after customer extremely well if there are any issues such as high or low water, blockages on rivers and broken locks. These have been numerous over the last 3 years and Avalon is the most proactive and generous in sorting it out or refunds or alterative options etc

We have done 2 Avalon cruises that were outstanding

Some fact to consider

All but lowest deck are 200sqft rooms with French balconies

Beds face towards the sliding windows

Refrigerators in rooms, many don't have this

One of the best, if not the best for looking after customers if there any issues on the river. This may not sound important, but there has been some major issues over the last 2 or 3 years and some cruise lines have been extremely poor in this area. Some are still fighting class actions against them.

Lower number of passengers compared to some cruise line (due to cabins being bigger, there is less cabins)

We have done it both ways, up until a couple of years ago I have planned and arranged 4 week trips for 2, 4 or 6 people to Europe and/or USA atleast 6 times in the last 10 years. I thought I would not enjoy river cruising or not doing the planning etc. How wrong could I be.

Yes you only get to see small parts of each town or city, but what I enjoyed most is not having to worry or think about anything, but having fun. Both cruises were with Avalon and they did everything so well. By only having free tours each morning we still had plenty of time to do our own thing each day.

I think age is partly to do with it, once I hit 65 I look at taking the easy way and let somebody else do the hard work.

As for your trip, I would suggest Avalon Prague to Budapest, have 4 extra days in both cities at start and end of cruise (this is what we did last year)and if you want to then go back to Vienna

Good Luck

I think the comments above make it very clear, AVALON is very very good.

Having used them once, we could not even consider using another company for our 2nd cruise. Avalon delivered again (even with issues on the river that stopped all Viking boats for 2 or 3 days)

We will continue to us Avalon on all future river cruises, just have to fine the time.

Hydrokitty

No worries, very mild pill, Doctors knows us well and he is ok with one glass.

If you are headed NZ or Aussie send us an email to pad62@xtra.co.nz

I am Kiwi and DW is Aussie so we have travelled both countries a lot, have 6 trips to Aussie this year so no Europe Cruise and looking at 4 to 6 weeks in the US next year

Pete

Further to my first post on transfer times at Frankfurt, I went back and checked my tickets

Booked Lufthansa ticket LAX to Prague, change of planes at Frankfurt was 1hr 25min. When I questioned this with booking agent they said that if we missed 2nd flight due to the first being late the Airline would look after all arrangements for you.

As we had extra days prior to our cruise we were willing to take the chance, checking with DW we had about 10 to 15mins to spare once we got to the gate at Frankfurt after a long walk and passport control etc. First flight arrived 10 mins early.

Summary, if flights booked straight through by one airline and you have a day spare just encase, go with whatever the airline says they can do.

We are now in our 60's, have been flying long haul 12 to 24hrs almost yearly for the last 20 yrs, all in economy seats. Have stopped doing the 2 x 12hr straight through from NZ to London about 10yrs ago, too tough on body.

We have found 10 to 12hrs ok using the following -

Pick evening departure times so body is ready for sleep.

Pick the best seats possible, we try to get exits to give more leg room of were there is only 2 seats.

Usually eat within 2hrs of getting on plane, one glass of wine, then sleep with pill.

Always get sleeping pills from Doctor, test them a couple of weeks prior.

Also buy a product called "No Jetlag" makes a big difference to the first 24hrs back on land

Eye shades, compression socks (only in last 12 months)

Usually take warm jacket, sometimes use it in colder planes or roll up for pillow if seat is not right.

We usually hit the ground running(perhaps a little slower) at 66yrs

Good Luck, just relax, have fun

We did LA to Frankfort last year with Lufthansa and on with then to Prague for Avalon cruise. We had 2 hrs and it was ok, lucky plane was on time, any less time and we could of been in a panic.

Try to avoid tight changeovers as we have got older, 10 years ago I was happy for 1hr and run from plane to plane

We have copies of daily events newsletters from our 2013 Basel to Amsterdam Avalon Cruise

If you would like a copy please send us your details to pad62@xtra.co.nz

You will enjoy the Rhine and Avalon, wish we were going again this year

Our first cruise 2013 with Avalon was the Rhine from Zurich to Amsterdam, picked this direction based on info from CC, more time at ports due to flow of river given faster travel times, also weather mainly travels in opposite direction so you do not get stuck in any weather patterns. Pre cruise for a couple of days at Lake Lucerne is a must. Also enjoyed all the smaller towns.

 

Next cruise 2014 with Avalon again as they were sooo good, was Prague to Budapest, once again very enjoyable, but we both enjoyed Rhine better due to smaller cities/towns and the Rhine Gorge is stunning.

It is a very personal choice, I think if you are more into Eastern European History the Danube is very good, we both fell in love with Budapest.

 

You will enjoy either and will want to go back and do another one, we are looking at a 3rd one.

Based on 2 river cruise we had done plus 100's of hours reading CC I believe most companies are good to very good if everything goes right, its is when they go wrong, such as high or low water, lock breakdowns or strikes, major floods etc. This is where there is a major difference in cruise lines.

This is also the reason we have used Avalon and from all the reading and also talking to their customers on board who had had previously been looked after extremely well by Avalon with total refunds and $1000 off next cruise. Also spoke to numerous people last year in various towns that were extremely upset with their cruise company due to boats being too high to get under bridges and being tied up on side of the river for 3 days ( this is one of the very large companies that also have problem in low water as their boats have a large draft) there is also legal action being taken by many Australians who were treated extremely poorly in 2013 during the major flooding.

Suggest you research this site for the very long threads on the flooding of 2013.

I am sure you will enjoy the cruise, we are hoping to book another one for 2016, once you have done one you will be back for more, just pick the right company.

SoccerMum

Sorry, I didn't pick up which cruise you were going on.

We did Basel to Amsterdam and walking was reasonable ok but good shoe helped.

Then last year we did Prague to Budapest, walking was a lot harder and good shoes are a absolute must. My wife was only going to take Sketchers but I said I would take her good quality track shoes in my bag, lucky for her as she spend 90% in those shoe when walking, the cobblestone were the roughest we have come across in 6 trips to Europe. No problems at all with good supporting shoes. (Isn't there a saying the husbands know best!!!!) she did thank me many times.

Also it is a must to have them well walked in best you start on tour.

We (4 of us mid 50's to mid 60's)stayed in this hotel with Avalon last year, location was far better than what we expected and would stay there again, plenty of local places to eat.

 

Best is Imperial Café, only 10 to 15min walk at most.

 

If you go to lower lobby in Hotel, exit through doors, walk straight across car /bus parking area and entry arcade in building on opposite side of road, this has food shops, chemist etc. At end of Arcade is Tram, Bus and Underground stops all within 100m, all will take you to centre of Prague in under 10 mins, we walked into centre many time over our 5 days 20min with no stop (sorry that is hard with women wanting to look in all the shops etc), also took longer walk around the river to the centre, that was less than 30mins. Many good shops and restaurants on the way into city if you just follow the tram line.

Also some great local restaurants in basement on road by tram stop, sorry can't remember names but best was less than 100m right of arcade below road level.

Only issue with 90% of restaurants is the high numbers of smokers even with non smoking areas it can be annoying to some people.

Personal choice, but we found Rhine Cruise Basel to Amsterdam in 2013 was better than Prague to Budapest in 2014. Both on Avalon who were excellent.

We enjoyed towns and scenery more on the Rhine, history was better on the Danube, as I said, very personal choice.

We will sail again with Avalon, just trying to decide which river next?

Avalon bar happy hour in 2013 was 2 for the price of one, in 2014 it was all at 1/2 price. Same but different, all tasted very good, no complaints from our group. Wine was very good too

We did Avalon - Basel to Amsterdam in 2013 , transfer from Zurich to Basel was included in cruise cost, as pick point was at the Movenpick at Zurich Airport, you did not need to have booked pre night in hotel to use this service, we had spent time at Lake Lucerne, just drove to hotel, dropped bags and other in our group who had coffee in lounge with other Avalon guests and I dropped rental car at Airport and walked back, very easy.

We were also with Avalon on the River the week after Tassietraveller, there were still major problems and many cruise lines had boats moored 3 deep on the river side in various places, just not going anywhere, we came across many people in various town moaning about the way they were being treated by other cruise lines and not being kept up to date with delays or any offer of alternatives or credits. From our 2 cruises with Avalon and also extensive reading on CC they are one of the best for looking after their guests if there are any issues, that alone is a reason we will always use them

We had high water on Danube early August 2014 that stopped Viking and a couple of other cruise lines for 3 days, lucky that we were with Avalon that could squeeze under some of the lower bridges, although we did have to stop one night as they were not willing to try the minimal clearance in the dark, just got under in the early morning.

We have stayed at the

Hotel Duminy Vendome Phone: (33-01) 4260 3280

3-5 Rue du Mont Thabor, 75001 Paris

France

 

It is not cheap but its all location, location, have recommended this to atleast 6 friends, they have all used it and all reported back that although more than they would usually pay they all considered it well worth the extra.

Metro only 200m, Tulleries Garden 200m, Louvre, Concord less than 5 mins walk, Notre Dam etc less than 10mins walk

 

We have used it atleast 4 times, each time we have tried else where we have been disapointed

Hiccups

Our first River Cruise was with Avalon, Basel to Amsterdam, this was picked for many reasons including hours of research on CC, this included items already mentions on this thread

 

Timing of port visits

Time in ports

Towns visited

Weather patterns

Pre cruise time at Lake Lucerne

Avalon free transfer to Basel from Movenpick at Zurich

Easy of transfer to Airport at end of Cruise as we were not doing any post cruise touring.

 

If you would like daily newsletters with gives all port times etc for Avalon (these vary greatly with other cruise lines and can't be used as a guide) please email me at

pad62@xtra.co.nz

We thoroughly enjoyed Avalon and every aspect of this cruise, have cruised again with Avalon as they provide a faultless relaxing 8 days

Enjoy

Peter

Carviargal

Have to agree with your three course meal

Good Wine, Cheese and bread is a regular meal, perhaps a little too often, add good friends and it gets even better.

We live in a good street in Auckland and have 7 or 8 neighbours that also enjoy the same, we have 4 o clock drinks every 3 or 4th Saturday with our usual 3 courses, some times goes on for a couple of hours sometime a lot longer .

Almost like happy hour

Avalon have a default menu every night over and about their 3 or 4 regional specials from each area each night.

From memory default meals are Steak, Chicken or fish all with potatoes and vegetables. All Dinner meals are 4 or 5 courses with various options for each course, they will also do tailored meals if required for special needs. There was 6 or 8 of us and 3 had various likes and dislikes, Avalon were very good in sorting out meals to suit and after a couple of nights wait staff would automatically ask if the same meal changes were needed each night.

We have been on 2 Avalon Cruises in last 18 months, I am a fussy eater and also spent 18 years in the Restaurant game and still can't stop being critical of poor food or service. Avalon food/meals were great, good selection, great staff. Anybody saying otherwise must be extremely fussy, but food is also a very personal choice.

Kupe

I have the daily newsletters which details each days activities on Avalon 2013Basel to Amsterdam cruise, send me an e mail to pad62@xtra.co.nz and I will copy to you

I tis a great cruise and cruise company, you will enjoy it

Peter