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Trip Report Avalon Felicity Romantic Rhine Basel - Amsterdam


YoungDubFan
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Just got back late last night from my 1st river cruise, on the Avalon Felicity. I went with my mom. We did the Romantic Rhine, from Basel to Amsterdam. I'm going to work on posting this in batches. I have to go back to work tomorrow, which I'm dreading, but I thought I'd start now. I want to thank all the posters on this board. I've been reading this board for 2 years now and I gained so much insight, info, tips, etc. I really felt that I knew what to expect.

 

Let me start with overall impressions. The trip was amazing. It was everything I expected and so much more. Avalon is a top notch organization and knows what they are doing. We were taken care of in every way. There were no glitches and everything went very smoothly. Our Cruise Director was Andrzej. He was great. He had so many duties but everything ran like a well oiled machine. He has a great sense of humor and was very helpful. We had phenomenal weather. It was warmer than expected at the beginning and very sunny. We only had about 2 hours of rain in Koblenz, which came after the included tour, so it wasn't too bad. It cooled off some towards the end of the week. It was raining the last day that we flew out of Amsterdam, but otherwise was perfect.

 

We left Ohio on Fri May 25 and flew to Zurich via Toronto. We had no problems with flights and all of our luggage made it. What a relief. After clearing customs, we made our way outside and found the shuttle to the Movenpick. It was maybe a 5-10 min ride to the hotel. Check in was a breeze and our room was ready. After a brief freshening up, we took the S7 fast train into central Zurich. A very nice woman on the train told us to take the train to the Opera House stop (one stop after the HB central station). We then took our time, looking at the opera house and strolling along the Rhine. We really enjoyed people watching. It was a beautiful Sat. of a long weekend (Pentecost) so lots of locals were out. We strolled up and down the many streets of Old Town. We found a great restaurant (Rhinefelder Bierhaus) on one of the streets. We were able to sit outside and watch all the people walking by. We had typical German / Swiss food and really nice white wine. It was a nice relaxing evening. We went to bed fairly early, after a really long day.

 

Breakfast was include with the room. The Movenpick had a really nice buffet and all of the food was wonderful. The Avalon rep was available after 8:30 am that day. We found out that we needed to be at the hotel by 3:30 pm for the last transfer to the ship. We were originally going to look into taking a day cruise on the lake, but decided to take Avalon's optional excursion to Mt. Pilatus. We left the hotel at 10:30 am. We took a bus 1 hr to Lucerne. Then we took 2 different cable cars to the top of the Alp. We then had at least 1 hour to look around. Some people walked farther up. My mom and I had a piece of apple strudel and coffee. Then it was the cog wheel train down. The bus met us and we had a tour of Lucerne. We first went to see the Lion of Lucerne, had a walking tour of the city, then had at least 1 hr free time. We were then taken directly to the ship. The total cost of the excursion was 52 Euros.

 

I know that we could have done this on our own, possibly cheaper, but then we would have had to deal with luggage, etc. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day and I am very glad that we went on this excursion. I'm not sure if I am going to be back in the area, and I wanted to experience as much as possible. Avalon also offered a guided city tour of Zurich that was leaving the hotel at 12:30 and then would transfer directly to the ship. This was 29 E.

 

Check in to the ship was a breeze. We were given our key cards and escorted to our cabin. Our luggage was delivered in about 10 min. We were on the 2nd deck, cabin 219, just about in the middle of the boat. (Cat B) The room was made with 2 twin beds. There was plenty of floor space and more than enough closet / storage space. We unpacked and stored our luggage under the beds. The bathroom was a nice size. I'm not a small person and I had plenty of room in the shower. L'Occitane products were provided and were a very nice Verbena scent.

 

We had the mandatory safety briefing at 6 pm, which only took about 10-15 min. Remember, the ship is taller than the river is deep. There was a welcome reception at 6:30 that night and dinner at 7 pm. I have saved all of the dailies as well as the shore info that was passed out. I did not save any menus. Each night, we had an appetizer, choice of 2 soups, a salad, a choice of 3-4 entrees (always a fish, pasta selection and meat (veal, lamb, beef) selections. There was always a choice of chicken, rumpsteak of beef, and salmon as well. Beer (Becks draft) and wine was free flowing with dinner. There was always a white, rose, and red wine. The wines changed during the course of the cruise, but were mostly German selections. I liked all of them. Ice tea, coffee, and soda were also available. Desert was 2 choices or fresh fruits and cheese tray. Most nights there was music in the lounge. Every day there was a drink of the day for 5 E and also a happy hour with 2-for-1 drinks. It had been a long few days, so we turned in early.

 

Mon morning we were in Strasbourg. For breakfast, there were three choices: early riser 6 - 7, main buffet 7 - 9, and late riser 9 - 10. Early and late riser were continental breakfast style. I never had either of these. We always went with the main buffet. There was an eggs to order / omelet station, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, a selection of cold cuts / cheese; pastries, and other typical items you will find at a European breakfast. There was always sparkling wine / OJ to make mimosas. (very nice way to start the morning).

 

We arrived at 8 am and the sightseeing tour started at 8:15. We took buses to the city center, had a canal cruise for about 1.5 hours, then a walk through old town and a guided tour of the cathedral, then some free time. Buses returned us to the ship at 11:20 am for lunch. Lunch was in the dining room and always featured a nice salad bar, a hot and cold soup, a carving station, 2 hot entrees w/ hot sides, 2 hot veggies, a nice desert selection including 2 flavors of ice cream / sorbet / gelato, fresh fruits, & cheeses. There was always a sandwich of the day that could be ordered from the menu. On some days, there was a grill lunch up on the sky deck. I think this only happened 1 or 2 days of our trip due to windy conditions.

 

After lunch - there were two optional excursions: Black Forest (34E) or wine tasting in the Alsace countryside (36E). The ship stayed in Strasbourg, but it was a holiday and most of the shops were closed. some people went back into town for the afternoon or stayed on the ship. We picked the wine tasting, and I'm very glad we did so. We had about a 1 hr bus ride, through beautiful countryside. We went to a winery and a member of the family that owns it gave us the wine tasting. We sampled 5 wines (4 whites and a red). We had a room to ourselves and it was a lot of fun. He talked about each wine and answered a lot of questions about wine making / grape growing in the region. More than half the people bought wine to take back to the ship and drink. Afterwards, we went to the very quaint town of Obernai. We had a guided tour and then time to shop / explore on our own.

 

Andrzej had a port talk every night about 15 min before dinner. He reviewed what the next day's schedule would be and included brief background on the area, specialties, etc. Dinner was once again wonderful. We had onboard entertainment of an accordion player and a French songstress. The ship sailed at 10:15 pm.

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This review / trip report is going to be long, but I really want to give a feel for how the trip was. I wanted to try and post as we went along, but I couldn't get on line at the beginning. As I think has been mentioned, wifi was free. There were 2 computer stations and a printer in the reception area. If you had a wifi device, you could get a free log in / password that worked for the duration of the cruise. The ship has an entertainment system in each cabin. There were at least 8 English language channels and more of other languages. There was a movie option with some historical movies based on the region, as well as more current releases, travel documentaries, etc.

 

Tues morning we arrived in Speyer at 6:15 am. The morning was at leisure. Andrzej led a group into town at 9am and pointed out the bank, and other highlights. We went in on our own a bit earlier. It was only a 12 min walk to the cathedral. We paid 3E to go into the crypt, which was rather plain, but huge. There were a lot of Emperors / Empresses buried there. Afterwards, we just walked and explored the town. All the shops were opened, so we browsed and meandered. The ship sailed promptly at 11:00 am.

 

We arrived in Mannheim at 1:00 and those who wanted, boarded buses at 1:30 for a 40 min drive to Heidelberg. We had a tour of the castle, saw the largest wine barrel in the world, then the buses took us into town. There were 2 options then: a 1 hr guided walking tour, or just more shopping time. After the walking tour, we still had over 1.5 hr to shop / browse / explore. I really enjoyed the castle / city tour.

 

The ship sailed at 6:45 pm. Dinner was a bit later tonight (7:15 vs 7 on most nights). After dinner, the movie Mamma Mia was shown in the back lounge with popcorn.

 

Wed we arrived in Mainz some time early. At 8:30 we had a guided visit to the Gutenberg Museum and then a guided walk through the Old Town area. We had close to 1 h of free time. The ship sailed at 11:15. Lunch was while we were sailing.

 

We arrived in Rudesheim at 1:30. The small trains took us into town and dropped us off at Siegfried's Musical Museum. It was a very interesting tour. The guides played an assortment of the instruments. We had wine tasting at a local restaurant. We tried 2 different whites. There was then plenty of free time. The train gave 2 transfers back to the ship - after wine tasting and again at 4:30 pm. It was less than a 15 min walk back to the ship. We took the chair lift / cable car (7E) up to the top of the hill above the city. The German unification monument is undergoing extensive renovation and was covered up. There were great views up top and the cable car goes up over the vineyards. There is a restaurant / bar up top.

 

At 5:30 we had a local guest lecturer present a history of Rhine travel / development. It was a bit boring, but that could have been because it had been a long day and lots of wine.:)

 

The ship stayed docked in Rudesheim all night. There was an optional choice of going ashore for a German dinner complete with Oomph-Pah-Pah band. (44E) We did not do this, but almost half of the ship did. Those that went seemed to enjoy themselves. There was free flowing beer and wine and schnapps as well.

 

It was along day but everyone seemed to have lots of fun.

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Thanks for posting your review. We are on Vikings's Amsterdam to Basel sailing in November. Looking forward to reading the rest of your trip report. This will be our first river cruise as well.

 

Maryann

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What a great review, thanks for posting.

 

We'll be on Viking's Rhine Cruise in November, Basel-Amsterdam. We plan on staying in Basel before the cruise. How far is Basel from Zurich?

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Thanks so much for this great review of your trip. I am really enjoying reading it since we did the same trip on April 1st this year. I am currently in the process of labeling the photos that I have finally printed and assembled into a book. I've tried to include a lot of the details of the ship life, tours, etc. in the labels since I am typing labels and printing them on sticky back paper to put beside the pictures. I love all the details you have put in your report and look forward to reading about the rest of your week. I agree, it was an amazing trip and Avalon does a great job.

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Thurs we left Rudesheim at 8:45 am to sail the Rhine Gorge. This was the first day that the weather turned cooler. We were lucky that it was not raining, as had been the forecast. About half of the ship braved the breezy weather on the sun deck for the sail, and others stayed warmer in the lounge. My mom actually took the blanket from the room up on deck and wrapped up in it. Andrzej handed out a flier that listed the km marker and the name of every castle that we sailed past, which was very helpful. I also purchased a map of the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam. This actually showed what the castles look like. This should help trying to match up castles with pictures. Andrzej gave a running narration of the journey as well. He gave some background on the castles. The sail was amazing. I could not believe how many castles there were within such short distances. I think we finished the gorge around 11:30 or noon. Lunch was at noon.

 

The ship docked in Coblenz at 1:00 pm and we had a 1.5 h walking tour starting at 1:30 pm. There was free time as well. Coblenz is situated at the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle. We took the cable car across the Rhine up to the top of the hill (8E round trip). We decided not to tour the fortress up there (additional 3E admission) due to the threat of rain. A word of advice - if you take this up, sit facing Coblenz. This is the only way that you can get good pictures of the intersection of the two rivers as well as nice views of the statue of Wilhem. I thought we would have good views from the top of the hill. However, the cable car was put up last year for a big flower show and was originally going to be a temporary structure. As a result, there really are not viewing areas or good vistas. You may have a better view from the fortress, but I'm not sure about this. I was able to get some really nice pictures on the way down. We finally got some rain, which started on the way down.

 

We were going to tour the Basilica of St. Castor, but the rain really started to come down. Luckily the ship was only a 10-15 min walk away. I should note that Avalon had umbrellas available if needed. They did not have enough for everyone, but it was a nice gesture. We had packed our own.

 

At 5 pm, La Strada came aboard for entertainment. They are a 3 piece (violin, guitar, cello) group who played classical and local tunes. They were wonderful. I think most of the ship came to hear them. The ship sailed at 6:15 pm. Dinner was at 7 and the crew show followed at 9:15 pm. This was truly a highlight of the week. By this time, most of the passengers had gotten to know the waiters and other ship staff fairly well and they put on a very funny show. The closing number was a riot!! All the staff were very good sports about it.

 

Fri morning we were in Cologne. We docked into Cologne around 11:00 pm at night. If anyone is still up, it is worth it to look out the windows to see the cathedral and the bridges lit up at night. Very pretty. We were docked almost right behind the cathedral, which was very convenient. We had a 1.5 h walking tour of the city and then plenty of free time afterwards. Our guide took us to one of the stores that sold the Eau de Cologne. The ship didn't leave Cologne until 1:45 pm to head to Amsterdam.

 

Once we were underway, from 2:30 - 4:00, Captain Manfred Mertens was in the wheelhouse and the doors were open for everyone to look inside, ask questions, etc. There was a galley tour at 3:00 pm. This was very interesting to see what a small space the staff has to prepare all the wonderful food we had.

 

Andrzej gave a nice port talk about Holland in the afternoon. There was a reception for Journey's club members (my mom is one) at 5:30. We were all given a complimentary drink and were able to sit with Andrzej and the hotel manager. (I can't remember his name) to talk about Avalon, Globus, our trip, etc. Very nice.

 

At 6:45 there was a farewell cocktail and disembarkation briefing, followed by the farewell gala dinner. Again - very good food. hors d'oeuvres were passed during the reception. I would say that less than 10 men wore sport coats. Some women wore sparkly / dressy tops and a few had dresses on, but as with most of the cruise, dress is much more laid back than on ocean cruises.

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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. :)

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Now for the final part of the trip - Amsterdam. I know that this is a long and somewhat detailed review, but when I was doing my research and planning, I had a hard time really getting an idea of how the days went. I have seen so many posts asking for timing in port, length of excursions, etc., that I wanted to provide as much detail for anyone doing research as possible. Please know that towards the beginning of the trip, the times can vary somewhat. We went through 24 locks, starting in Basel. I think we didn't have any locks after the 2nd day of the trip, but I can remember exactly. Even though I just got back, so many things are running together. That's why I'm trying to get this finished today.

 

We arrived in Amsterdam around 7 or 7:30 am. We had a 1.5 canal cruise of Amsterdam that started at 8:40 am. This is the only thing that I had a complaint about. We were docked next to the Avalon Imagery, which had sailed up from Vienna. There was some miscommunication about boarding the canal boats. There were 5 boats for both River ships and passengers from both ships were on each canal boat. The boat that we got on had banquet seating that comfortably held 4 adults, but for some reason, the Imagery cruise director said that we had to have 5 people in each banquet. This resulted in too many adults being squished into too small of a space. There was no leg / knee room at all. What made this worse was that the final canal boat ended up sailing with many open seats. It was probably not even 3/4 full. In addition, the windows on our boat were very foggy / cloudy and it was difficult to see out. The boat also quickly became very warm / stuffy. I ended up doing the entire cruise from the open air area of the boat in the back. Some of the other passengers joined me. Unfortunately there was not a speaker in this area, so it made it hard to hear the guide. The boats are also very noisy when making turns, again making it impossible to hear the guide. All in all, the canal tour was okay. I think we had a not so good guide who missed pointing out a lot of things.

 

Avalon had two different times that buses were taking passengers back to the ship: right after the canal cruise, or later at 11:30am. The canal cruise ended at a diamond museum, and everyone who wanted to could enter. They also had coffee and tea available. The tour was ok, nothing spectacular. They did bring out a lot of jewelry to look at.

 

After the museum, we just wandered around Amsterdam and walked through the flea market (junk in Amsterdam is like junk in America.) The day turned into a nice sunny day so we ended up walking back to the ship after meandering around the side streets. It was less than a 20 min walk.

 

After lunch, we took the optional tour to the village of Zaanse Schans (31E). This was about a 30 min bus ride out to a traditional Dutch village with lots of windmills. I really don't know what I was expecting of Amsterdam, but this village really was what I expected a traditional Dutch area to look like. We saw a demonstration of how they make wooden shoes and were able to go up a windmill and get an explanation of how they work. We also went to the cheese shop to see how Gouda cheese is made. In the shop, they had lots of samples of all the different cheeses. There was plenty of free time to shop. I almost bought a pair of wooden clogs, but decided I probably wouldn't wear them enough to justify the cost. Plus I thought my bags may be heavy on weight, so passed. I really enjoyed this trip. It was nice to see some of the typical / traditional dutch structures and I took some nice pictures of the windmills. We were back on the boat by 5 pm.

 

After dinner, there was an optional excursion to the Red Light District (26E). This was about a 1 - 1.5 hr guide walking tour. We didn't go on this because my mom was pretty tired after the whole trip. We spent the time after dinner packing our bags. I figure that I will be back in Amsterdam in the future and can see it then. I talked to people who were there and many were a bit disturbed. It was a Sat night and was very busy / crowded. Some of the women were afraid they would lose the tour guide.

 

Sun morning, we awoke to a very rainy / drizzly, cool day. Avalon really knows what they are doing in regards to airport / hotel transfers. Andrzej had a list up on Sat. afternoon with everyone's flight info, who needed transfers, cabs, etc. Every passenger was asked to verify their flights / times. The internet was having some problems and was not able to log in to print my boarding passes for our return flight. Andrzej worked on this on and off during the afternoon, but it turned out we had to check in in person. I thought it was very nice of him to keep trying. After dinner, a sign was posted as to what time transfers were. Bags did not have to go out into the hallway until about 45 min before we left the ship, which was a nice luxury. The hallways are really too narrow to have bags out the night before. Plus, since there aren't as many passengers, it doesn't take nearly the amount of time as on an ocean cruise. Each group were given different colored ribbons or stickers to place on the luggage, corresponding to departure times. On Sun morning, they picked the bags up from the hallway and put them in central areas in reception / the lounge. They had every passenger verify that their bag was there before it was taken to the coach each was on. When we got on the coach, they had us verify again that all our bags had been loaded.

 

We had an 11:15 am flight, had to have bags out in the hall at 7:15 am and left the ship at 8:00 am. Since it was a Sun morning, there was not much traffic. We were at the airport by 8:25 am. There was a huge line at United to check in but it moved very quickly. We were all checked in within 40 min.

 

We had a fairly uneventful flight home, and arrived in Chicago one hour early. Of course, we then had a 1 hr delay out of Chicago. All in all, this was a wonderful vacation. I highly recommend Avalon and will likely take more river cruises with them in the future. They know what they are doing and we were taken care of very well. Everything ran like a well oiled machine. All the food was good. My wine glass at dinner was never empty. I hope that this review / report help some people with their future planning.

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Thurs we left Rudesheim at 8:45 am to sail the Rhine Gorge. This was the first day that the weather turned cooler. We were lucky that it was not raining, as had been the forecast. About half of the ship braved the breezy weather on the sun deck for the sail, and others stayed warmer in the lounge. My mom actually took the blanket from the room up on deck and wrapped up in it. Andrzej handed out a flier that listed the km marker and the name of every castle that we sailed past, which was very helpful. I also purchased a map of the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam. This actually showed what the castles look like. This should help trying to match up castles with pictures. Andrzej gave a running narration of the journey as well. He gave some background on the castles. The sail was amazing. I could not believe how many castles there were within such short distances. I think we finished the gorge around 11:30 or noon. Lunch was at noon.

 

The ship docked in Coblenz at 1:00 pm and we had a 1.5 h walking tour starting at 1:30 pm. There was free time as well. Coblenz is situated at the intersection of the Rhine and Moselle. We took the cable car across the Rhine up to the top of the hill (8E round trip). We decided not to tour the fortress up there (additional 3E admission) due to the threat of rain. A word of advice - if you take this up, sit facing Coblenz. This is the only way that you can get good pictures of the intersection of the two rivers as well as nice views of the statue of Wilhem. I thought we would have good views from the top of the hill. However, the cable car was put up last year for a big flower show and was originally going to be a temporary structure. As a result, there really are not viewing areas or good vistas. You may have a better view from the fortress, but I'm not sure about this. I was able to get some really nice pictures on the way down. We finally got some rain, which started on the way down.

 

We were going to tour the Basilica of St. Castor, but the rain really started to come down. Luckily the ship was only a 10-15 min walk away. I should note that Avalon had umbrellas available if needed. They did not have enough for everyone, but it was a nice gesture. We had packed our own.

 

At 5 pm, La Strada came aboard for entertainment. They are a 3 piece (violin, guitar, cello) group who played classical and local tunes. They were wonderful. I think most of the ship came to hear them. The ship sailed at 6:15 pm. Dinner was at 7 and the crew show followed at 9:15 pm. This was truly a highlight of the week. By this time, most of the passengers had gotten to know the waiters and other ship staff fairly well and they put on a very funny show. The closing number was a riot!! All the staff were very good sports about it.

 

Fri morning we were in Cologne. We docked into Cologne around 11:00 pm at night. If anyone is still up, it is worth it to look out the windows to see the cathedral and the bridges lit up at night. Very pretty. We were docked almost right behind the cathedral, which was very convenient. We had a 1.5 h walking tour of the city and then plenty of free time afterwards. Our guide took us to one of the stores that sold the Eau de Cologne. The ship didn't leave Cologne until 1:45 pm to head to Amsterdam.

 

Once we were underway, from 2:30 - 4:00, Captain Manfred Mertens was in the wheelhouse and the doors were open for everyone to look inside, ask questions, etc. There was a galley tour at 3:00 pm. This was very interesting to see what a small space the staff has to prepare all the wonderful food we had.

 

Andrzej gave a nice port talk about Holland in the afternoon. There was a reception for Journey's club members (my mom is one) at 5:30. We were all given a complimentary drink and were able to sit with Andrzej and the hotel manager. (I can't remember his name) to talk about Avalon, Globus, our trip, etc. Very nice.

 

At 6:45 there was a farewell cocktail and disembarkation briefing, followed by the farewell gala dinner. Again - very good food. hors d'oeuvres were passed during the reception. I would say that less than 10 men wore sport coats. Some women wore sparkly / dressy tops and a few had dresses on, but as with most of the cruise, dress is much more laid back than on ocean cruises.

 

What a great review you have compiled. When we were in Cologne, our tour guide ended the tour outside the cathedral. It was Good Friday so we had to wait for the service to finish before entering. Don't miss going in there. It is fantastic and has an amazing story of how the people saved and restored it after the bombing during the war. Also, don't miss walking up on the bridge close to the ship. The fence is covered with "Locks of Love". A tradition that has grown in recent years is for lovers to leave pad locks with their initials on the fence. Also the bridge gives you a great view of the city with our ship and photo op.

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Hey, also don't miss the Lindt chocolate museum. Not far from the Dom in Kolnl. Lots of different varieties on sale in the retail store and I think we bought about $100 worth. Unfortunately about only 1/2 made it home. It's really one of the best chocolates in the world IMO. :)

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Hey, also don't miss the Lindt chocolate museum. Not far from the Dom in Kolnl. Lots of different varieties on sale in the retail store and I think we bought about $100 worth. Unfortunately about only 1/2 made it home. It's really one of the best chocolates in the world IMO. :)

Now you've done it! Lindt is the only chocolate I like and knowing that this museum is so close when I will be in Cologne in September, means a few more pounds of extra weight I will be bringing home. Thanks for the information.

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Just got back late last night from my 1st river cruise, on the Avalon Felicity. I went with my mom. We did the Romantic Rhine, from Basel to Amsterdam. I'm going to work on posting this in batches. I have to go back to work tomorrow, which I'm dreading, but I thought I'd start now. I want to thank all the posters on this board. I've been reading this board for 2 years now and I gained so much insight, info, tips, etc. I really felt that I knew what to expect.

 

Let me start with overall impressions. The trip was amazing. It was everything I expected and so much more. Avalon is a top notch organization and knows what they are doing. We were taken care of in every way. There were no glitches and everything went very smoothly. Our Cruise Director was Andrzej. He was great. He had so many duties but everything ran like a well oiled machine. He has a great sense of humor and was very helpful. We had phenomenal weather. It was warmer than expected at the beginning and very sunny. We only had about 2 hours of rain in Koblenz, which came after the included tour, so it wasn't too bad. It cooled off some towards the end of the week. It was raining the last day that we flew out of Amsterdam, but otherwise was perfect.

 

We left Ohio on Fri May 25 and flew to Zurich via Toronto. We had no problems with flights and all of our luggage made it. What a relief. After clearing customs, we made our way outside and found the shuttle to the Movenpick. It was maybe a 5-10 min ride to the hotel. Check in was a breeze and our room was ready. After a brief freshening up, we took the S7 fast train into central Zurich. A very nice woman on the train told us to take the train to the Opera House stop (one stop after the HB central station). We then took our time, looking at the opera house and strolling along the Rhine. We really enjoyed people watching. It was a beautiful Sat. of a long weekend (Pentecost) so lots of locals were out. We strolled up and down the many streets of Old Town. We found a great restaurant (Rhinefelder Bierhaus) on one of the streets. We were able to sit outside and watch all the people walking by. We had typical German / Swiss food and really nice white wine. It was a nice relaxing evening. We went to bed fairly early, after a really long day.

 

Breakfast was include with the room. The Movenpick had a really nice buffet and all of the food was wonderful. The Avalon rep was available after 8:30 am that day. We found out that we needed to be at the hotel by 3:30 pm for the last transfer to the ship. We were originally going to look into taking a day cruise on the lake, but decided to take Avalon's optional excursion to Mt. Pilatus. We left the hotel at 10:30 am. We took a bus 1 hr to Lucerne. Then we took 2 different cable cars to the top of the Alp. We then had at least 1 hour to look around. Some people walked farther up. My mom and I had a piece of apple strudel and coffee. Then it was the cog wheel train down. The bus met us and we had a tour of Lucerne. We first went to see the Lion of Lucerne, had a walking tour of the city, then had at least 1 hr free time. We were then taken directly to the ship. The total cost of the excursion was 52 Euros.

 

I know that we could have done this on our own, possibly cheaper, but then we would have had to deal with luggage, etc. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the day and I am very glad that we went on this excursion. I'm not sure if I am going to be back in the area, and I wanted to experience as much as possible. Avalon also offered a guided city tour of Zurich that was leaving the hotel at 12:30 and then would transfer directly to the ship. This was 29 E.

 

Check in to the ship was a breeze. We were given our key cards and escorted to our cabin. Our luggage was delivered in about 10 min. We were on the 2nd deck, cabin 219, just about in the middle of the boat. (Cat B) The room was made with 2 twin beds. There was plenty of floor space and more than enough closet / storage space. We unpacked and stored our luggage under the beds. The bathroom was a nice size. I'm not a small person and I had plenty of room in the shower. L'Occitane products were provided and were a very nice Verbena scent.

 

We had the mandatory safety briefing at 6 pm, which only took about 10-15 min. Remember, the ship is taller than the river is deep. There was a welcome reception at 6:30 that night and dinner at 7 pm. I have saved all of the dailies as well as the shore info that was passed out. I did not save any menus. Each night, we had an appetizer, choice of 2 soups, a salad, a choice of 3-4 entrees (always a fish, pasta selection and meat (veal, lamb, beef) selections. There was always a choice of chicken, rumpsteak of beef, and salmon as well. Beer (Becks draft) and wine was free flowing with dinner. There was always a white, rose, and red wine. The wines changed during the course of the cruise, but were mostly German selections. I liked all of them. Ice tea, coffee, and soda were also available. Desert was 2 choices or fresh fruits and cheese tray. Most nights there was music in the lounge. Every day there was a drink of the day for 5 E and also a happy hour with 2-for-1 drinks. It had been a long few days, so we turned in early.

 

Mon morning we were in Strasbourg. For breakfast, there were three choices: early riser 6 - 7, main buffet 7 - 9, and late riser 9 - 10. Early and late riser were continental breakfast style. I never had either of these. We always went with the main buffet. There was an eggs to order / omelet station, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, a selection of cold cuts / cheese; pastries, and other typical items you will find at a European breakfast. There was always sparkling wine / OJ to make mimosas. (very nice way to start the morning).

 

We arrived at 8 am and the sightseeing tour started at 8:15. We took buses to the city center, had a canal cruise for about 1.5 hours, then a walk through old town and a guided tour of the cathedral, then some free time. Buses returned us to the ship at 11:20 am for lunch. Lunch was in the dining room and always featured a nice salad bar, a hot and cold soup, a carving station, 2 hot entrees w/ hot sides, 2 hot veggies, a nice desert selection including 2 flavors of ice cream / sorbet / gelato, fresh fruits, & cheeses. There was always a sandwich of the day that could be ordered from the menu. On some days, there was a grill lunch up on the sky deck. I think this only happened 1 or 2 days of our trip due to windy conditions.

 

After lunch - there were two optional excursions: Black Forest (34E) or wine tasting in the Alsace countryside (36E). The ship stayed in Strasbourg, but it was a holiday and most of the shops were closed. some people went back into town for the afternoon or stayed on the ship. We picked the wine tasting, and I'm very glad we did so. We had about a 1 hr bus ride, through beautiful countryside. We went to a winery and a member of the family that owns it gave us the wine tasting. We sampled 5 wines (4 whites and a red). We had a room to ourselves and it was a lot of fun. He talked about each wine and answered a lot of questions about wine making / grape growing in the region. More than half the people bought wine to take back to the ship and drink. Afterwards, we went to the very quaint town of Obernai. We had a guided tour and then time to shop / explore on our own.

 

Andrzej had a port talk every night about 15 min before dinner. He reviewed what the next day's schedule would be and included brief background on the area, specialties, etc. Dinner was once again wonderful. We had onboard entertainment of an accordion player and a French songstress. The ship sailed at 10:15 pm.

 

YoungDubFan - We can't thank you enough for sharing your positive experience on this board. We appreciate all of the feedback we receive, but as you can imagine, we especially love when someone has taken the time to share with others the wonderful time they had. And, to do it with this much detail is even more special. Thank you again!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I join the other CC members in giving OUTSTANDING praise for your detailed review of your Basel to Amsterdam cruise. Like you, I enjoy the process of planning and feel knowing what to expect enhances my experience. I started following CC River Cruise tips last summer for our trip 7 OCT on the new Visionary. And we have 12 other cabins of friends from across the U.S. joining us on this trip who enjoy the fact I do a lot of the fact-finding for them! You can be sure I will be sharing your review with them.

 

I had tears of joy while reading your review. Can hardly wait.

Many thanks for sharing!

Karen

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Thank you for sharing such a detailed and informative review, so looking forward to our cruise now...we're cruising with Avalon from Budapest to Amsterdam in August. I have been reading boards on CC for months now, I too love the planning stage and have learnt so much , getting so excited, even more so after reading your review. :)

 

Thank you again, Debbie

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Great review. Your trip is one we have looked at for our second Avalon cruise. You made it sound so great I'm ready to go now.

 

Thanks again for the review. I printed it so my wife can read the details about the trip. It helps so much to hear from people who actually took the trip rather then just reading the cruise line descriptions.

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Many thanks from me as well. I have two questions. We're planning this same trip for next Spring and I am comparing cruise lines. Is it correct that Avalon does not have bikes on board for guest use? AMA and Uniworld do, Viking does not. Also, it seems Avalon does not provided wine and beer at lunch. True? AMA does not, while Uniworld and Viking do. Different features are important for different folks!

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Avalon does not have bikes. Beer and wine are not free at lunch but are available for purchase. As mentioned, you can purchase ashore & bring on to drink - no charge if consumed in your cabin or sun deck (pretty sure on this). There was a small corkage fee to drink in the dining room.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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! :)

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