The Romantic Rhine on the AVALON Imagery II.. full trip report with lots of pix!

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

There are Roll Calls for the River Cruises, but they appear under the link "All River Cruise Roll Calls" under the Roll Calls link or "River Cruising Roll Calls" under the River Cruising link. Also, threads devoted to specific cruises tend to not get posts unless they are very lucky because there are so few cruisers on riverships compared to ocean ships. I started a thread for "All Avalon Imagery II for 2017" and have gotten all of three other posters in addition to myself. I would think that if you started something like "All Avalon Tranquility II for 2018" you might get response. But it might take a while.

Thank you for the trip report. Taking my first river cruise and your report gave me a taste of what's to come.

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Hi GrammySpo!:D

How exciting that you are booked on your first river cruise.. You are in for such a treat!:champagne-toast:

Great review! There are not many river cruise reviews like this, so your thread is likely to get resurrected from time to time since it is detailed with lots of pictures. I am researching river cruises for next year and there are so many options. Which river? Which cruise line? We are comparing Viking, Avalon, AMA, and looking between the Rhine and Danube - leaning toward Rhine. This review was very helpful. Thank you!

Thanks MyDogRudy! I'm so glad that my Avalon post was helpful. It was so much fun to share such a detailed review with so many of my pix.. really brought back the sweet memories of the week for me.:D

Did you see my similar thread about our most recent cruise on Viking on the Seine from November?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2565043

I think that whatever line/river you choose you will have an amazing time. Comparing Viking and Avalon I can 100% say that both experiences were very similar.. both F A N T A S T I C!

Thanks MyDogRudy! I'm so glad that my Avalon post was helpful. It was so much fun to share such a detailed review with so many of my pix.. really brought back the sweet memories of the week for me.:D

Did you see my similar thread about our most recent cruise on Viking on the Seine from November?

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2565043

I think that whatever line/river you choose you will have an amazing time. Comparing Viking and Avalon I can 100% say that both experiences were very similar.. both F A N T A S T I C!

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Oh yay! Now you can compare Avalon and Viking picture by picture.

I totally agree.. cruise reviews and Sunday mornings are a perfect pair!:D

Glad to see this pop up again Sleep&...we are so looking forward to our cruise on the Rhine in May on the Imagery.

Hi Daisy! Oh lucky you!! May is coming up so soon.(y):ship:(y)

Hi, Sleep7!

You may remember me from last year. I too found your review enormously helpful in preparing for our 50th anniversary cruise last month. We're baaack! And we had as wonderful a time as we expected based on your account. As I indicated back then, since 2011 I have done travel blogs whenever we have traveled. I used to use travelpod, but it has shut down. I now use travellerspoint, and the blog from the anniversary trip is at mlld3536.travellerspoint.com. Happy to share it, but do realize that this is not so much a cruise review as an account of the whole trip (including Christmas with the grandkids at the end) for family and friends. As such, it includes a lot of personal blah blah blah and fewer pictures.

Again, thank you for enhancing our whole experience and our wonderful celebration.

Good morning mlld353! Of course I remember you! :hearteyes:

Thank you for your sweet words then and now.

I think it's awesome that you wrote such a detailed cruise blog about your anniversary/cruise/holiday celebration. It's such a tangible way to savor your memories anytime you like. I just clicked on the link and saw that it was lengthy. I want to really take time to read it carefully and enjoy it so I'm going to save it for later today when I can devote the time that it deserves.:)

Well, at my age, if I don't do the blog, I won't remember anything! I actually did all the part after Basel after we got home. I was having too much fun cruising to take on an "assignment."

Oh my.. mlld3536.. your blog is AWESOME. So detailed.. so clever.. so funny. It was a pleasure to read.

Your granddaughters are adorbs too of course!:hearteyes:

Reading your entries brought back such fond memories of our Imagery II adventure.

Wow.. I'm so glad you posted your link. Thank YOU so very much for sharing the smiles.:D

Oh my.. mlld3536.. your blog is AWESOME. So detailed.. so clever.. so funny. It was a pleasure to read.

Your granddaughters are adorbs too of course!:hearteyes:

Reading your entries brought back such fond memories of our Imagery II adventure.

Wow.. I'm so glad you posted your link. Thank YOU so very much for sharing the smiles.:D

Thank you so much for your extravagantly kind words! Now I will read your Viking review.

mlld3536, I enjoyed your blog as well, I hope when our trip is over I can remember 1/2 of what you have included...:)

Thank you so much, Sleep 7, for this terrific account. It was exciting to see the exact ship we will be on in a bit over a year.

 

A couple of questions (likely I'll send more down the line):

 

I notice you were in Strasbourg the second day. Was that the original itinerary, or was that a change? Our cruise has Strasbourg the third day, with Breisach the second. Maybe that's because we will be on the Christmas markets version of the itinerary.

 

And now something that may seem stupid: I have chronic insomnia, and of course it isn't helped by jet lag. If I am awake super-early (5-ish), can I throw on a robe and duck down the hall to the coffee machine to get a cup to take back to the cabin? Or is the robe-and-slippers bit out of line? (I certainly wouldn't stay in the lounge that way!)

 

As you see, I have quite a range of concerns! Once again, welcome home, and thank you so much.

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.

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!" 😆

Thank you for sharing this awesome account of your Rhine River cruise! The photos and the day to day details, make your review of the trip, even more helpful. My wife and I are going on our first river cruise the first week of October 2018 on the Avalon Imagery II, so this thread has been very beneficial to us! Thank you again for the wonderful report!

Hi Bradlauf!

Thank you so much for your kind words about my trip report.. it's was truly a pleasure to write and I'm so glad it was so helpful to you.

You and your wife are in for such a treat! Everything about this cruise on Avalon was perfection.

Enjoy it all!!!:D

Oh Avalon! Just back from Magnificent Europe on the Expression! It was a trip of a lifetime!

Nothing but luxury and pleasure start to finish!!!

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Oh Avalon! Just back from Magnificent Europe on the Expression! It was a trip of a lifetime!

Nothing but luxury and pleasure start to finish!!!

 

 

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After you get the laundry done, the grass cut, and sort through the mail, will you please write a review?

Thanks,

RB

Yes! Agreed. Avalon was simply wonderful in every way.😍

We enjoyed it so much we are in the midst of planning another cruise with them on the Danube.  They were the perfect fit for us.  

I want to thank you Sleep for this write up, as it helped us decide to go with Avalon...and we had no regrets.

Oh yay! I'm so happy that you loved your Avalon cruise as much as we did Daisi!

😍So nice that you posted that.

Have an awesome time on the Danube!!