Avalon - should we book?

Looking at Avalon - 13 days Danube or possibly 15 days. Did you like Avalon - any recommendations - thoughts or tips. Would you book again?

Many thanks.

If this is your first RC you would be better off trying a shorter one week cruise to find out if you enjoy river cruising regardless of the line. Recently more than one poster has come back to report they dislike RC and they were booked on 14 day trips. (Not Avalon). That said Avalon is a very solid product and a good value. I’ve used them and recommended them to others who were pleased)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We did an 11 day on Avalon (2014 NUE-BSL Christmas Markets) Avalon was wonderful. I just don't like river cruising;p Staff were amazing, the ship was beautiful - loved our cabin, storage & layout were great. The food was lovely.

There are reviews (including mine!) in the Member Reviews section of cruise critic - just search by cruise line and/or ship.....

Looking at Avalon - 13 days Danube or possibly 15 days. Did you like Avalon - any recommendations - thoughts or tips. Would you book again?

Many thanks.

With regard to Avalon, absolutely would recommend this line. Have also traveled with Uniworld and loved them also, but the suite ships of Avalon make time spent in the cabins very nice. You will need to decide if 13 - 15 days is to your liking, but the Danube is full of picturesque ports.

Cole

I agree with Got2Cruise that 13-15 days is a long time to find out that river cruising may not be for you. I would start with a 7 night, and do land extensions on one or both ends.

With regard to Avalon, we have cruises both Uniworld and Avalon, and our preference is, hands down, Uniworld. I will give the nod to Avalon with regard to their panorama cabin, including its bathroom. Otherwise, we found the level of service, food (always subjective) and overall experience to be only average.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Our first cruise was 15 day Amsterdam to Budapest with Avalon and we enjoyed both the long cruise and Avalon. The boats are great, nothing like looking out the big open window and watching the world pass by. Food and wine were good and plentiful, service was excellent and excursions were well organized and had great, knowledgeable tour leaders. We would certainly go with Avalon again.

We have cruised the Danube and the Seine with Avalon and would absolutely cruise with them again. We thought the food was excellent. My DH is a seafood lover while I lean towards vegetarian choices (unless there's lamb on the menu!) and we both were very pleased with the choices and quality of the food. We found the service to be excellent as well.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a river cruise line. For us, deciding that cruise reviews, ship and room size, cruise schedule and availability, and price were most important helped us narrow our choices and pick Avalon.

I agree with other posters that if you're unsure if you would enjoy river cruising you might want to start with a 7 day cruise. While the majority of people on this board love river cruising, not everyone enjoyed the experience. We had never taken a cruise or a tour of any kind, always traveled on our own, and we weren't sure how we would feel about traveling with a group. So we did a 7 day Danube tour, spending time in Munich and Budapest on our own pre and post cruise. Turned out we enjoyed meeting new people, found the tours to be very well done and interesting, and loved the convenience of meals on the ship and not having to move to hotels every few days.

If you want a longer cruise with Avalon, I would suggest the Rhine/Moselle Amsterdam to Budapest. We're big fans of the Moselle. Also Avalon's itinerary is the only one (I think) that incudes Burg Eltz and goes on into France rather than stopping at Luxembourg.

We have just returned from our first river cruise. We sailed with Avalon, and although we have decided river cruising is not for us, we would not hesitate to recommend Avalon. I would certainly endorse what others have said, try a 7/8 day cruise first.

We have just returned from our first river cruise. We sailed with Avalon, and although we have decided river cruising is not for us, we would not hesitate to recommend Avalon. I would certainly endorse what others have said, try a 7/8 day cruise first.

Thank you to all who have responded - we are very grateful and note that most of the posts are positive ones. We have noted that a few of you are saying to try a shorter one first and will think about that advice.

Lindy - what was it that made you decide that it wasn't for you ? Anything specific ? - hope you don't mind me asking.

Hey D&M,

We will be starting our 3rd Avalon cruise tomorrow.

I agree with those who suggested you might want to start with a shorter trip.

OTOH, our first venture was Bucharest to Vienna.

Ira

Hey D&M,

We will be starting our 3rd Avalon cruise tomorrow. I agree with those who suggested you might want to start with a shorter trip.

OTOH, our first venture was Bucharest to Vienna.

Ira

Going on our third Avalon cruise next week. Highly recommend them. We opt to save money and take the "Aquarium" downstairs cabin. Not in it all that much and they have the same amenities, just a smaller room with smaller window.

River cruising is an expensive way to visit Europe. That said, Avalon is lovely. The panorama suites are very nicely set-up with the view from inside, plus at 200 square feet they are as big as suites on a lot of ships. We booked our first river cruise doing the Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary sailing of the old eastern block countries, because I didn't feel comfortable doing that area on my own. We had a great trip, and after the trip, I didn't expect to do another river cruise until I was a lot older. Then to my surprise the following year we found a cheap (not compared to other vacations) river cruise on the Main, Rhine and Moselle, it was a wine appreciation cruise at the end of the regular season before the Christmas Market season. It was again, a wonderful experience. I am again not in the river cruise market, but I would not hesitate to take another, and while I do not believe Avalon is the pinnacle of river cruising. I do believe that they provide a very nice product at a competitive price level.

I agree that a two week river cruise is not high on my list, because I would rather do a land vacation in Europe. On our two river cruises we spent several days in the pre-cruise port and several days after the cruise doing a land vacation. That said, if money is no object, go for the longer cruise. I think people are concerned you might find river cruising is not all that to your liking and you might feel trapped after a week.

JC

If you want a longer cruise with Avalon, I would suggest the Rhine/Moselle Amsterdam to Budapest. We're big fans of the Moselle. Also Avalon's itinerary is the only one (I think) that incudes Burg Eltz and goes on into France rather than stopping at Luxembourg.

Do you mean the Rhine/Moselle Amsterdam to Basel? I don't see an Amsterdam to Budapest cruise that includes the Moselle on their website. We are looking at doing a Rhine/Moselle cruise in 2018. We have narrowed down our choices to a 15 day Vantage cruise or the 13 day Avalon cruise. We are leaning toward Avalon because the itinerary spends more time on the Moselle the staterooms are bigger, and I've read recent reviews of Vantage food that weren't very good. We've been very happy with the Avalon product in the past so we'll probably stick with them!

Do you mean the Rhine/Moselle Amsterdam to Basel? I don't see an Amsterdam to Budapest cruise that includes the Moselle on their website. We are looking at doing a Rhine/Moselle cruise in 2018. We have narrowed down our choices to a 15 day Vantage cruise or the 13 day Avalon cruise. We are leaning toward Avalon because the itinerary spends more time on the Moselle the staterooms are bigger, and I've read recent reviews of Vantage food that weren't very good. We've been very happy with the Avalon product in the past so we'll probably stick with them!

Oops! I did mean Amsterdam to Basel. We did the Vantage Amsterdam-Moselle-Basel cruise a few years ago, and I think that you're making the right decision. Having cruised both Avalon and Vantage (and Viking), we prefer Avalon. We are doing the Douro with Vantage next spring. We chose them because some of the other lines were already sold out, we liked the fact that Vantage does both Lisbon and Madrid as part of their standard cruise, and the fact that they offer a 3 night extension to the island of Madeira.

I will say that Vantage tends to have better excursions than Viking or Avalon. Examples: Their Amsterdam tour included a guided tour of the Rijksmuseum, and after the tour we walked across the street to board canal boats that took us around the city before dropping us off a block from the ship. Also when visiting the American Cemetery in Luxembourg, Vantage arranged for the manager of the cemetery to meet us and tell us about the Battle of the Bulge before holding a wreath laying ceremony. Finally, in Strasbourg, we were picked up at the ship by canal boats and given a boat tour before being dropped off downtown for our walking tour. We were bused back to the ship.

Oops! I did mean Amsterdam to Basel. We did the Vantage Amsterdam-Moselle-Basel cruise a few years ago, and I think that you're making the right decision. Having cruised both Avalon and Vantage (and Viking), we prefer Avalon. We are doing the Douro with Vantage next spring. We chose them because some of the other lines were already sold out, we liked the fact that Vantage does both Lisbon and Madrid as part of their standard cruise, and the fact that they offer a 3 night extension to the island of Madeira.

 

 

 

I will say that Vantage tends to have better excursions than Viking or Avalon. Examples: Their Amsterdam tour included a guided tour of the Rijksmuseum, and after the tour we walked across the street to board canal boats that took us around the city before dropping us off a block from the ship. Also when visiting the American Cemetery in Luxembourg, Vantage arranged for the manager of the cemetery to meet us and tell us about the Battle of the Bulge before holding a wreath laying ceremony. Finally, in Strasbourg, we were picked up at the ship by canal boats and given a boat tour before being dropped off downtown for our walking tour. We were bused back to the ship.

On our Avalon tour the canal boats were included in Amsterdam Optional tour of museums were offered in afternoon, we opted for windmills. In Strasbourg we had the canal tour and then a walking tour of Old Town. This was the Castles of the Rhine itinerary.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Hi K,

> I don't see an Amsterdam to Budapest cruise that includes the Moselle on their website.

They have a very nice Paris --> Budapest.

Ira

I’ve done two cruises with Avalon (Rhine Basel - Amsterdam) & Seine (Paris -Normandy). I’ve posted trip reports for both. I would recommend Avalon. I had great experiences on both trips. Last year I was in France during the record flooding and Avalon was wonderful. They made necessary adjustments to the itinerary including putting us up in a hotel in Paris for the end of the trip.

We did Prague to Paris with an extra week at each location at the beginning and end. I loved it and can't wait to do it again. Me personally, because I have to travel so far and at such an expense, I would rather book the longer trip. We were gone over 3 weeks and it was perfect.

Thanks to all who have replied- we appreciate it very much. We have read all comments and can't really see any big negatives. So Avalon it will be. Now to start looking at all the options - we fancy a cruise that includes Prague or Budapest as both cities would be new to us. When we do book - we will look for the relevant roll call and sign up!

Many thanks once again.........

Our first river cruise was the Legendary Danube with Avalon, from Nuremberg to Budapest. Loved Budapest! We stayed an extra 3 days there on our own. It's a very easy city to do DIY if you're so inclined. Avalon offered a pre-cruise visit to Prague with this cruise that we didn't take because we visited friends in Munich before heading to Nuremberg. You may have difficulty finding a roll call for the cruise you choose; not many people sign up for river cruise roll calls...

If you wish to try a shorter cruise for your first experience, may I suggest the Paris to Normandy trip with Avalon. It’s a week if you don’t do add ons, the ports are very interesting, and it remains one of our all time favorites.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Last week we returned from our 3rd Avalon river cruise. As others have mentioned Avalon cabins are the best by far!!

The beds facing the windows are great and there is ALOT of glass. I loved the big windows in the lounge which brings in light and makes it brighter and you get to see more which is a great thing on a river cruise.

I highly would recommend them.

Thanks for these latest comments - just what we wanted to hear ! Many thanks.