Trip Report Avalon Felicity Romantic Rhine Basel - Amsterdam

[ctw345]

Let me know if you have any specific questions, and I'll certainly try and help. When are you going?

[Got2Cruise]

Let me know if you have any specific questions, and I'll certainly try and help. When are you going?

 

We're going in July. This is our 2nd RC using Avalon. So my questions have to do more with the ports. But I have plenty of time for that.

[ctw345]

I still have all the printouts from the ports, including the excursions offered when we went, of that helps.

[Got2Cruise]

I still have all the printouts from the ports, including the excursions offered when we went, of that helps.

 

Thanks. When we get the official excursions list I might bother you for information.

[Losingcontrol36]

YoungDubFan,

Thank you for your great review. It helped eliminate many of the questions we had about the schedule of our upcoming cruise.

Regards,

Losingcontrol36

[Got2Cruise]

Thank you for posting the link on another thread. Very detailed and fair review. It will be very helpful.

[lkmamom]

I would like to thank both reviewers of the cruise so much!!!!! We are leaving for this same itin at the end of this month. I think the cruise begins May 3. Interesting points about Lucerne. We are booked to stay at the Moevenpick in Zurich, and we most likely still will, but we really wanted to try to see Lucerne.

 

Very excited about this cruise, it is our first river cruise. I am sure that it will be worlds different than an ocean cruise. We have had many tell us after their first river cruise they would never do another ocean cruise they loved it so much.

 

Thanks again for all of the help!!!!

Linda

[Kenster]

Great trip reports. We leave Houston Saturday afternoon (three days from now) sailing on 4/13. Affinity Amsterdam to Basel. Very excited about it. 40th Anniversary trip.

 

Though our itinerary is reversed from all the comments here, the review was still quite helpful.

I have a question for anyone who has exited the tour at Basel. We have a 1010 flight out of ZHR. This was booked with the package through Globus and adheres to their "no flights before 10AM" rule. Barely.

 

I understand it's about an hours driver to ZHR. So, about what time will be disembarking to get us to the airport a couple of hours before departure time?

 

Thanks!

[anandaindonesia]

This is a GREAT report.

Thank you!

[Kupe]

Thanks so much YoungDubFan for the great review! We are seriously considering sailing this itinerary aboard Avalon Affinity on October 11 this year for our 25th anniversary. It sounds almost identical, though I think it is slightly longer (13 days) since it also spends 3 days cruising down the Moselle toward Trier and Luxembourg and then back to the Rhine.

 

You also answered a question I had about evening sailing times. We had hoped for more opportunities to eat dinner ashore, but sounds like Rudesheim is the only city where they stay overnight. But no worries that's all good too!

 

Thanks again for all the great information!

 

Kupe

[Got2Cruise]

There were a couple of nights that after dinner the ship reached the next port and you can get off to go into town. One place was Cologne and the other place where the Bible was printed (?) can't recall name

[YoungDubFan]

The other stop that Got2Cruise is probably talking about is Mainz, Germany. On our itinerary, we didn't dock into Cologne until close to 11:00 pm. It was nice to look out the windows and see the cathedral all lit up at night.

[deise17311]

We booked this cruise for 10/15...so excited...did you find Avalon to be a good choice as far as food etc? We were unsure as it was 1/2 the price of Viking...we are experienced ocean cruisers (Elite on celebrity and Princess) but this is our first RC!

 

 

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[Kupe]

We booked this cruise for 10/15...so excited...did you find Avalon to be a good choice as far as food etc? We were unsure as it was 1/2 the price of Viking...we are experienced ocean cruisers (Elite on celebrity and Princess) but this is our first RC!

 

Congratulations! We are that close to going ahead and booking that same sailing! (Actually I think it's October 11, right?) We started out looking at Viking, but to be honest, the Avalon itinerary is what is winning us over. The Viking Basel/Amsterdam cruises don't do the Moselle 3-day down-and-back as Avalon does and I've really wanted to cruise the Moselle. Of course the Viking cruise is shorter for that reason and perhaps works better for some folks schedules.

 

I think if you read some of the reports, food seems to be about the only area that Avalon doesn't get unanimous raves. Decisions decisions! :D

 

Kupe

Edited January 25, 2015 by Kupe

[deise17311]

Congratulations! We are that close to going ahead and booking that same sailing! (Actually I think it's October 11, right?) We started out looking at Viking, but to be honest, the Avalon itinerary is what is winning us over. The Viking Basel/Amsterdam cruises don't do the Moselle 3-day down-and-back as Avalon does and I've really wanted to cruise the Moselle. Of course the Viking cruise is shorter for that reason and perhaps works better for some folks schedules.

 

I think if you read some of the reports, food seems to be about the only area that Avalon doesn't get unanimous raves. Decisions decisions! :D

 

Kupe

 

 

Yes that's it!! 10/11-10/18!!

 

 

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[Got2Cruise]

Congratulations! We are that close to going ahead and booking that same sailing! (Actually I think it's October 11, right?) We started out looking at Viking, but to be honest, the Avalon itinerary is what is winning us over. The Viking Basel/Amsterdam cruises don't do the Moselle 3-day down-and-back as Avalon does and I've really wanted to cruise the Moselle. Of course the Viking cruise is shorter for that reason and perhaps works better for some folks schedules.

 

I think if you read some of the reports, food seems to be about the only area that Avalon doesn't get unanimous raves. Decisions decisions! :D

 

Kupe

 

You'll be happy enough with the food.:) there is always a selection. For dessert, go for the cheese plate. And if you want fabulous pastries, show up for the four o'clock coffee hour.

[deise17311]

You'll be happy enough with the food.:) there is always a selection. For dessert, go for the cheese plate. And if you want fabulous pastries, show up for the four o'clock coffee hour.

 

Thanks for the heads up upon the pastries!!!

[TrulyBlonde]

We were on Avalon a few years go, Rhine and then Rhone. The food is atrocious and the dining the worst part of the cruise. I find it similar to a cruise in the Hampton Inn hotel chain. Loved the Rhine itinerary though.

[Losingcontrol36]

Reply to deise 17311:

The Avalon cruise we went on was our first river cruise, so we can not compare it to other river cruise lines.

Compared to "conventional" cruises:

Customers were not "nickel-dimed" with optional activities that you would have to pay for.

Alcohol is cheaper in the bar.

Beer and Wine is included at dinner. You were not limited to one or two classes.

Better staff to customer ratios

 

Regarding food, we have had more choices on conventional cruises. We thought the food was good, but we are not "foodies".

 

We would go on Avalon again. However, some Viking ships have better balconies.

[KathyK13]

We were on the Avalon Luminary Danube cruise in August 2013. We found the food to be excellent! Breakfast and lunch were buffets with a large selection of hot and cold dishes that varied daily. Dinners were plated; there were always multiple choices for soup, appetizer, entrée, and desert. In addition to the three entrée options, one could order a standard meat, poultry, or seafood option. The dinners were well prepared and seasoned, always served hot. We didn't have one meal that wasn't perfect.

 

Of course, quality of food is very subjective. Restaurants often have wildly conflicting reviews. But DH and I are used to eating in high-end restaurants and feel we are good judges of the quality of food we are served. Also, the chef may make a difference, although I would think that a cruise line would have standards that are met regardless of ship. Our chef was Stefan; he made an amazing Hungarian Goulash!

[YoungDubFan]

I am the OP of this review and I had no issues with any of the food on Avalon. As has been mentioned, breakfast and lunch were buffets. There was an omelet station for breakfast and plenty of choices including American and European fare (cold cuts, fresh tomatoes, wonderful fruit, many flavors of yogurt, pastries, etc.) Lunch always had at least 1 soup, plenty of things for salad, a carving station or something hot. There was also always an entree or sandwich that could be ordered off the menu. Many people didn't seem to realize this was an option. For dinner - there was always 1-2 soups, an appetizer, 3-4 entrees - always meat, fish, pasta & you could also always get 1 of the 3 always available - this was often a chicken breast, steak, salmon. Deserts were offered for lunch and dinner - usually some type of ice cream or sorbet, different pastries, and as has been mentioned a cheese plate - I had some of the best cheese on this cruise.

 

Wine was free flowing at dinner. I never had an empty glass. Liquor could be purchased in the bar - there was a happy hour every day with 2-for-1 pricing. Also had a drink special every day that was even cheaper. If you don't like a wine but liked one from the night before, ask your server and they may still have it available.

[peterdkiwi]

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.

[caviargal]

< Also, the chef may make a difference, although I would think that a cruise line would have standards that are met regardless of ship. Our chef was Stefan; he made an amazing Hungarian Goulash!>

 

Stefan was the head chef on our first 2 Avalon cruises and we enjoyed the food on both of those Avalon sailings.

[TrulyBlonde]

Our issue was same boring bread basket at every dinner, tiny tiny salad, medium rare steak had to be sent back because it was so bloody (a few times), and always creamed soups:( It took forever to get served which made for extremely long drawn out dinners. After 21 days, we could not wait to get off of the boat. It was not luxury to us and I would like to try a river cruise again but not Avalon. I will look at AMA, Tauck, and possibly Uniworld.

[caviargal]

Our issue was same boring bread basket at every dinner, tiny tiny salad, medium rare steak had to be sent back because it was so bloody (a few times), and always creamed soups:( It took forever to get served which made for extremely long drawn out dinners. After 21 days, we could not wait to get off of the boat. It was not luxury to us and I would like to try a river cruise again but not Avalon. I will look at AMA, Tauck, and possibly Uniworld.

 

I do not eat creamed soups either and forgot about that until you mentioned it. Overall the food was quite heavy.

 

The bread WAS dismal and boring on all of our Avalon cruises; we made up for that by visiting the local bakeries. :D Our last two Avalon cruises were very disappointing in terms of food quality, preparation and taste in the dining room.

 

That is when we tried AMA and we have never looked back. We find the food on AMA to be very good to excellent. For us, the food, wine and service are far superior on AMA. We may give Uniworld a try one of these days but are very happy with the consistency of AMA so far.

Edited January 26, 2015 by caviargal