Avalon Waterways - Anyone Back Yet

[spindrift]

Interested to know who might have been on the MS Artistry lately and their comments. I loved it, but haven't read anything on the boards about it yet--maybe because it is so new.

[birders]

We just booked the Artistry for June 2005. We are VERY excited (we are frequent Celebrity cruisers and have never river-cruised, although we've traveled extensively on our own in Europe). But we booked it with "Amadeus Waterways" - as someone noted on another thread, there are two separate "cruiselines" marketing the same ships. I asked Amadeus about it when calling a few times for info (before our TA did the booking and final pricing for us) and the rep told me that a partnership was formed when establishing the venture and the first ship built, that they were "branding" them as two different brands, and one had more "in charge" responsibilities for developing the ship itineraries. (That's the gist of the answer I got.)

The first reviews we'd ever seen were late last year after the debut season and they were for "Amadeus" Symphony - rave reviews so we investigated. Just now beginning to see the marketing for the "Avalon" side. This two-different-named-companies-thing IS a bit odd (that's what I told the rep)! (And the reps at Amadeus were all knowledgable and very helpful with lots of advice).

[natbro]

We ran into the Amadeus Waterways website accidentally ([url]www.amadeuswaterways.com[/url]), during an internet search. Their ships/itineraries sounded wonderful so we looked into who sold their product, and ended up booking an Artistry suite for this Fall thru UET([url]www.uet.com[/url]). Before we booked, I called Amadeus with questions about the differences between the Symphony and Artistry, weather questions, questions about pricing, their familiarity with UET, etc. Their rep. was very knowledgable and helpful. I, like Spindrift, am waiting for a full review of the Artistry. (We will be doing the Budapest-Prague trip). I believe AvalonWaterways is hooked up somehow with Globus.

[spindrift]

Yes, Avalon is affiliated with Cosmos/Globus. I had the privilege of enjoying the inaugural cruise. I am not a travel agent or anything related to the industry other than being an avid lover of cruising, but the trip was almost all writers and travel agents. I loved meeting them all.

The ship was wonderful, but as said earlier, I would like to have a few review to see from the passengers. I can't see anything but a top line for service. I am booked for next August for the Danube from Nuremberg to Budapest. Can't wait.