Active Discovery cruises on Avalon - who's going? (Or has gone?)

[SuzWillCruise]

Hi,

 

We just signed up for our second river cruise: a 2018 sailing of the Active Discovery on the Rhine, with Avalon. We're surprised but happy to already be booked for this. What started off as some idle dreaming ahead research of the Active Discovery on the Danube cruise, turned into:

- "Oh look, there's a new active Discovery cruise ", and then

- "Hey, we could paint in Amsterdam ", and then

- "I wonder if Mom would like either of these Active cruises ".

 

Then things got interesting quickly when Mom said "YES" and liked the Rhine itinerary a bit better. But, she has another trip coming up soon and wanted to book sooner rather than later. And next, "we should ask your mom, even though we know she'll say "no"". But she said "yes", too.

 

We're a bit shell-shocked but happy. Both moms tend towards frugal and one of them has expressed previously "Oh, Christmas is so far away, I can't make plans yet.", IN the month of December.

 

So now we're doing some post-booking research (read "day dreaming instead of doing laundry "), and I haven't found any topics here about these itineraries. I think the Danube itinerary is new this year, so there probably haven't even been any sailings yet, but maybe someone has booked for this year or next, on either the Danube or the Rhine?

 

I'd love to hear about any optional tours you've booked, your experiences and impressions once your trip is complete, or even just what you're most looking forward to.

 

Thanks!

[Another Midwesterner]

We will take this cruise on Sept. 9th. Will let you know how it went. Anybody else? This is our first cruise of any type so I'm reading the board a lot trying to get ideas for tipping, packing, general stuff.

[SuzWillCruise]

Well, we’re two days from our flight, so I guess I can post some details about the Active Discovery cruises on Avalon myself. 🙂

 

We’re off to a good start already- our cabin was upgraded from aquarium class to the next deck up. (I’m happy about the upgrade but I think I might miss that ledge under the windows that we had on our 1st cruise.)

 

I can’t remember which excursions we signed up for, except the art class in Amsterdam. My other half signed up for a running excursion that I will certainly skip! I’m hoping to have a nice balance of hiking, culinary, and other excursions, without completely overwhelming myself. (I used to get sick after vacations because I tried to do EVERYTHING and wore myself out.)

 

Happy planning, everyone.

[tedly1960]

My wife and I just returned from a Danube (Budapest to Prague)Active Discovery. Loved all the options of excursions. We were booked solid with excursions and we also purchased 3 optional excursions. We thought we may have over extended ourselves but had no problem whatsoever. We prepaid our tips and didn't leave anything extra when we disembarked. That's just an individual thing. Service was great and our onboard cruise director was also great. Her name was Sabine and had a daily briefing in the lounge for any information. This was just before dinner and during the happy hour.

We didn't overpack and had some laundry done on the boat. It went out in the morning and was returned late afternoon. All prices in Euros, men's socks were 2, mens shirts were 3, I think ladies shirts were 4.

In my opinion, I thought drinks were a bit pricey. Some would argue that prices were normal for the area and a cruise ship. If this is a worry for you, I would advise to bring your own of your favorite on board with you.

Any other questions just ask.

[SuzWillCruise]

Tedly, thanks for the information about laundry, especially the timing of when you got it back. Same day service is great, and maybe that will help me pack lighter. (But the price for socks seems way high, so I need to pack lots of those!)

[KathyK13]

Well, we’re two days from our flight, so I guess I can post some details about the Active Discovery cruises on Avalon myself. 🙂

 

We’re off to a good start already- our cabin was upgraded from aquarium class to the next deck up. (I’m happy about the upgrade but I think I might miss that ledge under the windows that we had on our 1st cruise.)

 

I can’t remember which excursions we signed up for, except the art class in Amsterdam. My other half signed up for a running excursion that I will certainly skip! I’m hoping to have a nice balance of hiking, culinary, and other excursions, without completely overwhelming myself. (I used to get sick after vacations because I tried to do EVERYTHING and wore myself out.)

 

Happy planning, everyone.

 

I hope you enjoyed your cruise and come back to tell us how it went. I'm considering this cruise for May 2019. I like that the cruise stops in towns like Xanten, Duisberg, and Eltville which no other cruises visit. How did you like the excursions, both the active and the regular guided walks? I am interested in some of the optional hikes but I have a wonky hip that I hope is healed by then. If not I would be doing the less active excursions. I just want to make sure the less active excursions are interesting enough to make the trip. Thanks!

[Another Midwesterner]

We are going in September, I will be very interested to hear how your cruise is. Love to hear about the excursions. Unless we get upgraded we will be in aquarium class but don’t mind since we spend very little time in the room. This will be our second Active Discovery Cruise. Did Budapest to Linz last year.

[SuzWillCruise]

I’m a horrible typist but I’ll give it a try!

 

Embarkation day, Sunday July 8th

We arrived in Amsterdam the day before on Saturday. Because of the distance, we opted not to spend the money for a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Instead we managed to use the train and then changed to a tram and the worst part of the travel was we originally went the wrong direction when we left the tram stop!

We stayed Saturday night at the Hampton Inn (Centre East, I think, can verify if anyone is interested.)

 

On Sunday morning, we let the hotel know that we needed a taxi. The taxi guy was there before I even sat down after leaving the counter which was great. The taxi driver had a very sweet ride – some sort of Mercedes van – and was helpful with our luggage. The ride to the dock was rather short and I think we spent somewhere between 10 and €15. Since the tram ride would’ve cost us more than three euros per person, and there were three of us, we felt that this was a great spend to avoid the hassle of carrying our own luggage on the tram.

 

Once we were curbside, Avalon was right there to take our luggage; we didn’t even have to roll it the the boat. We walked to the boat, and met up with my mom. They had some food options available on the boat in the lounge, so we ate that as lunch. Then we walked around and came upon a little festival. I spent 4 Euro for a glass and then three Euro for each ticket. You could exchange the tickets for beverages, alcoholic or soft, or food items. We tried a few beers and some ginger beer, but didn’t partake in the food since we had just eaten.

 

I’m a little hazy on parts of the day, but I think Sunday was the day we went searching for excedrin migraine. We found some at the train station (short walk from where the boat was docked), and then perused the mall. There was a cheese store in that mall. We came home with cheese and we might be ordering more when it runs out! (The cheese keeps for 4 weeks unrefridgerated or 4 months in fridge. Since we bought it at the beginning of a two week trip, we figure we have two months to eat it)

[SuzWillCruise]

Day 2, Amsterdam, Monday July 9, part 1

 

The included tours were in the morning. Choices were:

- (Active) a jogging tour

- (Discovery) a painting class

- (Discovery) a culinary walk

-(Classic) a canal ride.

 

We chose the painting class (our moms did the canal tour). We mostly liked the painting class. There were multiple choices of what to paint, and the instructor was nice and seemed knowledgeable.

What kept the tour from being perfect - the nasty smelly smock. Seriously. I realize that not everyone around the world is as devoted to deodorant as folks in the US, but the smock I got smelled like someone had gone on a multi day bender, crashed in a flophouse, and then wore the smock with nothing underneath for several days. I smelled so bad that I started stressing out about having enough time to change before lunch and our afternoon tour. That stress made me cranky with the local guide (not th same person as the artist lady), who didn’t seem remotely concerned with staying on schedule. I probably would have been less stressed if I hadn’t wanted to change clothes so badly! We were pretty close to the boat so we ended up leaving before the rest of the group so we would have enough time to eat before our afternoon excursion.

 

On a positive note, we got a fantastic apple tart during the class. I’m not normally a fan of baked fruit and I don’t even like apple pie, but this dessert was scrumptious.

 

Other plus: we got to keep our painting as a souvenir! They provided a box, and we ended up putting both paintings in one box later.

[SuzWillCruise]

Day 2, Amsterdam, Monday July 9, part 2

 

In the afternoon, you could stay on the boat, wander about Amsterdam, or sign up for an Optional tour. (Note, when Avalon calls an excursion “optional “, that’s their designation for “costs money”.)

Optional tour choices were:

-Biking through Dutch countryside

- Amsterdam kayaking trip

- Muiderslot Castle

 

We decided to do the kayak tour. Oh boy. It was a little harder and a little longer than I expected, and my arms really hurt for about 2 days afterwards, but we had fun. There were only six people plus the guide: the two of us (in our 40’s, late 40’s for me), two sisters from New Zealand (early 20’s), and two Avalon employees. One of them, Claudia, was basically doing almost ALL of the active excursions, and the other was training as the cruise director and was the cruise director the week after we sailed.

Claudia had been on the canal cruise in the morning, and apparently we paddled for a similar distance! Seeing Amsterdam from the water, especially from a kayak, was pretty neat, but if you’re like me and do little to zero upper body workouts, well, you’re going to be in pain. I’m normally a side sleeper and my attempt to sleep on my side that first night had me sobbing. I made use of the hot tub the next night, but it took a couple days before I was pain free. I might sign up for a kayak trip on a future cruise, but only if I know I can put in some practice at home 1st!

[travel-trekker]

I hope you enjoyed your cruise and come back to tell us how it went. I'm considering this cruise for May 2019. I like that the cruise stops in towns like Xanten, Duisberg, and Eltville which no other cruises visit. How did you like the excursions, both the active and the regular guided walks? I am interested in some of the optional hikes but I have a wonky hip that I hope is healed by then. If not I would be doing the less active excursions. I just want to make sure the less active excursions are interesting enough to make the trip. Thanks!

 

Hi Kathy K> We are booked for the May 2019 Danube (Prague to Budapest)Active Discovery and it is our 1st River Cruise. We have not booked any excursions yet, but are excited to be making this trip with Avalon. Appreciate all the posts and find them to be very helpful!

[Another Midwesterner]

Suz, thanks for your posts. We are signed up for the kayak excursion and now I'm a little worried. We are a lot older than you are but pretty fit but this sounds like it might overextend us. Do you know anything about the biking? We are signed up for that also. We like the active excursions but maybe we are too optimistic.

[SuzWillCruise]

Suz, thanks for your posts. We are signed up for the kayak excursion and now I'm a little worried. We are a lot older than you are but pretty fit but this sounds like it might overextend us. Do you know anything about the biking? We are signed up for that also. We like the active excursions but maybe we are too optimistic.

 

My mom is 75 and would have been just fine, but she kayaks regularly. (She broke her wrist a few months ago, so wasn’t able to do that tour.). If you do upper body workouts you’ll probably be okay. I sit at a desk all day and take the occasional walk, but that’s about it.

 

We didn’t take any breaks (the guide offered but we all opted to keep rowing, which was a mistake now that I think about it!). I also didn’t do any sort of warm up or stretching, and I did a lot of extra rowing trying to turn around to locate my spouse, back up, etc.

 

We did a biking tour but not in Amsterdam. We didn’t feel confident about biking in a city, and if you don’t regularly bike in really congested conditions I would be cautious about biking there. I think that the guides for the Amsterdam bike tour had the guests ride a bit for them first before setting out just to make sure people could really ride.

 

Re the kayaking; if you do upper body workouts, or can start doing some now, I think you’ll be fine. I would completely sign up for this tour again; I would just prep a little first.

[Another Midwesterner]

Thanks! Will start doing some upper body strengthening. :) Our bike tour is in the countryside so if there aren’t too many steep hills we should be OK. I’m enjoying reading about your trip.