Daisi

We did the Rhine with Avalon May 2018. I highly recommend Keukenhof if available, as well as Colmar. The excursions have changed since we toured (we did both the Black Forest Open Air Museum and Colmar the same day) so not quite up to the newer ones. You won't go wrong if you choose ones that look good I'm sure. As to Amsterdam, they have great art museums if you like, there is a flower auction, Anne Frank Museum (you have to order tickets online well ahead of time or you won't get in), and several other areas to see. We took the train one day up to Enkhuizen to see Zuiderzee, which we loved, and wished we had time left over to stop in at the train museum in Hoorn. As to wifi, it was pretty good for most of the trip, I think the only place we had a bit of problems was Bresiach on the last night. You can either get a local SIM card (we got a Vodafone one in Amsterdam at a local convenience store.), or see if your plan has a decent roaming plan. Another thing I might recommend is getting a tram/bus pass, you can get one at a convenience store at the airport, they are handy, *but* you have to tap on and off. Your cabin will probably not be ready until after 2:00, however you can drop off your luggage and wander. Most recommend that you wait until at least 10:00am to drop the luggage, as they will be trying to get the passengers from the previous cruise out. There is normally a very quick turnaround, when we got to our ship around 11;30, there were still passengers from the previous cruise onboard. We were invited to have a light lunch & drink in the lounge while we waited for our tour. Yes there is laundry on board, and I have heard others say prices are reasonable. We pack more quick drying clothes, so can rinse out in the bathroom sink and dry in our closet. Don't over pack, it's a more casual atmosphere, and most guests will be wearing the same outfits more than once. We do our cruises with a smaller backpack (for our electronics and a couple changes of clothes) and a carryon each. There is a mini-bar, however you are able to bring alcohol onboard, so we always request that they take the stuff out of the fridge so we have room to put our purchases in it. Don't forget, in 2023 (and hopefully from now on), there will be a free cocktail hour and you are more than welcome to order a drink to "go" to enjoy in the lounge or sundeck after lunch or dinner. Drinks are not overly expensive, I think we had 2 beers and our bar bill was about 8 Euros. You can view the bar menu here, just scroll down to the link. https://www.avalonwaterways.ca/why-avalon/dining/ Enjoy your cruise!

@Host Jazzbeau & @Wings55, had to Google that one, I had no idea who it was. 🙂 Guess that's a more American show. @gnome12 I think Ottawa borrowed some of your finest last winter. I know when we got to PEI, the RCMP wander around Charlottetown with the horses for tourist pics, and of course we have the Musical Ride at fairs etc, but that's about the only time I've seen horses on the streets. Mind you, we don't get into the cities to often.

I believe there are mounted officers in Toronto, and I know of one in Halifax. There are probably more in various cities around. Our national police force (RCMP, they cover all areas that aren't big enough to have their own provincial or local police force) only use the horses for tourism, although if they catch you doing something, they are police!

Agree with @TMLAalum, you probably will have to go through your TA. You could also have your TA look for flights, they may be able to get better rates as well. If you go with Avalon, once the flights are booked, you can go online with the airline and select your own seats & upgrade if desired.

Thanks, but I like to plan everything out and know costs before I go to my TA for booking. If I can't find what I want by the site, I look at other lines. This is also why I avoid Scenic, as they have to many problems with their website. I'm perfectly happy with Avalon, and they do have pretty much the same itineraries, so no big deal.

I see what you mean. Sorry, I'm to used to Avalon, where I can book what cabin I want and easily add on extra days both pre and post cruise. Thanks for pointing that out, I had been looking at one of the Ama cruises, but maybe not.

Actually, on the Ama website, just select "Cruises", then select the cruise you wish to take. Once you have that open, on the top, there will be a series of buttons - overview, itinerary, ships, gallery, dates & prices, and connections. You can find pricing under the dates & prices.

Yes, when you go on the city tours, there are slow walkers, and regular or active walkers. You will see the same on the slow walkers, but you are more constantly walking so while no real "rest" until the end of the tour where you have free time (less than the more active walker). I am fine walking, but both my husband & I have problems standing for periods of time, so we enjoy the constant walking. Plus, it's great for taking photos, we had "lookouts" to keep eyes on the guide, so we could grab pictures and quickly catch up. Avalon has also added an Adventure host to add activities for the times you will be on board sailing to the ports, and lead the active tours.

Just curious, will this interfere with the cruises starting up, or is it in a more industrial area?

Avalon also has the varied walking tours, and offers multiple tours for same day excursions. I think what the spokesperson meant was their special active tours that they have started. Depending on which cruise, you will have biking, hiking, kayaking etc. I prefer the slow walkers on the Avalon tours as it's great for photography. We see just as much, but our guides walk and talk instead of rushing us past places of interest and standing in an area where they will talk for a while telling you about what you just passed. We never had to sit and wait for others to catch up, it was a gentle stroll, but if you saw interesting things along the way, you could ask then and shoot a quick photo instead of trying to find your way back after. The only thing I think we missed out on was an extra 1/2 hr or so after (read 1/2 hr to shop instead of 1) after the tour for wandering around.

@QueenofEverythingyou didn't say where you are cruising. On the European ships, there usually is an electrical outlet on the side of the bed against the wall. I know this, because I make sure I get my side of the bed on the wall because I tend to be on my tablet longer than DH, and don't want to disturb him plugging it in to charge. If you know your cabin #, and do the virtual tour of the ship on Avalon's site, you can check out which side of the bed will have the outlet. You never know, you may be lucky and not need the extension cord.

Sorry, Kennster & QueenofEverything, I did mean converter, but have adapter in my mind.

@Kenstercan you help? Seems to me you take an extension cord when you travel. @QueenofEverything, I'm not sure about a cpap machine, but would a travel adaptor work to downgrade the voltage?

I've found the best way to see how people really dress on any cruise/tour is to view YouTube videos posted by people who have been on the tour itself. You will see fellow guests as they are, not how the cruise line or tour company feels it should look.

Not wanting to put words in Tribbs 1's mouth, but I think they mean that while other lines will have a couple of included options with an optional (extra charge) option per day, the other lines have started offering a couple of different included options per day. For example, looking at Avalon's Romantic Rhine (ok, I cruise with Avalon, much easier to compare) vs Viking's Rhine Getaway, Avalon has 3 included tours to chose from the morning in Breisach, while Viking only has the 1. Both have the optional (extra charge) tour to Colmar. Nothing wrong if you are doing your first cruise and are happy with the basic included tour, but if you are touring with family or friends, it's nice to have a choice as to what you may wish to see that isn't "standard".

@gnome12, we didnt' get the thundersnow, but I heard that up in the city they have had over 300cm of snow so far this year. I think we have at least that much if not more. Our poor ducks have to fly out of the creek, the snowbanks are so high along them. We have a small path shoveled (more to drain water from the house than for them to walk on) and have been laughing at them slipping down the sides to get on it. Our squirrels have so many tunnels in the snow in the back yard, it's like the old "Wack-A-Mole" game watching them pop up and down. I did notice yesterday that our bird bath has surfaced (at least the rim) so the snow is slowly dropping.

The biggest problem with balconies on a river cruise is that the space for a balcony is taken out of the space for the room. Normally, you do get more "usable" space for a french balcony, except for Viking as Jazzbeau stated above. Avalon is all french balconies, with the 2 Royal Suites being 300 sq. feet, and the suites being 200 sq. feet. Only the lower deck cabins are smaller at 172 sq feet, Don't forget, the scenery on the rivers is on both sides of the river, so if you are cruising during the daytime, you will want to be in the public areas or on the sundeck to see both sides. We enjoy the windows open wide usually pre-breakfast, or while relaxing in our cabin before turning in for the night. Otherwise, we are off the ship or in the public areas. Also, another thing to consider, if you are docked, you may be having a great view of another ships cabins, as they often tie up together.

I always check a weather app a couple of weeks prior to leaving, gives a good idea as to how temps will be. We were in Amsterdam the beginning of May 5 years ago and it was quite warm, in the 20's. I have been tracking weather in Budapest - right now at 6:40pm it's 12C, here it's -15and it's 12:40. Looking at my month's ahead (app goes to Apr 9, probably not accurate, but gives an idea) and temps during daytime will be in between 14 - 18C. Being from Maine, you are probably going to be quite comfortable in spring clothes edging into summer weather (in other words, yes to shorts/capris), with a warm sweater and some longer pants for evenings.

Mmmmm... we called them Carnival Cakes, would always request them as kids, even if Carnival was long gone. Miss those, will have to take a trip to a German store to see if they have any. I saw that, must have been quite scary for a few moments.

@gnome12, we're Buffalo as well. I heard about this on another site so had checked already. We used to get that show, can't remember now if on Prime or PBS, but hopefully they will pick it up again.

Only on select PBS stations unfortunately. 😞

You are correct, Globus is the parent company of Avalon. While I haven't personally toured with them, I do know several people who have, and all said it was a good trip. They were part of the reason we chose Avalon, figuring if Globus was good, so would Avalon be. There is a page for Globus if you are on FB, but you are correct, trying to research land tour companies is very difficult (I've been looking into both Globus & Insight), as most "locals" on any tourist board tend to say "do it yourself, it's more affordable". What they don't take into consideration is, for us, if one of us is driving, the other looking at a map, how much scenery will we see? I would say Globus is comparable to both Collette & Trafalgar from what I've seen online.

The funniest thing was, when we started this journey, and found out that Mom came from one side of the Firth of Forth, and Dad the other, we joked they would be related.....never thinking that 100 or so years later, in another country and so much more distance between them, they (very distantly) are! Now we are looking into the Highlander side that went the the Netherlands...you never know. 🙂

My sister started researching the family tree when my nephew received a school assignment to trace the family back to Great-Grandparents. Since he knew my Mom's parents, she decided to go a bit further. 30 some years later, she has traced multiple family trees back many generations and we have a massive data base. I just took a quick look, the earliest I found on one side goes to 1255 in Devon England. It's great, as we have managed to contact family all over the world and are in constant contact with some. One of the fun things for her is one of our family names is "Smith", she's only managed to go back to the 1560's for them. @CPT Trips, the "stories" have been uncovered, including finding not one but two members from my Mother's side marrying into my Father's side. Not that unusual, except for the 1300km distance and it happened in the early 1800's!

@Rebel54, you'll have to do a Rhine holiday (land or cruise) and go visit, looks like a nice town with all the old architecture!