Daisi

They are closer to the Belgium border, but then, for me, they aren't far from Limburg either. 🙂

If you are planning on doing the tour with Avalon on the day of your embarkment, you can drop your luggage off at the ship prior to taking the tour. We did Keukenhof the day of embarkment, after spending a few days on our own touring around. We went to the ship around 12:00 as the tour was at 1:00. We dropped our luggage, and they invited us into the lounge to have a light lunch. We will be back in Amsterdam in 2025 with Avalon again and will be doing Zaanse Schans with them then.

@notamermaid, yes, we finally got winter. It's on the cool side, -7C, but will warm up back to 0 by next week. The creek has frozen so the ducks have left for the river as it stays open in spots year round. We also have some snow now, got about 30cm between Friday -Sunday, so it's white now. I heard from cousins in the Netherlands that they even got some snow. 🙂

Lol.. .they tried... it was "le Sandwich au formage fondant", but I guess the public balked and in 2017 they allowed grilled cheese. The language police have allowed a few english words to slip in - "smash", "baby boon" to name a few, and most big chain stores were allowed to keep their english names, but every once in a while, they get out to the anglo areas and fine the stores that aren't complying.

Hi @Tardis42, as Rebel says, it's easier to sign up ahead of time (usually comes available on MyAvalon once your final payment has been made). You pay for excursions onboard in Euros, on your MyAvalon, you pay in your home currency. It probably works out close, but you also aren't coming home to a large CC bill. 🙂 I don't think you have to worry about not being able to go on excursions, we were on the Danube in Sept. and they actually had 4 groups for one tour as so many wanted to go on it. Signing up ahead of time does help them organise the number of guides required. I know you can cancel any pre-paid excursion 48 (could be 24) hrs ahead of time no problem, just go through the MyAvalon site. I had to do it on our cruise and had my CC credited fairly quickly. I think the only excursions you can't sign up for ahead of time are the bike ones, and that could be for other reasons (weather?).

Quebec is a whole different thing....they "preserve" their language, but it's become so full of slang in everyday usage that it would hurt the ears of .Les Français. I remember having a lot of fun with our CD on the Rhine cruise, she was from Belgium and didn't care for our "oui" ( comes out more as a drawn out waay) our "onjou" for Bon Jour. And don't forget les Cheins Chauds... 🙂

Can't speak for Gate 1, as we've never sailed on them, however most river ships only have the one sit-down meal in the evening. Buffets are usually reserved for breakfast & lunch. Some lines do have an extra dining area where it's a bit more casual style, not sit down, (Avalon does one in the lounge like a tapas type where you pick individual servings of whatever is served for dinner, and it's actually 1/2 hr after the dinner starts). Some will also have snacks served around 4:00 or so. I haven't read this in full, but this is from a cruiser from last year, you may find some info in it:

They were calling for 30+ cm here for last night & today, but looks like we are only getting about 1/2. We are still staying mild, so if we ever see the sun for more than a couple of hours a week, the snow may go quickly. Hope you enjoy your snow.....

We always book the Aft staterooms, usually as close to the next category as possible. For example, on the Envision, we were in #228, and our Rhine cruise (and upcoming Moselle) we were (and will be) on the Imagery in suite #219. We figure the longer walk helps work off all the great food, and it's the identical room as the one next door that is in the next pricing category. We had a bit more noise on the Danube on the Envision, but the water levels were very low and we didn't manage to complete our sailing. We didn't hear anything after the 1st couple of nights anyway, so it never bothered us. Never heard a thing on the Rhine, and hoping the same on the Moselle.

I've been looking at Viva and CroisiEurope for some tours that aren't mainstream. There is one that looks interesting with Viva that goes from Prague to Berlin, and the CroisiEurope one on the Loire river looks good as well.

I noticed that, it was funny checking the weather for Cochem and Cologne and seeing the temps below ours. We had a storm go through yesterday, snow, freezing rain, rain and today it's sunny and 4C...gorgeous day, and hopefully the ice will melt off the roads in time for our next big snowfall coming in on the weekend. By the way...I don't find -3 cold, that's a nice day but we're used to that! 🙂

Avalon has active & discovery cruises, where you can hike, canoe, kayak, or do bike tours. Everyone can do what they want and meet up over dinner to compare notes. If anyone is into Yoga, there is a daily session before breakfast. As others mention, onboard entertainment is not much, so if they are fine with that, then they will be fine. Many people feel cruising is only for the older people, but if the younger generation is fine with being the minority, and content to be amongst older people, they will do fine.

Happy New Year all, may your rivers have just enough water in them to sail, and the skies have enough sun to tour. Best wishes for all.

@Tudy, as long as those who aren't comfortable spending the extra for the above ground cabin are ok without fresh air (and don't worry, each cabin has excellent air flow, they just can't open windows), they will be fine in the lower cabins. Going as a group, you will want to meet in the lounges and or decks to view the scenery as you get together, not sitting in your cabin. Also, the cabins closest to the stern on the mid level are identical to those closer to the bow or on the 3rd level...and at a better price if they wish to look at them. Our first cruise, we booked the cabin right at the "end" of that class (Cat B) which was right beside the first one in Cat A but at a $500.00/person difference! We spend our savings on the optional excursions. 🙂

No snow here, no ice either and lots of rain. Today is our first day in a while where we are not in the positive temps (high expected of -1C). I hear that down in southern Ont (Chatham) the Magnolia trees are starting to bud. Have to say, I'm not missing the snow and cold, I know it's coming, but so far, even the freezing rain is staying away.

The only reason we sail in the Panorama suites is because we like the ability to open the windows for fresh air when we are in the cabin. We always book the ones in category B to save costs (hey, it's an extra treat when we are out touring, or a couple of optional excursions 🙂). Of course, we also tour usually in May so the weather is nicer to have the windows open. We don't spend a lot of time in our cabin, but when we are in it (other than sleeping) we do have the window open. We've never been in the lower cabins, so can't talk about space.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, best wishes for the New Year.

Or "Advantage through Technology".

@Steelers0854, one thing to note about rafted ships...those from the same company (other than Uniworld) generally all look similar, so make sure you check that you are on your correct ship prior to going to your cabin when you return from an excursion. Our captain on our last Avalon ship told the story of a cruiser who didn't notice that the ships had shifted position during the excursion, and the guest came back and was quite annoyed when their card didn't work to open the cabin. I would have loved to have seen his face when he returned to reception to complain, only to be told that he wasn't registered for that ship! I guess it was an interesting experience for not only the crew but the passengers who were returning. 🙂

That’s one of the towns in that area, along with Blue Balll and Fertility. We used to spend a lot of time down that way as Hershey had a big car show. One of them had a grocery store that had a lot of Mennonite and Amish employees and it was one of our first stops to pick up Shoofly Pie and other treats. One of the townships near us is called Bastard, must shock a lot of lost tourists as they name cafes and shops after it.

Ok, I was thinking of ones more around Lancaster area near Bird in Hand. 🙂 I still think Nfld has all places beat though with Dildo, which is named after a thole pin.

Yes, there are certainly some "interesting" names for towns in both Canada & the USA. I know Newfoundland and Labrador, and Pennsylvania have some very good ones. 🙂

@Ritabob yes, we've been to both those areas. We hate highways, so back roads and a couple of hours give us lots of interesting places to discover. 🙂

My cousin teaches in a town in Ont. called Baden, so if we go visit, we tour. We've found Luxemburg, (New) Hamburg, Mannheim, (New) Dundee, Paris, Oxford (Centre), Washington & Boston so far, but there are many more. So many European names in Canada as that's where most of us came from.

When it was 30C on our cruise with Avalon, lots were wearing shorts. Mind you, they were still nicer ones and not short cut offs. You also didn't notice until they stood up to leave (and our group was usually the ones who got the hint that they are cleaning up the dining room) if they had shorts or pants on.