Reesaroo

If you do not want to use the $299 air promo Avalon will not make you pay the $299. You just opt out of the air offer. One thing to watch out for is the restrictions on combining discounts. Read the fine print. On a cruise a few years ago my friend and I were able to combine the room discount and free air promo. My daughter decided to book as well as a single and join us on the cruise.  The waiving of the single supplement was unable to be combined with any other discount. She could not get the same room discount or free air offer that my friend and I received. Not sure of the details of the current promos but restrictions will be listed in the fine print. Happy sailing!

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Don't get me wrong, but, is there a North American line that does not offer a Nuremberg WWII tour? I mean, one could leave them out. I admit Nuremberg is the perfect place for that stuff. But on my bucket list for Nuremberg is the old rebuilt town centre and the railway museum.

 

notamermaid

 

Notamermaid- our cruise in July starts in Nuremberg. We are getting there a day early so we can tour the old town and railway museum on our own! We are looking forward to it!

I think 2019 is the first year for Avalon’s flexible dining. I would be interested to hear from 2019 cruisers how this works.

I used a TA for our first river cruise two years ago. She was a river cruise specialist and had been on river cruises on AMA and Uniworld so it seemed like a good idea. I picked out the cruise and she booked it for me. No problem. But... It drove me crazy to wait for responses from her. For example, I got free air on Avalon and I wanted to know if I could chose seats on the flight ahead of time. I emailed the TA and she finally answered after 3 or 4 weeks. I only had 2 or 3 questions but each time it took forever for a response. There were no price breaks or incentives with the TA either.   This time I called Avalon and booked directly. If I have any questions I can just pick up the phone and call them. No waiting for weeks for a reply. I much prefer it this way.

My husband and I are going on Avalon’s German Grandeur cruise in July for our 30th anniversary. It’s a new itinerary for Avalon for 2019. We start in Nuremberg and end in Basel. We leave in 125 days! Can’t wait.

DId you purchase in Europe? Or get it on (for example) Amazon?

 

I am like many women. While I don't spend a lot of time on my hair, make-up, I do like to look neat and well groomed.

 

 

 

Baf

I purchased a dual voltage curling iron on Amazon for about $20. I brought it on my Avalon cruise. No problem. Just used an adapter plug. I would never go on a vacation without it. I look like a drowned rat without a little help from the curling iron.

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Thank you for your reply! I am not much of a layer person, but alas luggage restrictions call for desperate measures.

 

But in the actual ship itself, do they try to keep an ambient temperature on the cool side or the warm side?

 

 

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We cruised in the first week of May 2017. It was unseasonably cold outside with some rain. Temps were mostly in the 50s with one day in the 40s. We needed jackets and sweaters when we were outside. When we were inside the ship it was comfortable without a sweater or jacket. We just wore our regular inside clothes and we were fine. Have a great cruise!

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Looking for travel insurance ideas when not purchasing through Viking, Thanks!

Go to insuremytrip.com. You enter basic information on the trip dates, your age and trip costs and you receive prices from all the major travel insurance companies. It’s super easy.

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Thank you - will check them out. Do you remember the name of your guide?

Our guide was Barbara. A very nice young lady and very knowledgeable. We had a great tour with her.

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We have booked Uniworld's Delightful Danube and Prague river cruise for next summer (going Budapest to Prague). We are traveling with another couple and plan to add our own extensions at each end - probably 2 - 3 days each. Would appreciate any recommendations of local tour guides in those cities that you have used and were happy with. We are more interested in private tours but are open to a group if well recommended. Thank you for any suggestions (or cautions of any to avoid;)).

We used Budapest Locals in Budapest. We had a wonderful private guide! I highly recommend them. Check out their reviews on Trip Advisor.

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I just checked and it's not offered on our cruise or days in Prague.

 

How far is it and is it difficult to get there on our own?

On our Avalon cruise the Cesky Krumlov optional tour was offered from our stop in Linz Austria. We were glad we took the tour. It was a beautiful little town and our guide talked a lot about life after communism in the Czech Republic. We learned a lot.

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Thank you. I leave in 18 days are there any tips you can suggest for a enjoyable cruise. We've all booked the "unbalcony" cabins....lol How was the weather and tours?

 

First river cruise so getting very excited.

 

We are staying in Budapest for 2 days before the cruise and 3 days in Prague after as part of our package.:D

You will have a wonderful time! We loved our Avalon cruise! The service was top notch, the excursions were all interesting and the scenery was beautiful! Can’t wait to book my 2018 cruise with Avalon.

Not sure what the other poster is referring to. We had no disco music. We had a piano player. One night a country singer sang and the whole crowd really enjoyed it. It was fun!

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Thank you for all the information!! I am definitely leaning now towards the Central European that starts in Prague. I think this itinerary will compliment what we are looking for. Been to both Amsterdam and Paris so not looking to do either on this trip. I am very close to finalizing this itinerary and adding on a week in London at the end since we have never been. I don't mind taking a couple motor coaches to get from Prague to Nuremberg and from Remich to Luxembourg. How long are those rides? Can I get straight from Luxembourg via high speed train to London or do I need to stop in Paris or Brussels to do that? Is it better to just fly direct from Luxembourg to London? Thanks for all the help!

Remich is not far from Luxembourg City. You can take a bus from the boat dock to the city or have Avalon call you a taxi to take you to the train station. When you book your cruise you could also ask if you can pay for the transfer from Remich to Paris and take the bus to Paris with the other Avalon travelers and catch the train to London in Paris. From Luxembourg City you can go to London by train via Paris or Brussels. Check http://www.seat61.com for info for on buying train tickets in Europe. It’s a great site! Very informative.

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Lisa! You are a life saver! Somehow, I missed this itinerary as an option on Avalon. With your help, I was able to find it and it is now our front runner of choices. The ship is newer and it looks like exactly what we are looking for. Thank you so much!

You are welcome! That was one of the itineraries I was looking at for next year. It looks fabulous. Have a great trip!

Lisa

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Hi All. We are a looking at taking out first 7 or 8 day river cruise in the fall (September) of 2019. I "think" I have it narrowed down to two lines; Ama and Avalon. I know the two are very similar and both have things I like and some things I don't. I am not completely set on itinerary which I think is making it harder. I think we want to cruise, at the very least, the Rhine because we are really wanting beautiful castles and scenery. That said, there is a cruise on Ama that has the Rhine, Moselle, Danube and Main and I think it's called Europe's Rivers and Castles. I like this itinerary (again, I think) and I like the idea of adding on a couple days in Prague pre cruise and then going to London for a week or so post cruise. This cruise allows us to do that but the one thing I am unsure about is the ship. It is the AmaDante and it seems fairly old having been built in 2008. Also, the rooms on this ship are fairly small compared to the Avalon ships.

 

Now Avalon seems to have nicer and newer ships but the itinerary is not the same and they don't seem to offer the same itinerary I am looking at on Ama. I would look to do a panoramic suite on their ship which is 200 sq ft as opposed to a room with Ama that would have a french balcony and is only 170 sq ft on Ama. I am not opposed to just doing the Rhine Basel to Amsterdam and then flying to London from Amsterdam but I have been to Amsterdam before and not crazy about going back. Also, where could I go pre cruise? Is Basel a good city to spend a couple days in?

 

I guess I am looking for recommendations and thoughts. I am also open to hearing about other options. Just a quick background is it will be myself and my husband and we will be 50 and 48 years of age at the time of sailing. We will also be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. Any help, thoughts and tips are greatly appreciated!

Those were the lines I was between when we took our first river cruise in 2017. We ended up choosing Avalon and we loved it! Check out the Avalon itinerary called Central European Experience. It sounds similar to the AMA itinerary you are looking at. That itinerary offers pre-cruise in Prague and post cruise in Paris and London. Love the Avalon suite ships with the beds facing the windows! The ships are beautiful.

Lisa

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I am planning a 2 to 3 week Danube cruise in 2020 and considering Uniworld or Viking. I would be interested if anyone has suggestions for other lines to look at. I will be traveling alone, and am not really interested in having a lot of free time to wander. More planned excursions, but with enough time to actually see the museums or other sites we visit. I am kind of a picky eater so having some simple options for meals is important. I am also kind of a grazer, so having food available at other times would be nice, but not essential. I don’t drink, so the quality of wine or alcohol inclusions don’t matter. I want at least a French balcony, so most lines’ single rooms won’t work, so I expect a large supplement. I have reviewed the various articles on here, already but would be interested in anyone’s comments or suggestions.

I would suggest you take a look at Avalon. We had a wonderful time on our Avalon cruise last year and are planning another cruise with Avalon next year. Many of Avalon itineraries waive the single supplement for all cabin classes. I had booked my last cruise with a friend and a couple weeks later my daughter decided she wanted to join us. She had a regular cabin with the single supplement waived. There are daily excursions planned in each stop. We did all of the excursions with the group. The tour guides were excellent! As for food we were very pleasantly surprised! My friends and daughter are vegetarians and I am a picky eater- meat and potatoes for me. All of us loved the food! Breakfast and lunch are huge buffets with enough choices for everyone. At dinner there were specials every night and also steak, chicken or fish for the less adventurous eaters. As for timing... Cruise Critic just posted an article about Avalon introducing flexible dining times in 2019. You should check out the article. On our cruise there was the three meals and “cake time” served about 4pm. There was also a lounge at the rear of the ship that had cookies, muffins, coffee, tea etc that was open all the time. We took advantage of that lounges a few times during the trip for a late night night treat[emoji4] I think the bottom line is that you will have a wonderful time no matter which cruise line you choose. Read some reviews, chat with a travel agent and check out the different lines websites. Planning is half the fun. I am sure you will find a cruise line that is just right for you.

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A couple of years ago--before going on my first Vantage river cruise--I started an "All Things Vantage" thread where folks were able to post comments and questions on Vantage river cruises. It's still around and a convenient place for folks to discuss Vantage.

 

 

 

Well, now I'm preparing for my first Avalon cruise (Canals, Vineyards, and Paris in September), so I'm going to see if a similar Avalon thread is worthwhile. If it's not, it'll simply drop slowly down the thread list.

 

 

 

So feel free to post any questions, thoughts, comments, etc. about Avalon to this thread.

 

 

 

FuelScience

I have a question for the Avalon experts. I took an Avalon cruise in May 2017 and absolutely loved it! Planning on July 2019 for the next cruise. On our cruise we had a buffet lunch in the dining room. I see that sometimes there is also a lunch offered in the Sky Deck. It was quite cool and rainy on our trip so that was not an option for us. Does anyone know what kind of menu is offered for lunch on the Sky Deck? That might be a nice option in the summer.

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The WiFi on our Avalon cruise last year was excellent. We had no problems uploading pictures to Facebook every night and checking email. It was easy to keep in touch with home just using WiFi. Enjoy your cruise!

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I live in a VERY casual town (Austin, TX) and actually do not own a pair of dressy slacks and my church/party/funeral dresses will most likely be too summery for April on the Danube.

I would rather not have to go buy clothes for this trip that I will probably not wear again and I am planning on bringing jeans and one skirt on our April Danube cruise unless I am advised otherwise.

 

Will it be acceptable to wear jeans to dinner most nights and the skirt to the welcome/goodbye dinners? I've tried searching posts but have not had good, recent results....

 

Thanks!

Jeans will be perfectly fine! Lots of people wore jeans to dinner on our Avalon cruise last May. In fact when the Cruise Director was talking about attire for the “dressier” captains dinner he said dressy for Avalon means you are ok as long as you don’t show up for dinner in your bathing suit. Anything else is fine. Enjoy your cruise!

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Daisi- we did not tip the guides since I knew it was included. We did have some excellent guides though so in retrospect I wish we had given a little extra to a few of them. Next time...

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We saw people on our cruise tipping extra to guides they really liked.

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Wonderful report! I feel like I was on the trip with you!

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We never felt noise in the dining room was a problem. We always sat at a table for 4.

We were on the Passion and sat at both round and rectangular tables. We did not have any issues at all hearing everyone at the table. The acoustics seemed fine to us!

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I recommend Avalon. I was on a cruise in May. There were many women in their 20s and 30s. My daughter was on the cruise with me and she was 27 at the time. She thought she would feel out of place because of her age but there were many in her age range. No matter what line you pick you will have a great time. Enjoy!

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Hello Reesaroo,

 

while the places you mention are touristy I would not regard them as crowded as Paris or London. In Amsterdam it seems everybody goes to the Anne Frank house so Got2Cruise advice makes perfect sense. But you do not have to do those tourist places or you could split up according to your interests, i.e. you yourself go to the Anne Frank House and your husband seeks out something else - technical stuff perhaps or whatever appeals to him. Have a look at what tripadvisor says or the wikipedia page on Amsterdam. Strasbourg will indeed be busy around the cathedral but I assume there will be nice areas that are not so crowded but of interest. Breisach is small enough to get ouf town quickly for a bit of scenery.

 

You do not mention Rüdesheim so I assume you are not stopping there. Good! It is probably one of the busiest on your itinerary as regards tourists / locals ratio and the Drosselgasse is to be avoided. If you are stopping there: I would walk along the park instead to the ruins of the bridge or head over to Assmanshausen or take the ferry to Bingen or have a gondola ride. The mechanical museum is supposed to be good but I cannot say if that is something you might regret not seeing, I have not been inside.

 

Koblenz is only really busy in Löhrstrasse on a Saturday, with shoppers mainly. The old town has small streets but one can get round the tourist groups easily. Have a cable car ride to Ehrenbreitstein fortress instead if you really want to get away from the crowds. The embankment both on the Rhine and the Moselle are nice walks with many people but it is so spacious that it does not feel crowded. For something quiet and different you could go to the fish-viewing area at the Koblenz lock or the Wehrtechnisches Museum (something for military fans).

 

Cologne is a busy place but again the plateau of the cathedral does not feel that crowded as it is spacious. The cathedral is a must visit in my opinion but in Cologne you can also find peace in several museums that are not as busy as the Louvre or the National Gallery in London. The old town I do not know so well but the embankment is not that crowded. Avoid trying to negotiate your way along Hohe Strasse (the shopping area most frequented by tourists), take the (sort of) parallel streets. You should be fine there.

 

As regards the date: the earlier you can go the better as most schoolchildren start their summer holiday after 15 July (German holidays are staggered, French holidays are mid/end July till end of August/beginning of September.

 

 

Edit: forgot to mention that Heidelberg is not your port stop it will be Mannheim or Speyer from where you will take a coach to Heidelberg on the Neckar river. One can stay on the ship during that time - which might sail on to pick the passengers up upstream or downstream, depending on the itinerary. If you are lucky the ship docks in Mannheim or Speyer for a while and if you prefer this you can explore either town instead of going to Heidelberg. I have never been to Heidelberg but it is very popular and from what I remember almost everybody here on CC loved the excursion.

 

 

I hope you find this helpful.

 

notamermaid

Thank you so much for all of the detailed information! It is extremely helpful. I specially appreciate the advice on going as early in the summer as possible. We will try to do that. My husband usually gets out of school about June 25 so we will try to find a cruise as close to that date as possible. We are also adding on a week in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland before or after the cruise. Maybe we will add that to the end of the trip so the cruise will be earlier in the summer. Thanks again!

Lisa