RTLS

Our first ever river cruise is coming up late September. The Legendary Danube- Prague to Budapest. Today I began looking at the excursions available to pre-book and see that, as well as the optional excursions, in some instances but not all, booking is available for the included choices as well at the optional ones. Does this mean that we have to pre-book our choice of included tours.

I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere here, that many people wait until on board to book even for the optional ones. That's what we would prefer to do but is that not the way to do things?

I'd really love some clarification.

Thanks

9 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

Try to keep the armless T-Shirts, shorts and flip-flops to a minimum, after all Vienna is an UNESCo site (well for the time being).

We are a little too old for T-Shirts, shorts and flip-flops!

 

 

Hi Wags,

We would be on the same page as you. I think I'll wait until I know what the concert is going to be before booking.

Thank you both. If you had said that more formal wear was needed, I don't think we would book.

 We attend the symphony a few times each season and we understand these performances are for tourists so may not be top notch. Are you glad that you went?

Our first River cruise is coming up in September. Legendary Danube on Avalon. I know that the dress code for river cruising is quite casual but I think I read somewhere that a dressier outfit Including a jacket for men, might be needed for the concert in Vienna. Unfortunately I can't find the correct thread so would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been to one of these concerts.

Thank you. 

We are going to be cruising with Avalon in September. We are 3 adults , 2 sharing and 1 single. We chose Avalon because the single was able to book the same category as the double and there was no single supplement. It seems to me that most of the lines that offer single supplement waivers only offer them on the lowest category. Avalon doesn't offer this deal on all sailings but when it is offered it applies to all categories.

Thanks studebhawk.

We will definitely been taking your advice. No wandering off by ourselves!

We will be on the Sirena next February and have an overnight there. We arrive at noon on day 1 and hoping we can take a walk off the ship for a couple of hours before going on an evening tour. I've heard that we may be docked in an "unsavoury" area. Can anyone tell me where we will dock and what we might see if we walk off the ship.

Thank you

Hi HokiePoq

We are booked on the same sailing as you and have the same questions. I think those answering and suggesting arriving a day early are not aware that our cruise is leaving Miami on the Super Bowl weekend and it's pretty impossible to find a hotel room for a semi reasonable price for the night before the cruise.

We decided to take the included air assuming that if we book through Oceania we'll get some help. However our TA, just like yours, indicated that that is not the case.

Still unsure as to what to do.

We have an Avalon cruise booked for September - Prague to Budapest.

CZK for Prague, Forint for Budapest and Euros for the German and Austrian ports.

My question is how do we get the coins that I am told we will need for washrooms and other small purchases. I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get those from here and, of course the ATM's in each country won't disburse them.

Is it possible to exchange bills for coins on board our ship.?

Thanks for any help

5 hours ago, travel-trekker said:

We are booked on Avalon - Legendary Danube 

Prague start- Budapest end in May.

We too are booked on the legendary Danube but for the end of September.

I am noticing, however, that this same itinerary for 2020 , still called the Legendary Danube -is reduced from 10days to 8days and does not include Prague as part of the trip. It would now be an add on.

Thanks to both of you for the advice. I'll be buying the lace up walking shoes as suggested.

Shoes are always a problem for me. I saw some great ideas for sandals earlier in this thread but nothing for footwear for colder months.

I'm planning a Danube River cruise for October and thinking the weather may be pretty mixed so I'll need more than good sandals for touring. I have narrow feet and wear an orthotic so always find shoe shopping difficult. Any ideas?

We have an upcoming trip booked with Avalon and we have one cabin for 2 and the other for a single. Both Panorama suites. When we were researching, most of the companies that were offering solo deals seamed to be offering those deals on the lowest deck which we didn't want.

We booked The Legendary Danube with Avalon and the single paid $629 more than the per person cost of the double room. That trip includes 2 nights hotel in Prague and the $629 included $329 for the hotel portion so the actual extra for the cruise portion was $300. Not bad in my opinion.

Avalon's single offer is not on all sailings and they offer aa maximum of 5 on any one ship. I believe it's still in effect until later in February and may be extended of course.

We booked with Avalon for a Sept/Oct Danube trip because we were able to get one of the cabins we wanted without a single supplement. We are so pleased that we booked early because now that deal is not available for the sailing we chose.

However there are lots of other sailings where it's still available. The "no single supplement" deal on Avalon allows any grade of cabin to be booked up to a limit of 5 on the sailing. I've noticed that other companies usually offer only the lower level cabins.

I was told that this offer has a limited time frame but maybe that's incorrect. I'm not sure.

Sounds good!

Thanks to both of you.

May I ask about happy hour? Are there deals on drinks during that time and what are the times?

I understand that all (or maybe most) river cruise ships allow wine to be taken on board. Do they also allow a good bottle of scotch etc? And am I reading correctly that it's OK to take that drink on deck or in a lounge to enjoy?

So different to Ocean cruise rules.

Thanks for any input.

First time poster & river cruiser also..following this thread...We are scheduled on the Legendary Danube with Avalon leaving Nuremberg Sept 7. We did not purchase trip insurance. I called Avalon and they said if the entire cruise was cancelled (they've only cancelled 3 so far) they would refund everything..airfare..cruise and issue an additional $500 voucher.

We are booked for this same cruise Sept 2019. Anything at all can happen with the weather next year and I'm not asking for predictions just hoping that you will post again after your cruise so that I can know how Avalon handled the situation and/or whether September 7th was OK even after a Summer like this one. We are not leaving until the 29th Sept. t so may be a little luckier.

Thank you

We had a similar situation to you. 3 adults - first time river cruising - and wondering what to do about the single who certainly didn't want to pay the same rate for a single as we paid for a double cabin.

First thing I did was contact a river cruise specialist TA. She explained the situation on most lines. A few triples (but we didn't want that), and some cabins on the lowest deck usually offered on most lines but mostly on the lowest deck - and we didn't want that either! I know "picky"

. But she then told me that currently Avalon has a "single supplement waived offer" on many upcoming cruises if booked before the end of August. On those cruises where this is offered, there are 5 cabins available for single occupancy and they can be any type of cabin on the ship.

We were able to find a Danube cruise that we all liked and booked 2 Panorama suites.

If you are already considering Avalon, I'd suggest taking a look at all of those offering the Single waiver.

Wondering about bottled water - regular or carbonated. Is it regularly available throughout the day or should I bring some on board. I usually drink a couple of bottles a day.

.

We are booked for our first ever River cruise for September 2019. Legendary Danube on Avalon's newest ship. As you can see, I''m an early planner!

We booked very early because we are a twosome and a single and Avalon is currently offering a single supplement waiver on quite a few of their cruises for 2019. it's a big saving for the single.

Thanks....at this point I have a reservation at the Movenpick and the Aitana.

 

I'm doing the pre-cruise night on our own and then hoping to catch the shuttle to the river boat with rest of Avalon cruisers......am willing to pay for the shuttle...just not the price for the hotel through Avalon.

 

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I'll be interested to know whether you can arrange to pay for the shuttle. I'd like to do a similar transfer but so far have been told that it's not possible to buy a transfer when not paying for the hotel and air.

Thanks everyone. Yes that is the Avalon waterways deal that starts in Paris and then goes to Le Havre by coach for the start of the cruise. There is also an option of Cruise Only starting in Le Havre and my TA is suggesting that might be easy for us to do and then we could spend the money on a few more days in Paris at the end.

However I'm thinking that Paris to Paris might be the way to go.

Hi there,

I'm in the process of finding a short river cruise to add on to a European vacation and the TA is suggesting an Avalon one that starts in Le Havre and ends in Paris. She said that as we are already in the UK, it should be no problem getting to Le Havre.

I'm not sure that is correct. The train from London goes to Paris and then we would leave Paris from a different station to get on the train to Le Havre.

Has anyone done this in a more straightforward way. I'd really appreciate any input.

Thanks.

I would think so. It is a modern structure -- huge and clean and very efficient at least on disembarkation 2017. I am not sure if you could get into store but I suggest that you google Abu Dhabi cruise port and see what it says.

Thanks for the reply.

I had googled the cruise port before I posted which is why I know that there is a duty free store. Unfortunately I can't see a map of the terminal that might tell me where it's located so that I could figure out whether it's possible to shop there before boarding