CT-Edin

18 hours ago, Shelagh12 said:

 

I always bring empty water bottles (the 750ml) with me and fill up after security and then use them on my trip to refill!

I remember the tin water bottles from Avalon....they are big and clunky, not easy to carry, and when filled with cold water, they condensate (is that a word) the water on the outside...so your bag/clothes get wet.  I would not use them again!  On Emerald (can I mention that here?) we had insulated water bottles - smaller, neater and no condensation (also useful for hot drinks).  We left one behind, I wish we had bought it home!

14 hours ago, TriMomma said:

Emerald took care of everything for us.   It was wonderful.   We had our E-Visa to enter Vietnam and the TA had suggested that we have Cambodian Visa pictures with us (just in case), but we didn't use them.    Emerald completed and submitted the visa application and all we had to do was sign it and show up in the lounge when the Immigration officers arrived.   The $40 app fee was added to our stateroom account.   We are Canadian, but there were Brits, Americans, and Australians on the ship.   

 

Note, they did say that those who had applied for Cambodian E-Visa's would have to reapply as they were not for River landings.  

Thanks very much for this info!

Unfortunately, our friends had to cancel their trip last minute so we can't report back on their trip.  Look forwards to hearing from anyone who's doing the trip meantime - thanks.

Hello, has anyone done a Nile cruise with Avalon and if so, what was it like?  Any hints/tips/things to be aware of?  We're looking at their Egypt & Jordan cruise currently.  Thanks in advance!

My friends are doing their Cambodian visa's on the boat, so we'll do the same! We are all UK citizens, and going in the direction of Ho Chi Minh city to Siem Reap.  We will take USDs and 2 passport photos each with us in this case.

I'll be seeing one of my pals before we head off so if there's any useful hints/tips to report from their trip, I'll post here!

20 hours ago, CT-Edin said:

Hi, we are on the Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap cruise sail date 31/12/22.  I'm just looking at Cambodia visas - the online e-visa doesn't appear to be valid for the river border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia.  The Cambodian government website says you can apply for an on-arrival visa at crossing points not supported by the e-visa.  Does anyone know if Emerald will provide this service while we are on the ship and preparing to cross the border?  I can't find anything on their website about this (other cruise companies seem to support this on-arrival process for a fee and a passport photo).  I've pinged Emerald an email to enquire but would appreciate anyone's input/advice.  We are UK citizens. Thanks!

I had a reply from Emerald/Scenic:

"Flying into Vietnam then cruising into Cambodia will require a visa, and it is best to do this online prior to travel. 

We only require guests' Vietnam visa information prior to travel, not Cambodia. For their Cambodia visa, you CAN obtain this onboard, although many people prefer to do this in advance. You will need to take 2 passport sized photos with them & approx. USD50pp cash to arrange this."

So if we can't use the e-visa, then we'll just have to pay on board. The Cambodian embassy website has no information, neither does the Cambodian tourist board website.

I have 2 friends who are doing this cruise next week so will ask them what they are doing and report back!

Hi, we are on the Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap cruise sail date 31/12/22.  I'm just looking at Cambodia visas - the online e-visa doesn't appear to be valid for the river border crossing between Vietnam and Cambodia.  The Cambodian government website says you can apply for an on-arrival visa at crossing points not supported by the e-visa.  Does anyone know if Emerald will provide this service while we are on the ship and preparing to cross the border?  I can't find anything on their website about this (other cruise companies seem to support this on-arrival process for a fee and a passport photo).  I've pinged Emerald an email to enquire but would appreciate anyone's input/advice.  We are UK citizens. Thanks!

We've just finished the Avalon Lower Danube cruise (Bucharest to Budapest).

We did the Transylvania extension before joining the cruise - really good.

The ship was meant to depart from Fetesti, but due to low water levels, we departed a day later than planned from further upstream (Turneu Magarele in Romania), and so Avalon is refunding 1 night's accommodation, meals and gratuities cost as we only got 8 nights on the ship instead of 9.  We had to miss out Constanta, as too far to drive from Transylvania so we had an extra night at the Athenee Hilton in Bucharest, with a tour of the Parliament, and Ceaucescu's house, before driving 2.5 hours to the ship. The rest of the itinerary operated as planned and we sailed to Budapest. Enjoyed the trip (apart from the boarding experience), the weather was very hot and evidence of drought in all the countries visited. Let me know if any questions!

What a great blog, thanks for sharing, looks like a fabulous trip!  We're doing an Avalon Danube cruise next week from Bucharest to Budapest (our first) but this section of the Danube also looks lovely!

Hi all, we're on Emerald Harmony, cruising the Mekong this December (Ho Chi Minh to Siem Reap). We're doing our own flights as travelling on elsewhere afterward. Fingers crossed all goes OK! I looked at visa's and it looks like there is a visa waiver scheme for UK citizens travelling to Vietnam, as a tourist you can stay upto 15 days without a visa. Looking forwards to what will be an interesting itinerary!

Our Danube Delta cruise has been changed - update from Avalon:

As the safety and peace-of-mind of our guests is always our top priority, we have therefore updated your itinerary to keep a safe distance from the Ukraine given the ongoing situation there.

We have removed the stop in St. Gheorghe and the excursion to the Danube Delta on day 2 of the cruise due to their proximity to the Ukraine. These changes enable enhancements to your itinerary with added time and experiences in exciting ports of call:

• Cernavoda: In addition to Constanta excursion, we’ve added an excursion to a local winery

• Belgrade: We’ve added an overnight stay as well as an additional excursion of a culinary tour on the second morning in port

• Novi Sad: We will now arrive in the evening with an added overnight stay

Our Danube Delta cruise has been changed:

As the safety and peace-of-mind of our guests is always our top priority, we have therefore updated your itinerary to keep a safe distance from the Ukraine given the ongoing situation there.

We have removed the stop in St. Gheorghe and the excursion to the Danube Delta on day 2 of the cruise due to their proximity to the Ukraine. These changes enable enhancements to your itinerary with added time and experiences in exciting ports of call:

• Cernavoda: In addition to Constanta excursion, we’ve added an excursion to a local winery

• Belgrade: We’ve added an overnight stay as well as an additional excursion of a culinary tour on the second morning in port

• Novi Sad: We will now arrive in the evening with an added overnight stay

Hi, we're booked on Avalon river cruise on the Danube in July 2022 - Bucharest to Budapest. Starts in the Danube delta, and visits Constantia on the Black Sea.  Worried about current situation but UK Govt. advice is currently that Romania is safe to visit. Keeping an eye on it all and feeling heartbroken for the people of Ukraine 😞

Hi, we have booked and paid for our first river cruise in July 2022 - Danube from Bucharest to Budapest. Visiting the Danube Delta and Constantia on the Black Sea before making our way back along the Danube to Budapest on the Avalon Passion. I'm a little concerned because of the conflict in Ukraine but the UK Govt. advice is still that Romania is safe to visit.

Has anyone done this itinerary before ? Interested to hear of people's experiences/advice if so. I started a roll call but there's only us and one other lady on it so far 🙂

Many thanks!

Princess cancelled our September Alaska cruisetour last week, so we now have flights from the UK, internal flights and return flights to the UK we can't use, and will have to likely rebook or get travel credits unless the flights are cancelled.  We'll get a refund of the deposit on the cruise and will consider if we want to try rebooking for next year. Disappointed doesn't even cover it but we understand these are exceptional circumstances.

We've just done our first Medallion cruise on the Regal Princess East/West Caribbean 19th January.  We're in the UK so didn't get our medallions mailed to us in advance, but they were waiting for us at check-in at Fort Lauderdale cruise terminal.  No problems opening stateroom door though it seemed to recognise me more often than my husband, maybe because I was the lead passenger on the booking.  On my husband's birthday on board, a little birthday cake symbol appeared next to his name on the screen outside our door, but only for that day (yes we did get a cake that evening at dinner).  We both downloaded the app on our phones before leaving the UK, but found out later that there are other additional apps for the games and ocean 'avatars'/tagalongs that you also have to download but as we go in airplane mode for the 2 weeks in the US, we couldn't use these on our phones when onboard without wasting internet minutes.  We went to a half hour 'induction' session on the first day of the cruise, and there was a dedicated desk with people to ask about the medallions on board.  We managed to order drinks on the app, and as an example of how to find us...well we weren't happy with the wine at our first evening meal, we discussed with the restaurant manager and she changed it, but we weren't 100% happy with it and didn't finish it, my husband mentioned this to the waiter and 15 mins later while we were in Crooners, the restaurant manager came to find us there and offered us a free bottle of wine for the next evening...would she have found us without our medallions? I'm not sure what to do with the medallions now after the cruise though, it seems a shame to throw them away, maybe I will keep as fridge magnets.  However I still got the little cruise card postage stamp from the Captain's Circle to stick in my cruise passport!