Avalon Rhine River Excursions

[Kenster]

I see that at most stops there are included sightseeing excursions/guided tours. Are there limits to the number of people who can do a particular trip? Do these have to be booked ahead of time? Is there a possibility that the included trip fills up? If so, it doesn't really sound like it's included if there is a possibility that they cannot accommodate everyone who wants to go.

 

Six days out and trying to fill in all the gaps.

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

[YoungDubFan]

The included trips each day are designed to accommodate everyone on the ship. You will probably be broken up into 4 groups for each excursion, each group having their own tour guide. If buses are needed, there will be enough for everyone on the ship. There will be some optional excursions offered. Not everyone will be interested in doing these, and I'm pretty sure Avalon makes arrangements for everyone who wants to go to be able to go.

[Got2Cruise]

I see that at most stops there are included sightseeing excursions/guided tours. Are there limits to the number of people who can do a particular trip? Do these have to be booked ahead of time? Is there a possibility that the included trip fills up? If so, it doesn't really sound like it's included if there is a possibility that they cannot accommodate everyone who wants to go.

 

Six days out and trying to fill in all the gaps.

 

Thanks!

 

Ken

 

You can reserve your tours through "My Avalon" did you sign up for that? If you think you know what you want to do, reserve it, but the Cruise Director does explain everything in detail and answers questions on the first night.

I will probably pay for any optional tours before we leave, but only as a convenience, so I have one less thing to worry about when I am on the cruise. I am going to wait until some of the earlier cruises return to get some feedback on opinions.

 

Last year, on our Seine cruise a couple of optional tours were canceled because of lack of participation. You don't need to worry about any of the included tours, your cruise fare covers them and all the arrangements have been made to accommodate. Even the "optional tours", I don't recall anyone being disappointed that they couldn't go on a tour they wanted.

[peterdkiwi]

We did Basel to Amsterdam with Avalon in July last year, all tours free or paid had plenty of room, buses, guides etc for all, most times groups were 20 to 30.

We only prepaid for one additional tour before we left home, but just booked the others the night before or even on the day. We decided to do that, just in case we didn't feel up to the extra tours or if the weather was too bad. As it turn out everything was ok and we did two additional tours, other days we just walked off the boat and did our own touring, which was just as good.

Also in most cases you can leave the free or paid tour at any point and Avalon will give you instructions on how to get back and what time they are sailing. You just need to tell the tour guide so they can keep track of the number of people in each group. We found Avalon very organised and helpful.

[sanibel]

We're waiting to book after we're on the boat. Last year we had friends who paid for several optional tours before leaving and then were too tired to taken them. Some days we were very glad to just get back to the boat and relax after doing the "included" excursion.

[Kenster]

Thank you for your replies. By the time I tried to sign up for "My Avalon" it was too late to do ANYTHING on the website so we'll have to do it all on board. Probably won't do many optionals anyway. We may start off with the daily included excursions and split off as needed. We love just wandering around and finding things on our own. Serendipity is a wonderful thing.

 

It's our 40th anniversary and we're very excited to celebrate it this way.

[cbb]

Unless Avalon has changed the way they do "included" excursions, you arrive in the lobby and grab a colored "whisper" which is a device you will wear around your neck.

 

Your tour guide will tell you what channel your whisper should be on, although most of the time it has already been done for you. You adjust the volume for your personal needs and attach the ear bud. That way your tour guide can speak softly into her mic and you can hear her perfectly whether on the street or in a museum with a hundred other people.

 

When you grab your whisper make sure you have the same color as your traveling companion, unless you wish to tour separately! You will go to a tour director who will hold up a "green" or "blue" sign, etc and if you travel by bus, that same "color" will be in the window for easy identification when you return to the bus. We had 4 colors, with one of them for "slow" walkers.

 

Whispers are a great invention and evidently not all cruise companies use them, or so said one of our tour guides. She said that after some tours, with no "whisper" she had no voice left from trying to be heard!