Avalon Romantic Rhine questions.

[Daisi]

Hi, I've been reading a lot of your posts, and thanks to all the comments (research, research, research) we have decided to go with Avalon for our first cruise. We chose the Rhine as we love history (even ABC!), and have never been to Europe before so figure it will give us a good preview. DH's family is from southern Holland and we have a few questions about sailing. When we look at the route for the ship, it looks like it goes along the North Sea to Rotterdam and then along the Waal to the Rhine. Does anyone know if we are reading it correctly? Also, would we sail near Kinderdijk? I am researching online to see how long it would take to travel down from Amsterdam to the town his parents came from, but not sure how long that would take as I realise travel in Europe is a lot different from Canada!

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[notamermaid]

Hello Daisi,

 

the river cruises normally do not go through Rotterdam or close to the North Sea. There a ship needs a special permit, it has a special classification, almost all river cruise are not allowed to go the open sea, i.e. take a coastal route. I might have understand your question wrongly, though. Standard route is through a river/canal section out of Amsterdam and into the Waal, then the Rhine. The Rhine forms a delta in The Netherlands and the Waal is one section of the Rhine. It might be advisable to address Avalon with this question. Then you can figure out to get to that specific place in southern Holland.

 

Public transport is good in Western Europe. You might like to have a look at this train website: http://www.ns.nl/en

 

Of course, there are busses, but that is more complicated to research usually.

 

Another option is to contact the tourist board. Perhaps they can help with (local) maps: http://www.holland.com/global/tourism.htm

 

Have fun planning.

 

notamermaid

Edited February 29, 2016 by notamermaid
additional information

[Daisi]

Thanks Notamermaid. I was a little worried about sailing on the sea with the boat, as DH isn't the best in open water. I had been checking on getting down to the town the family is from, but it looks like a 7 hr bus drive. I had hoped for a train, and will check out that site.

 

Thanks again.

[MNPlease]

Daisi which direction are you going? Amsterdam to Basel or Basel to Amsterdam.

 

I have worked out the itinerary for our travels on Avalon from Basel to Amsterdam. You can read more of my research and the stops along the way at https://mnplease.shutterfly.com/rhine2016daysitinerary

 

Wishing you fun and safe travels. :)

[Daisi]

Thanks MNPlease, your site is great. We are going to go from Amsterdam to Basel. I am looking forward to seeing where my husband's family is from. I would love to have extra time in Switzerland as well to see where my family is from, but unfortunately, not enough time.....guess we'll just have to go back!

[Cyber Kat]

Hi, I've been reading a lot of your posts, and thanks to all the comments (research, research, research) we have decided to go with Avalon for our first cruise. We chose the Rhine as we love history (even ABC!), and have never been to Europe before so figure it will give us a good preview. DH's family is from southern Holland and we have a few questions about sailing. When we look at the route for the ship, it looks like it goes along the North Sea to Rotterdam and then along the Waal to the Rhine. Does anyone know if we are reading it correctly? Also, would we sail near Kinderdijk? I am researching online to see how long it would take to travel down from Amsterdam to the town his parents came from, but not sure how long that would take as I realise travel in Europe is a lot different from Canada!

 

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

You didn't mention where in southern Holland his family is from. My husband's father was born in Rotterdam! We went there a number of years ago on a land trip. We had a rental car and also went to The Hague & Amsterdam.

 

We're doing Amsterdam to Basel in August, but on Viking. One of the reasons I chose Viking was the stop in Kinderdijk. We loved Amsterdam so we are doing 2 days pre cruise there, but on our own - not through Viking.

[Daisi]

They're from a small town called Diessen, near Tilburg. I had been trying to go Amsterdam to Diessen, however it was looking like a 7 hr bus ride (not sure if DH wants to rent a car over there) so told him it didn't look possible. Found out that we can get a train to Tilburg, then bus to Diessen in under 2 hrs, so looks like I may be able to surprise him. I would kind of like to see Kinderdijk, but we like the Avalon ships so guess that will be another trip back if we can make it. My husband hasn't been back since he was a child, but I've met a lot of family from there, so looking forward to hopefully meeting them again.

[CPT Trips]

Hello Daisi,

 

the river cruises normally do not go through Rotterdam or close to the North Sea. There a ship needs a special permit, it has a special classification, almost all river cruise are not allowed to go the open sea, i.e. take a coastal route. I might have understand your question wrongly, though. Standard route is through a river/canal section out of Amsterdam and into the Waal, then the Rhine. The Rhine forms a delta in The Netherlands and the Waal is one section of the Rhine. It might be advisable to address Avalon with this question. Then you can figure out to get to that specific place in southern Holland.

 

Public transport is good in Western Europe. You might like to have a look at this train website: http://www.ns.nl/en

 

Of course, there are busses, but that is more complicated to research usually.

 

Another option is to contact the tourist board. Perhaps they can help with (local) maps: http://www.holland.com/global/tourism.htm

 

Have fun planning.

 

notamermaid

 

I confess this is OT.

When we went on GCT's Belguim and Holland in Springtime a few years back, we overnighted in Rotterdam. Of course tht's an itinerary the only do for a small portion of the cruise season.