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All Things Avalon


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4 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

I did not read the entire thread so apologize if this has already been addressed. We are looking at booking a mekong river cruise for 2021 and they are currently offering $1,000 pp off. Is this pretty standard offer? Do they have times throughout the year where they typically offer better than normal savings? We are not interested in free air. Also, do people typically book directly or through a travel agent. Are you likely to get a better price or extras if you use a travel agent?

I can’t say specifically about the Mekong cruise but in our experience Avalon’s pricing is pretty fluid. We have seen Europe river cruises even during some peak summer dates heavily discounted recently. Often a significantly larger discount is offered if you arrange your own air. And yes, we have gotten substantially better prices through our TA than Avalon directly. For instance we booked last week at just slightly over half of what a Avalon direct was selling it for. That’s certainly not the case on every cruise but there are certainly Avalon bargains to be had if you work with a good TA. 

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3 minutes ago, mhb1757 said:

I can’t say specifically about the Mekong cruise but in our experience Avalon’s pricing is pretty fluid. We have seen Europe river cruises even during some peak summer dates heavily discounted recently. Often a significantly larger discount is offered if you arrange your own air. And yes, we have gotten substantially better prices through our TA than Avalon directly. For instance we booked last week at just slightly over half of what a Avalon direct was selling it for. That’s certainly not the case on every cruise but there are certainly Avalon bargains to be had if you work with a good TA. 

 

Thanks, that's helpful. We are pretty set on when and where we want to go so can't be flexible on the particular cruise. Would you expect we could get a decent price booking 9 months or so out or is it better to book closer to the sailing date?

 

Also, what is the policy on cancellations? Refundable deposits for a period of time? Does Avalon honor price drops like the ocean liners do?

Edited by sanger727
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If you have no flexibility you may not want to wait. River cruise lines are completely different animals than Ocean cruises. So NO you will not see any price matching After Booking. 

If needing your possibly cancel you may want to immediately look into Cancel For Any Reason Travel Insurance coverage. (Thetripinsurancestore is a good TI vendor to start that search). 

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I agree with the previous poster about pricing......River cruises have so few cabins and some sell out very quickly.

9 months out may seem like a long time away but if you find something you want I would say "book it" 

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10 minutes ago, Lois R said:

I agree with the previous poster about pricing......River cruises have so few cabins and some sell out very quickly.

9 months out may seem like a long time away but if you find something you want I would say "book it" 

Avalon on the Mekong has only 18 cabins. I wouldn't expect much movement.

 

If you do a dummy booking online, you will be able to see which cabins are filled. It will give you some idea of whether they need to fill cabins or not.

Edited by gnome12
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Ok. Thanks. We are actually a year out right now but won’t book the cruise until we are able to book airfare so will keep that in mind when we get to that point. (If the cruise was to go crazy we are taking the trip whether or not we can do this cruise, getting airfare with miles is more important at this point)

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7 hours ago, Hoyaheel said:

This is what we did - typically looked up a few breweries or pubs in the towns we were scheduled to visit (husband's input 😉) plus hours/locations of the Christmas markets (my preference) and fit in what we could....

Thank you for all your responses to my inquiry on the arrival and departure times in the ports of call.  I will research the ports and if there is anything of interest I'll add to my "wish list".

 

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28 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

Ok. Thanks. We are actually a year out right now but won’t book the cruise until we are able to book airfare so will keep that in mind when we get to that point. (If the cruise was to go crazy we are taking the trip whether or not we can do this cruise, getting airfare with miles is more important at this point)

The Avalon deposit when I did Myanmar with them was only $250 (if I remember correctly), with the balance due 90 days out. I didn't think that this amount of loss was worth waiting. (I am also a single, and they only waive single supplement on one or 2 cabins, so I wasn't prepared to wait.)

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10 hours ago, suntan said:

Thank you for all your responses to my inquiry on the arrival and departure times in the ports of call.  I will research the ports and if there is anything of interest I'll add to my "wish list".

 

The previous posters have been as helpful as always with answering your enquiry. Going back to your original words as their being no set times, they do exist for the cruise lines, very much so, as they book their slots months or even a year in advance. Speaking about the North-American - they are not very forthcoming with publishing them. The German lines do this more, they are often online published down to the hour.

 

But as has been quite rightly said, these things can change at short notice.

 

A wish list is a great idea. Add opening days and times and the distance to the dock. Plenty of research to keep you occupied 😃.

 

Have fun planning.

 

notamermaid

 

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15 hours ago, sanger727 said:

Ok. Thanks. We are actually a year out right now but won’t book the cruise until we are able to book airfare so will keep that in mind when we get to that point. (If the cruise was to go crazy we are taking the trip whether or not we can do this cruise, getting airfare with miles is more important at this point)

 

If you are booking through a TA, you can have them put a note on the file that once airfares become available, you may be interested in going through Avalon.  We did that for our Rhine cruise, booked over a year ahead, then when it got closer to the date of the cruise, both my TA & I were checking airfare prices.  Once we had a decent one, my TA contacted Avalon, and they beat the best one we had, so we booked through them.  I will be doing the same for our cruise next year.

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4 minutes ago, Daisi said:

 

If you are booking through a TA, you can have them put a note on the file that once airfares become available, you may be interested in going through Avalon.  We did that for our Rhine cruise, booked over a year ahead, then when it got closer to the date of the cruise, both my TA & I were checking airfare prices.  Once we had a decent one, my TA contacted Avalon, and they beat the best one we had, so we booked through them.  I will be doing the same for our cruise next year.


oh, we definitely are not booking our air through Avalon. We want to book our air with miles. We originally planned this trip as a land trip so are considering the Avalon cruise as an alternative. If the cruise was to sell out before we were able to secure our air with miles w will just switch this back to bring a land trip. So that’s what we are waiting for, being able to get the air on miles (which isn’t available for every flight or every day) is more important than being able to book the cruise. Booking the cruise won’t work if the air can’t line up with it.

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4 hours ago, Daisi said:

Hopefully you will be successful.  Not sure how quickly the smaller boats fill up.  You may be lucky with the COVID-19 going around, it may deter a lot of people wishing to travel in that area.


yes, that has occurred to us. I suspect that deals will be to had until this virus thing stops making headlines.

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Reading more about river cruising one problem that can occur is the height, or lack thereof, of the river.  I read on the Avalon FAQ's if there is a problem with the river level they will transport the passengers to the next port of call via bus.  Has anyone experienced a situation where the river level for the entire cruise is too high or too low and the cruise has been cancelled mid-cruise?

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Always a possibility. River too low during drought or two high due to flooding. Avalon, though not entirely immune, is far less likely to be affected by low water. Avalon ships are quite new and designed with shallow drafts to allow them to sail in waters shallow enough to keep other cruise lines at the dock. 
We’ve sailed Avalon four times in the last six years and have never been affected, but other lines sure were. We’ve seen many other ships stuck. Viking seems particularly to be affected.  We have often met Viking pax in port towns whose cruise has turned into a bus tour, or who had done ship swaps when their ship couldn’t make it down the river. 
Two years ago, it was so bad that when we arrived in Vienna, ships (double and triple stacked) lined the river for a long distance. Cruisers on other lines told us the only ships they had seen moving for several days were Avalon ships. 

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5 hours ago, suntan said:

Reading more about river cruising one problem that can occur is the height, or lack thereof, of the river.  I read on the Avalon FAQ's if there is a problem with the river level they will transport the passengers to the next port of call via bus.  Has anyone experienced a situation where the river level for the entire cruise is too high or too low and the cruise has been cancelled mid-cruise?

As Kenster has said, there is always the possibility. May I suggest you have a look at the threads on the Rhine and Danube of last year (from about August onwards) to give you an idea? AvalonWaterways does indeed fare better than some. The  problems are draft in drought and superstructure during flooding. In drought a shallow draft is favourable which can be achieved by the hull design, the tonnage and the overall size, as well as the propulsion (propeller, jet or paddle wheel). So, in effect, what we have learnt is: of the 135m ships Amawaterways does better than Viking and Arosa. Avalon has both 135m and 110m ships, so the effect varies. CroisiEurope does very well as all their (European) ships are 110m or shorter.

 

In flooding the three-level ships do better than the four-level ships.

 

These are general observations. Sorry to mention only those companies.

 

Drought mainly concerns the Danube, Elbe and Rhine. Flooding concerns all rivers, be it bridges, lock structures or navigational safety concerns.

 

Strategies for cancellations vary among the cruise lines.

 

I know you did not ask for all those details, but I thought it might help.

 

Over to the others. Smile.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

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My husband just asked if small tips onboard are paid in euros   He usually starts collecting small US bills for tips on ocean cruises (American) but realized our supply  of small euro denominations is lacking    I’m sure we can collect some during our 3 days in Brussels beforehand or maybe somewhere on the ship we can change bigger bills?  🤷‍♀️  Any suggestions?

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Ok   We’ve already paid the gratuities ....husband was just asking about extra to bartenders or room service   He usually gives extra to waiters and room stewards at the end of cruise..the larger denominations will do then   And, yes thanks for the heads up about guides    

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16 minutes ago, JVilleGal said:

You need to pay guides and bus drivers and that can only be done with Euro coin At the time of the tours. I gave a couple Euros to each. 

Tips for Avalon’s local guides and drivers are included. Of course, you can always til extra and it should be in Euros at the end of the excursion. 

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11 minutes ago, Spideysmum said:

Ok   We’ve already paid the gratuities ....husband was just asking about extra to bartenders or room service   He usually gives extra to waiters and room stewards at the end of cruise..the larger denominations will do then   And, yes thanks for the heads up about guides    

We will typically give a little extra to the lounge waitresses and the dining room servers who take care of us the most. Usually €10 each. 

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