Avalon Rhine River Trip Review--Including Water Level Issues

[JordanF]

We sailed on the Avalon Tranquility II from Amsterdam on Saturday June 4, 2016. By we, I mean my wife and two sons, ages 27 and 25. We wondered about the weather as it had been raining like crazy in Europe as we arrived. Paris and Bavaria were flooding. The Louvre was closed! But for us, as we boarded, it was warm and sunny. In fact, it would be that way pretty much the entire time. It seemed we had avoided any high water problems—but more on that later.

 

We had arrived in Amsterdam two days earlier, and had stayed at the Ibis, which was located right next to the Central Station. Our first Avalon activity was a tour of Zaanse Schans, a traditional windmill village (optional tour). This took place before boarding, and we were to be at the Movenpick hotel by 1 pm. To get there, we had to walk along the river with our wheelie bags in tow. As we walked along, we realized that we were walking right by the boat. Would they let us on (it was hours early) to drop off our bags (and change into shorts as it was suddenly hot)? Yes! Our first interaction was one of relaxed flexibility—and this is how it was the whole time.

 

Zaanse Schanse was interesting—windmills, wooden shoe making, cheese making. I mean, windmills and Holland go together, right? The bus took us back to the ship and we moved into our rooms. Our rooms were in the lower level (submarine class), and were quite nice. Little tidbits are that the towels come in two colors (for us—white for her, brown for me), and there were robes and slippers, perfect for heading up to the (seldom used by others) hot tub. There were always two big bottles of water in the room for our use at no additional cost. The TV had a few channels of regular TV and like ten different fireplace channels! The bed was comfortable.

 

The next day was still an Amsterdam day, beginning with the included tour of a canal cruise followed by a guided walk back to the boat (or, you could choose a bus back, or a tour of a diamond facility with a bus back). That afternoon we explored Amsterdam on our own some more and set sail around 5 pm.

 

The next day (Monday) we sailed until around 3 pm. It was a nice little “sea day.” We docked in Cologne where we had a choice of included tours: a regular walking tour, or a walking tour of Jewish Cologne. Pro tip: The tour of Jewish Cologne includes everything the regular tour includes, and is just 30 minutes longer. While the tour of the town was interesting, the fact is that most of it was destroyed in WWII, so much of what is described are things that are no longer there. Except, of course, the main reason to go to Cologne—the magnificent cathedral. The tours all end there, leaving us free to explore it, and for us, to climb the tower (cost is extra)! 533 steps up a narrow winding staircase on a hot and humid day. My sons scampered up and I followed, a few minutes behind. Great views, nice to see the upper reaches up close, and a small sense of middle aged accomplishment.

 

Tuesday morning we had a walking tour of Koblenz. A cute little town, but all we could do was take the tour and get back on the boat for what was for us the highlight of the cruise: sailing the Rhine Gorge and looking at all the castles. We lucked into a warm sunny day and enjoyed the sights and the narration. Later that afternoon we docked at Rudesheim, where the included tour took us to the Mechanical Musical Instrument Museum. I have to admit that the whole thing seemed hokey at first, but by the end I was completely fascinated. After dinner the four of us hit town with two others (a mother and her 29 year old daughter—so all of the under 30’s were out with us) for an evening in the local bars.

 

Wednesday morning we had a tour of Mainz that included a tour of the Gutenberg Museum—which was very interesting and you could also see some original Gutenberg Bibles. After lunch we were off to Heidleberg and a tour of the castle and of the town, with some time in town on our own before getting on the bus back to the boat. The castle there was another highlight for us.

 

Remaining on the schedule were stops in Strasbourg, Breisach and an end in Basel. Wednesday night we learned that all of the rain in Europe (but not on us) had finally caught up to us and that the locks upstream were no longer passable. So, the cruising part of our cruise would end in Strasbourg. We would stay on the boat each night, but no more sailing. Avalon handled this very smoothly, and all tours went off as planned except for those that had purchased the optional biking tours in Breisach.

Thursday in Strasbourg included a canal cruise, a walking tour and some town time on our own, during which we climbed another cathedral tower (only about 300 steps this time—piece of cake!). Strasbourg is a very nice town. That afternoon we took the optional tour to the Maginot line, which was also a very interesting and fascinating tour. It is a tour through one of the bunkers.

 

Friday was the included tour of the Black Forest. The bus simply picked us up in Strasbourg instead of Breisach. We chose the Cuckoo Clock option and frankly, this trip was a waste of time. The description led us to believe we would at least have a demonstration. Instead, we had a long bus ride to a cuckoo clock store where they spent an hour selling clocks, and then a ride back. Oh, and they threw in a piece of cake. The highlight was the bus ride, which provided interesting scenery. I spent the afternoon lying on the deck reading with one son, while my wife and other son walked around Strasbourg. Saturday morning Avalon provided a bus from Strasbourg to the Central Station in Basel, and we were on our own for four very nice days in Switzerland.

Avalon was excellent. The ship was very nice, and the staff was terrific. It was all very relaxed, and they handled the high water problems with grace and skill. The only place for improvement is that my wife and sons are vegetarians, and the vegetarian food, while tasty and well-presented, often lacked a protein. They worked with us on this and there was improvement as the trip went along, but this is an area that needs some work.

 

We had a great family vacation on the Avalon Tranquility II. Happy to take your questions.

[pully8]

very nice review.

[dln929]

Sounds like you all had a fantastic cruise! I was on the fence about climbing the cathedral when we're on the Rhine in August but you have me convinced to go for it. ;)

[Rebel54]

Sounds wonderful. I'm so glad to hear that Avalon handles things so well.

[Spartantartan]

Thanks for your great review. We will be sailing in the opposite direction in a week, and I especially enjoyed reading your impressions of the tours. They will definitely guide my choices. Glad to read all the nice words about Avalon, too.

 

 

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Edited June 19, 2016 by Spartantartan

[Cobbie48]

Thanks for your review. We are on an Avalon Rhine and Moselle cruise in October. Good to know about the cuckoo clock option. We may skip that.

[notamermaid]

Hello, JordanF.

 

Thank you for your detailed review. Great to hear your family had a lovely holiday.

 

As the cuckoo clock excursion is from Breisach, here is a link to the Breisach tourism site, perhaps helpful to those you might want to skip the tour: https://tourismus.breisach.de/ Hope this comes in the English translation, if not, change it on the right hand side of the page close to the top.

 

Did you make your disappointment known to Avalon?

 

notamermaid

[I_r_a]

Thanx for sharing

 

Ira

[JordanF]

Yes, notamermaid, we did let Avalon know. They have comment cards that you can fill out after each excursion, and we filled out a few. The others were to comment on the terrific guides we had in those cities, and then alas, one negative comment. Please don't take the comment about the Black Forest tour out of context--our cruise was outstanding.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I have read several poor reviews of the Black Forest tour -- and a few happy ones -- on different river cruise lines, so this isn't an Avalon issue.

[notamermaid]

JordanF,

 

yes the comment cards are a great idea for improvement suggestions for future cruises. And I am sure Avalon will be happy to improve on this for the enjoyment of their customers. I very much gathered from your review that you all had a great time.

 

hostjazzbeau, yes, I recall this being the least liked tour on the Viking Rhine Getaway itinerary from the comments on CC in 2014. I also remember reading a (positive) review in 2015 and thinking "Oh, Viking must have improved on that trip into the Black Forest".

 

notamermaid

[partrick]

Thanks for your great review. We will be sailing in the opposite direction in a week, and I especially enjoyed reading your impressions of the tours. They will definitely guide my choices. Glad to read all the nice words about Avalon, too.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

We are on that trip next week as well! Basle-Amsterdam 25/6

Looking forward to it (except the 02.45 am collection for the airport!):)

[speakertosuits]

JordanF Thanks you for your review. We will be doing this route in a few weeks. Is Avalon still using the Movenpik City Centrer for pre cruise check in?

[JordanF]

Yes they are

[speakertosuits]

Thanks. I think we will save exploration of that area for post boarding.Also, you mentioned changing to shorts the first afternoon. Were there many men wearing shorts? I have been advised thatshorts are not popular.

[JordanF]

It was quite warm and most men were wearing shorts during the day. Once dinner rolled around, the only dress code mention by Avalon was no shorts at dinner. Typical attire there was khakis and a shirt with a collar. In general, it is all casual and relaxed.

 

Don't worry about not looking like a tourist. You spend most of the time following a tour guide with an Avalon flag while having a radio receiver hanging around your neck. No one will mistake you for a local no matter the pants!

[cruisinggranmama]

We left Amsterdam on June 11 for the Rhine and Moselle.

 

It had been raining and was forecast to continue raining and it did.

 

Avalon finally had to take us from the ship to a hotel in Zurich for the last two nights. why Zurich? Hotels closer to Basel (our end point) were all booked from the total mess on the rivers. Only one optional cruise and no included excursions were cancelled as far as I know. We were transported by bus to all excursions after Koblenz so the Moselle part of the cruise on board never happened.

 

Avalon went out of their way in my opinion to give everyone the cruise experience they were expecting. They could not control the water levels. At one point there were 60 vessels upstream of Manheim going nowhere. We spent 4 night on the ship in Koblenz and that was a fine place to be "stuck".

 

On days were were not able to come back to the ship for lunch, we were given ample cash to cover that meal. We were refunded some portion of our cruise fare for the last two nights we were not able to spend on the ship.

 

I only heard one complaint from one passenger who had come aboard strictly to sit on the boat, relax and enjoy the scenery.

 

Avalon added a Lucerne tour to the itinerary because of our deviation. It was one of our total sunny days and although a full day out of Zurich was a great tour. Others went to the Black Forest that day and were not impressed.

 

Rain did not stop any tour and we only got really wet in Kindefdijke. It was a shame because it was an interesting and walkable stop. We walked back to the ship and had a drink.

 

The day we toured the Rhine gorge was beautiful and sunny. A little cold up on top, but the provided blankets made everyone comfortable.

 

I commend Avalon for their excellent handling of a situation out of their control.

[pully8]

thanks for your review and glad you enjoyed the trip despite the disruptions.

[Got2Cruise]

Cruisinggrandmama, I loved your review. Your flexibility and sense of reason allowed you to accept the changes and enjoy your vacation fully. The fact that Avalon made acceptable substitutions helped the situation. Thanks for sharing.

[JordanF]

Nice to hear Avalon handled the water issues so well, as they did for us. When we were first deciding which line to take, the comments on CC about how various lines handled high and low water situations was a factor in our decision. I cannot comment on how other lines are doing these weeks of high water, but Avalon seems to be living up to its good reputation in this area.