Avalon Waterways Cruise Updates

[perkyblue]

43 minutes ago, suspaul said:

 

perkyblue, how did you find out about the changes?  We apparently are on the trip following yours, we spend 3 nights in a hotel in Prague (12.4) and board the Illumination on 12.7.  We’ve heard nothing and received our final documents last week outlining the original itinerary, we’re just so torn but until we actually hear from Avalon, we’ll keep our fingers crossed.  Let’s continue hoping for rain.  I hope you and your family enjoy your travels.  

 

They emailed us Thursday morning. If you haven’t been emailed yet, then maybe they’re optimistic that the conditions will improve.

[suspaul]

Thanks perkyblue, Avalon may be optimistic but we’re not.  We see the glass as half full in most regards but with all of the cancellations and disruptions our glass is half empty. I realize this is not just an Avalon issue, they’re not the only ones in this predicament but it seems communication is not forthcoming for most of the cruise companies.  

 

Personally we would not be accepting of cruising for 2 nights and the rest of the time using the ship as a hotel with bus travel cutting down the time in cities visiting being significantly reduced.  

 

Wish they’d just make a decision to cancel the cruise but this is only our opinion, yes it would be disappointing but better than having disgruntled clients.  The future cruise credits being given are not fair, you didn’t receive what you paid for and for some people they will get no use out of a future cruise credit.

 

Sorry, not trying to be negative but we’ve all seen the effects of the drought as it has been disrupting river traffic since summer.

[perkyblue]

1 hour ago, suspaul said:

Thanks perkyblue, Avalon may be optimistic but we’re not.  We see the glass as half full in most regards but with all of the cancellations and disruptions our glass is half empty. I realize this is not just an Avalon issue, they’re not the only ones in this predicament but it seems communication is not forthcoming for most of the cruise companies.  

 

Personally we would not be accepting of cruising for 2 nights and the rest of the time using the ship as a hotel with bus travel cutting down the time in cities visiting being significantly reduced.  

 

Wish they’d just make a decision to cancel the cruise but this is only our opinion, yes it would be disappointing but better than having disgruntled clients.  The future cruise credits being given are not fair, you didn’t receive what you paid for and for some people they will get no use out of a future cruise credit.

 

Sorry, not trying to be negative but we’ve all seen the effects of the drought as it has been disrupting river traffic since summer.

 

I’m personally glad they didn’t cancel the whole thing altogether for us at this point. With my husband’s job, he can’t change up his vacation days at the last minute, so we are vacationing from Nov. 27-Dec. 10 no matter what, and a bus tour of Europe beats staying home. I am thinking of back-up plans I could make for us keeping our original flights though, because if we lose any more cruising time, I would rather cancel (if they let us) & just plan a land trip by train. Right now, I’m hoping I can put together a Budapest-Bratislava-Vienna-Prague trip if necessary. But if they do end up dropping more ship time & don’t tell us until the last minute, then we’re just stuck. Just gotta wait & see! It’s disappointing for sure, but if a disruption to my European vacation is the biggest problem in my life right now, then I’m still pretty fortunate. One way or another, I’ll be in Europe in less than 2 weeks, which beats Indiana any day!

[PaulS]

We just returned Teuday from our Avalon Illumination trip from Budapest to Prague. Five days before we were to leave, we were notified that the ship could not get to Budapest. Consequently, we spent one additional night in Budapest and then went on a bus to Vienna. Before we left Budapest, our cruise director told us that the ship could not get to  Nuremberg and the cruise would end in Passau. Those who had not cancelled before leaving home were offered the opportunity to cancel with a refund for the unused nights. As it was, there were only 57 people on the ship which could hold 168 people. On the way to Vienna, we stopped in Bratislava for a guided tour.

Since our sailing was ending in Passau, the itinerary was slowed down. We stayed in Vienna on Saturday night and Sunday and were offered the optional concert excursion for free. Sunday night we sailed for Dürnstein and were there Monday morning. Monday afternoon we sailed to Melk (do not miss the abbey and church), and Monday night we sailed to Linz, Austria. We stayed in Linz Tuesday and Tuesday night where they ran the tours to Salzburg and Cesky Krumlov. On Wednesday morning we sailed to Passau. It was a beautiful day and the scenery along the way was spectacular. Wednesday afternoon we toured Passau and Thursday we went on a bus to Regensburg. Friday morning we left for Prague by bus. The bus time from Passau to Prague was about the same as it would have been from Nuremberg to Prague.

All in all, we had a great trip. We went to see the towns and cities and were not disappointed. It certainly was not like an ocean cruise with a lot of downtime, but we did not expect it to be. The service on the ship was outstanding. There were only 57 of us and there were about 50 crew members. We were disappointed that we did not get to Nuremberg, but we saw Bratislava and Linz which we did not expect to see.

I hope our experience will give you some idea of what you might expect if the water levels remain low. I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

[suspaul]

46 minutes ago, perkyblue said:

 

I’m personally glad they didn’t cancel the whole thing altogether for us at this point. With my husband’s job, he can’t change up his vacation days at the last minute, so we are vacationing from Nov. 27-Dec. 10 no matter what, and a bus tour of Europe beats staying home. I am thinking of back-up plans I could make for us keeping our original flights though, because if we lose any more cruising time, I would rather cancel (if they let us) & just plan a land trip by train. Right now, I’m hoping I can put together a Budapest-Bratislava-Vienna-Prague trip if necessary. But if they do end up dropping more ship time & don’t tell us until the last minute, then we’re just stuck. Just gotta wait & see! It’s disappointing for sure, but if a disruption to my European vacation is the biggest problem in my life right now, then I’m still pretty fortunate. One way or another, I’ll be in Europe in less than 2 weeks, which beats Indiana any day!

 

perkyblue, the only reason I say I’d rather they cancel is we too will be in Europe one way or the other 🙂.  I’ve made alternate plans (all cancellable)  should they/we cancel and while not as relaxing as a river cruise it’s certainly very doable.  We love visiting Christmas markets and are very excited.  Last year we did the Rhine.

[Aslangold]

PaulS - Did they give you an option to cancel the cruise with full refund?   I too have made alternate plans (hotels would be hard to get otherwise and one can always cancel).   My cruise is the Rhine on 12/1 and I'm so hoping they offer to cancel and we can do ours on our own   How much advance notice did they give you?

[suspaul]

PaulS thank you so much for taking the time to respond so thoroughly.  You may be sorry you said you’d be happy to answer any other questions.  I do a few more.

 

When you were notified 5 days prior to your departure, I’m assuming you were still at home, US, Canada?  

At that notification, were you given the choice to cancel?  

Any idea if this choice was given to all passengers whether they had insurance with Avalon or not?

 

As this is a ‘Christmas market’ themed cruise we’re not as interested in Linz and Bratislava, we’ve been before and yes they are nice stops....and I do realize each has Christmas markets but one of the big draws for us is Nuremberg & Regensburg, it seems if we go by bus it will take away from our time in each.  Yep, in the grand scheme of things this is not Earth-shattering just not what we’re interested in.  

 

Thanks for your input.

 

 

 

[PaulS]

Our cruise was actually a replacement for the same cruise we were to take in August. In August, 4 days before we were to leave we were notified that we would have to be put on a smaller ship and were were given the option to cancel. We cancelled and were refunded all of our money. Luckily, we had booked air and insurance through Avalon. We decided to rebook for late October because we thought the water levels would be higher by then and they offered a discount. WRONG!

This time, we were notified 5 days before we were to leave the US that the ship could not get to Budapest and we would have an extra night in Budapest and one less night on the ship. As compensation, they are to refund 50% of one night’s cost of the trip. So far, we have not seen the refund. This time we were not given the option to cancel. However, apparently some people were since there were only 57 of us on the trip.We met a couple from England who were given the opportunity to cancel even though they chose to travel. So, the offers to cancel may be selective.

The  bus trip to Regensburg from Passau took about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The medieval section of Regensburg is not very big and we had plenty of time to walk around. They were already setting up for the Christmas market on one of the squares. It was not a big area like they have in Nuremberg and Munich for the market. Both Bratislava and Linz were setting up for Ch istmas markets too.

[suspaul]

Thanks again PaulS

[Jake40]

Hi - I wanted to respond to the question about recent trips on the Rhine -  we were on a Viking cruise from Basel to Amsterdam during the first week of Nov and ran into a Avalon ships and groups in Cologne and Strasbourg.  The Rhine as you know is very low - we were told while onboard that it would take 2 months of steady rain to return the river to normal levels - the week that we were on the Danube was in slightly better shape but that has changed since then as well.   In Viking's case they had enough boats to do ship swaps mid week - we did a ship swap around Cologne.  The middle Rhine where the castles are is the section that is still too low for the river ships to navigate.  We had a good trip - although I enjoyed our Avalon cruise on the Danube better!

[perkyblue]

10 hours ago, PaulS said:

We just returned Teuday from our Avalon Illumination trip from Budapest to Prague. Five days before we were to leave, we were notified that the ship could not get to Budapest. Consequently, we spent one additional night in Budapest and then went on a bus to Vienna. Before we left Budapest, our cruise director told us that the ship could not get to  Nuremberg and the cruise would end in Passau. Those who had not cancelled before leaving home were offered the opportunity to cancel with a refund for the unused nights. As it was, there were only 57 people on the ship which could hold 168 people. On the way to Vienna, we stopped in Bratislava for a guided tour.

Since our sailing was ending in Passau, the itinerary was slowed down. We stayed in Vienna on Saturday night and Sunday and were offered the optional concert excursion for free. Sunday night we sailed for Dürnstein and were there Monday morning. Monday afternoon we sailed to Melk (do not miss the abbey and church), and Monday night we sailed to Linz, Austria. We stayed in Linz Tuesday and Tuesday night where they ran the tours to Salzburg and Cesky Krumlov. On Wednesday morning we sailed to Passau. It was a beautiful day and the scenery along the way was spectacular. Wednesday afternoon we toured Passau and Thursday we went on a bus to Regensburg. Friday morning we left for Prague by bus. The bus time from Passau to Prague was about the same as it would have been from Nuremberg to Prague.

All in all, we had a great trip. We went to see the towns and cities and were not disappointed. It certainly was not like an ocean cruise with a lot of downtime, but we did not expect it to be. The service on the ship was outstanding. There were only 57 of us and there were about 50 crew members. We were disappointed that we did not get to Nuremberg, but we saw Bratislava and Linz which we did not expect to see.

I hope our experience will give you some idea of what you might expect if the water levels remain low. I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

 

Thanks so much for the info! I’m leaving in 1 week for this same itinerary on Illumination. I’m glad to hear that despite the disruption, the service was so good and you still had a great trip! I would love a stop in Bratislava on the way to Vienna! Ever the optimist, I’m seeing a good amount of rain in the forecast for Regensburg, so I’m hoping for a miracle that the levels will rise enough before Dec. 4th for us to actually sail through from Vienna to Nuremberg. 🤞🏼😬

Edited November 19, 2018 by perkyblue

[fergie]

Hi, we are booked Dec 1 Avalon Passion on the Danube. Our "adjustments" email arrived today. Similar to what everyone is reporting, only cruising from Vienna to Passau, Day 6 is 4 hours on bus and Day 7 is 6 hours on bus. Thanks for sharing your information to ease the confusion! 

[Jaydub99]

On 11/18/2018 at 4:34 PM, perkyblue said:

 

I’m personally glad they didn’t cancel the whole thing altogether for us at this point. With my husband’s job, he can’t change up his vacation days at the last minute, so we are vacationing from Nov. 27-Dec. 10 no matter what, and a bus tour of Europe beats staying home. I am thinking of back-up plans I could make for us keeping our original flights though, because if we lose any more cruising time, I would rather cancel (if they let us) & just plan a land trip by train. Right now, I’m hoping I can put together a Budapest-Bratislava-Vienna-Prague trip if necessary. But if they do end up dropping more ship time & don’t tell us until the last minute, then we’re just stuck. Just gotta wait & see! It’s disappointing for sure, but if a disruption to my European vacation is the biggest problem in my life right now, then I’m still pretty fortunate. One way or another, I’ll be in Europe in less than 2 weeks, which beats Indiana any day!

 

We opted to cancel our A to B cruise with Avalon that was scheduled to board tomorrow. We wanted a river cruse and what we envisioned isn’t possible right now. We are generally sticking to the same itinerary except by train as we had booked off work and did not buy air through Avalon. Currently enjoying Amsterdam, we are doing a canal cruise tomorrow and then off to Cologne the next day for the Christmas markets so a train trip is certainly an easy option. BTW, we received our full refund from Avalon within 2 business days. I was expecting much longer so we were pleasantly surprised. Good luck - we’re off to see the windmills!

[perkyblue]

8 hours ago, Jaydub99 said:

 

We opted to cancel our A to B cruise with Avalon that was scheduled to board tomorrow. We wanted a river cruse and what we envisioned isn’t possible right now. We are generally sticking to the same itinerary except by train as we had booked off work and did not buy air through Avalon. Currently enjoying Amsterdam, we are doing a canal cruise tomorrow and then off to Cologne the next day for the Christmas markets so a train trip is certainly an easy option. BTW, we received our full refund from Avalon within 2 business days. I was expecting much longer so we were pleasantly surprised. Good luck - we’re off to see the windmills!

 

Yes, it’s nice that the train system makes a plan B land trip fairly easy to put together. I hope you guys have a great time!