LIVE! - Avalon Romantic Rhine

[canadianbear]

Wow, that went so fast!  Looks absolutely wonderful & sounds like you had a great time.  
Your photos are wonderful.  

[*Miss G*]

DAY 9

AMSTERDAM

DISEMBARKATION

 

Well, as @canadianbear says, that went fast.  But mostly as in we only had a couple of hours sleep before getting up again.  This trip has been exhausting!  It’s been go go go all the time.  I suppose if you chose not to take the included tours you could just relax, but they were too interesting to pass up and I am glad we did them.  Mobility would certainly be a challenge if that was a concern.  This is not a cruise for those with rollators or scooters.  We did see a bunch of rollator people from one of the other ships, so maybe check out Viking.

 

These pics-around-the-ship were taken, hastily, at embarkation.  I kept meaning to go back and get better ones but I never seemed to have time to get there!

 

The Club Lounge has 24 hour drinks and snacks, as well as an entertainment section with games, puzzles, and books.

 

 

 

The seating area in the Club Lounge at the back of the ship.

 

 

There is a fitness centre.

 

 

An outdoor salon at the front of the ship.  I forgot to sit there!

 

 

The main entrance.

 

 

Lots of seating on the Skydeck, and also checkers or chess!

 

 

 

These bikes are available to use whenever we are in port.

 

 

There is a hot tub should you wish.

 

 

And I really liked this pic of us docked against the wall at embarkation so you’re getting that too. lol

 

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by *Miss G*

[*Miss G*]

DISEMBARKATION - Continued

 

We are up and off the ship at 5:30am.  They have provided us a packed breakfast, which is appreciated.  One couple arranged for a taxi to pick them up instead of taking the Avalon transfer.  Merry, at Reception, was on the phone with the company telling them “No, you are not here because I cannot see you.”  “No, we are not a hotel, we are a ship.”  Needless to say, that couple got on the coach with us and another couple.

 

It is a quick 20-25 minute trip to the airport.  You can’t head up to departures unless you are within 4 hours of your flight so we sit and eat our breakfast.  

 

We are traveling Vueling so we head to their check-in counter but there is a problem.  Two men are attempting to communicate with the two check-in agents.  One agent comes over to our line, which consists of my sister and I, and asks “Does anyone speak Spanish?”  My sister tells her no, sorry, and I ask “Isn’t this a Spanish airline?”

 

They finally get the problem resolved, we are checked in and through Security, and then it is a very long walk to our gate.  The hours pass until we can board but our flight is on time and we are on our way to Italy.  Here is a link if you would like to follow along on the next cruise:

 

 

Thanks for following along as we discovered what it was like to go on a river cruise.  We thoroughly enjoyed our trip and will, most definitely, be back.

 

[canadianbear]

@*Miss G*

What a whirlwind for you, I was exhausted, lol.  Good thing you now have a cruise to hopefully relax a bit, lol.  Will follow along on your next adventure too.    Your river cruise looked great though and I’m glad you’ll go again one day.  

[whogo]

On 10/3/2022 at 4:58 AM, *Miss G* said:

““If you are not back by All Aboard time we will take 15 seconds to discuss what to do —  “Well, we could stay…” — and then we will leave.  We know you are adults and realize this is your choice not to be here.””  Same goes for excursions.  “If you are not here at excursion time we will assume that is your choice and we will be on our way.”

This rule should be universal.

 

Great thread, *Miss G*. Thanks.

[need2travel1]

I followed along, I'm glad you enjoyed your first river cruise.  They are addicting!  I'll be following your next cruise too, hope you have some time to unwind.  Thanks again!

[cat shepard]

Thank you for sharing your adventures @*Miss G*  

 

Looking forward to Part II!

[SusieKIslandGirl]

Thank you so much for sharing your journey. I've wondered about river cruises and now I'm ready to book. You presented it well.

[*Miss G*]

I forgot one picture of the left side of our room!  The mirror is reflecting the TV and curtains.  The TV displays the daily program and menus, as well as a number of movies, TV channels, and something else that I can’t remember.  😅

 

On the bottom left of the picture are the rechargeable receivers and earpieces for following along on the tours.  You can be quite a distance from your guide and still hear them.  They came in very handy.

 

 

Thank you so much, everyone!  I am glad you enjoyed the journey.

 

4 hours ago, SusieKIslandGirl said:

Thank you so much for sharing your journey. I've wondered about river cruises and now I'm ready to book. You presented it well.

 

It was hard for us to get a good idea of a river cruise before we tried one so I am so glad it was helpful!

 

13 hours ago, need2travel1 said:

I followed along, I'm glad you enjoyed your first river cruise.  They are addicting!  I'll be following your next cruise too, hope you have some time to unwind.  Thanks again!

 

Most definitely addicting, @need2travel1!  We are looking forward to doing this again one day.

 

Edited October 8, 2022 by *Miss G*

[bennybear]

On 10/4/2022 at 3:07 AM, ural guy said:

I try and take pictures of the various manhole covers that have town names, symbols, dragons...I like it when a bland object (a 30" round piece of steel) has something on it that shows a bit of pride, moreso than 'Sanitary Sewer'.  Older ones in the US have place of manufacture, and you get a glimpse of how productive certain areas were 70-80 years ago.  

 

  Neenah, Pennsylvania:  I have little idea where you are located, but your steel is all over the Northeast.

 

Miss G-  Appears that the river bug has gotten to you.  Great writeup, your descriptions really convey how much fun you're having.  Yeah team, this sounds so close to normalcy, just great!

The ones in Japan are astonishing 

 

[bennybear]

Thank you 

miss G.   Looks like you had lovely weather friends on Viking right now were  pretty wet.  

[Canal archive]

*Miss G* thank you so much, what a refreshing insight into your river cruise so very different from any other I’ve read, full of vim and verve and dare I say excitement. It’s wonderful to look at a river cruise through a new set of eyes and yours were certainly wide open. Thank you.

Edited October 10, 2022 by Canal archive

[Greysandy]

On 10/3/2022 at 10:50 PM, *Miss G* said:

DAY 7

COLOGNE 

 

Good morning.  We are getting ready to leave on our walking tour of Cologne (Köln).

 

Thank you so much for including images of the daily schedule! We are taking the Viking cruise Amsterdam to Bucharest next summer which will include many of the same stops. Viking doesn't include the more active excursions, they cost extra, so it is good for me to see as a comparison for other future river cruises. I'm also excited to see your next Ocean cruise around Greece. We did the same ports on HAL about 7 years ago and LOVED it. It is definitely a port intensive itinerary, which I like because I like active vacations.

[LSEA]

Thanks so much for sharing your journey.  Heading to the Greek Odyssey thread now!

[*Miss G*]

On 10/10/2022 at 10:52 AM, Canal archive said:

*Miss G* thank you so much, what a refreshing insight into your river cruise so very different from any other I’ve read, full of vim and verve and dare I say excitement. It’s wonderful to look at a river cruise through a new set of eyes and yours were certainly wide open. Thank you.

 

On 10/9/2022 at 7:32 PM, bennybear said:

Thank you 

miss G.   Looks like you had lovely weather friends on Viking right now were  pretty wet.  

 

On 10/12/2022 at 7:11 PM, Greysandy said:

Thank you so much for including images of the daily schedule! We are taking the Viking cruise Amsterdam to Bucharest next summer which will include many of the same stops. Viking doesn't include the more active excursions, they cost extra, so it is good for me to see as a comparison for other future river cruises. I'm also excited to see your next Ocean cruise around Greece. We did the same ports on HAL about 7 years ago and LOVED it. It is definitely a port intensive itinerary, which I like because I like active vacations.

 

On 10/15/2022 at 1:48 AM, LSEA said:

Thanks so much for sharing your journey.  Heading to the Greek Odyssey thread now!

 

Thank you so much, everyone!  I am so happy you enjoyed the thread.  We really loved our first river cruise and it will most definitely not be our last!

[Sleep7]

👋Hello Miss G!

I just found your review and loved it! Your commentary was great and your pictures are beautiful.

Excellent all around!😊

[*Miss G*]

34 minutes ago, Sleep7 said:

👋Hello Miss G!

I just found your review and loved it! Your commentary was great and your pictures are beautiful.

Excellent all around!😊

 

Thank you so much!  I am so glad you enjoyed it.  I hope we don’t have too long to wait to do another!

[Sleep7]

33 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Thank you so much!  I am so glad you enjoyed it.  I hope we don’t have too long to wait to do another!

😊I hope so too!!🤞

[beccawes7471]

Thank you for this wonderful review and insight. Just starting to plan a river cruise and have decided on Avalon and research has begun. Thanks again! 

[Kristelle]

thanks to those who bumped up this thread.

 

I just read through all of it - thanks so much for your live review.

[*Miss G*]

Oh my goodness.  Thank you so much for reading!  I am glad you enjoyed it.  🤗

[1of4]

I just read your review too and really enjoyed it. We took our first river cruise on Scenic for 11 nights on the Seine in 2019 and got hooked. We are doing a tulip time in April. I hope you enjoyed the HAL cruise that followed. 

[*Miss G*]

7 hours ago, 1of4 said:

I just read your review too and really enjoyed it. We took our first river cruise on Scenic for 11 nights on the Seine in 2019 and got hooked. We are doing a tulip time in April. I hope you enjoyed the HAL cruise that followed. 

 

Thank you so much, @1of4!  Wow, 11 nights on the Seine would be wonderful and so would tulip time.  I would love to do a Christmas market river cruise too.  I think that would be magical.  Enjoy your tulip cruise!

[Host Jazzbeau]

8 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

Thank you so much, @1of4!  Wow, 11 nights on the Seine would be wonderful and so would tulip time.  I would love to do a Christmas market river cruise too.  I think that would be magical.  Enjoy your tulip cruise!

I can confirm that Scenic's 11-night Seine cruise is wonderful.  The extra nights allow so much more sightseeing!  My future river cruise planning always starts with Scenic because they offer 11-night version of many itineraries.

[Canal archive]

We’re off on the 1st July returning to the Seine 9 years after Scenics first Seine Cruise it will be Interesting to compare. We could do some of same the excursions or all completely different but best of all we should moor up actually in Honfluer as France was very slow signing the paperwork to approve it initially and we moored in Le Havre.
Jazz is right our very first cruise was eight days and finished at Nuremberg but we wondered why the Australians stayed on board to Amsterdam 14 day cruise. My DH considered 8 days far to short so we’ve since only been on 11 to 14 day cruises. This may be our last ever as I’ve been diagnosed with  heart, I will call it a challenge. I’ve been given the all clear for this year thank goodness.