Avvalon/Globus Magnificent Europe

[webfoot]

My husband and I have booked our first river cruise and we are excited about it. Our trip is leaving the US on April 24th and returning May 11. Are there any others out there going on the same cruise? If so, I'd love to hear from you.

[letsgo39]

DH and I took that same cruise on the Avalon Tranquility last July..We had a wonderful time. Everything was perfect and we can't wait to rivercruise again with Avalon.We are looking at their new Paris to Nice cruise for 2009.

[campbi]

Hi Pat,

I think we're on the same cruise, that is we are on the Artistry departing Amsterdam on April 27, 2008. There are 14 of us - seven couples, all from Australia. We're looking forward to the experience as it's the first river cruise for all (although eight of us have cruised in Alaska previously).

[webfoot]

I'm so glad to know that we will be on the same cruise. Our last 'big' trip was with Globus this past January when we visited Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. We had such a wonderful time there.

 

Look forward to meeting you!

[campbi]

We look forward to meeting you too! Glad to hear you had a great time in Fiji, NZ and Australia and that the thought of a "mob of Aussies" hasn't put you off. You mention May 22 in your schedule so I presume you are planning extra travel after the cruise concludes in Budapest?

[webfoot]

Thanks for catching the May 22 ... I guess my touch typing isn't very good anymore ... no, we will be headed home on the 11th.

 

We enjoyed all of the Aussies that we met .. our tour leader lives in Melbourne ... she was a blast ...

 

We will be in cabin 219 ... so, stop on down to see us!

[campbi]

Your cabin is near ours, our group are all in the 220s range of cabins. What fun!

 

Some of us are flying from Budapest to Greece and finishing with a week or so on the Greek Islands. Others in our group are heading to Croatia. We thought we'd add in an extra destination seeing as its such a long way to fly to Europe from here... Didn't need much convincing on that front :-)

 

We're also planning a day at Keukenhof (tulip gardens) in Holland before joining the cruise.

 

Roll on April!!

[boards]

Our TA is encouraging us to take a river cruise. She gave us some Globus information about the Nice to Paris or reverse cruise. If we go we looking at sometime in 2009. Have you any of you any advice as to what time of year to consider this cruise. Also about cabins 219 or 220 as I read the information those cabins have an added price to them over the advertised price of the cruise, have I read that right? We are following the threads on River cruises to get all the imput we can before we book. We are on the Rotterdam next May 2008 for 15 days. Our TA says we would really enjoy the river cruise. Is she right?

[webfoot]

This will be our first river cruise so I can't offer too much other than what I have heard from others that I know that have done them ... they say that they would never go back to an ocean cruise. So, I'm anxious to take my first river cruise.

 

We have taken multiple 'land' trips ... and are anxiously awaiting this cruise!

[letsgo39]

Our TA is encouraging us to take a river cruise. She gave us some Globus information about the Nice to Paris or reverse cruise. If we go we looking at sometime in 2009. Have you any of you any advice as to what time of year to consider this cruise. Also about cabins 219 or 220 as I read the information those cabins have an added price to them over the advertised price of the cruise, have I read that right? We are following the threads on River cruises to get all the imput we can before we book. We are on the Rotterdam next May 2008 for 15 days. Our TA says we would really enjoy the river cruise. Is she right?

 

We are looking at the same cruise for 2009.We did the Avalon(Globus) Buadapest to Amsterdam this last July and it was wonderful.The advertised price is probably for the lowest deck that does not have the sliding french door but rather a small window. Cabins on the Sapphire deck(200's) are either $449.00 pp or $499.00 pp additional. The cabins on the Royal Deck (300's) are an additional $599.00 pp. As far as time of year we are working on that too. I would say anytime BUT August. I just don't like to travel to Europe in August as that is when all the Europeons take their vacations.Many of these rivercruises fill up a year in advance so book it as soon as you decide when you want to go.The new schedule came out in July this year for 2008 so it will probably be the same next year.

[boards]

Thank you. Sounds like we would be interested in booking the Sapphire deck then. The book we have shows the cabin layout, are they very similar to what you have travelled in? We are in Canada and would probably add a pre or post stay. I have read that in some cases this can be part of the planned cruise. Do you know anything about that?

[letsgo39]

In your catalog you will see a part on the same page that has a price for pre and post days for that particular cruise. You can also go to the Globus or Avalon web site.

We like to go a day or 2 early to acclimate to the time change and to see a little more of the city. I like to go early before the tour as I am usually ready to come home at the end.Since you are already working with a TA just let them make all the arrangements for you. That is the easy way particularly if this is your first trip to Europe. That said I will tell you that even though we always go a couple of days early we usually plan to stay at a different hotel then the hotel thru Globus/Avalon. I have found I can get a much better deal on a hotel if I make my own reservations at a different hotel and it is fun to stay in a different neighborhood.. I use Tripadvisor to find a hotel for my 2 extra days and than take a taxi or walk to the Globus meeting place on the first day of the cruise.

 

I also suggest if you have not totally decided on the France cruise to take a look at the Magnificent Europe Cruise Budapest to Amsterdam or reverse. It is 16 days and I know that is longer then some people want to travel but we sure saw alot!!!We took that cruise in July and it was absolutely wonderful!!!! I would do it again in a heartbeat but there is just so many places to see! I have only been in Paris for 2 days a couple of years ago and that was not nearly long enough.

[letsgo39]

Well I tried to edit the post however the silly rules require that you have to change your OWN post within 20 minutes. I have no idea what the point of that is.:mad:

Anyway,forgot to tell you that the cabins on the "Scenery" are exactly the same as the one we had on the Tranquility!

[webfoot]

Letsgo39 ... can you tell me what the dress is on board for dining? My impression from what I have been reading, that there are no 'formal' nights .. that even the Captain's dinner doesn't require 'dressy' clothing ...

 

Thanks for the help!

[letsgo39]

Nope,there are no formal nights. Dress is very casual. No long dresses or sequins and no cocktale dresses.On the night of the Captains dinner I did see a few sparkley tops with slacks or maybe a skirt and some of the men had sportcoats on but very few..For the day touring jeans,slacks,capris are the thing. Most people changed for dinner but even then it was still pretty casual. I had a couple of linen capris and some black slacks that I wore with nice tops,a couple kinda silky, for dinner.Say like about the same thing you would wear for church or dinner out at a local restaurant such as Chilis or ?? DH got along just fine with jeans during the day and khakis with a collared shirt for dinner.He doesn't wear shorts and shorts are only worn by the Europeons when they are participating in an athletic event. It seems the only ones who wear shorts in Europe are Americans,just like the bright white gym shoes,all American.:D

DH was very happy he did not have to even bring a tie!!:) I saw a few jeans in the dining room at night but not many.For lunch and breakfast everyone just had on what they wore while touring during the day.

One of the optionals on our tour was a concert in Vienna and that was the only time I saw people really dress up. I only brought 2 pairs of shoes. One for walking a lot and the other a pair of sandals that I wore for dinner and when I was sitting on the sundeck.It can get pretty cool on the sundeck at night so we both made good use of our windbreakers. We traveled in July and even then we had some very cool mornings and nights.

 

Campbi, We had several Aussies on our cruise and we all had a great time!:D :D

[webfoot]

Thanks so much for the info on the 'dress code'. This sounds very much like what I will enjoy. As we are going on the trip in April and May, I'm sure that long black pants for touring and one or two nice dress black pants (or one skirt) for evenings will be enough ... along with sweatshirts, jackets, and windbreakers ...

 

We were on the Globus Central Europe trip several years ago and did the concert in Vienna and found that people showed up at that dressed different ways. I wore a skirt and nice top and felt OK.

 

My husband is delighted that he can leave the sports jacket at home ... but I may insist he pack it if we go to the Vienna concert again.

[webfoot]

Thanks so much for the info on the 'dress code'. This sounds very much like what I will enjoy. As we are going on the trip in April and May, I'm sure that long black pants for touring and one or two nice dress black pants (or one skirt) for evenings will be enough ... along with sweatshirts, jackets, and windbreakers ...

 

We were on the Globus Central Europe trip several years ago and did the concert in Vienna and found that people showed up at that dressed different ways. I wore a skirt and nice top and felt OK.

 

My husband is delighted that he can leave the sports jacket at home ... but I may insist he pack it if we go to the Vienna concert again.