We're back!!! Avalon's Affinity 1st cruise ... Windmills, Vineyards and Paris

[missyal]

Thanks for all the help!

[pasantia]

can you described the difference between a window room vs balcony room. thanks

[webfoot]

On this ship all of the staterooms (except for the suites) are the same. The difference between having a french balcony (sliding glass door from floor to ceiling) and the smaller window is not the layout.

 

This new ship has two windows for each room. Light gets in nicely.

 

My husband has had some medical issues and has stayed in our room and loves the French Balcony because he can see outside well and if we are traveling he can watch the world go by.

 

Most of the people on our cruise who had the lower rooms spent most of their time in either of the lounges.

 

It depends on what you feel comfortable with. I knew from our trip last year on the Artistry that we would appreciate the upgrade (well, our pocketbooks weren't too happy) and thus we book it.

 

Any other questions, please let me know!

[sanny]

We left the ship at 9 and went directly to the train. We got to the Paris hotel by 2 pm ...

 

When we were in Amsterdam, we all met at a hotel and then were taken to the ship. We took an optional tour that day so we got to the ship by 5 pm ...

 

With doing the reverse of what we did, I'm not sure if this helps or not ... if not, let me know ... thanks!

Hi Webfoot, I've enjoyed reading your review ... my question is "was your transfer from Amsterdam to Paris by train part of your tour". I recently took a pre-tour Paris extension and we were taken by bus from Paris to Amsterdam. We left our Paris hotel at 7:30am and arrived at the boat in Amsterdam at 6:15 pm. Yes, that's 10 hours and 45 minutes on a bus!! and, yes, we were exhausted when we arrived. Seems like Avalon have it right doing their transfers by train. Oh, and our tour company was Scenic.

[webfoot]

Hi Sanny ... yes, the bullet train to Paris was part of our trip. Avalon reserved seats for all of us. We were taken from the ship to the train station while our luggage was loaded onto a truck that would arrive in Paris later that day.

 

I have been reading your posts and sympathize with you. It seems like Scenic is not treating folks well. I must say that Avalon was really good. When I got back, I dropped our cruise director an e-mail with some things that I would have liked to have seen done differently ... or at all. She forwarded my suggestions to Avalon ... will they be taken under advisement? Who knows ... but I was pleased that she didn't write me off as a complainer. I was a process improvement specialist in my former life and always look at things with an eye for what can be improved (wonderful beauty shop ... how about someone to do manicures; fitness room has good machines but no free weights .. how about adding those).