Greetings! I've just signed up for an Avalon Waterways Rhine River Cruise next May/June 09. Can anybody out there give me a little insight as to what to expect from Avalon and the trip itself? Amsterdam to Basil late May early June. My wife and I are both in our late 50s, we are active and fun loving. I understand that a lot of the people on these river cruises are much older. We are not fluent in German but I've been there before and know most know English.

Any interesting / special places that are must sees on that journey? Any good recomendations for restaraunts? How's the food on board? Anything to avoid? Any thing I should take along? I realize it's 10 months away but I almost love the planning as much as the trip. We are leaving from Chicago.

Thanks Paul

Go to cruisecritic.com and look for their Specialty Cruising board. There is a special section on river cruising with an active community.

We are going on our first river cruise in late November on Avalon and looking forward to it. The cruise critics boards have been very helpful.

We are 53 and 64 and very active and the demographic is getting younger especially on the shorter itineraries.

Our plans are to do the towns on our own for the most part so we can go at our own pace. We have spent a good bit of time in Germany and it is very easy to get around. I do speak some German and that helps in the smaller towns.

I have seen the menus and the food choices are diverse and by all accounts food is fresh and tasty. Wine and beer is included at dinner and I know evenings are low key. We plan to enjoy dinners off the boat when port times allow as we enjoy the local cuisine.

kfusto, thank you for your reply. I will check out the website you provided. I am curious as to where you were able to view the menus?

I would be interested in eating one meal daily on shore at a local restaurant. I would like to experience the culture of the community more than the 'free' meal.

Have a good time in Nov.

Thanks again.

Our river cruise experience was GCT and we really enjoyed it - I would think Avalon would be similar. We are in our mid 50's and yes, most of the folks were older but almost all were still very spry in body and mind! Most made very pleasant travel companions. We were on the Danube - I had done just a day cruise on the Rhine several years ago - it is a very interesting river - both in terms of the other river traffic and scenery - I'm sure you will have a wonderful time.

I just started almost the same topic on the forum. I am thinking about a river cruise and noticed that all the folks in the brochure looked older. I am a young 50 but I love older folks.

I just don't know where to start! I know I want to cruise when it's cold or freezing!

Paul, what caused you to pick Avalon?

Rowdy

Rowdytxgirl, for the past 6 months I was looking at the Viking River Cruise site and was almost set to go with them. Actually my first choice was to go on the Danube.
I also contacted Uniworld and talked with a gentleman named Delbert. Very informed.

But then I saw the PBS program with Burt Wolf - Globus Family (Avalon) and compared. It seemed that the little bit of information I had about these 3 cruise companies were all equally favorable. I did get a good deal on the airline price with Avalon...but then again who knows. I'm already commited with Avalon now so I am interested in off shore excursions.

I am a bit concerned about being on board with older people, not that we won't get along, just that we don't want a sedentiray (SP?) type of trip. We like to move at a brisk pace and don't like to wait.

Thanks again for your input. I'm sure you'll be cruising soon.

I would love to hear how it goes for you when you get back.

I hope you have an awesome trip!

Rowdy

"We like to move at a brisk pace and don't like to wait."

That describes us to a T! And it is one reason why we choose the Christmas market, as the port times are extensive and we wanted to avoid wasting time on the water when we could be enjoying the local area.

Avalon offers several different levels of walks from slow to moderate to fast. But I suspect we still will set on our own and use the boat more as a hotel and means of transport. I have been studying the ports and there is plenty to keep us busy. As we do on land trips to Europe, we will maximize our time out during the day then come back and change and head out again either for or after dinner.

I had access to the menus and such because I am taking a group of 20 on Avalon in 2010 and the company provided them before I booked.

kfusto, thanks for the reply.

Have you been on other Avalon tours? I haven't been able to locate any reviews on Avalon and would like to know if you have been on Avalon ships how they rate to others river cruise companies. If they are good I will do a Danube river cruise possibly in 2011. Budapest to Nurenberg.

I'll take your word about the menus. However, I have read that one shouldn't expect haute cuisine from the chefs on board. That's fine with us though. We are not 'picky' eaters. I do intend to dine at the local restaurants daily.

This will be my third time to Germany. I do love the Bavarian atmosphere, food and of course the beer. If in 2011 we don't do a river cruise I would like to rent a car and do the romantic road.

Paul

Paul, there are lots of very detailed reviews on Avalon and other lines at cruise.critic.com in their River Cruising forum.

As for "haute cuisine", I have only found that on the true luxury lines like Regent. The mass market lines serve banquet quality grub unless one pays to dine at the specialty restaurants. This is one of the reasons we gave up on big ship cruising along with the too large ships, too many kids and too much nickel and diming.

The menus were quite interesting and reflected local provisions so I suspect that fresh and flavorful would be more in line with their offerings. I will see if I can dig up at least one evening's menus and post it here for those who are interested.

And they have a low cal option as well.

We also want to try AMA as they are highly regarded overall and we really want new ships with quality bedding, internet connectivity and nice amenities.

Suec1- what cruise did you do with GCT? I checked out the site for them and it looks intersting. I liked the Vienna Austria cruise and will consider it for next time.

It is so overwhelming to look at all these tour operators. Everyone has so much to offer.

On the river cruises, how much in tips are usually given and to whom?

Paul

Recommended tips on Avalon are 10E per day per person to be split amongst staff and 5e per day pp for the Cruise Director.

pauljagman - we flew into Budapest where we stayed in a hotel for three nights, then we got on the ship - Melody, I think - but all their ships are pretty much the same - then we were on the river for seven nights. We went to Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg (as an excursion) and finished overland to Prague for three nights. We stopped by Cesky Krulow on the way there and it was amazing. We really enjoyed the whole trip - we usually travel on our own but we really enjoyed using a river cruise for this itinerary.

I think I have read that the Avalon boats have bicycles and that would be nice - we rented bikes at one stop for a few hours but we noticed on some of the other ships, passengers were riding inbetween stops - that would probably be too much for me.

If you decide later to do a GCT they have a referral program where the new client and the referral person both get a several hundred dollar discount. Of course I would be happy to refer you (hope I don't get myself bumped off the board for this!) but we did appreciate it when we booked our first tour with the company. You could email me at [email protected].

I think you will really enjoy the Rhine trip - such a beautiful area. Have a great trip!