ozwald

We are looking at a river boat cruise on mid sept pn the Danube from budapest to nuremberg with a stay in Prague at the end. The cruise line is Avalon waterways. The ship we would be traveling on was built on 2006. I have many reservations about this mode of traveling. I'm concerned I will find it boring eating at the same dining room every night
and having the routine of the ship. I like the idea of having river views of towns but there must be long stetches of just land. Can anyone offer advice...I have done a European small ship cruise on the wind star, an upscale cruise line. I didn't love being on the ship every night. The ports were Interesting. Is river cruising that different? What does anyone know about Avalon?
I've also never been to Provence, fr or the Amalfi coast and Sicily. These are the other trips we are considering....by bus tour. Not sure we are comfortable driving on narrow windy roads. Any thoughts on which of these destinations might be the most enjoyable, including eastern europe? Thanks

islandgirl355

We took our first river cruise a few years ago and were also not sure what to expect. We actually enjoyed it. It was so nice to be so close to the towns and the scenery was beautiful. Having one option for eating was different but having open seating was nice. The food was great and they brought local entertainment on board which was a plus. There is definitely not as much to do on board so hopefully you like to relax and maybe read. We are considering the Viking France's finest cruise for this summer. This is actually 17 days but it combines two cruises which makes it better. Not sure I could do 17 days on same ship with same group. Would love to hear from anyone that has a history with Viking cruises.

ozwald

What was the average age of the people on the river cruise. Do you know anything about Avalon Waterways? Thanks.

HappyTrvlr

We always eat lunch and dinner in the towns when possible. However, it is rare to be able to have dinner ashore. We looked at the boat as a floating hotel. You do give up some independence but since you're considering a bus tour as well, that would be the case there too.In fact, a river cruise could be a more independent experience than the bus tour.
We've done the Danube with Prague pre-cruise, Russian Waterways and the Mekong River, none with Avalon so can't give you an opinion. We found AmaWaterways offered a higher level trip than Viking.

suec1

Well why not do a ship tour of the Amalfi coast? maybe Azamara - not as upscale as Windstar but IMO preferable to a bus tour. We have done 2 river cruises and from what you say, you might not like them. We did, as we wanted to see the Danube region and preferred the river cruise option to a bus tour. When we first started going to Europe we did a bus tour of Italy and while it served its purpose, I really don't like all the packing and repacking - thus the river cruise worked for us. We met some pleasant people; its a small group, mostly 50+'s. We used Grand Cirlce Tours but I think you are looking for a more upscale product.

We did really enjoy our trip from Budapest to Prague - Budapest was great, try to spend a few extra days there if possible. Often during the day you will have an included activity on the land - usually walking tours - mostly the ship moves at night. It is very different from ocean crusing but for seeing that part of the world, it works well.

adrienne

<< I've also never been to Provence, fr or the Amalfi coast and Sicily. These are the other trips we are considering....by bus tour >>

Of these destinations I've only been to Sicily on a tour - the others I've done independently. I used Grand Circle and had the most wonderful program director. The trip was 12 days and although we didn't get to see everything on Sicily we did see a lot. The tour was leisurely with multiple night stays except for 1 night.

I've done Poland (Warsaw to Krakow) and Prague and southern Czech Republic independently. The tours I looked at for these areas went to too many places and stayed for too short a time in each location. I prefer to cover smaller areas and stay for longer times. There were no narrow windy roads in the Czech Republic; Poland I used public transportation as I was mostly going to cities.