Avalon France optional tours

Trying to decide whether to prepay for some of the optional tours available on Avalon's Grand France cruise we are taking in September.

Has anyone taken any of the optional tours and can remember how much they paid on board?

I know we will have to pay in euros if booked on board, so if we prepay now we will pay in Australian dollars. The way our dollar is fluctuating at the moment I'm very tempted to book some of them now.

we have done 8 Avalon cruises and have looked at pre booking but glad we did not.

you can go on line to see the tours and the costs. probably the exchange rate will not be a huge factor in that time frame but can understand some prefer to pay pre travel.

it is easy to pay on board plus we have had ports change more than once on 4 of our cruises so adjustments or omissions may occur. sometimes it is nice to be flexible with what you want to do and not be locked into prepaid arrangements. everyone is different some like everything planned. weather can impact or health issues on activities. we prefer a more relaxed pace with choices and find we like to research and do what we like.

France in autumn will be lovely so have fun and enjoy whatever you do.

Thanks for the update pully8. I really want to do the trip to Honfleur and the aussie dollar rate changes everyday.

Has anyone done the trip to Pont du gard in the morning - do they do another tour of the Popes Palace in the afternoon?

we did the Honfleur optional. charming little town would be nice to see when less crowded. this was an afternoon trip many other tour groups at the same time. we liked what we saw of Normandy and would like to return to see more.

Pont de gard we would like to have spent more time to see the visitor centre and displays. the area was worth more time . Avignon was also a delight to visit. the popes palace was shown in the afternoon.

it is only possible to get a taste/brief experience of some places. luckily we have been fortunate to see some of these places again or omit the ones we enjoyed less.

we have also found seeing a place again with a different guide or different time of the year can also give another experience.

some will only go to a place once and therefore try to pack as much in as possible.

So many places to visit so little time.

I haven't done your itinerary, but I did pre-book some of our optional Avalon tours. I booked 2 that I thought for sure I wouldn't change, but I ended up changing 1 of them. I got a refund for that really, really fast. The new charges showed up a few days after that. It was really simple to cancel and re-book online.

Trying to decide whether to prepay for some of the optional tours available on Avalon's Grand France cruise we are taking in September.

Has anyone taken any of the optional tours and can remember how much they paid on board?

I know we will have to pay in euros if booked on board, so if we prepay now we will pay in Australian dollars. The way our dollar is fluctuating at the moment I'm very tempted to book some of them now.

Hi Debbie

we only did 2 of the optional on our Grand France cruise last year, both we booked on board, first one was An Evening in Monaco that was 99 euros each, we had a very enjoyable evening, included dinner and wine, plus a bus tour of Monaco/ Monte Carlo including walking around in the Palace area. We actually booked this at checkin at the Fairmont Hotel not on board, as we didn't board until the next afternoon.

The second one was Pont du Gard (this had been on my bucket list :-) ) that was 39 euros each, we had a couple of hours there, enough time to leisurely walk around and over the pont, its a short walk from the bus stop to the information centre ( which had toilet facilities, café, shop and museum, the museum is included in the park entry fee) and then it was another short walk to the Pont. From there we drove back to Uzes, a charming little medieval town, where we had a short walking tour, then plenty of free time to look around , shop and get some lunch. Place aux Herbes is the main square with little arcades, market stalls and specialty shops. We really enjoyed our day and the weather was perfect. We passed loads of paddocks of sunflowers on the way , which looked great.

There were other optional tours of course but we just took the 2, everyone sounded like they enjoyed the ones they chose. I think one didnt go ahead as there werent enough people booked, cant actually remember which one that was.

I don't think there were any savings to be had by booking before we arrived on board, it may be different now.

Deb

Thanks Deb for an outline of the optional yours you took on your cruise. Also for the price you paid on board. There isn't much difference in the price at the moment if we paid before, so think I will just book when on board. Not long to go now, really looking forward to the Rhone part of the cruise!