Avalon Fleet

Hi all. Scouting out river cruises for 2017 for our first river cruise. Leaning toward Avalon. We did use Globus some years ago and were quite happy with them, so this is why we are liking Avalon. Looking through selections of the itinerary that we like, I see some fair price differences for different ships. The Luminary is the most affordable. I do see that it is a couple of years older than some of the others, but 2010 isn't all that bad???? Or could it be? Easy to choose a ship that is more modern, in terms of year built, but just unsure here. Anybody been on the Luminary and can offer any insight? Or any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Thx in advance.

Hi all. Scouting out river cruises for 2017 for our first river cruise. Leaning toward Avalon. We did use Globus some years ago and were quite happy with them, so this is why we are liking Avalon. Looking through selections of the itinerary that we like, I see some fair price differences for different ships. The Luminary is the most affordable. I do see that it is a couple of years older than some of the others, but 2010 isn't all that bad???? Or could it be? Easy to choose a ship that is more modern, in terms of year built, but just unsure here. Anybody been on the Luminary and can offer any insight? Or any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Thx in advance.

I have been on Luminary and also on one of Avalon's Panorama class ships. Other than the larger cabins we actually preferred the Luminary. Unless the layout and size of the Panorama Suites is important to you, and if the itinerary works, I would not let the two year age difference influence your decision. Avalon's ships are much the same across the board IMO and IME.

We don't cruise with Avalon anymore (much preferring AMA overall, as well as Uniworld and Scenic) but we enjoyed our cruise on AMA's oldest (2006) vessel and also sailed on their newest (2015 and 3 months old when we were aboard last year). While some of the bells and whistles were lacking, overall we had a great cruise.

Last September we cruised Paris to Normandy on one of Avalon's older ships Creativity.. It was an unbelievable last minute deal I think to fill cabins. I think the ship is about five years old. We have cruised on Uniworld twice and AMA. We loved Avalon and defintely would cruise with them again.

Our first cruise was a Danube cruise on the Luminary in 2013; our second was the Seine on her sister ship the Creativity in 2015. The ships are basically the same. Although older, the ships were both in excellent condition. I think the difference you see in price is due to the new ships having larger rooms with the beds facing the French balcony. The Luminary French balcony staterooms are 170 sq ft, larger than those on the Viking or older Uniworld ships. We were very pleased with both ships and would happily cruise on them again.

Hi all. Scouting out river cruises for 2017 for our first river cruise. Leaning toward Avalon. We did use Globus some years ago and were quite happy with them, so this is why we are liking Avalon. Looking through selections of the itinerary that we like, I see some fair price differences for different ships. The Luminary is the most affordable. I do see that it is a couple of years older than some of the others, but 2010 isn't all that bad???? Or could it be? Easy to choose a ship that is more modern, in terms of year built, but just unsure here. Anybody been on the Luminary and can offer any insight? Or any other helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. Thx in advance.

We were on the Avalon Luminary in June/16 for The Blue Danube Discovery tour. We found the ship to be very clean, well maintained, with all the comforts of home. We would not hesitate to go with Avalon again. As such, we'll be going on the Avalon Creativity in Oct./16 on the Paris to Normandy itinerary.

By the way, you may be entitle to a 5% discount for having traveled with Globus in the past.

Happy planning.

Avalon will give you a 5% Discount as a past Globus traveler be sure and mention that up front to your TA so you get the discount.

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