Daisi

I am in contact right now with someone on the Envision...asking lots of questions for my cruise in Sept. They are sailing and she is loving her cruise. 🙂

No, Avalon's Romantic Rhine is only on the Rhine. We did the Romantic Rhine in 2018 with Avalon, and they have changed things a bit. I agree with Jaz, do the 2 days in Lucerne instead of Zurich. That was one thing we missed, because of needing to get back to work, but will do it on another cruise or trip. Amsterdam is a very easy city, so if you can squeeze in another day there, you won't need to book any tours, just wander around...well worth it. Let us know what you decide...then get prepared for all kinds of suggestions of what not to miss!

@notamermaid lol, I froze my husband's, and we will be eating the final bits of mine tonight. Heatwave on here (30 and over, feeling like 40), so it goes well with a salad! Enjoy your weekend.

Good advice here, and welcome to the world of river cruising. I assume your TA went through the various lines and what each entails for you. Some include everything (alcohol, laundry, all excursions) while others include some alcohol, one excursion a day etc. The main thing is to choose an area that has excursions you would like to see and then find a line that suits your budget and time you wish to trave. We will be doing the Danube in Sept with Avalon, having done the Rhine in 2018. We loved our 1st cruise so much we were planning our 2nd one on the flight home. @Host Jazzbeau makes one very important point about river cruising, it's not a relaxing as in lounging around & free time type of holiday. You may have 1 afternoon or morning gently sailing past a scenic area of the river, but the rest of the day is usually exploring. You come home happy but tired! I have only sailed with Avalon, so can't compare other lines, but I'm sure whatever line & route you choose, you will love it. If you do choose Avalon, don't expect to spend time in your cabin relaxing on the bed and watching the river float by, because the scenery is on both sides of the river, and staying in your cabin, you will miss some. The top deck and lounges are best for relaxing and watching the scenery.

Now that we have everything booked for our trip, we are starting to prepare for our meals. Melons are out now here, so going through them pretty quickly enjoying them and pineapple for breakfast. Last night, we started on dinners.....yes, that's a full sized dinner plate hiding underneath, and there was another side of spatzle, but couldn't fit it in the picture! We came home with enough for a couple more meals. Oh happy days! 🙂

@moonriver54Avalon does put out a great product, and like you, we loved our first cruise so much we were very eager to do another on... started planning it on the flight home. We loved the 5* service & food, but also really enjoyed the more casual atmosphere. We got to know some of the crew (from those actually crewing the ship to the ones interacting with the passengers) and were very glad to hear that they enjoyed themselves so much that they even recommended it as employment for family & friends. That says a lot as to how Avalon treats its employees, and that means a lot, as happy employees are more willing to go above and beyond. We are eagerly looking forward to our Sept. cruise on the Danube. Plane, train and hotel all booked.... now just waiting for the excursions. It's going to be a loooooooooooong summer!

The one my TA gave me is smaller than previous ones, but has all the 2023-2024 cruises in it as well. Cover is more of a sunrise/sunset over the water rather than the blues, but probably the same.

All aboard time of 5:00 will be to have the safety drill & overview for your cruise. For the 2nd day, you can do the afternoon, and still be back onboard for 7:00 for dinner.

Thanks for the link @notamermaid, I had one bookmarked, but it didn't work anymore. Glad to see that there are no holidays on our cruise, except for the day we leave, which won't matter. Phew! 🙂

It's been metric in Canada since 75, I grew up really only knowing metric. People here still refer to sq. foot, linear feet etc. when talking building or homes, and meat is advertised by pound but priced by kg, but I buy by size so that doesn't bother me. I don't know if we will ever be "fully" metric.

We could always bring our ice spikes, but not sure how much they would like us walking around in the lobby of the ship with them on. They make a mess on carpets. We have learned to buy cheap Dollar Store "welcome" mats as they have to be replaced every year.

That's one that we have on our list for when we hit the UK. So much to do, so little time. 🙂

@Canal archive, we've been on many steam trains, and the Rocky Mountaineer is on our bucket list for when we finish touring Europe. I've driven from one end of the country to the other (and a lot of the northern and eastern US), so wanting to see more of Europe. We've taken trains in the Netherlands, and Germany, and planning on when our overview of touring by river & bus is done to just plan longer holidays by train in Europe.

@jpalbny, yes, trains are so easy over in Europe. Mind you, we had a real learning curve, as we never used on here either. Avalon announced the other week that for UK travellers, they will book the train instead of flights if desired. I was with my TA when she got the announcement, and we were wondering how we could get them to do that for me...flight to the UK, then train to where ever we would be touring from. We usually fly KLM, and they bus us from the Ottawa train station to Mtl. for our flights. This year, since Air France is now flying from Ottawa, they aren't offering that service, so we are going by train to Mtl. It will be our "new" experience for this trip.

I actually wouldn't mind taking the train instead of sitting in an airport waiting for 3 hours for a connecting short flight. It would cut down on travel time, and also be more relaxing. I wonder if we can get the lines booking flights to work with this - combined flight & train tickets.

My main concern would be the icy cobblestones....and some of the steeper streets!

@Roz326are you on a Viking Ocean or River cruise? The river cruises are never far from shore, which is why they don't have Dr.'s onboard.

Avalon's Active & Discovery are very different, they do a lot of more strenuous activities, and are not the normal shore excursions. This one includes several different hikes & bike rides from the normal excursions. Avalon is going after the active passengers, they may not have much of a gym, but I know some that have been on runs through towns, hikes up mountains etc. @YoungDubFan, I went to another board to see if I could find anything for you, but I see you beat me to it. Good luck, the cruise sounds really great. I looked up some of the parks visited, and the scenery looks fantastic. I'm sure if you find the hikes may be to much, you could probably switch to the normal excursions. Talk to the CD on boarding if you decide to go and they should be able to help out.

@franski, I heard on another board that someone recently had pre-booked a tour and they were the only 2 on it. Avalon went ahead, just they had a car instead of a bus. 🙂

I would highly recommend the Colmar and Alsace trips. If you go to the same town we did in 2018 for the Alsace trip, it's a beautiful town like Colman. Of course, if you like biking, the tours in the countryside should be great as well. We didn't have the option for the Basel trip, so can't fill you in on that.

I always sign up as soon as I can, for 2 reasons. 1) I pay in Cdn. $$$, not Euro's as you do onboard, and the CC gets paid well before the trip, and 2) I want to be sure that I don't miss out on ones that I really wish to do. I believe you can sign up for most onboard, possibly not if you wish to do a bike tour (there are a few bikes onboard, but they will bring in extras to accommodate those who are touring.) or a really popular tour if bussing is limited. Yes, some of the tours do include a bus trip - Colmar (which is well worth it), Alsace wine region, and Heidelberg.

I never realised your Father's Day was ahead of ours as well. We celebrate in June, but this weekend is what is commonly called our May 2-4 (our cases of beer come in packs of 24, called a 2-4) to celebrate Victoria Day. @Canal archive (and any others from the UK), do you just get a bank holiday this weekend, as I don't think you celebrate Victoria's Birthday do you? Enjoy what you can of your weekend @notamermaid, we had a very cool week, but looks like it's going to warm up to 20 so should be nice.....now if only we can get rid of some pesky mosquitos!

If you ever get a chance and are back on this side of the pond, make sure you get tickets to the Musical Ride. We've seen it several times and still enjoy watching.

We were there 5 years ago May 10, and we found it quite hot for wandering around. They had an ice cream cart out that we may have visited a couple of times. 🙂 Weather this year has been cooler, which is good for the gardens as the flowers last longer, but varies yearly.

Sounds as if you are having a great time, enjoy your relaxation.