Jaydub99

On 11/30/2018 at 5:20 PM, notamermaid said:

It does not look as if it will rain by the bucketload but an umbrella will come in very handy. Still hoping for a last minute change of cruise itinerary North of the gorge for you.

 

Safe travels.

 

notamermaid

 

We left Zurich yesterday at the end of our impromptu train trip down the Rhine Valley after we opted out of our bus/river cruise. Some rain along the way (incl the last couple of days in Zurich) but was very light, off and on when it did rain. Instead of an umbrella I would recommend a hooded rain coat. I found trying to eat a sausage and drink gluhwein at the same time while wandering through the markets left me one hand short to hold an umbrella...

All the markets are quite amazing. If you get the chance for a side trip to Colmar while in Strasbourg I highly recommend it. The Markets, architecture, history, wine tasting etc etc made it one of the highlights. Easy 25 min train ride. 

On 11/18/2018 at 4:34 PM, perkyblue said:

 

I’m personally glad they didn’t cancel the whole thing altogether for us at this point. With my husband’s job, he can’t change up his vacation days at the last minute, so we are vacationing from Nov. 27-Dec. 10 no matter what, and a bus tour of Europe beats staying home. I am thinking of back-up plans I could make for us keeping our original flights though, because if we lose any more cruising time, I would rather cancel (if they let us) & just plan a land trip by train. Right now, I’m hoping I can put together a Budapest-Bratislava-Vienna-Prague trip if necessary. But if they do end up dropping more ship time & don’t tell us until the last minute, then we’re just stuck. Just gotta wait & see! It’s disappointing for sure, but if a disruption to my European vacation is the biggest problem in my life right now, then I’m still pretty fortunate. One way or another, I’ll be in Europe in less than 2 weeks, which beats Indiana any day!

We opted to cancel our A to B cruise with Avalon that was scheduled to board tomorrow. We wanted a river cruse and what we envisioned isn’t possible right now. We are generally sticking to the same itinerary except by train as we had booked off work and did not buy air through Avalon. Currently enjoying Amsterdam, we are doing a canal cruise tomorrow and then off to Cologne the next day for the Christmas markets so a train trip is certainly an easy option. BTW, we received our full refund from Avalon within 2 business days. I was expecting much longer so we were pleasantly surprised. Good luck - we’re off to see the windmills!

9 hours ago, suspaul said:

 

 

Jaydub99, can I ask how you were notified?  Email, phone call, thru your TA?  Just curious since we’re waiting also.

 

TIA.

 

TA. I received a message from Avalon that the info had been sent to her and they indicated they were not legally permitted to pass the info direct to me as we had booked through a TA. Though that may be a Canadian legal thing, not sure.

25 minutes ago, Chili Queen said:

To Jaydub99,

 

I have been following this for a week or so now.  I too have an upcoming trip, departing Amsterdam to Basel on December 8th on the Avalon Tranquility II.  I was curious to know what ship you are scheduled to be on and your departure date which I believe you said was November 24th.  So you essentially are supposed to be departing in about a week?  How many days did Avalon give you to make your decision?  This is a once in a lifetime trip for us and I could see us definitely cancelling if this were to happen to us (which it might unfortunately).  We didn't buy trip insurance and bought our airfare directly from Avalon.  I would love to hear more particulars of what Avalon will give to you (full refund, etc.) if you are willing to share.  I fear that we may be in your shoes in another week or so.  Our travel agent spoke to Avalon yesterday and they said they have been doing well for 3 weeks now, but they take it week by week, moment by moment.  Looking forward to hearing back from you.  Chili Queen

Oh, I understand your concern completely. We are also booked on the Tranquility II from A to B departing 24 Nov.  I can send you the email I got through our TA this evening to give you an idea of the options. They are a bit more drastic than I figured, but I was not overly surprised having tracked the Rhine situation for the last month fairly closely. How can I get that to you privately?

18 minutes ago, hbr777 said:

I hope they offered you credit or compensation for that drastic change? I'm sorry you have to make that decision. It just stinks.

They did but it was complicated. I believe it was something like $600CAD per person to apply to a future cruise if we cancelled and 50% of cruise fare refunded for the nights were in a hotel. I’ll have to rebook at that. No worries, not what we wanted or planned but we love spending time in Europe, particularly around Christmas - I should add that we booked our own air so we are going no matter what! I hope things work out well for you. 

Just now, hbr777 said:

Hey, that sounds like a really nutty itinerary.  A bus from Amsterdam to Strasbourg bypasses many areas where larger ships are currently running on either side of the Rhine gorge. I don't think that section is not passable but that Avalon doesn't have ships on either side of the gorge to do a ship swap and your ship is stuck in Strasbourg? Are you canceling or cruising?

I’ll say! I don’t quite understand it. Our ship’s sister ship is in Amsterdam and ours is in Strasbourg right now with another 110m near Mainz. If we were to sail to Cologne and bus to Koblenz or Mainz for a ship swap and then sail to Basel it would be a different story - in fact I expected that to be the option we would be given. A bus to Strasbourg with in some cases only a few hours in town for the markets and lunch before being herded back onto the bus to keep going is not what we envisioned when we signed up in January.  Not sure the reasoning for the itinerary they produced. We have a breakfast planning session with the couple we are traveling with in the morning to decide. With only 2 days actually transiting the river, I see a Eurail pass in my immediate future....

We just got our revised itinerary or option to cancel notice from Avalon for our 24 Nov cruise on the Tranquility II. Essentially bussing Amsterdam to Strasbourg to meet our ship with stops in Cologne and Mainz and then bus back to Heidelberg for a tour. Three days hotel and 4 on the ship. Decision time. 

5 hours ago, hbr777 said:

Hi everyone!

 

Is the Rhine gorge the only impassable part of the river right now for a 135m ship? Are there other low areas that prevent passage Basel to Amsterdam?

We just got our revised itinerary or option to cancel notice from Avalon for our 110m ship’s cruise. Essentially bussing Amsterdam to Strasbourg to meet our ship with stops in Cologne and Mainz and then bus back to Heidelberg for a tour. The Amsterdam to Cologne portion must also not be passable, or assessed not to be for our 24 Nov departure. 

1 hour ago, Dbs944 said:

I discussed this with my wife - we are leaving 12/1 Basel to Amsterdam - about the possibility of our spending a good portion of our 'RIVER CRUISE' on buses, in hotel rooms and eating at mediocre restaurants.  To say we are unhappy is an understatement.  I would rather they just cancel the remaining cruises and call it a year.  The effort and expenses of dealing with this must be cutting into any possible profit Avalon might be making on these cruises to say nothing of the hit to their reputation if they make significant changes at the very last moment.

 

I'm looking at keeping my air flights and putting together a rail vacation up the Rhine and staying in nice hotels if given the option of cancelling.  

My sentiments exactly. 

39 minutes ago, Aslangold said:

I spoke with the Avalon rep this morning about my trip on 12/1.  I was told that they are working on the 11/24 trip so you should here something shortly.   Part of the tour will be by motor coach but I couldn’t get any definitive answers.  I asked if we had other options and was told no.  When asked about compensation she could not give me any answers.   

That’s good to know, thanks. We leave this weekend to spend the week before in Europe so I may give them a call in a day or two. 

1 hour ago, ajs1998 said:

Yes we can cancel and get full refund so I guess that is their get- out

 

Still deciding whether to go and accept amended itin or cancel

We sail the 24th but still no contact from Avalon. Perhaps after the effect of the current rainy weather is measured and they determine if they can actually get our ship from Strasbourg where it is now to Amsterdam - or not!

1 hour ago, ajs1998 said:

I am on the Avalon Festive Cruise from Nuremberg to Vienna with 2 nights pre-cruise in Prague.

We were supposed to be embarking in Nuremberg on November 25.

Now we are being transferred to embark in Passau and will be docked for several days

there while we do the Regensburg excursion from Passau by bus

and miss out Nuremberg completely.

The only compensation that Avalon are offering is a complimentary classic musical concert in Vienna

and no monetary compensation for lack of cruising and missing out Nuremberg.

 

 

That’s definitely not what you paid for - were you given an option to cancel in light of the significant change to the itinerary?

Sailing out of Amsterdam, I’m almost thinking that Emmerich is more of a problem than Kaub if one wants to avoid a lot of bus travel - it’s trending in the right direction but currently only at 18cm. Am I missing something? I don’t often see it mentioned as a choke point. 

13 hours ago, Aslangold said:

I am sailing on Avalon Basil to Amsterdam on 11/29 and have been trying to find out what to expect.   Working in the travel field myself, I have contacted our agent with specific questions and he has been in touch with Avalon.   Here is their response as to what to expect - I contacted Avalon to get an update. They have been having issues on the Rhine for the past 3 months. It was a lot more in severe back in August due to summer droughts when some sailings had been cancelled. They have had gradual improvements since then. In September and October they have had to do partial transits on the river combined with motorcoach transit and hotels for part of the itinerary. The rain has picked up some in the region recently, though there may be a potential that they might not be doing a full transit depending on how water levels are. Avalon advised they will keep us posted.

 

I hope this is helpful.   I did ask him to contact them to see if we could stay with the boat in port, skip the motor tours and take a train at our expense to where we may want to rejoin the tour - in other words, do we have the option to not tour by motor bus.   I will let you know once I hear back.   Thank you all for your updates. 

Thanks very much for that info - it’s pretty much what I figured. I’m looking forward to finding out when they’ll actually announce decisions. We sail in 13 days so hopefully we’ll get some news in a week or so. I’ll post any news we get here. 

41 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I hope all goes well, 24 November, hmm, still have hope for at least just minor disruptions, no more. Laid back you do sound, good, keep it up if you can. The Rhine valley is such a major thoroughfare, trains are indeed frequent, usually fast and comfortable (they fail a little on those two last points occasionally). And the ticket machines are in several languages...

Thanks for the good wishes! I do appreciate all of your post and info - very useful. I used to live near Offenburg and I am pretty comfortable navigating the area and making our way to Zurich for our departure flight. However, the other couple travelling with us has never been to Europe so we all thought a river cruise would be a good way to introduce them. No worries tho - one way or another, they'll see the Rhine valley!!

Any recent Avalon cruisers on the Rhine? The Avalon ships don't seem to be moving much this last week or so and I'm wondering if they've canceled cruises, changed itineraries or if they are just busing folks between ships. We're on the Tranquility II out of Amsterdam on 24 Nov but it hasn't been north of Strasbourg in over 2 weeks - may be too late to get her up through the gorge now! I don't expect to hear from Avalon with itinerary changes until a few days before we leave. Any recent info/experiences with Avalon on the Rhine would be appreciated.

Given the weather forecast I'm expecting the worst for our 24 Nov Avalon cruise from A to B which will likely include unplanned buses, hotels & ship swaps. However I expect Avalon will be shepherding us around and the most difficult things I should have to worry about are putting my suitcase outside my door in the morning and deciding which schnitzel to have for dinner, so we should be ok. If the cruise is cancelled (or if we are given an option to cancel and take it) we'll do the trip by train and book hotels along the way.  Trains are frequent & comfortable and there are a dozen hotels within 100m of all the stations. Maybe we should have planned a train trip in the first place....!

27 minutes ago, gadugger said:

Yesterday I received our info. packet for our AMA cruise from A to B Nov. 17 thru 24. No mention of low water issues. Info. on excursions  like bus time, walk time, etc. was provided but not in time to use the info. to do- on line scheduling so have to wait till on ship to make any changes.  If anybody's itinerary is changed to include new countries you should notify your credit card companies and debit card financial institutions of these changes.  

Good luck! We sail the following week on the same route and are hopeful water levels will rise.

I called Visa 2 years ago when I was in Europe to let them know where I was going and while I was away someone ordered $4000 worth of Dyson vacuum cleaners by mail order on my card! Fortunately it was sorted quickly but I may call them twice this year ;-)

19 hours ago, hbr777 said:

Hello! We are on the AmaKristina B to A 12/3. We will let you know!

And I'll let you know hbr777 - We are with Avalon, A to B on 24 Nov. Pray for rain!