KarenRivera

36 minutes ago, Loreto said:

Thank you so much for your Avalon review!  Such an ambitious undertaking and I am glad everything worked as planned.  We leave soon for our Avalon cruise and your information was very helpful!

 

Yes I am happy to report, since I enjoy everyone else's reports very much and the info has been so helpful to me.  I hope you have great river cruise, AVALON is an amazing company.

1 hour ago, Lois R said:

Good morning Karen, thanks for the beautiful review and as an aside, you sound like you have an awesome family and it brings a tear to me.....(good ones).I was very close to my Dad and it sounds like you and yours are that way as well. What a wonderful thing to be able to take a trip like this together🙂

And yes, whoever that company is that specializes in getting his treatments together? WOW......they sound fantastic. 

Again, thanks for sharing your family experience with the us.🙂  I sail solo but that doesn't really matter.

I have been on 2 river cruises and now, after reading your review, I want to do another another one even more (and I know I wanted to do one before I read it LOL). 

Hi Lois, thanks for your kind words, yes I thank God my family is pretty close and we shared a great trip together.  The company is called Nephrocare, here's the link to their website, https://www.nephrocare.com/patients-home/holiday-dialysis.html they were awesome and made this trip possible for my dad. I hope other dialysis patient's will take the leap and use these services to travel.   River cruising was a great experience, definitely will repeat as soon as possible. 

CONT.:

Day 7: Friday After the Windmills tour, we were back to ship before 5 pm.  My husband, sister and I immediately went out to walk around the city center, enjoying the lovely weather and lively ambiance, since Amsterdam was the busiest place we had visited on the trip so far.  Streets were full of people and sundown was at 9:30 pm.  We walked all over the Red Light District, Dam Square and the main commercial streets, crossing bridges many beautiful canals.  Outdoor cafes and canal boats with small parties were in full swing.

We were back on board around 8 pm.  Sadly that was our last night on board the Avalon Expression.  Our last dinner on the ship with a view to the city was as good as the rest of them.   We said our goodbyes to the Expression crew, distributed tips, and finished our packing.  

Day 8:  Saturday, August 21.  Disembarkation in Amsterdam.  Breakfast was served in the dining room as usual until 9 am.  We brought our bags up to the lobby around 8:50 am.  The front desk had scheduled a taxi for us to transfer to our Amsterdam Hotel, Hotel Estherea, which was recommended here in Cruise Critic boards.  Taxi was timely and in less than 15 m we were at the beautiful Estherea Hotel.  We could not check in since it was too early, but they graciously stored all our bags.  They have complimentary coffee/tea/ice water/hot chocolate/cookies and snacks in the lobby 24/7.  Elegant, cozy, comfortable lobby that invites lounging.   I walked with my dad 10 m to a nearby free COVID testing facility (free PCR test by the Dutch government!) that he needed for his next dialysis session.  The rest of the team walked 10 m in another direction to visit the Anne Frank house which we had booked in advance for 10:15 am.  We met back at the hotel around 11:15 am.  My  husband and I rushed to visit the Maritime Museum to which we took Uber there and back, easy and fast.  Sister and son stayed with my dad at the hotel and checked into the rooms at noon, large and beautiful rooms with views to the canal.  Highly recommend Hotel Estherea, and the value for the money unbeatable.

At 2 pm sister, son and I took a bike tour of Amsterdam with Mike's Bike Tour (husband took turn to stay with dad and was happy to lunch with him in a cafe near the hotel).  Mike's Bike Tour was a lot of fun, there were about 15 pax in the group and we zipped for about 2 hours all over Amsterdam starting with Vondelpark, and around to the waterfront, feeling safe in the heavy bike traffic with our guides.  We stopped for a beer/refreshment in a 17th c pub which was a great treat.  Highly recommend this tour for active people.

After the tour we went back to the hotel around 5 pm to rest for a bit.  Husband and I went out for dinner around 7 pm (Italian outdoor cafe), sister and son went out a bit later (Turkish grill cafe), and we took take out for our dad, who was a bit tired and was enjoying his room at the Estherea.  We walked around the city some more after dinner, returned to the hotel, arranged taxi pickup for the morning at 8 am  to transfer to Schipol Airport and then went to bed quite exhausted, after filling out the forms to obtain the QR code for entering Spain.  Our flight to Madrid was Sunday at 11 am.  We stayed 5 additional days in Madrid, which I will write about later.

This concludes my review of the river cruise portion of our trip.  It was overall a wonderful experience.  Just for some background, I lived in Europe for 5 years in the 90s, I worked as a licensed tour guide, and have travelled extensively all my life.   I have taken several ocean cruises in the Mediterranean, Greece and the Caribbean.  Up until this cruise I have always done only independent travel; so this was a first for us. I was a bit apprehensive that the schedule would be too rigid and that we might feel confined on the small ship, however I was open to enjoy the experience regardless.  It turned out to the so much better than I expected.  I think that it is a perfect trip for multigenerational family groups that have teenaged/young adult children.  There are so many options of activities outside the ship and a lot more flexibility than I thought.  We were able to do a LOT of independent touring and never felt herded like sheep.  My son specially made use of the ship's included E-bike and had a blast biking by himself in different cities.   Three nights the ship remained overnight on port and that allowed us to roam the cities later on our own and enjoy some local night life.  

At the same time, the river cruise's services - included tours, onboard entertainment, amazing floating hotel and specially the gourmet, delicious included meals with bottomless wine and beer-  allowed us for a hassle-free, comfortable, thoroughly enjoyable week that we are eager to repeat.   We felt right at home and extremely pampered by the ship's crew. Specially for my 83 year old dad the ship was heaven, he was treated like royalty and we felt comfortable leaving him by himself on the ship for short periods, since he could easily walk to the dinning room and lounge and back to his stateroom on his own, and would not get lost or confused like he might have in a large ship.   Crew was always there to assist, the elevator worked wonderfully well.  He loved the views from the ship's lounges and from his stateroom, he never tired of looking and exclaiming over every new landscape.  I cannot compare this to any other experience (in non-pandemic times, or on another river  cruise line), since this is our first river cruise; all I can say is that it will be hard to top our experience in the Avalon Expression Romantic Rhine.

With lots of planning, we were able to fit in my dad's dialysis treatments in the ship's schedule, and the ship crew was extremely cooperative and accomodating to our needs.  I am happy to report, what seemed impossible was actually quite doable, and my dad was able to enjoy his bucket list river cruise, while taking his dialysis treatments, remained thanks to God thoroughly healthy and is already planning his next trip.

IF you all have any questions I'd be happy to answer.  I will post some photographs tomorrow if I can figure out how.

Day 5: Wednesday, AM Rudesheim, Rhine Gorge, PM Koblenz:  At around 7:30 am we sailed into Rudesheim, in front of a grassy park right in town.  I was looking out the cabin window as we sailed past the Niederwald Monument.  My son and dad slept in and the rest of the team visited the amazing Mechanical Instruments Museum.  At 10 am we joined the hike up to the monument with the ship's adventure guide, and came down in the gondola.  Lunch at the ship was delicious German buffet.  We sailed at 12:30 pm and started our trayectory thru the Rhine Gorge, during a sunny, breezy, perfect afternoon to enjoy the gorgeous scenery, villages and castles.  We arrived at Koblenz around 5 pm and took the ships bikes and biked all over this pleasant town. This day was my birthday and was surprised by the dining room attendants with a cake and candles, and sang me Happy Birthday, a very nice touch, and they did the same for a couple of other passengers who also had birthdays during the trip.  After dinner there was entertainment at the lounge with the Groove Band, a local band from Cologne, who did covers of 50s, 60s and 70s songs, very well done, and some passengers danced, no restrictions to dancing.

Day 6:  Thursday, Cologne AM.  Upon arriving my husband and I walked to the nearby train bridge, 5 m walk, to take in the views and see the locks.  My dad had dialysis and was escorted by my sister to the center in Leverkusen (25 m taxi), my son slept in and my husband and I took the walking tour of Cologne and after the tour climbed the Cathedral towers.  We could not visit the interior of the Cathedral because it was not open until 11 am due to services.  Went back to the ship to meet my son, took the ship's bikes and biked to the Chocolate Museum but could not visit that since it was sold out for the day.  We did drop in to the shop and got some goodies.  I did not think getting tickets in advance was necessary because I thought there were not that many tourists, but be warned if you want to visit best to purchase tickets on line in advance. 

So we biked to Peter's Brauhaus and tried the kolsch beer and some local fare instead.  It turned out a nice morning.  Weather was overcast and bit cooler than the days before.

My dad and sister returned safely to ship at 12:30 pm.  At 1 pm we sailed for Amsterdam.  Afternoon we rested, packed and took care of different things like tips, paperwork, etc.  Avalon  provided free  COVID testing required to fly back to the US which you had to sign up for and was done on the ship on Friday.   We did not take advantage of that because we were staying in Europe for another week.  Nico did a very good presentation on the Netherlands in the lounge, and also a disembarkation orientation.  That evening we had the farewell dinner which included lobster and was great.  Also the presentation of the crew which had provided excellent services to us all week.

Day 7:  Amsterdam, we arrived at around 6 am and docked right in the city, next to the train station, wonderful location.  We took the included Canal Boat tour, all except my son who slept in again and later took out the ship's bike and biked on his own thru the city.  Amsterdam was sunny and cooler, temps in the 60s, great weather.  Canal boat tour was great.  We finished and were bussed back to the ship around 11 am.  My husband and I took public transport to do a quick visit to the Willet-Holsthuysen Musuem, a 17th century mansion, and enjoyed it very much.  At 1 pm all of us took the ship's optional tour to Zaanse Schans, the weather was lovely and we had a great time touring the little village and admiring the colorful windmills.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW

On 8/16/2021 at 12:11 AM, nursinadream said:

Karen, are you doing your own tour over to Alsace?  Love to read that your are traveling with your family.  Enjoy.  Thanks for posting.

 

Yes we did a wonderful private tour with Alsace Safari.  They picked us up in port and provided transport and guide, Ana and Eric.  Alsace region is picture-perfect beautiful.  We visited the Chateau du Haut Koeningsburg and 2 villages plus a wine tasting. 

On 8/16/2021 at 6:46 PM, SCBarker said:

Glad to hear from someone on this cruise.  I'll be on the same ship in October doing the reverse route. I'll be hanging on every word of this review. I did happen to be on this ship before (my only other river cruise) on the Danube.  I don't remember eating lunch onboard, but then again we only cruised once during the day on that trip, so I don't even remember if lunch was always buffet style.  I can't imagine having so few passengers. Two questions:

Is the cafe/gameroom open and stocked in the aft of the ship? I was always back there getting as much ice as possible and cookies.

What is the cruise director's name? Curious if it happens to be the same one I had before.

Yes the cafe/gameroom and all other ship's public areas were open and fully operational.  Cookies and ice plentiful.  Cruise director was Nico, very efficient, extremely affable and nice, spoke perfect English and Spanish, was very helpful to us in providing information.

On 8/18/2021 at 4:13 PM, notamermaid said:

@KarenRivera marinetraffic.com signals the Avalon Expression as being in Koblenz, so I guess this is the right ship, if you are on the Rhine. A snapshot taken from the webcam on Ehrenbreitstein:

 

https://www.feratel.com/en/webcams/germany/koblenz.html

 

I hope you have had a great day seeing the castles.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

YES, that was us!!!! We did have a beautiful, dreamlike sunny and breezy day sailing the Rhine Gorge that day, it could not have been more perfect.  We sat on deck and enjoyed the narration and incredible views for about 2 hrs, then another hour in the jacuzzi while sailing by the last section of the gorge.  When we arrived at Koblenz we took the ships bikes, and 4 of us biked the whole downtown for about 1.5 hours before dinner.  Koblenz is really nice and great for biking.

Hello everyone, we are back from our trip since last Friday.  I apologize for not being able to continue the report live from the ship; things got reaaally busy and I literally could not find any spare time to continue writing.  I will try to update during the next few days until I cover the whole trip.

To recoup, we boarded Avalon Expression on Saturday, August 14 from Basel.  We had stayed in Lucerne at the Cascada Hotel since August 11 and had a wonderful time.  We made our own pre-cruise arrangements, had a triple room, very large, and a double room. ( Included breakfast at Cascada was amazing, a huge varied buffet with all the breads, pastries, cereals, juices, cold cuts, made to order eggs, breakfast meats, waffles, pancackes, etc. Cascada also had free bikes for the guests, which we used to bike across town to the Lucerne beach, and a free transport pass for public transport in the city.)  We travelled as a multigenerational family group of 5 adults from 20 to 83 year old. Everyone had a blast.  It was our first time river cruising and we are hooked.

One other thing that made our trip extraordinary (besides travelling during the COVID pandemic) is that my dad is a hemodialysis patient so we had to arrange for him to receive dialysis treatments while travelling from Switzerland to the Netherlands and then during a 1 week post-cruise stay in Spain.  He had a total of 7 dialysis treatments during our 17 day trip.  We did this thru an amazing company called Nephrocare who coordinates dialysis for patients while travelling.   I have to say everything went wonderfully well thanks God.  Avalon crew was most helpful in assisting us to arrange transfers from the port to the dialysis centers in the ocassions my dad had treatment.  They were definitely stellar and went above and beyond their call of duty.  

Day 1:  Saturday, Basel.  The five of us walked 4 blocks from Cascada hotel to Lucerne train station.  (We only had carry ons and pushed my dad in his manual wheelchair).  At 10 am we took a 50 m train from Lucerne to Basel, taxi from the station to the port.  Port was in an industrial area about 15 m taxi from Basel city center.  We arrived around 12 noon, were effusively welcomed by the staff;  check in was a breeze, delicious buffet lunch was served in the lounge, some passengers had already arrived and everyone was invited to partake immediately.   Only restriction was mask wearing, otherwise business as usual.  We had our staterooms keys by 12:30 pm.  

My husband, sister and I visited the Vitra Design Museum for a couple of hours (my husband is an architect and my sister an interior designer), went by taxi (15 m) and loved it.  Later my son, husband and I took another 10 m taxi to Basel city center to swim in the Rhine river as the locals do; it was 90 F and there were literally 100s of locals swimming in the Rhine, it was great to join them.

At 5 pm we were back on the ship.  Ship sailed around 6 pm, had complimentary welcome sparkling wine in the lounge to toast our departure.  We were the 2nd Avalon ship doing the Rhine route after the pandemic shut down.  There were about 50 passengers on board, I'd say about 1/3 capacity.  Our Cruise Director was Nico, he gave the welcome remarks and introduced the captain and crew, etc.  Other passengers were mixed, most older american friend groups, couples and 3 other multigenerational family groups like ours.

At 7 pm dinner followed in the dinning room.  Dining room attire totally informal; my husband was allowed to dine in his cargo shorts and polo shirt everyday.  The food was great and very varied, wine and beer plentiful and a great selection, service was incredible, there were about 3 servers per table, we cannot say enough about the dining experience.  Most everyone sat in their family group.  We did not have to stick to the same table, we sat wherever we wanted at every meal.  Lunch and breakfast was buffet style.  

Our 3 staterooms were awesome, just amazing.  We had 2 cabins in the bottom level (no balcony only windows), but they were a good size and extremely cozy, bed huge and very comfortable, soundproofing great, bathroom fixtures great.   We slept like babies all week.  My dad and son had the deluxe staterom on the 2 level with the balcony, incredible room, we all hung out there at times enjoying the views.   We had our mini fridges emptied by the attendants and were able to use them to store our own drinks/goodies.  Rooms were cleaned 3 times a day.  We did laundry on the ship since we were travelling very light and with few clothes.  Laundry services great and affordable.   Only negative I can mention about the cabin is the TV selection is no good, however we did not care since we did not watch TV.

Another note is that my son made full use of the ship's gym, since there were so few other passengers, it was almost like a private gym for him, and he spent 1-2 hrs there everyday in the evenings working out and he loved it.  He and I also used the jacuzzi one afternoon and several evenings and it was almost our private retreat since we only once coincided with other passengers there.

Day 2:  Sunday, Port was Breisach. Ship was docked in an industrial area 10 m bike ride from the village.  As said, we booked a private whole day tour of the Alsace region with Alsace Safari, which included transportation in a very comfortable minivan for 8 passengers.  Highly recommend these providers.  The weather was beautiful, a bit warmer than we would like but clear blue skies, we had an excellent day.  Before we were picked up for the tour, my husband and I used the ships E-bikes to explore the village of Breisach for 1 hour, small but scenic.   

Day 3:  Monday,  Strasbourg.  Port was on the German side in an industrial area.  I did not do the ship's included tours that day because I escorted my dad to dialysis in nearby town of Lahr.  My sister, son and husband did do the ship's Strasbourg tour and enjoyed it. They climbed to the roof of the Strasbourg cathedral.   I relaxed with my dad on board in the morning and then went with him to Lahr in taxi (30 m)for treatment in the PM, were back around 6 pm.  Transport was kindly and efficiently arranged by the ship's front desk attendant, Irena, who is a jewel.  I don't know how I would have accomplished such hassle free transportation without her.  Ship departed around 7 pm.  My husband did the optional Maginot Line tour in the afternoon and loved it.  My son took the ship's E-bike in the afternoon and biked all over Strasbourg on his own and had a blast.

Day 4:  Ludwigshafen/Mainz.  The ship docked in an industrial area near Mannheim at 7 am in order to transfer the passengers to the bus for Heidelberg all day tour that left at 8:30 am.  I did not participate in that tour since that day, my 20 yr old son and I took the train from Mannheim station down to Ringsheim (1:15 m) to visit famous German theme park Europa Park for the day.  We took a 15 m taxi from the dock to the train station, I had bought the train and park tickets on line.  We arrived at Ringsheim around 8:50 am, took the free park bus from the station to the park.  Park is requiring vaccination evidence for admission.  Line was long but moved quickly, we were inside by 9:20 am.  Europa Park is beautiful, a German version of Disney its like a Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Busch Gardens all rolled up into one.  Very clean, organized, beautifully landscaped.  It was fairly full of visitors, being the summer vacation, but we did not spot any americans.  We rode all the extreme rollercoasters (4), and other classic rides like the river rafting, water flumes, and pirates ride, had ice cream and other treats, and had an all around hectic but great day.  At 6 pm we took the park bus back to the train station and train back to Mainz (ship had continued sailing downriver to this other city) and arrived at the ship around 9 pm.  The ship was overnighting in Mainz, so there was no danger of it sailing without us.  We were glad we did this on our own and it worked out well.

My sister, husband and dad joined the ship's tour to Heidelberg and enjoyed it.  My husband pushed my dad in his manual wheelchair all over Heidelberg and then did the Philosopher's walk to the scenic viewpoint on his own during the free time while my sister hung out with my dad in a cafe at Heidelberg's main square.  Guided tour included the castle and was from around 9:30 am to 11 am.  Free time from around 11:15 am to 3 pm, enough to do lunch and visit the city on your own for a couple of hours.  Bus was back to the ship in Mainz left Heidelberg at 3 pm and arrived at around 4:30 pm.  My sister took my dad into Mainz for a PCR Covid test he needed for his next dialysis.  I had scheduled it at a testing center 9 m taxi from the port.  The ship docked right in Mainz downtown in a really nice waterfront area.  I was sorry to miss Mainz which looked beautiful (I had visited Heidelberg before), but oh well, you can't do everything.  

That night ship entertainment was classical trio La Strada which offered an excellent concert, a real luxury.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW...

Hi everyone, sorry late post- been quite busy.  We flew into Zurich from Dulles.  Yesterday went excellently well- clear blue skies, only a bit too warm.  We did a private tour from Breisach with Alsace Safari which was from 9:30 am to 5 pm, to visit the stunning Chateau Haut Koenigsbourg, beautiful alsatian villages Riquewhir and Kaysrberg, and also wine tasting at a local winery near Colmar.  Were promptly picked up at our docking station in a very comfortable Mercedes minivan by guides Ana and Eric, and returned on time.  The tour was amazing especially the castle.  The wine route is movie-caliber picturesque. We also made a quick detour to see the ramparts of Vauban- designed Neuf Brisach. Highly recommend Alsace Safari.

Before the tour my husband and I used the ship’s ebikes to do a quick visit to the village of Breisach, which was quite deserted on a Sunday at 7 am but very pretty.

We passed on the ship’s included Black Forest tour because we had visited the Swiss Open Air Museum -which is the same concept as the one visited in the ship’s tour,- 2 days earlier and we would rather  experience the Alsace for a whole day.
 

The ship is having buffet breakfast snd dinner, no restrictions only mask wearing, you can help yourself, as usual.  The food and service have been outstanding.

I applied for the french pass Sanitaire, and did not get it, however we were able to go everywhere in France (castle, winery, shops, etc). with our CDC vaccination card.

So far, everything’s great and the temperatures are in the 70s today.

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I see you are rafted next to the Joy. Breisach looks busy with ships. Are you in the harbour area? How far is it into town?

 

notamermaid

 

Hi, yes we are in a dock called Angeler 3, in sn industrial area north of the village; we went by bike into Breisach in around 7 minutes.

Hi just to let everone know how the comeback to river cruising is going I will try to post everyday and answer questions.  My husband and I, in our 50s, my sister, 40s, my 21 year old son and my 83 year old dad are traveling on the Avalon Expression from Basel to Amsterdam 7 n.  This is our first ever river cruise.  We embarked yesterday, no problems whatsoever, after spending 3 wonderful days in Lucerne on our own (at the Hotel Cascada, BTW excellent well located and amazing breakfast).  We flew into Zurich, and transferred on our own the train to Basel, easy.  
 

All passengers and crew were required vaccination.  Only about 40-50 passengers.  Several families like ours.  Crew bending over to please everyone.  Mask wearing is required in public areas but can be taken off while eating or drinking.  No hassle at all.  
 

Weather has been hotter than normal,  highs in the 80-90s.  Blue skies.  We were able to swim in the lakes in Switzerland and in the Rhine river in Basel just like the locals do.  We went up Mt. Titlis and visited the Ballenberg Swiss Open Air Museum.  We went to the Vitra Design Museum in Basel, amazing place.

The ship is in good condition, the food so far very good to excellent so far, wine free flowing.  Lunch offered was buffet style, dinner in the dining room.

For Switzerland we got the QR code easily on the Swiss government website. You get it instantly bu email.   For France we applied by email for the Pass Sanitaire, but after 5 days, have not received anything but an automatic response.  Tomorrow we are going on a private tour of the Alsace from Breisach and will let you know how it goes in France.

So far, thanks God, everything is fantastic. 

12 hours ago, notamermaid said:

After a dip through the night, the level at Maxau is forecast to rise again during Sunday. The current prediction is that in the worst case scenario the level will get to just over 750cm on Monday but the most likely figure will be around 730cm. Next week will bring warmer temperatures and less rain so that after this weekend's rain has drained off the river has a chance of falling to levels in the Upper Rhine valley that could bring it out of mild flooding status. A chance only, not certain, as Lake Constance and some rivers in Switzerland remain high.

 

It is an unusual August in more ways than one, but at least the unusual case of not seeing river cruise ships on the river is almost over as most cruise lines have deployed their ships again, or will soon, not the whole fleets but a very substantial number. The first five ships I saw I greeted with child-like enthusiasm as if it were March 😀!

 

And the excursion boats that are so much part of normal river traffic are out and about, too.

 

notamermaid

 

This is very good news, thank you for the updates.  We will be sailing on the Avalon Expression, Basel to Amsterdam next Saturday August 14.  We are hoping for good weather

Hi Notamermaid,  I have been following your Rhine River water level posts closely since my family and I are scheduled to sail the Rhine River with Avalon on Aug. 14, Basel to Amsterdam.  This will be our first river cruise.  I am very grateful for your valuable reports.  I am a bit anxious about your last updates regarding the flood levels.  Do you think that this will affect the mid-August sailings?