2nutz4travel

Aren’t you going to Anacapri for the chairlift?? It’s my favorite part of Capri

I prefer to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground ;)

We're planning to DIY Capri when we dock in Naples on Oct 6. The plan is to do the Pizzolungo walk, maybe the gardens if there's time and then have a nice lunch and do some people watching before taking the ferry back to Naples.

Looking for recommendations for a nice place to have lunch and also wondering if reservations are necessary that time of year? There are 2 other ships in port in Naples that day...

Thanks in advance!

kathy

Thank you so much UKPete71 for the detailed report! Sailing on the Connie in the fall for the first time so your pictures and detail are most appreciated! Thanks again [emoji122]

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If they cancelled 2019 due to lack of demand, there isn’t a huge amount of demand in 2018 either.

My thoughts exactly - that's what worries me. Only 5 cabins booked on mine so far...

Sounds like a good guess, and it may show that Avalon is willing to take a loss this year to protect those guests that have already booked.

I hope you're right!

I sent a message off to Avalon, this was their response:

Thank you for contacting Avalon. At the moment we have no plans for cancelling our 2018 Myanmar cruises. The main reason we cancelled our 2019 cruises was due to low customer demand.

If the situation in Myanmar changes and it becomes unsafe to travel, we will reevaluate the situation at that time. Our passenger and staff safety is our #1 concern. In the event we do need to cancel your cruise we will offer you a full refund. If you have booked your flights independently we will look at compensation on a case by case basis. If you have not already booked your flights and are worried about the cruise being cancelled, we recommend booking your flights with Avalon so as not to incur any additional cancellation fees.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

I understand if they cancel for safety reasons, although things seem to have settled there a little for the time being... Hopefully bookings will pick up so they don't decide to cancel due to lack of demand. Time will tell...

I'm booked on the Dec 18 southbound trip. I looked this morning and only 5 cabins are booked. Sure hope they don't cancel - presumably this is the last one...

See my answers below in red, hope this helps! Sorry for the delay, things got busy :)

1. Would you be able to take some pictures of the variety of daily menus (including wine and nn alcoholic beverages).

Sorry, I didn't get any pictures. Every day there was a meat dish, a fish dish and a veggie option for the entree, your choice of 3 appetizers, 2 soups and 3 desserts as well

2. What is your favorite thing you have eaten and drinked so far?

Most of the entrees were great, the lamb, beef, pork and veal were all great, but the venison was the best I've ever had

3. Have you signed up for the bistro tapas dinner?

Did it one night, it was awful. The food either lacked flavour or was too salty. Supposedly they changed the menu after I went, but I didn't want to risk it again

4. What were your first impressions of the ship?

Very good, the lobby is nice but not over the top. The rooms are well thought out and a very good use of space. Beds and pillows comfy and I loved the floor to ceiling windows

5. Favorite highlights so far?

Someone asked me that today, we covered so much it's hard to say. We had a really great group of people on board, so I think that would be the highlight for me

6. Have your days felt full and busy or full and relaxed?

The first week was very relaxing, we typically had 1/2 a day in port and the other half cruising. The second week was much busier with full port days

7. How are the motorcoaches?

Every single bus we were on was clean and new. Very nice.

8. Why did you pick river cruising?

I wanted something different for the holidays.

9. What is thr thing or things that you are most glad you packed or things you wish you had left behind?

My camera! There was nothing I felt I needed.

10. What were your top things you did in Amsterdam? Anything you wish you had more time to do?

I just wandered around taking pictures, that's what I enjoy doing. I didn't go to any of the museums

11. Is there much diversity of ages on the boat?

There were more people in the 40-60 range than I thought there would be, a few 20 somethings with their parents/grandparents.

12. Any issues that have come up so far?

We had to dock in Komarom, the river level was too low to sail into Budapest. Nothing Avalon could do about that, but they handled it magnificently

13. What time do most people seem to go to bed on the ship so far?

Many went to bed right after dinner, a core group were there to the bitter end most nights. The bar closed at 11, but many nights people were still around later than that

14. Did you plan in pre travel before boarding the ship?

Yes, I had 2 nights in Amsterdam pre cruise

15. What time did you board the ship? Did you have lunch on the ship? Did you get off the ship after dropping off luggage or stay on the ship?

I did an excursion before boarding, we checked in at the hotel and then they took us right to the ship afterwards. I think they took everyone else to the ship around 4 pm

16. Did anyone get motion sickness

Not that I'm aware of

17. Have you had much time to just enjoy cruising the river?

See #6

18. Have you stayed up for the 1030 evening snacks? If so what was served?

I was up, but never looked at them, not hungry after dinner!

19. What is in your mini fridge. Is there enough room to store some cheese and other beverages if we picked some up during our travels?

Beer, wine, alcohol, coke & diet coke. Not much room, but you could probably empty it?

20. Any issues with the boat? Smokers? Noise?

Rooms very quiet, a little hall noise but couldn't hear the neighbours. Smokers go out the back. As the weather got colder you could feel it around the door and the ship seemed to creak a little more.

21. Being it is colder out...have you spent any time e on the outside decks? If it was chilly did staff bring you free hot coco and blankets so you can enjoy sitting outside despite the cold?

The day we sailed the Rhine Gorge we were up top. It was cold, they did bring us mulled wine. There are blankets in your room you can use if you like

22. Is it warm enough to have your window open in your room if with heat on and blankets?

I opened my door a few days and enjoyed the sunshine

23. How long do dinners usually last? How about lunch?

Dinner usually a couple of hours, we were normally done by 9 and usually started at 7. Lunch is buffet, so you can take as much time as you want

24. Are people wearing jeans to dinner at all?

I think there might have been

25. How is having to dry wet clothes (from being outside in thr weather) going on thr boat? Any suggestions?

We had amazing weather, so no wet clothes

26. Is dinner filling? My husband is 6'3 and sometimes doesn't get full on usual meals. Can you get more of something if still hungry or really liking something?

Portions are small, which is fine for me. I was certainly never hungry after dinner. I didn't see anyone order multiple courses but the staff are so accommodating that I'm pretty sure they would bring you whatever you wanted!

On the Avalon Vista for the Magnificent Europe Christmas cruise. We departed Amsterdam Tuesday evening, were in Cologne yesterday and will be arriving in Rudesheim shortly. So far everything has been great! The low water levels have slowed us down a little, but that's not a problem.

If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to try and answer them for you.

Not sure where you are getting your info from, but there are no "inside" cabins on the National Geographic Explorer. The single cabins on the main deck (category SA) have a large window or two portholes, and the ones on the upper deck (category SB) have a large window.

 

I hope you can find something suitable out there, it's a trip of a lifetime!

Thanks Turtles06 - looks like I was confusing it with another ship. I'm really liking the sound of the Linblad/NatGeo experience (partly due to your blog/photo journal - loved it - thanks!) so that's good news. I'm sure I'll find something, I have a lot of time to plan and drive myself crazy!

Looking at doing an Antarctic cruise in 2017 or possibly 2016, unfortunately I'll be travelling alone. While I do enjoy the company of others, I've had some bad experiences with room mates and prefer to have my privacy. (And, yes, I know that you don't spend a lot of time in your cabin/stateroom)

For most of the cruises the single supplement is pretty high. So far I've found 2 ships that have single cabins, which I'm okay with. They are Quark's Ocean Diamond (window or porthole) and the NG Explorer (inside only)

Are there any others that I'm missing or even others that have a more reasonable single supplement?

Thanks in advance

Thanks! I tend to agree then, for that short of a trip it doesn't seem to make sense.

I'm looking at taking the train from London to Harwich for our upcoming TA. What is the difference between First Class & Standard? I can't find anything describing the differences.

Thanks!

My suggestion - avoid the buffet. A lot of cruise lines put MSG in the food to make it 'hold' better.

I have high blood pressure and am on a sodium reduced diet - I don't have a problem when cruising because we tend to not eat at the buffet. Fresh is always better!