TMLAalum

The way our summer is beginning with our trip to north of Montreal shortened due to smoke, heavy rain and more smoke only to come home to NE Ohio for more of the same, has me feeling anxious about what might befall our August trip to France (riots & strikes), Rhine River cruise (low water & busses) and Switzerland (?).

Definitely! Each couple in our group dealt with our local TA directly for providing their personal information and payment. A friend and I are "point" people aka group leaders. We chose a name for our group, spread the word on specific cruise and provided a link and told them, if interested, to call the TA, state they were part of the "name" group and book on their own as a member of the "name" group. Easy peasy.

We book with Avalon. As few as 4 cabins = a group! We have 8 cabins (16 people) sailing with us in August on the Expression. We request our TA to distribute the savings equally post-cruise regardless of cabin type booked. 7 cabins are in the "basement" but the 8th is the Royal Suite. The rebate is a percentage of grand total for all cabins combined not counting onboard purchases. It worked well on our previous river cruise on the Avalon Illumination vs. having one or two persons cruise gratis. From their website: No matter the occasion — family reunion, friend’s getaway, club event or church group — Avalon provides a great collection of river and small-ship cruises exclusively for you and your group. So get the gang together to explore Europe, South America, or Asia on an award-winning Avalon river cruise. Our Groups Department can make all the arrangements for the perfect cruise for you and your crew. Get the group together for big fun and bigger savings. Groups with as few as eight can save, while groups up to fifteen can save even more!

Do I have to do the math to determine the # of days booked ahead? Haven't had my minimal daily requirement of my morning coffee yet! 22 months ahead seems to be the furthest out we've booked. But twice we've booked with Celebrity on the first day itineraries are released- the EDGE inaugural and next year's Iceland/Greenland on the Eclipse.

We are cruising in the opposite direction and signed up for the Philosopher's Walk because even though it states it is 8 hours, there appears to be free time in Heidelberg afterwards and we liked the small group aspect of this excursion. FYI: Here is the website for the castle: Heidelberg Castle (schloss-heidelberg.de)

Cleveland Clinic was replacing their hospital gowns and rumor has it the old ones were sold to Celebrity......cutbacks, you know.😁

When friends of ours had to cancel their Avalon river cruise before final payment, even though the $500 deposit was supposed to be non-refundable, they were offered the option to transfer to another cruise or use it on a Globus tour!! This was pre-covid though.

On evening on our Silhouette cruise that ended 3/9, DH and I (Elite) walked into the Sky Lounge to partake of our 5-7 nightly beverages. There was a hostess at the door and we showed our seapass cards. Unbeknownst to us, it was an event for ?? where waitstaff came around offering select cocktails one at a time after the host announced what each was. It was delightful and I was happy we happened upon it! What was it???

Yup. 3 bagless weeks thanks to Airberlin in 2016. No reimbursement. Thank goodness for the C&A store in Amsterdam, which I have since heard it referred to as Cheap and Awful! We have 3 weeks in Europe later this summer, with a Rhine River cruise sandwiched between France and Switzerland. Carryons only, not just because of fear of lost luggage, but to make schlepping on the Thalys and Swiss Rail more manageable.

Loving your Canadian Rockies photos! We spent a wonderful week last September in Jasper and Canmore. The year prior we sailed the Millennium r/t from Seattle to Alaska as the world was just beginning to reopen from Covid, so looking forward to your pix from your cruise!

The acceptance of terms and conditions is not allowing me to accept! Is it because I scroll down as fast as I can to click on accept? I keep getting sent back to square one. Oh well, won't need to use it to board until August 2024!

Avalon Amsterdam Canal Boat Excursion! Is this better and different than those available to all tourists? Our previous experience was on a small historic saloon boat for 12. Thanks!

Thanks, I'd already bookmarked this site, but our late August sail date is not yet available.

Avalon Amsterdam Docking Locations- We are arriving at Amsterdam Centraal from Paris on the Thalys There are SIX possible Amsterdam docks with the most out-of-the-way being Coenhaven Westerhofd SB (AMCO), which seems to be reachable only by taxi. Has anyone sailed from there and if so, how did you get there? Two are on De Ruijterkade and are just 4 minutes walk from Amsterdam Centraal- fingers X'd. Veemkade, Javakade, and Westerdoksdijk seem doable by tram and a walk, but perhaps a taxi would be better? Any thoughts on these locations? Thanks!

Thanks to the Power Up Points for helping us reach Elite Plus for our future cruises and being able to take advantage of Cafe al Bacio for no charge! Cafe Americano for me and Decaf Cafe Mocha for DH,

My DH and I live by this saying: "Very Little Makes Me Happy"! Just as on the Celebrity forum here the interpretation of the above is key. Kinda like the glass half-full or half-empty take on life. Or, speaking of life, how about the old Life cereal commercial where the siblings put a bowl of the cereal in front of Mikey to try because he hated everything. As for us, we ignore minor flaws and focus on the positives, plenty of which we continue to find with Celebrity.

IDK where my brain went! Thanks for this. I've recommended the series to as many friends personally in a LOUD voice. Thanks for lighting the way so that other Cruise Critic members are now able to find it!

If you can, watch the series A Small Voice about Miep Gies, who worked for Otto Frank and was the family's lifeline while they were in hiding. It is on demand on the National Geographic Channel and streaming on Hulu and Disney. @Grumpella A Small Voice highlighted the work of Jan Gies and other resistors to the occupiers in Holland, which has put the Dutch Resistance Museum on our itinerary for our time in Amsterdam.

I was very disappointed that next year's Iceland/Greenland sailings were assigned to the Eclipse vs. the revolutionized Summit as in the '23 and '22 voyages. We recently sailed on the Silhouette and, although our cabin was updated with new carpet etc., several key areas of the ship, such as the OV cafe, were not. Time for Celebrity to spruce up all the M and S class ships!

Yes, I agree. We have rented a car on our previous visits to Switzerland. Most recently out of Frankfurt, returning the car to Nuremberg pre Danube cruise. if renting at the Basel airport, be certain you rent from the Swiss section and that there is the mandatory vignette included. Also, we chose the Hotel Balm in Meggen to avoid parking our rental car at a garage in Lucerne. Free transportation pass from the hotel, free parking, yummy breakfast and just a 15 minute bus ride to Lucerne from the stop directly by the hotel! Because we are ten for our post cruise Switzerland travels we opted for trains. 30% discount. And Wengen is a car-free village so that was another factor.

Can your TA price out cruise cost only without the extensions? As others have posted, Lucerne would be a better choice than Zurich and, if your Romantic Rhine on Avalon itinerary is exactly like ours, you will overnight aboard the boat before cruising down the Rhine so do you really need that extra night as part of your cruise extension? If you are comfortable doing so, DIYing to Lucerne would provide you flexibility as well as significant cost-savings! The train ride from Basel is @1hr. A double room price range 200-300CHF night. Mt. Pilatus excursion 100 CHF pp. Walking tour 25 CHF pp. Flying into AMS from the US you will probably want to arrive the day before the start of the cruise, so plan on a double room there between euro 200-300. So maybe 600 per person total vs??? We are adding on 7 nights in Switzerland after our cruise ends in Basel at @1100 CHF per person for train travel, the Berner-Oberland pass, 2 nights w/ breakfast at the Continental Park Lucerne, 4 nights in a VRBO in Wengen, and the final night at the Radisson Blu Zurich airport.

Avalon is a great choice and that line's panoramic view cabins are probably the best of all river cruise companies except for suites and the "basement" cabins which are similar across brands. Check out post #1921 here on p.77 that gives a review of cruise you are contemplating! All Things Avalon - Page 77 - River Cruising - Cruise Critic Community To make it simpler I am copying/pasting MoonRiver54's post here: "My wife and I recently returned from our Avalon "Danube Dreams" river cruise from Vilshofen, Germany to Budapest, Hungary aboard the Avalon Envision. Our sailing date way 09 MAY 2023. This was our first river cruise and I cannot begin to tell you how much we truly enjoyed the entire experience. Although it rained almost every day...we were fully prepared with our umbrellas and hiking shoes...so the foul weather was no issue! Avalon Waterways is a SUPERB operation, from top to bottom. The Avalon Envision was SPOTLESS...like new. Our Panorama stateroom was utterly COMFORTABLE...toasty...like a home on the river. And the ship's crew was truly OUTSTANDING...just THE BEST! They took such great care of us. The food was 5-STAR...all of it...breakfast, lunch and dinner. I usually only eat twice a day...however I made an exception here!! I just couldn't pass it up. It was just SO GOOD! We were SO pleased with our Avalon Waterways experience that we booked a fall cruise on the Rhine upon returning home. Yes...THAT'S how much we enjoyed our river cruise aboard Avalon! FWIW...my wife and I are not affiliated with Avalon in any way, not travel agents, not YouTubers, but instead...simply retirees looking for an enjoyable travel experience. And we darned sure found it here!"

@CPT Trips All aboard is 5pm on Day One of the itinerary. Our TA has promised to contact Avalon to see about a more detailed schedule for our time in Amsterdam. The canal boat could be skipped by the Anne Frank folk if they've already done that on their previous time there, unless there is something special about the Avalon excursion. DH and my Amsterdam canal boat voyage was on an historic saloon boat with 10 others from our Celebrity roll call- the group previous to us had a catered event and the food and drink left was there for us to enjoy. Don't know if Avalon's can compare to that!

I contacted our TA to have her request specific schedule for Amsterdam from Avalon. Thanks @Daisi and @Canal archive for your responses!

For those who've taken this cruise which requires an all-aboard by 5pm the first night, then overnights in Amsterdam before leaving the following afternoon for Cologne, how much free time can we expect to explore Amsterdam? We arrive the day of the cruise at 12:44pm via Thalys from Paris. We are travelling with a group of friends/family, most of whom want to visit the Anne Frank House for certain. Looking over the non-detailed itinerary for this cruise it appears the afternoon of boarding day is free; what about that evening since hours for the house go until 10pm? The following day's schedule shows Canals of Colorful Amsterdam or joining the Adventure host. The Afternoon offers a choice of free time or optional ($) excursion, but no mention of the all-aboard time. Our dates in Amsterdam are 8/29 and 8/30 so there is time for the Anne Frank contingent to pre-book their tickets. Should they go for the afternoon of boarding day or that evening? Or would they be better off booking for the next day afternoon after Avalon's morning excursion? Thanks, and BTW if you've not seen the series "A Small Light" about Miep Gies that is available on the Nat'l Geo channel and streaming on Disney & Hulu, I highly recommend it! It's inspired me to spend time at the Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam, (DH and I aren't part of the AFH visitors).