VT Hokie Cruiser

Thank you for your suggestions!

Looking to book hotel for June 19, 2024 Oceania sailing -- convenient to cruise port, major sites, transportation. Thanks. 

Good to know. Thanks.

We disembark from Vista in Trieste on June 29, 2024 and want to go to Milan or Florence by train. Any thoughts about taxi availability to take us from the ship to train station in Trieste? At worst, I suppose we could take Oceania's transfer to Trieste airport and find a taxi there to train station? Thanks.

I got that card, too, at vaccination time. However, there is a way to print a copy of your "vaccination certificate." Did you sign up thru the VAMS portal (Vaccine Administration Management System of the CDC)? You can sign back in with your password and then download the PDF of your certificate and print it. I have had only the first Moderna shot and printed that certificate, but it appears I will be able to print the second certificate after I get the vaccine.  

To the original poster: as a follow-up, how did you find the foliage and temps to be for your early-November Rhine trip in 2019?

On the topic of laundry.... I used the laundry service on Avalon last spring and it was reasonable in price and efficient. My dress shirts were returned on hangers. Does anyone know if you can have shirts laundered on board to be returned folded and ready for packing, rather than on hangers? Thanks.

Thanks. I read somewhere that the Eurostar upgrade is not worth it. But I am 6-5 in height and legroom matters, so I will look into that!

To Turtles06: Travel agent says they don't have info yet on our assigned time slot for the train from Paris. 

Thanks, all, for your replies. Doverboy, I do not have the Eurostar ticket yet. I presume there will be a number of us who booked the cruise+London land extension and that they will put us all on the same train departure so that they can bus us together in both cities. I was guessing we would depart by mid-morning, but it sounds from the posting above that it could be later.

My Paris-Normandy river cruise package with Avalon in May includes a London extension, with travel to London via Eurostar train. For those who have done this, do you recall how early the train departure was from Paris? Is it super early, or at a reasonable time? I presume we will arrive in London via Eurostar by lunchtime and can plan on a half-day of sightseeing on our own? Thank you!

I wore a nice sweater and buttondown shirt to our Vienna concert in early May, and it was fine. I was advised on this board to "leave the blazer at home," which I did and didn't feel out of place. The room was warm.

I just returned from my first river cruise -- the Danube on Avalon Envision. I traveled for first time as a single (age 65, male, recently divorced) and wasn't sure what it would be like after 40 years of travel with spouse and/or family. It was great and I recommend it to others.

I found it rather easy to meet others, and I am not an extrovert. The variety of people I met and conversed with was among highlights of the trip. I found there were people who sort of watch out for single travelers. At dinner the first night I sat by myself at a two-top but was adjacent to two couples I met on the bus from Prague to the port. It probably appeared that I was "all alone" and soon an outgoing lady from a nearby table got up and came over and introduced herself and told me about the group she was traveling with. Very nice gesture. In the next few days I found myself "adopted" by two other groups of four people and tended to hang out, do excursions and have meals with them. (They were varying ages, and one was asked by another cruiser if I was their uncle, because we were hanging out so much). By the end of the week we knew everything about each other's backgrounds and families and will stay in touch. It was easy. Just ask others that you come in contact with if this is their first river cruise (I found that it usually was), and conversation flows from there.

By the way, the no-single-supplement is capacity controlled. There are only so many "single cabins" per sailing, so be aware. You can track the availability on the Avalon website, for example (although I used a travel agent to book). The no-supplement is highlighted in yellow if available for a particular sailing date. I just booked Paris to Normandy for May 2020 the day before leaving for the Danube. I planned to wait until I returned, in order to see how I liked river cruising before committing, but was tracking availability for several dates and noticed the no-supplement was starting to dry up for spring 2020. So I jumped in (deposit only $250, what the heck). When I returned, there was no single availability for my three weeks of choice, so it was the right decision not to wait. For this early May 2019 trip, there was single availability when I booked in late July 2018. But the Danube has more ships/capacity than the Seine (Normandy), according to TA. Some cruise lines, such as Viking, do not cater to singles, FYI.    

I am just off the Envision May 7 (Prague to Budapest) and sent laundry out twice around 8 a.m. It was back in my cabin during the evening while I was at dinner. Unsure what time it actually arrived. Everything was fine. They didn't shrink my underwear!

Thanks for the info and photos! Food looks edible!

For anyone who has done this excursion in Prague, can you share some thoughts about the food, the show and the overall experience? Would you recommend it? Thank you.

Is it a matter of turn it in by 9 am and get it back by 6 pm?  Or 24 hours+ for turnaround? It affects packing decisions. Thank you.

Doing Prague-Budapest with Avalon starting April 28. Sailing on the brand new Envision.

Thanks, all. Easier to pack without it!

I will be on an Avalon Danube cruise the first week of May 2019. Can I just leave the blazer at home or will I be out of place at dinner some nights? Will a button down shirt and nice sweater suffice for the evenings? Likewise for the evening concert in Vienna?

That's helpful, TULLBJA. Thank you!

Question about tour provided by Avalon in Prague. I am on the Nuremberg-to-Budapest sailing on April 30, 2019 that includes two nights pre-cruise in Prague and one day of touring. I want to add two more days/nights of touring in Prague on my own, but don't want to duplicate the tour sites that Avalon provides. Can someone who has done the one-day tour in Prague enlighten me on what was included, so that I can plan accordingly? Also, I wonder if I'm better off just skipping the Avalon tour and planning three days on my own or even with a tour company? Thanks!

We are interested in seeing the Lipizzaner Stallions in Vienna as we consider a Danube river cruise for 2018. Viking has a video about the stallions on its website but I don't see a specific Lipizzaner excursion listed with any of their cruises or on several other river cruise lines. Does anyone know of such an excursion, or show, or is the opportunity to see the stallions limited to watching them practice on your own? Thanks.

We are looking at a 12-night Auckland to Sydney cruise on Feb. 18, 2018, followed by a 7-night Princess land tour package to Ayers Rock, Darwin, Port Douglas and back to Sydney, ending March 9. The land tour is not offered after March (I think). Will we avoid at least some of the heat by going this "late" in the Australian summer?

There is the option to tour first, then cruise, which would normally be my preference, but would we gain better weather by pushing the land portion to the end, in early March? Thanks.

Thanks for the info. If it's close to eating at Chipotle then I'm a happy camper!

Is the burrito bar on Valor self-serve, or do they make it for you according to your specifications? Thanks.