Shebely

My suggestion is that if you don't have a regular walking routine, get out and do some preparatory walking so that you are comfortable with all the walking in the airports and on the excursions. Make sure you have two pair of comfortable walking shoes so that you can rotate them. Because of all the walking I do n these trips, quite often I find that I will end up with a sore point on a toe so I need to switch shoes. I am surprised at how many people rely on flip flops. When you have to navigate cobblestone streets and sometimes dirty, dusty streets, flip flops, in my opinion, are not a good choice to protect your feet.

I like to bring comfortable ballet slippers to wear in the evening around the ship. The are restful for my feet and the don't take up much space in my luggage.

I just looked at Avalon's website and I suggest that you look at the day to day listing. There you will see the included excursions for each day as well as the optional ones. I can assure you that you will have full days and some evening excursions as well. Some people complain that river cruises are too tiring.

Dear uillean,

I would love to help, but I do 't know what trip you have booked. We have been on 5 Avalon cruises so I would be happy to give you info. Have you looked at the detailed itinerary for your trip on the Avalon website? There is a tab that show optional excursions.

Please check out the website for the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA) to see which tour operators have posted a one million dollar security in the form of a bond, letter of credit or U.S. treasury bond.

http://www.ustoa.com

The listing is under the Resources tab.

The USTOA created a consumer protection fund so that travelers can have peace of mind and a safety net in the event of a default or cessation of operations of one of the tour operators who have posted the one million security.

For me, if the river cruise company is not listed in the USTOA resource guide and I decide to still book a cruise with them, I will make sure that I obtain a 3rd party insurance policy that covers default/cessation of operations. There are travel insurance companies that will cover you if the tour operator is not one that is listed under their default listings.

My purpose in posting this information is simply to keep us better informed.

In the past, I was diagnosed with multi chemical sensitivities primarily due to perfume and other strong smells in my worklace. I have no problems with the L'Occitane Verbena products that Avalon uses. In fact, I have a small conditioner bottle we brought home from our last cruise and I just tried it again. The fragrance is very lite.

Sailing on Poetry II in July but mildly disturbed by my cabin allocation (no option to pick when booking online in UK).

 

Allocated A201 which does not appear to be a regular cabin on Avalon's own website deck plans (attached) and appears elsewhere as a disabled cabin which Avalon tell me that they don't have.

 

Can anybody shed any light on this?

 

TIA

Agree with Jazz and I also just looked at my 2015 Avalon catalog.

We were on Poetry II last July and on the same deck. We were in 212 and walked by 201 and saw in it while door was open. It was being used and appeared the same as any other cabin. I have never seen any mention of a cabin especially equipped for those with disabilities. Chef and Captain as well as the entire crew are very special. Enjoy!

I think that they book on the TGV, and I believe that the TGV requires reserved seats. I did notice in some of the Avalon docs that you're responsible for your own luggage on the train.

 

FuelScience

We were on the TGV to Paris at the end of our Avalon Rhone/Salon cruise in July, 2015. When we left the Poetry II our large luggage piece was taken separately by bus to our Paris hotel. We only had our personal item with us on the train. We had assigned seats, but we switched to empty seats so I could ride facing forward due to my motion sickness.

Regarding food and drink. I don't remember eating or drinking on the train. Before boarding the train, we toured in the city of Beaune and there were many food vendors in the marketplace. I found crepes which is what I wanted. I saw that some people purchased food in the train station prior to boarding the train. The travel time is a little over 2 hours.

I have been on 4 European rivers plus the Amazon and Mekong and I do not have to take Bonine or wear my wrist sea bands. My only motion illness issue was on a bus from Linz, Austria to Cesky Kromlov - windy roads and trees close to the sued of the road. Enjoy!

If you are comparing cruise lines pricing using published prices on websites or in brochures, those numbers are high and you can get much better deals especially when using high volume, online companies. I cannot name the online company I use, but I can say that I have used them for my last 4 river cruises and I have been very satisfied. The online company I use is award winning and it represents many of the most traveled river cruise lines.

I start with the river and the cities included in the offering and go from there to look at specifics.

Please pay special attention to the itinerary port by port. For instance, there are real differences on how far various ships can sail on the Seine and the Rhone.

Last July, we were signed up for a lavender fields excursion from Viviers to Chateau Grignan on July 7. The excursion was cancelled because the lavender fields were past their color. We were on Avalon and had hoped to see the fields in their glory. I am writing this to let you know that the season is limited and I suppose variable from year to year.

We are happy Avalon cruisers. We hace completed 5 journeys with them. On two of those bookings, I found an offer for included gratuties.

Yes, we love the Suite ship cabins and the overall layout of the ship. We don't have to ponder about which size cabin to book. The aquarium suites are just a little smaller than the suite cabins.

On all of our journeys the guides have been excellent. Yes they use the whisper VOV sets.

We book with our favorite online travel company and we get great discounts in addition to the 5% return traveler Globus Journeys Club discount.

Our first river cruise was on the Seine from Paris to Normandy, but not with Avalon. (I jumped and booked on a group trip that sailed on a European cruise line.)

I advise looking closely at the Seine itineraries since you can have very long time on a bus depending on where you dock.

Hey Zazzbeau,

We are escaping south to Orange Beach AL for January and February. I think Fairhope is a delightful place to visit. I am counting the days....especially after the Midwest snow this last weekend.

We just returned from Southeast Asia so flights were 14 and 5 hours just to get there. Our total travel time returning was 30 hours because of 2 layovers. I decided to wear a loose fitting long sleeve dress. I did not want anything tight around my waist. I wore knee high compression socks and I covered up with a blanket. I also used this dress as one of my beach cover ups. Good choice for me.

I have been using a large online booking agent for my Avalon river cruises.

They also are a booking agent for many other tour companies.

I cannot name them, but if you google " river cruise discounts" or something similar you will find them.

For example, when I book through them, I get the advertised Avalon promotion discount, then their 8% (booking agent discount). Since I am return customer, I get an additional small amount off the trip I am booking with them.

Since we are Journey club members through Globus, we get the 5% Journeys club discount brcause Avalon is part of the Globus family.

There have been trips where we have also gotten gratuities paid for because we are return Avalon travelers.

This booking agent that I use is a preferred agent for Avalon river cruises. For example, I know that Avalon sent one of their Cruise Directors to this "Discount booking company" to do a power point presentation for about their new Mekong ship and travel offerings.

We have been on 5 Avalon journeys and the last 4 have been booked through this company.

Haven't been to Munich (yet) but Prague was wonderful. Great food and restaurants, the castle is an all day adventure and the people are delightful. Prague is officially my second favorite European city....Budapest is first. :D

1. Budapest 2. Vienna 3. Prague

We found Amsterdam to be difficult to get around in, not only for the reasons listed abive, but because of the congested walkways. We have no difficulty walking.

Love this app. Rome to Rio. Just put in where you are leaving from and where you want to go and it it give you options for method of travel including time and cost. Or you can have it use your present location. I tried it for your question of how to get from Vilshofen to Minich airport and it gave me the same answer as steamboats gave with cost and time.

On Avalon ships, there is a forward outside sitting or standing area just in front of the lounge area. We have been on 3 European Avalon cruise ships. There is no need to be running upstairs. Check out the ship deck plans. I have never noticed that the windows are tinted in lounge area. Enjoy and don't worry.

A friend asked me about Vantage a few weeks ago (since some other friends took one of their European river cruises several years back). I "googled" Vantage, and saw some less than flattering information on the Consumer Affairs website.

 

In the last several months, several customers had Vantage call them "within 3 days of their cruise", to tell the customers that they were being cancelled due to "overbooking". Needless to say, all these customers were not being adequately compensated for this nightmare.

 

Wonder if any other river cruise line has pulled this type of trick?

I might have considered a Vantage river cruise until I read the stories from those customers who were bumped out because of overbooking. I have not read of any other river cruise line doing this.

According to the Viking website, bathroom robes snd slippers are available upon request for all the categories of veranda cabins.

My vote is for Avalon Waterways as the best logistical team. I have been reading this forum since the historic flooding on the Danube in June 2013. In my opinion they have not only a Plan B, but probably a Plan C also when things do not go as planned. They are part of the Globus family.

We have sailed with Avalon 4 times - 3 times in Europe and also a great Peru trip (Machu Picchu and Amazon). We leave for our Vietnam/Mekong adventure in 4 weeks.

Our cruise was a charter by a Midwest US based tour company. Everyone was from the US so the table assignments had nothing to do with language.

We were on the Ms. France in May 2013. Lunch and dinner are fixed menu as was mentioned, but we were not offered nor told that we could ask for an alternative. The night they served venison I saw many plates go back to the kitchen untouched. Since lunch was also a sit down plated meal, it was long and drawn out. There was not much time to relax before heading out for the afternoon tour. Lastly, seating was assigned for dinner so you sat at the same table, with the same group every night. Very boring. We enjoy meeting and talking to our cruise mates.

We were at Viviers during the day and walked up to the Cathedral. The upper city is not easy walking. The streets are narrow and sloped sideways in addition to up the hill. It appears to be very dark at night. If you do the ghost tour, suggest you are prepared with non slip shoes and some kind of flashlight.

Looks like a great trip. Have fun

For the record, we did not have a bumpy 7 hr ride from Siem Reap to the ship on Tonle Sap Lake. The water level of the lake does vary widely depending on the time of the year and amount of recent rainfall. The water level is something every company has to handle in the same way.

Avalon has published in their tour books and on their website.

NOTE: During low water conditions, generally late December to June, we will not be able to cross Tonle Sap. In these cases, we will fly and sightseeing will begin in afternoon. No included sightseeing will be missed.

7 hour bus ride is a lost day. I have read the reviews - 7 hour bumpy ride, two comfort stops. Low point of vacation.

Regarding balconies on any river cruise on the Mekong - Mosquitoes!!

Mosquitoes equal higher risk of malaria, denque fever and Japanese encephalitis. Check with your travel medicine clinic to find out the risk and the precautions necessary.