Shappy

Not sure if we were docked in Engers.  It was Sunday October 14.  We were bussed into Rudesheim (about 1 1/2 hours) so got to see the Rhine from the bus too.   Had a beautiful lunch and on to our excursion boat through the Rhine Gorge.   All was wonderful and went off seamlessly.  This was the only change to our itinerary and was so minor I don't anyone noticed we were all having such a good time!  Avalon did an outstanding job dealing with this.  

Just got home last night from Avalon's Artistry II Oct 11 sailing from Amsterdam to Remich.  The only inconvenience was that were were not able to sail the Rhine gorge but they more than made up for it by putting us on a day excursion boat, a beautiful fun lunch in Rudesheim, etc.  Avalon was a class act in my opinion and I felt very well taken care of and extremely happy with the trip and how Avalon handled everything.  

The Rhine just appears to be drying up.  Shoreline, beaches and islands in the middle of the river!  Sunny, warm weather the entire trip and zero rain.  We spoke to lots of Germans who expressed much dismay (except for obviously enjoying the heavenly weather.)  

We went to Oberwesel and Mainz at the end of the cruise and the Rhine is almost empty save an occasional barge. 

Just got this from Avalon regarding Oct 11 departure from Amsterdam:

The low water levels on rivers in Europe this summer have affected our deployment for a portion of the Avalon Waterways fleet. Essentially, these ships were not able to transit a river sometime during the summer and were swapped with a sister ship in order to minimize impact to guests and avoid canceling a cruise. This then places that ship and her sister ship for the remainder of the season off of their normal rotation. Thankfully, our suite ships are identical and we can make this change with no disruption to your upcoming cruise experience.

Your new ship contact information is below. Your Cruise Director will be the same listed in your cruise documents.

Your original ship on Visionary has been swapped with its sister ship Artistry II. You will now be sailing on Artistry II. Please take note of this ship change for your upcoming vacation.

We are currently on the Avalon Visionary from Amsterdam en route to Cologne. Although the water levels are low we are doing just fine and were told the first 8 days (day 3 now) would be no issue. We’ll have to wait and see how Breisach is. But so far it has been nothing but spectacular’to all the people who are watching and reading. Don’t worry too much!!!!!

Thanks for the update! We sail on the Avalon Visionary on October 11 same itinerary.

Wow -- our experiences and yours are polar opposites. The first time off the ship we were in line for about 3 minutes. From that point on each and every time we got off and then back on the ship we didn't wait a single minute. We did get up early but I wouldn't have missed anything we did -- and we really didn't feel "done in". You are correct, there really isn't time to get freshened up before the evening tours, but we just went with the flow. If we have the chance to do this trip over again, we'll do exactly what we did the first time -- for us, life is just too short to miss out on so much fun.

Ours started out cool, overcast. Quickly evolved to extremely windy, cold with drenching rains, puddles everywhere. Even the guide was not dressed for this. People were wet and cold from being outdoors much of the day. Some people had soaking wet feet and clothes. Even the best raincoat doesn't protect from blowing rain that's very heavy. You don't decide to go to the Hermitage at the last minute if you have group ticket for the next day, these itineraries are so packed it's hard to change everything at the last minute because of weather. Customs lines are unpredictable, you got lucky.

Unless you are superhuman, I would suggest skipping the evening tour (its light anyway.) St. Petersburg is 2 days of intense touring, getting up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. Just got back from the trip, my reaction is I was SO GLAD we didn't book anything for evening, we could hardly move! Also, if you think you'll go back to the ship to freshen up a bit before the night out, think again. You have to go through long customs lines to enter and exit the ship each time, maybe taking an hour or so to re-enter the ship as all the tours come back around the same time. Just my thoughts . . . .