Playtennis

"Houston we (may) have a problem"😲

Our cruise ends in St Louis France and we fly out of Marseilles.  The description of the last days show  that the leg from Arles to Port Louis is an "Evening Cruise to Port Louis". It also states that ""Flights should not leave Marseille airport before 10 AM"

Our flight from Marseilles to Heathrow has an ETA of 12:00 with a departure from Heathrow scheduled for 1:30. The 90 minutes between flights doesn't seem like enough time!

We are thinking of changing our flight from Marseille to early (7:30ish).  What time does an "Evening cruise to...." actually put the ship into port and can we arrange to debark early?

We much appreciate any ideas and help!

Keith 

11 hours ago, franski said:

Keith -

The options in Normandy were all included excursions...  so, you did not have to make a decision until the day before.  Everyone got to go.  

True optionals will be available on the "My Avalon" portal about 3 months before you sail.  But, again, you don't have to decide until you board.  It is very seldom that an optional tour will be sold out.    It would be more common that it would be cancelled due to lack of interest.

Fran

I guess it's my experience of ocean cruising.  There is a constant "book earliest" mentality that I've become hooked on.  (Actually it wasn't too much of a hook as I like to plan early.) So that I don't have sleepless nights we will most likely book our excursions before we board.  

Thanks to all for the advise!

k

YoungDubFan,

Thank you for that report about visiting Normandy.  It has solidified our choice!  (a question about this at the end of this post)

Fran (aka Franski),

Thank you for filling me in on the choices you had.  I'm assuming that ours will be about the same....hopefully.

For both of you - as experienced Avalon cruisers - I know we will get notification as to when we can book excursions (about 90 days before travel) but is there a time of day that the 'starting gun' for sign-ups is shot?  Is there any difference of when you can sign up based upon the different levels of suites? 

Thank you again!

Keith

NorthWildwood

Wow! Speedy reply...THANKS!

Good to hear about the excursion.  I've researched a lot of different tour groups and even DIYing it.  Because of needing to take the long bus ride and not really knowing what time we would need to be back at the ship the choice was almost made for us.  I just talked to a friend who took a 7 day tour of the D-Day Beaches area and he said that there are 3 places to stop that are must-see are listed on the excursion sample.

BTW - As a Philly born & raised guy Wildwood was one of our favorite places to go as a teen. Loved the beaches AND the females who were on it! 🙂🙄. I remember once spending weekend there where 10 of us roomed in the attic of a big house...the heat didn't matter because of the beverage of choice for us that we consumed vigorously!

k 

TMLA,

Glad to see your positive remark about Avalon's excursions!  We too are ocean cruisers taking our first River Cruise and have done lots of private tours.

Our cruise takes us to Caudebec, France and from there we want to ensure we get a great tour of the D-Day beaches in Normandie.  Since we dock in Caudebec and it's about 1 ½ hours away from the sites it looks like we may need to take a ship's excursion.  Any thoughts to that or suggestions for private tours?

Thanks (or should I say Merci!)

Keith

First time river cruisers.

We are booked on the Grand France Tour, 2-16 June next year. Cupala questions...

    * When do they show the excursions that are offered.  I'm imagining that it will be after we pay-in-full.  There are a few stops where we will probably look at doing our own tour and would like to book as far in advance as possible.

   * I understand that there are two docking piers in Paris.  We will be taking a train from the Dordogne Valley arriving in Paris about 3PM on the 2nd.  Can we taxi straight to the dock (will we know which one before hand?) or would it be best to stop at the gathering place and let them settle us to the boat?

Thank you

Keith

Daisi

Thank you for your quick response.  That's one thing I really like about CC boards...lots of great help from great folks.

k

I know there is an email address for Avalon when you have a question.  Could someone provide that for me or direct me to the location of it on "MyAvalon"

My most immediate question is: We disembark in Port-Saint-Louis (Marseille).  Does the ship provide a shuttle bus into town or, better yet, to the airport? If so what is the cost of the shuttle?

Thank you.

Keith

I've run into even more confusion with my roll call. As you've seen there is a way to set up a roll call that is found in a specific year and moth.  The title of the roll call has a strict format:. Mine is "Riviera Roll Call - March 11, 2021" All rolls calls look exactly like this. I started a roll call there and received a reply. However, the reply doesn't show up through this link but does show up on (what I call) the Old Way. The old way is the one we are all familiar with and often need to scroll through a page or two to find it as it has remained idle for a period.

I have a feeling that the two methods of finding a specific roll call is supposed to be linked. I guess we will all need to do it the OLD WAY.

LHT28

That did it.  They apparently are having a snag with this.  The ability to change an email should lie with the user and they are trying to fix that.  In the meantime, they need to adjust.

I'm not sure how, but the email listed in my settings in CruiseCritic is my wife's.  How do you change the email address used?

Thanks in advance.

Keith

Thank you Fran.  It does help. We do look forward to the cruise.

Keith

FuelScience,

Thanks for starting this blog, “All Things Avalon”.

We are taking our first river cruise trip and chose Avalon because of the good reviews of the line and because the Grand France itinerary (June 2-16, 2020) fits our schedule perfectly. We’ve been wanting to roam around France and the ability to enjoy a number of places throughout the country without having to pack and unpack every day or two is ideal.

Our plan is to fly into Paris about two weeks before embarkation, celebrate DW’s #0 birthday, enjoy a day at the French Open (I’m a tennis fanatic!) and then spend some time in either Loire Valley or Dordogne River Valley area (or both) then hustle back to Paris for the boat.

I have learned some important things by gleaning through this 33 page blog (ok, ok, I did the first 3 pages and then skipped over to posts staring in 2018) which have answered some of my questions but also have created others.

Here are some points that I could use amplification on, clarification, an answer or a rousing “What is that!”.  Here goes:

(BTW – we are ocean cruisers having done quite a few on Oceania)

a.    Embarkation: it appears that we can’t get onboard until 3PM.  There is usually a hotel (near the Eiffel Tower which is near the two river cruise docks).  We will gather there and be bused to the boat.  Is this correct?  Or - Could we go directly to the boat and leave our luggage there before embarking?

b.    Disembarking: If we haven’t purchased the transfer from Avalon, we can ask for them to arrange a taxi to take us to our transportation (with final port being Port Saint Louis we are not sure if we are going to Nice for a few days afterwards or simply staying overnight in Marseille). Is that true?

c.    Optional excursions: if we book an optional excursion online before the cruise can we cancel with either a refund or the cost being applied as an OBC?

d.    Changes in itinerary: (This one concerns me the most) I fully understand that we need to be prepared for changes due to the river conditions.  It was discussed OFTEN in the thread.  How often has this happened over the past few years? is it getting worse? And for the really silly question – we are assuming that it requires us to pack and unpack and be bused to the next available stop.  If that happens does Avalon have ‘spare’ boats that we will continue on?

e.    Sudden change in cast off time: On one of the threads that I read, a blogger stated that “they were DIYing in a town and thought they’d have a dinner at a quaint little restaurant.  The boat was scheduled to depart at 9.  They decided to head back to the boat for dinner instead and were ‘lucky’ because the boat was going to sail earlier than 9. They were never notified of that change.” (of course, that was all paraphrased).  Does this really happen? Could one be stranded because the captain decided they needed to set sail? How does one avaoid this possibility?

f.     Cost of laundry: This is not a question just a personal opinion. This question is asked on almost every cruise that we’ve taken and I don’t understand why. Taking a trip, like the Grand France cruise, costs $20,000-$30,000.  Why would one want to spend time and effort doing laundry when it is only going to dent your budget by somewhere in the vicinity of $100???

In advance, I will thank you for easing our furrowed brows and Diane and I are looking forward to a Bon Voyageand Neuveaux Amis.

Keith

23 minutes ago, jklc123 said:

We are always warned to be back or the ship goes without you. They really can't wait. You might be able to leave your cell number if off on your own in case of a departure change -- wouldn't hurt to ask. 

I can understand that if you are not back to the boat AT THE TIME THE BOAT HAS SPECIFIED it's your problem.  However, if they leave early without a warning (notice on the MyAvalon, text, email) then the onus is on them.  Otherwise one would feel it prudent to contact the boat every hour or so.

Thanks to all for your suggestions and advice.  

The one challenge that I didn't factor in was the change in river level.  One itch in the back of my mind on that  would be - does the boat try and reach the passengers if the craft needs to sail early?  It seems that one could inadvertently get caught ashore which may necessitate getting to the next port-of-call on your own.

3 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Our ship excursion in Tournon was a walk across the river to Tain-l'Hermitage and the vineyards and tasting room of M.Chapoutier.  At the end the guide gave us directions to the Valrhona chocolate museum and tasting room, which was only a short detour on the way back to the boat.  Wine and chocolate: heaven!

 

Choc-lat!!

Fuelscience,

The link to the dailies did work.  Great stuff.

I want to make sure I understand your comments about the optional cruises...by "...The exception was for tours where people had signed up before the cruise..." do you mean before we board?

BTW - I take it that you are are chemical engineer.

18 hours ago, FuelScience said:

Playtennis,

 

Are you sailing the Rhone/Saone northbound or southbound. If you're headed northbound (Arles to St. Jean de Losne), I can point you to the dailies from our 2017 cruise. That would give you an idea of port times, assuming that Avalon hasn't made major changes.

Fuel Science,

Thanks for the offer of the dailies.  Love to see them.  We are traveling southbound. The cruise starts in Paris goes north on the Seine to Caudebec (we WILL visit the Normandy Beaches), back to Paris and then change to the Saône River finishing up in Arles.

Cites/towns where we stop are::  Vernon, Caudebec, Rouen, Conflans, Mâcon, Lyon, Tournon-Viviers, Avignon and Arles.

Whether the dailies are for those exact stop or not, they would be worth seeing.

Thanks.

Keith

PS: I'm glad to see the level of replies on this blog.  I can't find section where river cruise lines' blog can be found nor roll calls for individual river cruises.  On our ocean cruises we got to know a number of fellow passengers before we even set foot on the ship!

TravelerThom,

Thank you!  You hit the nail on the head with just the info I was looking for.  We too rarely signed up for our ship's excursions as they usually were larger groups and very slow paced.  Also knowing that the boat's tours were typically in the AM means that we can plan something for the afternoon if we so desire.  

Dogs4fun,

I thought that it would be more difficult to find fellow passengers because of the boat's size and the fact that excursions were included.  Last year we took a Viking Ocean cruise on a ship with 800+ passengers.  If memory serves, there were about a dozen or so that joined the CC roll call and even then the conversations weren't as we had expected. I would say that's because most of the passengers had been Viking River Cruisers and not accustomed to the advantages of the roll call and CC blogs and the fact that tours were included.

Thanks to both of you.

Keith & Diane

Charleston, SC 

Next year DW and I will be taking our first river cruise, Avalon's "Grand France" which sails the Seine & the Saône.  Our experience with excursions on sea cruises is mixed, some good, some no so.  We are also accustomed to arranging our own excursions that have ranged from tours in Russia to SCUBA diving in the Caribbean - usually including a group of fellow cruisers.  As most, the objective is to enjoy the sites and experiences in each port as much as possible.

In order to maximize time and attempt to get the best tours we can (private events) it is important to know when the boat will be docked and the start times & lengths of included (or optional) excursion.  I know that the exact time of arrival/departure cannot be pinned down BUT it would be great to get a general idea of when boats typically arrive/depart a stop as well as a general idea of when excisions start and how long they last.

Can anyone help with this?

(BTW I ask this now, a good 12 months before our trip, because if in my research a great private excursion is found I will book it as early as possible...well before Avalon reveals their details)

Thank you. Or should I say, Merci beaucoup. 

I've noticed that Avalon has posted only two itineraries (multiple dates) for 2020 in May, June & July.  That's all!

Anyone have an idea of when the others will be posted?

We are looking into a river cruise in France in 2020.  Does anyone know when Avalon reveals their 2020 cruises?

Thanks.

Keith (from Charleston)

Is room service a 24/7 thing? We wake up very early every morn...5ish...it’s a curse. Coffee allows our mouths to make coherent words. On the line we have usually sailed (our first Viking Cruise) the staff was accustomed to our request for room serve for two carafes of coffee

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Perfect. Thanks Rawmac. 13 days until cast off.

k

First time Viking cruiser.

One of the pleasure of cruising is the wonderful food selections. Occasionally there is something on the menu that sound delicious and you order it. Unfortunately, your palate just doesn't accept it.

Are you able to order something else or are you only allowed to order one entrée?

Keith