All Things Avalon

Hello--We're on the same cruise, the week before you!

Are you on the Beer Enthusiasts cruise? That's the one we're on.

Try the Amsterdam House Hotel Eureka. It is a quirky little place right on a canal and very convenient to all the sites. We stayed a night prior to our cruise and found it clean, different and friendly.

Enjoy every minute of it! Take half what you planned to take and let them do your laundry, they did a great job!

I have pictures of our cabin if you are interested. Tons of storage!

Great tip. What costs were associated with laundry?

Two questions about Avalon Danube cruise:

1) what does a day look like?

Breakfas, Guided tour in the morning, lunch, free time, dinner, ?

2) has anyone done the Budapest food and culture walking tour excursion? I was wondering if it was good enough to miss an afternoon of touring the city on our own (for first time visitors)?

- and it leaves at 12:30 so I wasnt sure how that timing works with the rest of the day...

Thanks!

We did the Avalon Nuremberg to Budapest cruise, but it was 5 years ago so the excursions may have changed. The days generally follow the same schedule: Breakfast, followed by a morning walking tour, lunch, free time or another excursion, dinner. On our cruise, there were 3 offered full day excursions from Linz: Austrian Lakes, Salzburg, or Cseky Krumlov. Alternately you could stay on the ship as it cruised to Linz. We took the Cseky Krumlov excursion and loved it. In Vienna there was an optional evening concert and also a Schonbrunn tour. We skipped both. Instead of the evening concert we took the metro into the city and had dinner with friends who lived in Vienna. The next day we did the walking tour then stayed in town to do our own exploring instead of taking the bus back for lunch. In Budapest we did the walking tour in the morning, then an optional excursion to Szentendre, a quaint village on the outskirts of Budapest. Lots of small shops and an interesting small art museum. I don't think the food and culture walking tour was an option on our cruise, so I can't give advice. We stayed in Budapest for 3 days after the cruise. There's much to see and it's an easy city to visit DIY. You'll have a great time whichever excursions you choose. Enjoy!

Thank you!

Hello--We're on the same cruise, the week before you! We go to Amsterdam regularly to embark on cruises and now stay at B&Bs or airbnbs. But we have stayed at Vondelpark Park Hotel--a bit further out--as well as the Marriott right on the Amstel River across from the train station... $305 is crazy high! There are plenty of decent hotels. Go to kayak.com and enter all your filters--number of stars, price range, neighborhoods, etc. Or do the same thing thru booking.com or hotels.com. We always find--in traveling to other places such as Paris--that actually doing your reservation through the hotel's own site is cheaper or offers additional perks or discount. But in any case, book NOW. The hotels are filling up fast as this is the beginning of the high season.

Hi sophie. We have a "role call" for the tulip cruise thread over here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2579764

Great tip. What costs were associated with laundry?

Yes, love to more of the specifics for what Avalon charges for laundry services on their river ships. On Sunday, we are departing our first visit to Southeast Asia. This will feature Hong Kong, Bangkok, Vietnam and Cambodia, including a seven-day Avalon Mekong River cruise, then Angkor Wat, Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hue/Danang. Tell us more.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 194,078 views for this posting.

Anyone else on the April 13th Danube Dreams westbound with the emphasis on the Hapsburgs? I haven't seen a roll call for it...

Hi Fran, thanks for the reply...........found out I have to have surgery next week and so my spring

cruise is now on a hard hold:(

That is tough... not how you want to start the New Year!! Hope everything goes well, and that you are back on your feet soon.

Fran

That is tough... not how you want to start the New Year!! Hope everything goes well, and that you are back on your feet soon.

 

Fran

Hi Fran, thank you.......I had the surgery on Tuesday morning and am now home. A bit sore but overall I feel pretty good.

No pain at all. Off my feet for a few days but it all went well:) (had a kidney stone removed).

Hi Fran, thank you.......I had the surgery on Tuesday morning and am now home. A bit sore but overall I feel pretty good. No pain at all. Off my feet for a few days but it all went well:) (had a kidney stone removed).

Yes, Lois, those kidney stones are "pesky"!! Have just gone through getting several of those "busted up" in November and December. Did not need the full surgery, but it was done as a "procedure". Neither are fun or exciting to experience.

Departing tomorrow morning for our first visit to Southeast Asia. Completed today the airline check-ins, have boarding passes, etc. This adventure will feature Hong Kong, Bangkok, Vietnam and Cambodia, including a seven-day Mekong River cruise, then Angkor Wat, Hanoi, Halong Bay and Hue/Danang. Hope Lois and others can join in on my live/blog that will be posted here on the Cruise Critic River Cruising Board. After getting a few days on the Avalon Siem Reap ship, I will then be happy to answer more specific questions about this sailing, the stops, their food, service, etc.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean adventure that started in Barbados, here is the link for that live/blog. Many visuals from this amazing river and Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, San Juan, etc.):

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 54,903 views for these postings.

Well, what a wealth of information! Just read from the beginning. Thanks to all the posters. We are doing the Danube in Oct 2018 on the Expression. I hate wishing away the good weather that is coming, but can't wait. This will be a great cruise. Spending a few days in Zagreb first, then heading to Budapest to join the Avalon group. We went to an Avalon "talk" earlier this week, which we had done before, but found it so much more interesting now that we are booked! Will keep an eye on this thread to keep the excitement and information going over the summer. Happy sailing all!

Well, what a wealth of information! Just read from the beginning. Thanks to all the posters. We are doing the Danube in Oct 2018 on the Expression. I hate wishing away the good weather that is coming, but can't wait. This will be a great cruise. Spending a few days in Zagreb first, then heading to Budapest to join the Avalon group. We went to an Avalon "talk" earlier this week, which we had done before, but found it so much more interesting now that we are booked! Will keep an eye on this thread to keep the excitement and information going over the summer. Happy sailing all!

Glad the thread has been useful. Sounds like you've got a great cruise planned. If questions arise, feel free to post them, and you'll get lots of good advice.

Hi sophie. We have a "role call" for the tulip cruise thread over here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2579764

Well it seems that the link for THAT thread is for April 13th--that is, the next cruise after ours, lol... Oh well, I suppose no one minds too much about our crashing on their thread. :-D

Well, what a wealth of information! Just read from the beginning. Thanks to all the posters. We are doing the Danube in Oct 2018 on the Expression. I hate wishing away the good weather that is coming, but can't wait. This will be a great cruise. Spending a few days in Zagreb first, then heading to Budapest to join the Avalon group. We went to an Avalon "talk" earlier this week, which we had done before, but found it so much more interesting now that we are booked! Will keep an eye on this thread to keep the excitement and information going over the summer. Happy sailing all!

We are also on the Expression - October 5 sailing from Budapest. Doing 2 days pre-cruise in Budapest with Avalon and 3 days afterwards in Prague. We did a 3 day cruise from Budapest to Vienna two years ago, so there will be some overlap, but there's still so much to see!

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We are also on the Expression - October 5 sailing from Budapest. Doing 2 days pre-cruise in Budapest with Avalon and 3 days afterwards in Prague. We did a 3 day cruise from Budapest to Vienna two years ago, so there will be Woverlap, but there's still so much to see!

 

 

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We are on the same! So, looking forward to it. My sister in law is doing same cruise in June so will have her feedback and info then which I will share.

How do you handle the jet lag when you arrive in the morning after an overnight flight?

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How do you handle the jet lag when you arrive in the morning after an overnight flight?

What works for me may not work for others, but for our last few trips, I've tried shifting my sleep schedule by 30 minutes to an hour a night each day for several days before departure.

For example, if my flight leaves at 6:00 p.m., and I normally go to sleep at 10:00 p.m., I would start shifting several days before the flight so that my new bedtime is now 7:00 p.m. ( assume that it will be at least an hour before things settle down enough to get to sleep on the plane). You should also adjust wake times, so I would be getting out of bed at 3:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m.

It's not a lot of fun, but the approach above would shave off 3 time zones and make your first days go a lot better.

https://www.jetlagrooster.com/

How do you handle the jet lag when you arrive in the morning after an overnight flight?

 

 

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I wish I had the time to do what Fuel Science suggests, as that would work very well. I think it's the best way, if you have time.

Instead, we sleep a few hours on the plane, and then grab coffee and keep busy all day after we land. We specifically plan outdoor stuff that will keep us somewhat active and awake.

We have a nice (often early) dinner, then sleep like babies by 8 or 9 PM. The next morning we are fairly ok. Not normal, and our stomachs often aren't awake for breakfast, but we can almost always pack in a full day without feeling too tired.

In fact, we almost always have problems sleeping on the second night, because it's too early to go to sleep on our home time zone. We slept well enough (too well?) the first night, so we're less tired.

After that second night we're usually good enough thereafter.

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Thanks .Good ideas!

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Thanks for the advice JP, I would also have problems with FuelScience's suggestion, as good as it sounds....when you are already up at 4:00 in the morning, it's just not possible. I haven't planned a lot for our first day, but there is a really nice park across from the hotel where we can wander around and hopefully last until time for dinner.

Avalon will retire it's last 3 non-suite ships and add one new suite ships in 2019.

http://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Avalon-Waterways-reduces-Europe-capacity-for-2019

It’s too bad Avalon is retiring the non-suite ships. I have sailed on two of them and enjoyed my cruises. These cruises were substantially cheaper than sailings on the suite ships. I was not in the cabin much so didn’t mind the cabin size. On the rare instance for daytime sailing, I prefer to be in the lounge or on the sun deck to have panorama views.

As to coping with jet lag on arrival, I am one of those people who find it very difficult to sleep on the plane. After arriving I try to hit the ground running and walk around / tour the area. I often have a late lunch, early dinner around 4 or so. It is my goal to stay awake until close to 8pm but I don’t always make it. I normally sleep well and then am set for the rest of the trip.

 

In fact, we almost always have problems sleeping on the second night, because it's too early to go to sleep on our home time zone. We slept well enough (too well?) the first night, so we're less tired.

 

After that second night we're usually good enough thereafter.

 

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JP, I have the same issue. I always sleep well the first night, but the second night I have real issues. You need to retire so that you can follow my schedule ;-)! Also, I generally use Ambien on the plane to help me sleep.