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Avalon...deciding on reflections of the seine, legendary danube, or romantic rhine


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Now that's not very narrowed down is it!! :) They all look interesting! We want to do a river cruise next June....we had booked the Legendary Danube, and now finding air from St.Louis or Indy are some double plane changes and not great on pricing...So this is our first river cruise, I do like the Legendary Danube itinerary...but have also heard the Romantic Rhine is great for first time river cruisers...and I also like the idea of going into Amsterdam out of Zurich not bad on flights...then we have the Reflections of the Seine, have heard that's a beautiful river, and starting ending in Paris plus seeing the beaches of Normandy as well as the Monet gardens would also be wonderful...Paris also has great airfare and fine connections!!!! So what to do??? Any opinions on these choices if anyone has done any of these itineraries? Pretty well decided on Avalon as we like their suite ship concept...Thanks in advance for any recommendations! We are in our upper 50's and pretty active!

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Stick with Avalon. We just did our third cruise in four years. They're awesome.

 

The Romantic Rhine is their biggest seller for a reason. It's a great tour. We actually did the extended version: Rhine and the Moselle. It was four or five days longer, loved it. And it was easy to go into AMS and out of ZHR, as you have noted.

 

Also, much less likely to have low water conditions on the Rhine, versus the upper Danube.

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Have sailed all of the itineraries you mentioned (some with Avalon, and some with other companies), I would say it depends on what you want to see. They are all great itineraries.

 

If you have an interest in the beaches of Normandy, next year might be the time to do the Seine. The 75th anniversary of D-Day is June 6th, 2019.

 

We just did that tour with Avalon last September. It was our 2nd time on the Seine (the 1st time was with Uniworld) and we went with Avalon as there were options for tours in almost every port. We had already seen Giverny, and Auvers-sur-Oise (where Van Gogh was living at the time of his death) so were happy to see other things on our trip.

 

Also, Avalon offers options for the day in Normandy. The US passengers visited the US sites, and the Canadian/British visited the CDN/UK ones. If you did not want to go to the beaches (I had already been there, so wanted to see something else), you could go to Bayeux to see the Tapestry. The tapestry is absolutely awesome - and will be moving to the UK sometime after 2020.

 

If you can extend a few days... always lots to see & do in Paris.

 

Whatever you choose, enjoy. I do think you have made a good choice with Avalon. Our last 3 of 4 were with them (we tend to book based on itinerary, then dates, then price) - and we have another Avalon cruise in October of this year (#14).

 

Fran

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So many cool itineraries and so little time!!!! Fran, the Paris itinerary really sounds great too..and easy to get in and out of Paris...I keep going back and forth!!! I know they are all great...Would be cool to be in Normandy around the anniversary. But the Danube and the Rhine also have awesome stops too....so guess just need to decide, and do the air out as far as I can!

:D

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I've done the Danube with Avalon, and the Rhine and Seine (twice) with Uniworld. For the history, the Seine wins. The second time, we enjoyed Mont St Michel and golf in Etretat. For castles, the Rhine wins.....but, that's a few hours of one day. Parts of the Rhine are very industrial, and some of the ports aren't "walk off the boat" handy. For natural beauty and accessibility, the Danube wins. We did a 5 night cruise with Avalon, flew round trip to Munich, took the train to Salzburg for 2 nights, then to Vienna one night prior to boarding. After the cruise, stayed in Munich for 3 nights

 

Sent from my SM-N950U using Forums mobile app

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So many cool itineraries and so little time!!!! Fran, the Paris itinerary really sounds great too..and easy to get in and out of Paris...I keep going back and forth!!! I know they are all great...Would be cool to be in Normandy around the anniversary. But the Danube and the Rhine also have awesome stops too....so guess just need to decide, and do the air out as far as I can!

:D

 

My recommendation if you decide against the Seine is to do the Danube. And spend some extra time in Budapest. Budapest is one of our favourite cities in Europe --> lots to see and do, and much of the city is walkable. The only downside is that the Chain Bridge is slated to be closed for repairs for a few years, so you might have to cross at another bridge if you stay on the Pest side. However, you can cross close to the market (easy to spend a few hours there....) and go over to see the Church in the Cave.

 

We did enjoy the Rhine, but part of the cruise is a sailing day to see the castles. Wonderful if the weather is good... less so if it is raining. (We had to go twice to see the castles.... 1st time was Christmas markets - and it snowed so hard we couldn't even see the shore!!) More busing on this itinerary than on the Danube. Amsterdam is a great city to see (and a great airport to fly into....) - we were less impressed with Basel.

 

Fran

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I’ve been on all three and all three are wonderful in their own right. Chose the #1 thing on your bucket list and go for it.

 

If it’s the airfare holding you back, contact Avalon Air dept. they might be able to get you a good price which also includes transfers.

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Our first Avalon river cruise was the Legendary Danube, and we loved it! Highlights were Nuremberg, Vienna, Melk, cruising the Wachau Valley, and Budapest. Excursions were all excifellent. We spent a few days after the cruise in Budapest. There's a lot to see and it's easy to get around.

 

We liked Avalon so much we booked the Paris to Normandy cruise. It was our first time in Paris, so we spent a few days on our own pre-cruise. When we boarded the boat we were pleasantly surprised to find the cruise director, Nynke, was the same one we had in our earlier cruise! What were the odds! She asked us at the end of the cruise which was our favorite, and we couldn't say that one was 'better' than the other. Highlights for us on this cruise were Paris (of course, fell in love with the city), Monet's gardens at Giverny, the Normandy Beaches, Honfleur, and Buonaparte's Chateau de Malmaison (where we had the best tour guide we've ever had). We loved both cruises for different reasons. I'd suggest you look closely at the itineraries to help you decide. I'm sure you'll love cruising with Avalon whichever cruise you choose.

 

We haven't done the Rhine yet, but hope to do so next year!

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I sailed north on the Rhine (Basel to Amsterdam) in August 2017. The sea day was boring because pf tje weatjer (cold, rainy, and windy) so it would have been better to dock somewhere. Since then I have decided to not take any more river cruises with sea days. Otherwise, I like the cruise liine and itinerary.

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