On Board Avalon Visionary 7-14 Oct 2012

[blingbling]

The pet two days in Baseline have been beautiful: warm and sunny, in high 70s. TODAY still warm but rain earlier and skies overcast, but not dampening our spirits in the least. Forecast says rain may pass by 11:30a.m.

 

We will be taking the #8 tram to our ship later this afternoon. First Sunday of month all national museums are free and tram #2 rides by the museums. We are at the Hilton just one block from the main train station, Bahnhof SBB. The hotels give free "mobility" passes to use the trams. Don't be afraid to use this efficient system around town. Get your color coded tram map from the Basel Culture Unlimited office in the train station.

 

Last night our group had outstanding dinners at Linde Restaurant.

Karen

[tassietravellers]

Happy sailing, I hope you have a wonderful trip like we did :-)

[blingbling]

This morning 37 degrees F, about 50 degrees for high, but sun out and spirits great with everyone. Another fabulous dinner, hearing lots of noise from the lounge, and going to join a bridge game in the "cookie" lounge, my name for the club lounge with the 24 hour coffee, tea, and cookies.

 

We were in Mainz this morning from 8:30-11:30am and then cruised after lunch to Rudesheim. Visionary and crew are wonderful.

 

Ari, Reza, just two of our outstanding waiters.

Rooms with the glass sliding door are spectacular. You will see for yourself when I am able to post photos.

I am writing this from the lobby computer (one of two).

More later,

Karen

[tassietravellers]

This morning 37 degrees F, about 50 degrees for high, but sun out and spirits great with everyone. Another fabulous dinner, hearing lots of noise from the lounge, and going to join a bridge game in the "cookie" lounge, my name for the club lounge with the 24 hour coffee, tea, and cookies.

 

We were in Mainz this morning from 8:30-11:30am and then cruised after lunch to Rudesheim. Visionary and crew are wonderful.

 

Ari, Reza, just two of our outstanding waiters.

Rooms with the glass sliding door are spectacular. You will see for yourself when I am able to post photos.

I am writing this from the lobby computer (one of two).

More later,

Karen

 

Loved Rudesheim...ststerooms with the glass sliding doors were fantsstic too,, think Ari was on our cruise too, all of the staff our our cruise were great, always alot of fun.

Keep enjoying :-)

[blingbling]

This morning we had a full breakfast buffet from 6am-9am and we (like most of the others staying in Amsterdam) ate around 7:30am so we could finish packing and be out of our rooms at 9am. We stayed in the lounge until 10am, knowing that our hotel probably would not be ready for us any earlier anyway. The lounge gave us time to say good-bye to those couples we met from San Francisco, Wisconsin, Dubai, and Canada. The size of the ship with 64 cabins made us feel like we were on a large private, personal yacht, so it really was hard to leave everyone we had grown accustomed to seeing all week.

 

Luggage was marked with a "taxi" sticker for those who could not walk to their hotels. Those booked with the Avalon hotel had luggage transferred for them and the Movenpick right next to the cruise terminal was their hotel. Our luggage was marked with a "private" sticker as we were taking it ourselves, and stored off to the side of the reception area until we departed. Avalon made all the taxi reservations, and called guests by cabin numbers as cabs arrived. Very well organized. Everyone was to be off by 10am and that pretty much was accomplished.

 

We also had a short walk to the Hilton Doubletree, located between the ship and the Centraal Station. Another friend booked Hotel Victoria, directly across from the Centraal Station (trains, trams, and buses stop here). And thankfully they had our room ready for us when we arrived at 10:15am. BTW, the Doubletree has a iMac tv/computer in every room, with free wifi thru-out, so I am writing from my room. Several other friends are staying here too, and I am sure they are also making use of this computer access, since wifi is iffy going down the Rhine River.

 

Today the weather was a chilly 12C degrees and rainy, sometimes in small drizzle spurts and other times in short downpours. I have been thankful for my Sperry TopSider shortie rain boots, which received a lot of wear the past few days.

[blingbling]

We saw a lot of river cruise ships this week, and when home I will be posting some to the different roll calls. We saw several times Viking Iduk (?), Avalon Affinity, and an Amadeus one which looked like it could be an older sister ship of Visionary.

 

Our cabin was a starboard location, meaning "odd" number and I think either side had similar views. The ship does "park" up-stream (and yes the Rhine goes down-stream from Basel (think mountains) to Amsterdam. So, when parking we were always on the side facing the river. But honestly you are so busy with walking tours, sight-seeing trips, and then of course "eating" that you are in the room to change clothes, rest between events, or sleep.

 

There is a railroad track in Rudesheim that runs parallel to the shore, and I did overhear someone say they heard the rumble of trains going by all night...but really not a complaint, and they were thankful there were no whistles. From our group of 13 cabins, no one mentioned it to me, but I was glad we were on the river side that night.

[blingbling]

On the reception desk this morning was a copy of each day's menu, which I had not realized Avalon would compile and make available to us. I'll scan and post small parts of it (due to CC posting limitations) and I am sure you will want to preview menus.

 

New entrees were tested this week for the 2013 season, guinea fowl and redfish, both of which we found delicious. Only the first and last night's dinner menus were rather lacking inspiration....even though they were well prepared. All nights, Monday-Friday were outstanding, both in preparation and presentation. Chef Michael and staff were incredible.

 

Breakfast was always full of variety: a special of some sort cooked to order different every day, then a buffet of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potato cakes, yogurt and toppings, fresh fruit sliced, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, baked tomatoes, muesli, and dry cereal, sometimes waffles and pancakes. Only today did I request two eggs over medium, but others had requested omelets and eggs over easy to be cooked to order along with the buffet.

 

Other than for disembarkation, there is always a continental early bird breakfast (6am-7am) and then again a late risers continental breakfast from 9am-10am served in the lounge.

 

The lounge is located directly overhead of the dining room. Not often mentioned on these boards, but seen on Avalon's website, is the "club lounge" which I affectionately called the "cookie lounge" and it was a term quickly adopted by my friends as well. It is located aft, on the top deck/3rd floor, and a wonderful relaxing getaway. There a magnificient self-service machine produced not only coffee by the cup but also decaf latte machiatto, decaf coffee, and regular latte, along with hot water with a selection of black, green, and herbal teas. Of course, one can't resist the three tier rack of cookies: chocolate, chocolate chip, and a sugar cookie type. Someone from the wait staff was always filling the machine with beans (seen on top in a clear container waiting to be ground for your person cuppa) and making sure cookies were plentiful. Amazing.

 

Some other readers scoffed at a fellow CC posted who recommended packing an insulated mug. I took one and I have to tell you it was a terrific idea. I would go up to the "cookie lounge" and make a cup of hot tea (2 pushes of the button for my big mug) pop on the top, and carry it to my cabin on the middle deck. It stayed hot and I did not spill a drop. Yes, it is true you can take a china mug to your cabin, but I probably would have spilled some enroute!