Just back from the Suite Ship, Avalon Tranquility II

[DrivesLikeMario]

I went to dinner tonight in Tommy Bahama, shirt and shorts. That said, while I agree TB is dressier than a polo shirt. I don't wear it in Europe. In Europe it says tourist. I try to say by my clothes... I might be an American or I might be a local... hmm..

 

I love TB I don't wear it in Europe.

 

jc

 

He doesn't normally wear TB in Europe but had this one solid black shirt with minimal design I wanted to throw away (too loose on him). We figured he'd wear it on the first night (supposedly the most casual) and then I could toss it instead of having to drag it home. ;)

[xpcdoojk]

He doesn't normally wear TB in Europe but had this one solid black shirt with minimal design I wanted to throw away (too loose on him). We figured he'd wear it on the first night (supposedly the most casual) and then I could toss it instead of having to drag it home. ;)

 

On the ship TB is just fine. It is when you are in the European cities, not so much.

 

jc

[Lovetotraveltami]

Hello:

 

I am hoping that dressier long tops with leggings will be acceptable for our dinners? I had read that dress was more casual.

 

Could you talk a little more about the excursions?

 

Thank you for the information provided. It is a great help.

[caviargal]

Hello:

 

I am hoping that dressier long tops with leggings will be acceptable for our dinners? I had read that dress was more casual.

 

.

 

That is just fine.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Hello:

 

I am hoping that dressier long tops with leggings will be acceptable for our dinners? I had read that dress was more casual.

 

Could you talk a little more about the excursions?

 

Thank you for the information provided. It is a great help.

 

Agree with Caviargirl about the leggings/long tunics - just fine. I think maybe we just had an unusual case with our sailing with most men wearing dress shirts or polo shirts with Dockers at a minimum. Quite a few in jackets some nights too, which I thought was weird.

 

Tours (not sure if you meant the included ones or optional ones):

 

The Heidelberg excursion to the castle and time in the town was by far our favorite. It was DH's first real castle tour and we were lucky to be there on a quiet Monday. The tour guide was really excellent. Great for photos.

 

The Mainz one to the Gutenberg Museum was interesting. Glad we did it but I think we enjoyed walking around the open-air farmers' market afterwards even more. The produce was beautiful even if a lot of the locals are grouchy and unfriendly. Some of the group went on to visit the church while we were at the farmers' market. It's an easy mile walk back to the ship.

 

Rudesheim - the musical museum is okay - kind-of unique but not anything I'd go out of my way to see if on my own. I was impressed with how old the home was and the original tile work and frescoes in the back room. The cute little train that took only Avalon cruisers up to the museum was a fun way to get there, especially in 95+ degree heat. The Rudesheimer coffee was okay. Just hard to drink coffee when it's that hot, so one of our newfound friends drank ours for us. :D

 

Strasbourg - Really enjoyed the canal cruise but the seat backs were really uncomfortable. If you sat back, you were reclining into someone's lap, so we all sat with perfect posture for 45 mins. (how did women do that all the time in the old days?). The flower-covered bridges are INCREDIBLY beautiful in this city - even the little minor docks that connect the canal tour boat to the pier are covered in gorgeous, profuse flowers. The walking tour was very well worth the time IMO.

 

We're not "into" wine, so didn't do the optional Colmar tour and I've read bad reviews about the Black Forest one and we don't like cuckcoo clocks, so we didn't do that one either. We laid out in the sun on the top deck and I used the hot tub for a quick dip. Got stung by a bee. Be prepared for LOTS of bees.

 

Koblenz - we went off on our own to the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress. That was a lot of walking! We docked on the Moselle River. A Viking ship got the premier location right by the gondola station. :(

 

Mt. Pilatus - By far, one of the best tours. It was well worth the money. Our tour guide was a bit of a frantic person, but she did such a great job keeping our little group together. She knew everything about Switzerland and explained a lot to us.

 

Mt. Pilatus itself was great - there were guys with their alpenhorns, good food, guys gliding off the mountain, hikers, bicyclists to watch, little kids in the kiddie playland and beautiful bucolic views. The time in Lucerne afterwards was okay. It was so packed with hoards of tourists and just too hot to walk around much. The drive to the ship in Basel was pretty and interesting (some used it as naptime ;) ).

 

Amsterdam - The canal cruise was a nice overview. They give you a lot of choices when it comes to Avalon tours. You could continue the tour at the diamond factory, go back to the ship or go off on your own. I think there were 2 other choices on top of that. We went back to the ship and then walked to Centraal Station to pick up our medium Holland Passes and exchange one of the silver tickets for 48 hrs. transport on the trams and buses since we were staying an extra night at the Movenpick hotel.

 

Any questions?

Edited September 2, 2015 by DrivesLikeMario
sorry for the typos!

[Lovetotraveltami]

Hi:

 

Thank you, what you described was very helpful. I logged into myAvalon and the excursion tab is missing a couple of cities.

 

We are traveling a few days before and 2 of the days will be in Lucerne. I will keep the Mt. Pilatus in mind in case it is cloudy the days we are there.

 

We are also offered a bike ride in rural Amsterdam. I think we may try that as an extra excursion.

 

Thanks for describing some of your excursion. Very, very excited for our first river cruise.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Hi:

 

Thank you, what you described was very helpful. I logged into myAvalon and the excursion tab is missing a couple of cities.

 

We are traveling a few days before and 2 of the days will be in Lucerne. I will keep the Mt. Pilatus in mind in case it is cloudy the days we are there.

 

We are also offered a bike ride in rural Amsterdam. I think we may try that as an extra excursion.

 

Thanks for describing some of your excursion. Very, very excited for our first river cruise.

 

It really was a great experience overall and we just loved being on a small ship! I think you'll have a great time. They'll add more tours as it gets closer and usually confirm pricing about 6 months prior to your sail date at the latest.

 

About the bike tour, they don't take very many - I think it was a max. of 20 people and it was not sold out on our sailing. They said the total distance was 13 km over flat land and most of it was out of the city. We watched the group as everyone was "test driving" their bikes. They had helmets and the bikes looked like what we'd call beach cruisers (from Calif.), so pretty easy to ride. They only had an elastic tie-down behind the seat for a jacket and/or water. You'd have to tie it tight not to lose whatever was back there. ;)