Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

All Things Avalon

FuelScience

By FuelScience,
in River Cruising

 Share

Recommended Posts

dolllover

dolllover

Posted
Posted

On our recent Avalon cruise the food was ok but not great and we had unbearable noise level in our room but not in the dining room. I would go on another river cruise with Avalon but on one of their newer boats. My TA recently travelled on the newer Passion and had a great time. Our recent experience with Viking was far superior.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oyster Bar

Oyster Bar

Posted
Posted

Thanks for letting me know this. It was noisy in our room also but luckily we are not light sleepers so we were ok....our friends were bothered by the engine and thruster noise at night. I don't even know is the Visionary is a newer or older boat in the Avalon fleet. I just can't imagine that all river boats have this dining room noise problem or I would have heard about it from friends who have taken other river boat cruises or from our TA or from reviews. Same with the service, which as I mentioned, was not "service with a smile." I think we just happened on an unlucky week of ok food, unsatisfactory noise in the dining room and some rather unfriendly staff. Only way to solve this is to try again, and likely with a different river cruise company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
H2Otstr

H2Otstr

Posted
Posted
I would like to hear if anyone else on an Avalon river cruise had the same main complaint that we did....the nearly unbearable noise level in the dining room at dinner time. That would have made even the best dinners less tasty. (We didn't do the smaller tasting menu but we should have....we never decided in time to pre-book which was our fault.)

 

We just recently completed a cruise in Southern France on the Avalon Affinity and the noise level in the dining room was very loud. We sat at the same table for eight every evening and one could not talk to the whole group, just the person next to you.

 

I have found that the noise level in the dining rooms on all riverboats is very loud. I don't quite understand why this issue has not been resolved when the new boats are built.

 

Also, I thought the food on Avalon was just so so. I asked for half portions of salad and the main course and was told that it could not be done. I was told to eat what I wanted and just leave the rest. I have always been able to get half portions on Viking and Grand Circle. I don't want a whole portion and I don't like to waste food.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
texkan

texkan

Posted
Posted

Sailed Avalon Tranquility II from Amsterdam to Basel. This was 2nd Avalon sailing and we will sail with Avalon again. The Cruise Director was great along with Capt and Crew. The dining room can be noisy but do not believe it is any different than other ships or restaurants. No complaints from me. I am ready to go again with Avalon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oyster Bar

Oyster Bar

Posted
Posted
We just recently completed a cruise in Southern France on the Avalon Affinity and the noise level in the dining room was very loud. We sat at the same table for eight every evening and one could not talk to the whole group, just the person next to you.

 

I have found that the noise level in the dining rooms on all riverboats is very loud. I don't quite understand why this issue has not been resolved when the new boats are built.

 

Also, I thought the food on Avalon was just so so. I asked for half portions of salad and the main course and was told that it could not be done. I was told to eat what I wanted and just leave the rest. I have always been able to get half portions on Viking and Grand Circle. I don't want a whole portion and I don't like to waste food.

Thanks for this info, Sharon....much along the lines of our feelings on Avalon Visionary re food, service and especially the noise level. In the future I would hope our "next" travel agent will have information like this because so many people I've heard from on this post or in person have said that they have had better experiences than we did when they were with other companies or on newer ships of Avalon's.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oyster Bar

Oyster Bar

Posted
Posted
Noise from the engines or generally loud passenger noise ? - hard surfaces?

We were bothered by the poor acoustics in the dining room...people noise, maybe low ceilings and not enough noise reduction insulation or whatever is done for this....not engine noise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oyster Bar

Oyster Bar

Posted
Posted

Even with our usual table of 4, we found it very difficult to hear each other. We had to ask each other to repeat things....and fyi, we do not usually have any problems with hearing. This was unusually poor acoustics which we all have experienced occasionally in certain restaurants. To deal with this at every dinner was unacceptable. I'm sure that Avalon could make improvements to deal with this issue on this particular riverboat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Reesaroo

Reesaroo

Posted
Posted
We never felt noise in the dining room was a problem. We always sat at a table for 4.

 

 

 

We were on the Passion and sat at both round and rectangular tables. We did not have any issues at all hearing everyone at the table. The acoustics seemed fine to us!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oyster Bar

Oyster Bar

Posted
Posted

It makes me wonder if this dining room noise problem was specific to the Visionary. A number of other people on our cruise (on the Visonary) brought up this issue. As I mentioned, we had a good time but we would not go on this particular boat again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JVilleGal

JVilleGal

Posted
Posted

I have not looked but is Visionary an older boat? We never felt there was a problem but then some people are more sensitive. We enjoyed our dining experience and our dining companions. Interesting conversation and no issue hearing everyone!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JVilleGal

JVilleGal

Posted
Posted
I will be on the Illumination in May. Any recommendations?

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Oyster Bar

Oyster Bar

Posted
Posted
I can't see what changes were made to newer boats....Visionary was launched in 2009.
Actually, I just saw another post that said Visionary was a 2012 boat so it's not that old so I don't know why there was the noise problem. Hope all cruisers have a great time....beautiful areas to see and learn about.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Daisi

Daisi

Posted
Posted

A question for regular Avalon people. We have prepaid our tips, and I see that according to Avalon, you don't have to tip the local guide/driver. I fully intend to possibly tip a bit extra to certain people who I feel went above and beyond the ordinary service ( bartender, server, cabin attendant etc) as I think it would be deserved. I am wondering if anyone regularly tips the guides/drivers. We will probably be taking 2 "bus" tours, and of course the guides will change daily. I don't want to feel obligated to tip them, but would have no problems tipping if the service is warranted. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Daisi

Daisi

Posted
Posted

Thanks Reesaroo. I don't mind tipping (although it is supposed to be included) if service is special, but sometimes you just don't want to be the only one not passing a couple of Eruo's to a driver or guide. We have never toured this way, always on our own, so it's going to be a whole new experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...