All Things Avalon

[JVilleGal]

Why don’t you start a thread and be sure and label it for passengers past & current. You might open it to all River cruise companies who might do this itinerary. Remember each sailing has less than 200 (most boats less than 160) vs the Ocean cruises with 2000+

Very few River Cruiser even know about CC combined with the very small numbers of people on River cruisers. You are unlikely to find any one on such a unique itinerary.

Sailed Avalon in Sept 2015 Amsterdam to Budapest :)

[SBAB]

We are booked on the Avalon Affinity for July 2018 Best of Switzerland and Romantic Rhine ending in Amsterdam. We have used cruise critic each time we have cruised and have had the comfort and pleasure of conversing on the computer with people who have taken the cruise prior or the ones that are booked on the same cruise. We cannot find anyone that has posted a message or any information on the roll calls or boards for this cruise on cruise critic.

If you took this cruise or are on one of the July sailings would you be nice enough to message me so that we can start a helpful thread to all passengers taking this itinerary...starting in Zurich.

Look forward to hearing from fellow passengers!

[SBAB]

Why don’t you start a thread and be sure and label it for passengers past & current. You might open it to all River cruise companies who might do this itinerary. Remember each sailing has less than 200 (most boats less than 160) vs the Ocean cruises with 2000+

Very few River Cruiser even know about CC combined with the very small numbers of people on River cruisers. You are unlikely to find any one on such a unique itinerary.

Sailed Avalon in Sept 2015 Amsterdam to Budapest :)

 

thanks so much for responding...I do not know how to start a thread....all the years I have cruised I was always a responder or joining a thread...[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

[Kenster]

We are on the July 5 Avalon sailing from Zurich to Vienna. "Upper Rhine to City of Music: WZV 705. That's six days from now. We have not received our cruise documents packet. I know they do e-documents now but on our previous two Avalon cruises we received a packet in the mail containing docs, bag tags, airport transfer info, etc.

 

 

We have not even been told where the meeting place is or where to meet our transfer from airport to the meeting place or ship?

 

 

Anyone else in this bind?

[RTLS]

Thanks....at this point I have a reservation at the Movenpick and the Aitana.

 

I'm doing the pre-cruise night on our own and then hoping to catch the shuttle to the river boat with rest of Avalon cruisers......am willing to pay for the shuttle...just not the price for the hotel through Avalon.

 

Sent from my WAS-L03T using Tapatalk

 

I'll be interested to know whether you can arrange to pay for the shuttle. I'd like to do a similar transfer but so far have been told that it's not possible to buy a transfer when not paying for the hotel and air.

[Kenster]

I'll be interested to know whether you can arrange to pay for the shuttle. I'd like to do a similar transfer but so far have been told that it's not possible to buy a transfer when not paying for the hotel and air.

 

On our last cruise, in 2016, we did our own airfare but purchased airport transfers on both ends through Avalon.

We did the same thing for our upcoming cruise.

[Got2Cruise]

We are on the July 5 Avalon sailing from Zurich to Vienna. "Upper Rhine to City of Music: WZV 705. That's six days from now. We have not received our cruise documents packet. I know they do e-documents now but on our previous two Avalon cruises we received a packet in the mail containing docs, bag tags, airport transfer info, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

We have not even been told where the meeting place is or where to meet our transfer from airport to the meeting place or ship?

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone else in this bind?

 

 

 

Did you use a travel agent? Call them. If not call Avalon. Did you check the “My Avalon” section online? Everything should be there.

 

 

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[Avalon Waterways]

We are on the July 5 Avalon sailing from Zurich to Vienna. "Upper Rhine to City of Music: WZV 705. That's six days from now. We have not received our cruise documents packet. I know they do e-documents now but on our previous two Avalon cruises we received a packet in the mail containing docs, bag tags, airport transfer info, etc.

 

 

We have not even been told where the meeting place is or where to meet our transfer from airport to the meeting place or ship?

 

 

Anyone else in this bind?

 

Kenster-

We are so pleased you are traveling with Avalon Waterways. We would like to remedy this situation for you quickly but require your contact details. Can you please call us at 877-245-6287 or email consumervacations@globusfamily.com so we can ensure you receive your documents ASAP. Thank you!!

[JVilleGal]

Did you use a travel agent? Call them. If not call Avalon. Did you check the “My Avalon” section online? Everything should be there.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Ditto!!!!!!

[senior lady]

We are on the July 5 Avalon sailing from Zurich to Vienna. "Upper Rhine to City of Music: WZV 705. That's six days from now. We have not received our cruise documents packet. I know they do e-documents now but on our previous two Avalon cruises we received a packet in the mail containing docs, bag tags, airport transfer info, etc.

 

 

We have not even been told where the meeting place is or where to meet our transfer from airport to the meeting place or ship?

 

 

Anyone else in this bind?

 

You should have received a blue envelope binder which would contain your luggage tags a book with everything and anything you need to know about your cruise. You also can register on "my avalon" and print all the info off.

We leave for our cruise in a week and have had our blue envelope for almost 3 weeks. They usually send them via Purolator and UPS

[JVilleGal]

@kenster sails on July 5 so likely they are on their way to Europe already! Hope they enjoy their River Cruise, Safe Journey!

[Kenster]

You should have received a blue envelope binder which would contain your luggage tags a book with everything and anything you need to know about your cruise. You also can register on "my avalon" and print all the info off.

We leave for our cruise in a week and have had our blue envelope for almost 3 weeks. They usually send them via Purolator and UPS

 

We got our docs delivered by FedEx today. Two days before we depart. Apparently there was some discrepancy with our flight dates. They had mis-entered our flight dates and it showed that we arrive in Zurich on 7/6. The boat sails on July 5! No one notified us of any issue and it only came to light when I started inquiring where our docs were. The docs were not published in "My Avalon" for the same reason. They had not been released pending clarification of flight dates but I couldn't clarify because I never knew they had made an error entering our dates in the system back in March!

 

 

All good now!

[Kenster]

@kenster sails on July 5 so likely they are on their way to Europe already! Hope they enjoy their River Cruise, Safe Journey!

 

Nope, still in Texas. Departing on the 4th.

[JVilleGal]

Nope, still in Texas. Departing on the 4th.

Yiks! Did you book direct with Avalon because if you have a TA you need to fire them! Have a great trip :)

[Kenster]

Our Danube Cruise was September 2016

 

At that time they had loud disco music. Maybe my complaint (and others worked).

 

The rain was beyond their control - but that meant the top deck was useless and the best option for the evening was the lounge - expect for the disco music.

 

Re the Excursions. Our excursion in Vienna was to one of the castles. The pouring rain was not Avalon's fault - sending us out to visit the Garden after a brief tour of the exhibits was their fault. They could have expanded the tour inside.

 

And in Salzburg, the guide did a short walk around the town - then left us on our own.

 

Reading about some of the more up scale Cruise Lines such as Scenic showed they took you to the key sites.

 

But they cost a little more money - so perhaps you get what you pay for. Not that Avalon is inexpensive, just less that the 5 star lines. I would give them 3 stars - including considering only one option for dinner and set time.

 

I am sure you will enjoy your trip and have a great time (perhaps unless rain dampens your experience). Just, in my view, if you can afford next time step up to a higher class such as Crystal. I know we will

 

One Option for dinner? No way. We've done two Avalon cruises and will leave on July 4 for our third cruise in four years. There are several choices for entrees at every dinner. At there has been going back to Spring of 2014. Set time for dinner works well for us. We look forward to the Happy Hour/next day's briefing, then all going down to dinner together. We met a lot of wonderful people at dinner. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[Kenster]

If you booked flights through Avalon for your cruise, how did you feel about them choosing your seats for you? I'm not sure I like that.

 

Cruise lines, Tour Operators, and other resellers commit to a bulk of seats on flights. At the prices they obtain, they do not get to reserve or block seats. Nor does Avalon choose your seat. The travelers are assigned to whatever is left over. For example: Avalon (Or Collette Tours or whatever) books 35 seats on a flight to Zurich. Whichever 35 seats are left over close to departure date will be assigned to that group. You can pretty much count on the seats being in the back of the plane and center seats. And don't count on sitting with your friend, though they try to match up couples based on matching last names. You can beat this by calling the airline or going on line with your confirmation number and choosing your own seat, though you may have to pay a fee to do that. Still, better than getting stuck in the center seat of the center section in the back of the plane!

[Kenster]

We are seriously considering the Avalon Romantic Rhine river cruise next summer & could use some advice. Given this is only an 8-day cruise from Basel to Amsterdam, does it make sense to spend an extra $1K/person to have the Panorama Suite (Cat. A, B, P) with balcony instead of the Deluxe Stateroom (Cat. D, E)? The rooms are roughly the same size & we're not sure there will be enough on-water awake time to justify the cost of a balcony. Thanks in advance.

 

We think being in Cat A or B is great. BUT... there is really no advantage at all to paying even MORE for the Cat P rooms. We had Cat A, Deck 2 for our cruises in 2014 and 2016. We were forced to go Cat P this time because the Deck 2 cabins (A and B) were sold out way back in March for our July cruise.

[JVilleGal]

We loved our Avalon cruise and yes there were at least 4 or 5 choices for dinner plus the Fixed choices of Chicken, Fish, Steak....

Sept 2015 Amsterdam to Budapest!

[Kenster]

I have used a CPAP for 10 + years. When I travel I have found that using bottled water is fine and do not need specific distilled. I do usually keep an extension cord in my bag. Also on Avalon I used a converter just to be sure.

 

THIS ^^^^^. Take an extension cord! Eight to ten feet. To keep phone chargers on the night stand, CPap machines, etc.

[Kenster]

Meeting place in Zurich for our cruise is Movenpick hotel. Anyone know of a bank ATM nearby so we can get some Euros upon arrival? I'll pick up a small amount at the airport but want to avoid the high fees as much as possible.

[Rebel54]

Cruise lines, Tour Operators, and other resellers commit to a bulk of seats on flights. At the prices they obtain, they do not get to reserve or block seats. Nor does Avalon choose your seat. The travelers are assigned to whatever is left over. For example: Avalon (Or Collette Tours or whatever) books 35 seats on a flight to Zurich. Whichever 35 seats are left over close to departure date will be assigned to that group. You can pretty much count on the seats being in the back of the plane and center seats. And don't count on sitting with your friend, though they try to match up couples based on matching last names. You can beat this by calling the airline or going on line with your confirmation number and choosing your own seat, though you may have to pay a fee to do that. Still, better than getting stuck in the center seat of the center section in the back of the plane!

 

I ended up just booking flights on my own. There was no value added to allowing them to do it for me since I was getting the same price doing it myself as they were charging. This way I'm in control and got the seats that I wanted. If they are going to put you in the back of the bus (so to speak) they could at least give you a price discount.

[Kenster]

I ended up just booking flights on my own. There was no value added to allowing them to do it for me since I was getting the same price doing it myself as they were charging. This way I'm in control and got the seats that I wanted. If they are going to put you in the back of the bus (so to speak) they could at least give you a price discount.

 

The advantage of Avalon’s buying power comes in its stability. Same price over many months. Not an advantage if you purchase far in advance of your cruise. But you can get really big savings on air if you decide to book at the last minute when the airlines will really screw You over.

 

The big disadvantage to me is that buying through the Cruise line gets you know points or miles, which can be significant on round trips to Europe.

 

We flew over all three times on mileage awards.

[SuzWillCruise]

Does anyone know the current laundry prices on Avalon?

 

I’m a chronic over-packer who is trying to be better this trip. But, I also don’t want to be washing clothes in the sink every night, and I really prefer wearing clean clothes as opposed to clean enough clothes. Trying to find the balance between saving money (we need some electrical work done) vs my desire not to haul an overly heavy suitcase on the train. (We’ll be going to Salzburg after our Active Discovery Cruise on the Rhine.) We’re traveling for two weeks so I can’t just wing it.

 

Thanks!

[tedly1960]

Does anyone know the current laundry prices on Avalon?

 

I’m a chronic over-packer who is trying to be better this trip. But, I also don’t want to be washing clothes in the sink every night, and I really prefer wearing clean clothes as opposed to clean enough clothes. Trying to find the balance between saving money (we need some electrical work done) vs my desire not to haul an overly heavy suitcase on the train. (We’ll be going to Salzburg after our Active Discovery Cruise on the Rhine.) We’re traveling for two weeks so I can’t just wing it.

 

Thanks!

We got some laundry done on our cruise a few weeks ago. All prices in euros, socks were 2, men's shirts were 3 and women's shirts I think were 4. We sent out our laundry in the morning and it was back that afternoon.

[Travelw]

What type of clothes are worn at night for normal dinners on board. I have read that clothing is casual, what would be examples of casual for a woman. Also, I read that some people have not had time to shower or change clothes for dinner, is that normal. This is our first river cruise and are unsure how to pack.

 

Thanks

 

Dennis