Avalon Romantic Rhine - Basel to Amsterdam - We are there now

[need2travel1]

Hi SML123,

We booked a car service from Zurich to Basel thru the hotel we were staying at in Basel.  I emailed them about a week before our trip & the Hotel (Hotel le Trois Rois) set it up for us.  It wasn't cheap but it was really convenient.  The driver met us just outside baggage claim, took our suitcases & led us to the car.  About an hour later we were at the hotel in Basel.  Couldn't be easier & was worth every penny.

Edited October 12, 2021 by need2travel1

[SML123]

8 hours ago, need2travel1 said:

Hi SML123,

We booked a car service from Zurich to Basel thru the hotel we were staying at in Basel.  I emailed them about a week before our trip & the Hotel (Hotel le Trois Rois) set it up for us.  It wasn't cheap but it was really convenient.  The driver met us just outside baggage claim, took our suitcases & led us to the car.  About an hour later we were at the hotel in Basel.  Couldn't be easier & was worth every penny.

Perfect, we will be staying at Trois Rois as well and I appreciate the idea! 

[SCBarker]

We fly out today to do this cruise in the opposite direction, Amsterdam to Basel on the Expression. Only slightly nervous as the same overseas flight as ours was cancelled yesterday. Hopefully that makes today's even more important that it goes.

[BAYA]

I will look for other threads but thought I'd post to this one since I was already following it. I'm due to fly to Zurich on April 3rd for the Basel to Amsterdam cruise on Avalon. I'm hoping someone might have an update on recent developments that affect that itinerary?

[Daisi]

I don't think any line is sailing at the moment.  You would be best to wait for updates in March, as things change quickly.

[Lois R]

Hi, Daisi is correct.......the lines start their season in March so right now nobody can answer that itinerary question.

[BAYA]

Ok thanks. I had to make my final payment by January 1st. I will try to keep checking on Avalon site for updates. 

[Daisi]

If you have a TA, ask them if you can delay your payment.  I did back in 2021, and it was no problem.  Of course, the cruise was later cancelled, so I figure they were glad to just forward our deposit onto a future cruise at the time, rather than have to refund the monies for the whole cruise.

[BAYA]

2 hours ago, Daisi said:

If you have a TA, ask them if you can delay your payment.

I already made the final payment by Jan. 1st. Not an option. Good to know for the future, though.

[Daisi]

Avalon has been quite good with the Covid problems.  They are among the first ones to just flat out cancel if things are bad, and were offering to move to other times/cruises to help customers.  If their record holds, they will cancel at least a month prior to departure, if not earlier.  Good luck.

 

[BAYA]

On 1/13/2022 at 3:36 PM, Daisi said:

 If their record holds, they will cancel at least a month prior to departure, if not earlier.  Good luck.

 

Thanks, @Daisi. I will be getting off a Celebrity cruise on March 26 and rushing to get to BOS to fly to Europe if this cruise is on, so the more notice Avalon gives me the better!

[BAYA]

Just a heads up about flight changes. After we booked our flights to Zurich from Boston and back to BOS from Amsterdam, several changes occurred. Delta added a whole new class of seats called Premium Economy and we were moved from our extra legroom "Comfort Plus" seats in row 11 to row 30. In addition, I recently got an email from KLM, which is operating the leg from AMS to ZRH saying they had cancelled our flight and booked us on one over 3 hours later, making the layover 4.5 hours. I logged into my Delta account and it still shows the cancelled KLM flight. Such a mess. I created a frequent flyer account on KLM, entered my booking number, and confirmed that we are now on the new flight. Delta doesn't have their act together.

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, BAYA said:

Just a heads up about flight changes. After we booked our flights to Zurich from Boston and back to BOS from Amsterdam, several changes occurred. Delta added a whole new class of seats called Premium Economy and we were moved from our extra legroom "Comfort Plus" seats in row 11 to row 30. In addition, I recently got an email from KLM, which is operating the leg from AMS to ZRH saying they had cancelled our flight and booked us on one over 3 hours later, making the layover 4.5 hours. I logged into my Delta account and it still shows the cancelled KLM flight. Such a mess. I created a frequent flyer account on KLM, entered my booking number, and confirmed that we are now on the new flight. Delta doesn't have their act together.

Something similar to part 1 of your post happened to us on Delta last year – but our reaction was different:  I called and upgraded to the new PE service!  Delta has been rolling that out slowly, and we were so glad to be able to get it.  Business is too expensive and doesn't add what we want [the lie-flat seats don't allow us to sleep any better than a good reclining seat], so PE is the sweet spot on comfort, amenities and cost.