Avalon Excursions - sign up early?

[FoolishMe]

Looking for a little advice…

We’re going on our first river cruise (Avalon - 19 Aug 2023 / Romantic Rhine Basel to Amsterdam). 
Do you need to sign up for the included (or optional) excursions when they become available?

What type of availability is there once you get on the ship?

[Daisi]

I always sign up as soon as I can, for 2 reasons. 1) I pay in Cdn. $$$, not Euro's as you do onboard, and the CC gets paid well before the trip, and 2) I want to be sure that I don't miss out on ones that I really wish to do.

 

I believe you can sign up for most onboard, possibly not if you wish to do a bike tour (there are a few bikes onboard, but they will bring in extras to accommodate those who are touring.) or a really popular tour if bussing is limited. Yes, some of the tours do include a bus trip - Colmar (which is well worth it), Alsace wine region, and Heidelberg.  

[FoolishMe]

Daisi

thank you - will look at making some decisions very soon 

[ikesyd]

58 minutes ago, Daisi said:

I always sign up as soon as I can, for 2 reasons. 1) I pay in Cdn. $$$, not Euro's as you do onboard, and the CC gets paid well before the trip, and 2) I want to be sure that I don't miss out on ones that I really wish to do.

 

I believe you can sign up for most onboard, possibly not if you wish to do a bike tour (there are a few bikes onboard, but they will bring in extras to accommodate those who are touring.) or a really popular tour if bussing is limited. Yes, some of the tours do include a bus trip - Colmar (which is well worth it), Alsace wine region, and Heidelberg.  

Agree with Daisi about signing up before the cruise for optional excursions, we can pay in AUD instead of Euro. Also we signed up for a walking food tour in Amsterdam and it ended up just being hubby & I. I believe that if we had waited till on board they wouldn’t have gone ahead with the tour for only 2. 
I will be prebooking the day trip to Salzburg for our October cruise as soon as it becomes available for booking.

[Daisi]

1 hour ago, FoolishMe said:

Daisi

thank you - will look at making some decisions very soon 

 

 

I would highly recommend the Colmar and Alsace trips. If you go to the same town we did in 2018 for the Alsace trip, it's a beautiful town like Colman.

 

Of course, if you like biking, the tours in the countryside should be great as well. We didn't have the option for the Basel trip, so can't fill you in on that.

[YoungDubFan]

Yes you can sign up in advance but almost always you can make changes on board. I did a Tulip Time cruise that finished on May 7. Our Cruise Director gave a port talk every night at 6:45 and would talk about the next day’s options and sometimes options for future days. He would say if there was an absolute deadline to make changes due to needing to secure buses, etc. We had quite a few people make changes to what they had signed up for once they had more details on the excursions. It’s great that Avalon allows for such flexibility. 

[franski]

I learned something interesting about pre-booking tours with Avalon.

 

With most companies (Avalon included) extra excursions will be cancelled if there is not enough interest.  Makes sense...  HOWEVER - on a cruise with Avalon that started in Amsterdam, we pre-booked the tour to Zaanse Schans that was scheduled on the day of embarkation (we went in a couple of days early). There were only 4 of us on that tour.  The Avalon rep at the hotel indicated that they seldom (if ever) cancel tours booked on day of embarkation as they usually need some lead time to cancel anything.  So - if it is a tour that you want - and it is on day of embarkation - book it. I doubt you will have an opportunity to book when you arrive.  And - even with a low booking - it should proceed as planned.

 

Not sure if this has changed... this was about 6 years ago.  (We did a cruise that hit many of the WWI and WWII sites....  Flanders, Paschendale, Ypres etc. Also a cruise through Rotterdam harbour - not usually something a river boat does. Great itinerary - only offered that one year.)

 

Fran

[Daisi]

@franski, I heard on another board that someone recently had pre-booked a tour and they were the only 2 on it. Avalon went ahead, just they had a car instead of a bus. 🙂

 

[FoolishMe]

Thank everyone for all the insights!!
I’ve booked the Local Wine Tasting in Breisach and Hiking in Rudesheim so far for us. My Avalon isn’t letting me book any of the biking excursions - seems as if those have to be booked onboard. Trying to decide which other ones we’d like to do or have as backup. 

 

[Rebel54]

I like to sign up for the extra excursions as soon as I am able because I want to pay for them before I leave and not have an additional bill on my trip. I also want to make sure that I am able to get the ones I want.  If they cancel Avalon has been pretty good about refunds so I don't worry about that too much

[AliceS]

On 5/21/2023 at 4:08 PM, Daisi said:

 

 

I would highly recommend the Colmar and Alsace trips. If you go to the same town we did in 2018 for the Alsace trip, it's a beautiful town like Colman.

 

Of course, if you like biking, the tours in the countryside should be great as well. We didn't have the option for the Basel trip, so can't fill you in on that.

Daisi,

 

I just signed up for the Alsace Tour.   It looks so nice and my family origins are there.   So happy that you said that it’s worthwhile.

[Daisi]

@AliceS, the town we went to was Obernai. I wasn't overly thrilled with the winery (maybe because I've been to so many that they don't really impress me anymore.), but the drive was really nice.  Here's some shots of Obernai to give you an idea as to what you may see: 

[Daisi]

When we arrived, right at the entrance, there was this bakery. The staff were waiting for us, with trays of macarons to sample.  Of course, they knew we would have to go by to leave, and yes, there were quite a few shoppers.  Not sure how much made it back to the boat, I know we snacked on some of our purchases. 🙂 

[AliceS]

Thank you so much, Daisi!   It looks like a village under a Christmas tree.   Looking forward to it.

[Tardis42]

Newbie here - we put a deposit down on the Active and Discovery Romantic Rhine cruise for August 2025 and wondered about the INCLUDED excursions. When do you need to sign up for which of the 3 you want to do in each port? On the boat or ahead of time? Thank you.

[Rebel54]

12 hours ago, Tardis42 said:

Newbie here - we put a deposit down on the Active and Discovery Romantic Rhine cruise for August 2025 and wondered about the INCLUDED excursions. When do you need to sign up for which of the 3 you want to do in each port? On the boat or ahead of time? Thank you.

Hey Tardis.  I like to sign up for what I want to do ahead of time.  You will see optional excursions that you might want to do that you will have to pay for.  I like to sign up and pay for those ahead of time.  If you aren't sure what you want to do, don't stress.  Things are pretty flexible on board.  They are not likely to run out of space for the included excursions.  If there is a MUST do for you, sign up early so you are sure to have it on your plan.

 

[Daisi]

Hi @Tardis42, as Rebel says, it's easier to sign up ahead of time (usually comes available on MyAvalon once your final payment has been made). You pay for excursions onboard in Euros, on your MyAvalon, you pay in your home currency. It probably works out close, but you also aren't coming home to a large CC bill. 🙂

 

I don't think you have to worry about not being able to go on excursions, we were on the Danube in Sept. and they actually had 4 groups for one tour as so many wanted to go on it. Signing up ahead of time does help them organise the number of guides required. I know you can cancel any pre-paid excursion 48 (could be 24) hrs ahead of time no problem, just go through the MyAvalon site. I had to do it on our cruise and had my CC credited fairly quickly. I think the only excursions you can't sign up for ahead of time are the bike ones, and that could be for other reasons (weather?). 

[Rebel54]

@Tardis42 Not sure if you know, if you go to your cruise on the main Avalon page and go to the day to day itinerary and open it up they will have/add the daily excursions and optional excursions there so you have an idea of what will be available after you make your final payment/the last day you can make a payment.

[franski]

I learned something when we did a tour with Avalon that started in Amsterdam.  There was an optional tour to Zanse Shans on the day we were to board the boat.  Only 6 of us signed up - but they ran the tour anyway. They said that since we had paid ahead - and they pre-booked the guide - that they would continue even with the low number of people. Not sure if this practice has continued...  but it was good to know.  On the boat, if there is a minimum number needed to proceed, they will announce that - and give the number needed.  Easy to cancel and not charge you if numbers aren't met.  Perhaps not as easy with a tour that had to be pre-booked before you arrived in town.

 

Fran

[Tardis42]

@franski How much time did you spend at Zaanse Schans with the tour? We plan to arrive a few days before the tour to Amsterdam and wondered whether to go on our own or go with the optional tour? Also, what did you do with your luggage for the cruise while on the tour to Zaanse Schans? Thanks. 

[JordanF]

We did this tour with Avalon prior to our cruise.  It was a nice excursion, and in my judgment, the few hours we had there were enough.  There were enough other things to do in Amsterdam so we did not feel the need to go on our own.  As to luggage--Avalon had a meeting point at a hotel near the boat.  We went there to meet up and to leave our luggage, which met us on the boat after the tour.  It was all organized and taken care of.  Here are a few pics from the excursion...

 

 

 

[Daisi]

2 hours ago, Tardis42 said:

@franski How much time did you spend at Zaanse Schans with the tour? We plan to arrive a few days before the tour to Amsterdam and wondered whether to go on our own or go with the optional tour? Also, what did you do with your luggage for the cruise while on the tour to Zaanse Schans? Thanks. 

 

If you are planning on doing the tour with Avalon on the day of your embarkment, you can drop your luggage off at the ship prior to taking the tour. We did Keukenhof the day of embarkment, after spending a few days on our own touring around. We went to the ship around 12:00 as the tour was at 1:00. We dropped our luggage, and they invited us into the lounge to have a light lunch.  We will be back in Amsterdam in 2025 with Avalon again and will be doing Zaanse Schans with them then.

[franski]

On 1/16/2024 at 1:04 PM, Tardis42 said:

@franski How much time did you spend at Zaanse Schans with the tour? We plan to arrive a few days before the tour to Amsterdam and wondered whether to go on our own or go with the optional tour? Also, what did you do with your luggage for the cruise while on the tour to Zaanse Schans? Thanks. 

Hi - sorry for the delay in response...

 

We arrived in a day ahead and spent the night at the host hotel (we had a couple of places we wanted to see on our own...). Avalon often has a hotel identified so that people who arrive in before they can board have a place to "hang out"...  We just checked out of the hotel - dragged our luggage downstairs where the Avalon people took care of it for us.

 

Fran

[jsn55]

On 5/21/2023 at 1:01 PM, ikesyd said:

Agree with Daisi about signing up before the cruise for optional excursions, we can pay in AUD instead of Euro. Also we signed up for a walking food tour in Amsterdam and it ended up just being hubby & I. I believe that if we had waited till on board they wouldn’t have gone ahead with the tour for only 2. 
I will be prebooking the day trip to Salzburg for our October cruise as soon as it becomes available for booking.

VERY good observation ... if everyone waits until they're sailing, some of those ShoreX will disappear for 'lack of interest'.