Rare cbr663 Posted July 2 #1 Share Posted July 2 This post was recognized by LauraS! "Thank you for sharing your review with everyone at Cruise Critic." cbr663 was awarded the badge 'Great Review' We have just returned from our very first river cruise sailing with Avalon Waterways. We selected the Rhine Northbound cruise with the Lake Como and Lucerne add on. Here is the link for the review: https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=716974 In a nutshell, while we enjoyed all the ports that we visited and all the guided tours, we experienced too many mis-steps with food and service while on the ship to recommend Avalon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CielBleu Posted July 3 #2 Share Posted July 3 It was 140 degrees Fahrenheit in your cabin near the window? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ural guy Posted July 3 #3 Share Posted July 3 cbr663- Thanks for posting this. Shame that you had so many issues. I always like how the bed was positioned towards the window. But from what you described, not worth the view from the bed to put up with the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nippy Sweetie Posted July 3 #4 Share Posted July 3 This chimes with our experience on Avalon. Needless to say we moved to Viking next trip and stayed with them ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 3 Author #5 Share Posted July 3 9 hours ago, CielBleu said: It was 140 degrees Fahrenheit in your cabin near the window? That is what Guest Services told me when I got them to come to my cabin after them telling me that everything was fixed. It was after dinner and our cabin was still quite warm. We had to prop open our cabin doors to try and get some air flow into our cabin and other passengers sailing next to us were stopping into our cabin and sharing that their cabins were also very, very warm. We had our thermostat set to 18C, which is very chilly. Guest services told me that the problem was that we had the thermostat set too high and he recommended that we set the thermostat to 8C. He went on the throw out comparable temps in Fahrenheit, thinking that were from the US. I told him that we are Canadians and quite familiar with Celsius and that there should be no need whatsoever to set a thermostat to 8C to cool a room. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 3 Author #6 Share Posted July 3 1 hour ago, Nippy Sweetie said: This chimes with our experience on Avalon. Needless to say we moved to Viking next trip and stayed with them ever since. We are checking out other cruise lines. Thanks for suggesting Viking. I will have a look. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 3 Author #7 Share Posted July 3 4 hours ago, ural guy said: cbr663- Thanks for posting this. Shame that you had so many issues. I always like how the bed was positioned towards the window. But from what you described, not worth the view from the bed to put up with the rest. That was one of the selling points for us also and we did enjoy it and several days we did manage to sail on the river with the door open and enjoy the view. I've thought about whether or not the experience was ship specific and I think for service, it may be. The ship was far from full with about 20 cabins empty so there wasn't the issue of the ship being at full capacity. We cancelled one afternoon excursion to relax on the ship and while up on the top deck I noticed that Hotel Director was sunbathing in the crew only area. My immediate thought was perhaps he should have been walking the ship and seeing the areas that needed attention like no glasses in the Lounge. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ural guy Posted July 3 #8 Share Posted July 3 We're sailing with Riviera in October on a 14N Budapest-Black Sea cruise. One of the draws for us is that they have a few larger cabins (247 sq ft, 'Superior Suite') that have the bed tilted towards the French Balcony, that isn't as pricey as other lines. On a longer cruise, it'll be nice to have that space, and two chairs that look usable. I can't vouch for Riviera yet, but it is nice having options. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljandgb Posted July 3 #9 Share Posted July 3 We were on the Avalon Artistry for a Danube cruise in September. Our room got very warm during the day when we were docked, particularly when we faced the sun. We had to keep the curtains drawn during the day to keep it from getting overly hot. Days we were moving, it didn't seem to be as bad, and would cool down considerably at night. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 3 Author #10 Share Posted July 3 2 hours ago, ljandgb said: We were on the Avalon Artistry for a Danube cruise in September. Our room got very warm during the day when we were docked, particularly when we faced the sun. We had to keep the curtains drawn during the day to keep it from getting overly hot. Days we were moving, it didn't seem to be as bad, and would cool down considerably at night. We kept our curtains drawn also. Unfortunately, the curtains are not black out curtains and didn't do much to address the heat from the sun. It was alarming to me as even though 30C is warm, it isn't overly warm. I suspect that many summer days will be warmer than that and the ship's AC simply cannot cope. Many of us on that side of the ship had our drapes drawn, all lights off and cabin doors open to the hallways trying to get some air into the cabins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 3 Author #11 Share Posted July 3 3 hours ago, ural guy said: We're sailing with Riviera in October on a 14N Budapest-Black Sea cruise. One of the draws for us is that they have a few larger cabins (247 sq ft, 'Superior Suite') that have the bed tilted towards the French Balcony, that isn't as pricey as other lines. On a longer cruise, it'll be nice to have that space, and two chairs that look usable. I can't vouch for Riviera yet, but it is nice having options. I hadn't heard of Riviera. Thanks so much. It looks like it could be a better option than Avalon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel54 Posted July 4 #12 Share Posted July 4 On 7/3/2024 at 5:03 AM, ural guy said: cbr663- Thanks for posting this. Shame that you had so many issues. I always like how the bed was positioned towards the window. But from what you described, not worth the view from the bed to put up with the rest. I've been on two Avalon cruises, one during the hottest part of the year in Vietnam and never nad any issues. I don't believe this is the norm. Never had complaints about the food either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel54 Posted July 4 #13 Share Posted July 4 18 hours ago, cbr663 said: I hadn't heard of Riviera. Thanks so much. It looks like it could be a better option than Avalon. Look at Ama, UniWorld, Scenic and maybe Tauk. There are so many lines. Some are more upscale and top of the line with the price to go with it. I don't know much about Tauk so I can't say for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisi Posted July 4 #14 Share Posted July 4 4 hours ago, Rebel54 said: I've been on two Avalon cruises, one during the hottest part of the year in Vietnam and never nad any issues. I don't believe this is the norm. Never had complaints about the food either. We've been on two as well, both with temps well into the 30's. We always choose cabins at the stern, and have never had a problem with our A/C. We've never had problems with the food, I've been surprised considering how small the kitchen is how well they get your food served. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 5 Author #15 Share Posted July 5 11 hours ago, Rebel54 said: I've been on two Avalon cruises, one during the hottest part of the year in Vietnam and never nad any issues. I don't believe this is the norm. Never had complaints about the food either. If it is not the norm then it is disappointing that the crew didn't offer any solution other than to wait until the outside temperature dropped. Their suggestion to turn the thermostat to 8C is laughable when you consider the inside of a refrigerator is set to 3 - 5C. We weren't the only passengers complaining about the food. And I noticed in the dining room that even though the portions are small, many, many plates were picked up by the waiters with lots of food items not eaten. I realize that food tastes are subjective, yet undercooked veggies are simply that - a carrot was so firm on my plate that my fork wouldn't pierce it. I also realize that lots of people enjoy mass produced food items. We were expecting more items with freshly made local ingredients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfamily9 Posted July 5 #16 Share Posted July 5 I was on the Avalon Vista from June 8 in Amsterdam to June 13 at Breisach on the exact reverse of this itinerary including Luzerne and Como. This was my fourth river cruise with Avalon. I have also been on four river cruises on Ama Waterways. I give both companies very high marks for their service, their cabins and their customer service. I like the Avalon cabins for the extra space in the interior with no external balcony. I also like the layout where the beds face the water. I was also on one Scenic Waterways cruise on the Danube, which advertses as an upscale river cruise company, but their pricing reflects this. I very much appreciate your thoughtful comments. You obviously put a lot of effort into your detailed review. However I have a much higher opinion of the Avalon Vista. I would give the Avalon Vista 5 stars on every aspect of the cruise. I had no issues with the air conditioning. However when my cabin received the afternoon sun, with the cabin windows/doors closed, I made sure to keep my curtains closed. Global warming seems to be at play. Starting on June 14, because of high water levels where the Vista could not get under low bridges, we were transferred to the Avalon Expression. It was a situation obviously out of their control, but Avalon treated me extremely well. We merely had to take a bus for a couple of hours extra from Breisach to Heidelberg, and then we continued on. They gave us 30 Euros each to pay for an unexpected lunch in Heidelberg. I would give the Expression a lower score of 4 stars for the cabin and customer service. My cabin smelled moldy and the crew were professional, but not warm. I suspect that Avalon put this ship and crew in service unexpectedly due to the crisis with high water. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted July 5 Author #17 Share Posted July 5 6 hours ago, bfamily9 said: ....I had no issues with the air conditioning. However when my cabin received the afternoon sun, with the cabin windows/doors closed, I made sure to keep my curtains closed. Global warming seems to be at play.... ....My cabin smelled moldy and the crew were professional, but not warm. I suspect that Avalon put this ship and crew in service unexpectedly due to the crisis with high water. We also kept our drapes closed. We also kept our lights off and were literally sitting in the dark in our cabin with our cabin door open trying to get air from the hallway into the cabin. We weren't the only cruisers having this issue. Closing the drapes helped somewhat, yet as I mentioned in another post, the drapes do not have a blackout lining on them so their effectiveness is somewhat limiting. We also encountered weird smells from the ac several times throughout the cruise, a sort of sulphur smell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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