Avalon Artistry Oct 1, 08 Bucharest/Prague

[CRUZERNUT]

We are a group of 4 couples booked on the 22 day river cruise on the Artistry from October 1 to 23rd, 2008. We have taken many ocean cruises and river trips on the Yangse, Nile, Rhine and Amazon. We are looking forward to this trip and hope others booked will join us on this thread. It is quite a long time before we leave but would like to get this thread started so we can start asking questions...which I'm sure many will have.

I'll start things off with a question for others who have cruised with Avalon.

It appears we have a cashless approach, like on ocean cruises, where we can use a credit card on board and be billed at the end. However many threads here mention that the crew prefers to be tipped in cash (Euros no doubt). Inasmuch as they recommend something like 15 Euros per day, this adds up to alot of Euros which I'd rather not carry on my person. Will the ship cash US Travelers checks in order for us to get the necessary tip cash?

Look forward to hearing from any and all oct 1 Artistry voyagers....

[cruisetraveler44]

We sailed on the Artistry in April this year on the tulip time cruise and loved it. It was wonderful to see so many places and only having to unpack once. On the tipping, it was recommended to tip 12 Euro per person per day for the staff and 3 Euro per person per day for the cruise director. Preferably the Euro was the choice of payment but you could also have paid in US dollars, they let you know what the US equivalent to the Euro is so you can pay either way, also people could put the gratuity on their credit card you just had to set it up with the reception desk before the end of your cruise. You could exchange US travelers checks for Euros but there is an additional fee for using travelers checks. I don't know why since I think it's safer to travel with them than without. We did exchange some of our US currency while on board at the reception desk for Euros so it was nice not having to find a bank to exchange currency.

I hope you have a nice time on your cruise.

[CRUZERNUT]

Hi Cruisetraveler44. Thanks so very much for the info on tipping and money handling on the Artistry. It helps alot. Glad you enjoyed your trip. We are looking forward to ours..thanks again

[halbfl2]

Can anyone explain to me why the recommended tipping amt. is so much higher on the river cruises per day than on a cruise ship? This is our first river cruise after nearly 10 ocean cruises on about 5 different cruise lines, and the amt. has never been that much.:confused:

[boards]

And why do you have to tip the cruise director?

[CRUZERNUT]

Not sure I know for sure, and frankly I'm not completely sure I have the facts on the amount. The Avalon brochure just says its personal and up to the individual. Many posts refer to the $15/Per/day figure but I have an Artistry trip review from last summer that says, "Avalon recommends $10/per/day for the crew and $2/per/per/day for the cruise director. I would not be surprised to see these figures have risen to $12 and $3. I believe the cruise director does alot more for passengers on river trips than on the ocean, thus the extra cost there....but we'll see. Hope someone sailing on Avalon in the next few months will comment on the current situation.

[MSEm]

I will be on the Avalon Budapest to Prague. Tour is scheduled to begin on June 20. I will write a report after I return home in the first part of July.

 

Check your ATM and Credit Cards on fees. Most will charge you a 1% exchange fee, but many add on an additional 2-3% transactions fee.

 

I set up a Charles Schwab and a USAA Bank account with ATM cards. I am not charged any ATM fees. Schwab even reimbused the 1% exchange fee.

I also have these set up without any automatic transfers from any other accounts.

 

Hope this helps,

MSEm

[CRUZERNUT]

Thanks for info. Will look forward to your report. I just happened to be in schwab office last week and thought their account for ATM's sounded pretty good too. I will look into it. Thanks again.

[cruisetraveler44]

Once again, I just returned from the Tulip Time cruise on the Artistry and hopefully can explain the tipping process. The suggested tipping was 12 Euros per person per day for the cruise staff, thats the cooks, waiters, cabin stuart bartenders etc. They do a fine job with always a smile and really aim to please. I was very happy to give them all what they deserved. We actually tipped extra individually to a few of the staff who went above and beyond for us. As for tipping the cruise director it is recommended 3 Euros per person per day and he or she really deserves it. Our cruise director was Andre and he was about the best I've ever met. He made sure that everything went smoothly. All the tours are lined up by him, he did a port talk each evening so you knew what to expect each day. He answered all the questions we ever had to ask him. He was always available for everyone and if you didn't see him around you just had to go to the reception desk and they would get him for you. He was very personable and certainly deserved the tips he got. We loved having him as our tour director and if I could find him on another one of the Avalon ships I would love to go again. He made my trip a memorable one. I hope all who sail on Avalon would have as enjoyable trip as we did.

[boards]

I know I am going to get blasted for this, however we are going a Med. cruise and in inquiring about tipping, it has been pointed that it is not necessary to go overboard in the tipping, because these people received a deceit wage. It has even been suggested that in some places it is an insult to offer one. So, whose idea is it to do the tipping on these river cruises?

[letsgo39]

The suggested tipping amounts on the rivercruises are in the documents you receive from the cruise company at the beginning of your cruise.It is just a suggestion and you really can do whatever you want.Nobody will know or push you overboard if you don't tip the suggested amount.:D I can't help but think sometimes that it is just wishful thinking!

[webfoot]

We just got back from Avalon Artistry cruise ... we tipped a bit more than the recommended guidelines because the service was so outstanding.

 

Our trip included many Australian and a few New Zealand folks ... they said that the tip was added to the cost of their trip as many people in Australia and New Zealand don't tip ... or if they do, not that much.

 

The tour director, Robert Zieminski, was fabulous ... Eva cleaned our cabin daily and did a great job, the bartenders, Viktor, Peter and Tom always had a smile for us ... the kitchen crew did a wonderful job ... we even had a tour of the kitchen ... the servers always had a smile and went out of their way to ensure that you had what you needed.

 

Now, back to the laundry ... :eek: I'm amazed, we both used everything that we took ...