Magnificent Rivers of Europe Reviews

The ship was very well equipped, in particualar the cabins. The cruise cabin was very welcoming and accommodating. Cruise pace a little bit slow for us but nothing to complain about really. The food and service were excellent. Entertainment on board and shore excursions a bit lacking.

The Avalon Budapest - Amsterdam river cruise was certainly a highlight of our 3 month European holiday. It was great not to have to live out of a suitcase for 2 weeks. The scenery was fantastic and the tours (both included and optional) were well organised and priced. The only downside (apart from the trip having to end) was we were on the western ...read more side of the boat which got the afternoon sun and was very hot (admittedly there was a heatwave through Europe while we were on the tour). I suggest you ask future travellers which side of the boat they want to be on - the shady or sunny side. Which side of the boat that is (left or right) will depend on which way it is sailing. Budapest - Amsterdam the right hand side (even numbered cabins) faces west and are the hot ones. Amsterdam - Budapest it is the other way around. Just about everyone on the west side had the same complaint.

We had a wonderful trip on Avalon Vista. We had first class service all the way even though there was a lock operators strike & we had to coached for the last couple of days. We would certainly recommend Global Journeys & Avalon Waterways.

Yvonne our tour consultant was fantastic always keeping me informed and even when there were challenges she met the them and exceeded in making our journey a journey of a life time (From booking to completion). Avalon river cruises were very professional and the service on the cruise was exceptional and team on board and off made the cruise fun and ...read more interesting. Would use both Global Journeys and Avalon again. Thank you.

The river cruise was breath taking, nothing to complain about on the ship, such a high standard all round, well done. There is so many tours you can not do them all, so research before you go. If traveling with an elderly person as I did, they must be fit as there is a lot, yes a lot of walking, be warned, my mother did not cope with it and all the ...read more tours. Glad we went with Avalon because you can add on tours if there is not something on the day you like, a big plus in my trip. There is not a lot to do on the ship but its not a ocean liner, no pools, casino, parting etc is more for low party goers. Do the research and you will have the best time.

This tour was impacted by severe flooding of the Rhine and Danube rivers in Germany. It gave Avalon management and our tour guide many difficult management decisions to make. But, when the going get's tough you see the real qualities of an organisation. We have to say Avalon management and our tour guide were a brilliant team in difficult circumstances. ...read more They made professional decisions under pressure and delivered an excellent tour. It's easy to manage when nothing is going wrong. We want to travel with an organisation who are top decision makers under stress and Avalon have proved to be that company.

We had a really great time on the cruise, food, service, accommodation, all very good, friendly happy staff. Tour director Isabella was very efficient and knowledgeable. I really have no complaints. I had a fall on one of the included tours, due to my rushing to get to the Tour Guide to get him to slow down. I was in the slow walking group. There were ...read more really elderly people with walking sticks left way behind, the slow group was anything but. After that incident and me complaining that guides are not aware enough of their slow walking group, things did improve. It was an accident and that poor guide was so shocked, he was such a dear old gentleman.

The help we were given by our Global Journeys consultant was excellent. The cruise with Avalon - despite the floods and having to change ships was also excellent. We would recommend your firm and Avalon to anyone.

The trip was wonderful. I would have liked some of the extra excursions to be to places other than churches, I am sure there is more than that to see in the area. The local guides seemed to get annoyed if we decided to do our own thing as opposed to taking their tours. Would have been good if there was actually more river cruising and announcements ...read more as to what we were passing. Not being able to get out on deck on cruising days was frustrating, The front of the ship only allows space for around 20 people. The food was very good however usually not hot. The internet connection was almost non-existent. Very disappointing for this day and age. The crew and ship were exceptional. Could not fault anything they did.

I would not book a river cruise with included fixed gratuities again because it gave me no flexibility in my reward for good service. I would have preferred to direct the tour directors gratuity to others on the crew, as he was found to be very shallow and wanting when it came to interpersonal skills. Otherwise, we enjoyed the experience and would have ...read more no hesitation in booking with Global Journeys in the future - Georgie was very helpful and informative throughout our transactions.

The cruise was with 'Avalon Waterways' from Budapest to Amsterdam. Global Journeys gave us valuable advice on many different aspects of this holiday, and provided a very friendly and professional service. We have just booked another holiday through them, and have no hesitation in recommending them to our friends.

Whilst we could not complain about the standard of service or food or land tours on this cruise we found that unfortunately there we would have preferred more time at some stops and less at others. We also found the formality of dressing and multi-course meals at dinnertime too much. The food was touted as being representative of the local dishes. In ...read more general we could not agree. Also their beer selection was very poor. We probably would not consider another Avalon tour.

Overall we were very happy with the River Boat Cruise, however we would have preferred a light dinner option, and a room service option for nights where we wanted to spend in our cabin after a long day touring. Overall we have rated this cruise as very good.

Thank you so much for organising this tour, we had a great time throughout. My husband and I were particularly impressed when we were sought out by the Cruise Director to meet with herself and a crew member for champagne, we felt even more special. The guests were terrific, everyone mingled in exceptionally well, we would most definitely love to do ...read more another cruise, so will watch your emails coming through with any specials you may have. Thanks to Georgie who kept me informed before the trip and answered all my queries very promptly. I had no concerns at all by the time I left home.

Enjoyed the cruise and met many people. A very friendly atmosphere. Traveled from Budapest to Amsterdam and the first week was very frenetic, detracting from the experience. Activities were virtually tasters with little time to enjoy and appreciate the points of interest. The second week was much more relaxed with time to sit and enjoy and with more ...read more enjoyable tours. Having to choose tours early in the cruise meant little awareness of whether the interest or energy would be there on the day. Selection of the tours also suffered from lack of information to assist in the selection process. A more realistic 'this is what you can expect' in terms of time spent getting there and doing the activity would have been helpful. Thank you very much to Yvonne for all of her help in the planning stage.

Excellent service from Yvonne at Global Journeys. Enjoyed the cruise but it was rushed on excursions. Difficult to choose excursions when we knew little of them and equally, how we would be feeling at the time. Hectic first week with little time to relax and enjoy. No complaints about the ship or crew. Don't know if you do or not but always recommend ...read more that a berth above the water line is a big advantage.

My cousin and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole cruise. It was very relaxing and we had a wonderful Tour Director and crew. Our biggest mistake - we should have booked a 23 day river cruise!

Both Garry and I were very impressed with the Avalon Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. Tour consisted of mainly Australians, a few Americans and a couple of English. Staff all spoke English which was great and the Tour Director was excellent. The cruise boat 'Avalon Vista' was just new and our cabin 319 on the top deck was perfect. No complaints at ...read more all. The daily guided tours of villages, towns etc were very well organised and professional. Only on a couple of occasions was it difficult to understand the language of the guide however, overall very informative. Thanks to Global Journeys for arranging our tour. We were very impressed with Yvonne's organisational skills and always getting back to me by email should I not be sure of something. Flight ticketing all went very smoothly with no hiccups. After nearly six weeks away enjoying the cruise, then France, it is nice to be home but we will definitely contact Global Journeys for our next travel arrangements which hopefully won't be too far off. Many thanks once again your assistance and guidance was very much appreciated.

Considering that our tour was arranged at short notice and online, we found Georgie Walpole to be an excellent travel adviser. Georgie replied promptly to our every request/questions with immediate feedback where possible and was always willing to look at any other avenues of the trip that we may have asked her to enquire about, and made suggestions ...read more to help us with the trip. We would definitely use Global Journeys again should we decide to travel overseas. All in all a very pleasant and professional liaison.

Had a wonderful river cruise. Avalon are great. Global Journeys gave us excellent service.