Avalon River Cruise Reviews
The 493 Avalon River Cruise reviews listed below are from past clients of Global Journeys that have traveled with Avalon. Each review has been individually verified by our team.
4.7
5 Star
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1 Star
Excellent holiday! The boat and crew were fabulous. Tour guide Helmut was pretty ordinary really - at no stage did he speak to us! Except when we asked a direct question, not personable or emotionally connected. Staff on boat wonderful communication! All round great experience.
Worthwhile voyage with very good excursions. The guides were excellent with good knowledge and were able to get us into many places early to lessen queues. As on previous cruises we were provided with very good information on board on a daily basis. Diane's request for Gluten Free options was addressed well.
The 8 day cruise was perfect for us. Anything longer I believe would have been too much. In retrospect I should have booked the cruise at the end of our travels instead of in the middle as it would have been a good way to unwind after a very busy sight-seeing two weeks in Italy.
Enjoyed Munich and the excursions 2
Rosemary Piggins, NSW, Australia, Jul 2015
I thought the cruise part of the trip was very short but I did enjoy Munich and our excursions. The cruise Director Kathy was excellent and would recommend her to everyone. The river cruise ship is looking a bit tired and could need a update as our door was broken and needed a good push to open all the time as I could not open it myself, we did ask read more our cabin boy to help and he told us it needed to be taken off and fixed. Also our safe was hard to work and we asked for help a couple of times. The crew were excellent and we managed to have the same dinning room table and waiter all the time which was great.
The best river cruise that we have ever done 2
Paris to Normandy
Joy & Milton, SA, Australia, Jul 2015
This was the best river cruise that we have ever done. Five star dining for lunch and dinner and the option of champagne with breakfast both non alcoholic and the real deal. Avalon even offered a choice of two included tours in all of the ports. The food and wine was of a very high standard. We would not hesitate to travel with Avalon again, it was a fabulous cruise.
Shore excursions very good but maybe need to show different things apart from lots of Cathedrals, although they were quite impressive. Tour guides, tour director and all ship's crew as well as hotel staff were very knowledgeable, professional, polite and helpful. We have never been on a cruise before but if we ever do another one then all I can say read more is that your standards will be hard to beat. Must also mention that Yvonne has been very helpful throughout the whole process. We have had a few people ask how it went as they may be considering something similar, we will highly recommend Global Journeys as well as Avalon Cruises.
Cruise was fantastic! 2
The Legendary Danube
Bernadette Egan & Eileen Stagg, QLD, Australia, Jul 2015
The Legendary Danube Cruise was fantastic!! We loved the location of the Intercontinental in Prague. It is certainly a beautiful city. The Expression was a great ship with a great crew! Nothing was too much to ask for - exceptional service! The days when we were cruising along the Danube was spectacular. You felt like you were gliding along - very read more relaxing!! Even going through the locks was an amazing experience. I also loved Passau and Budapest. Would have liked to have had a few more days in Budapest - maybe next time, as I well definitely be doing another river cruise!
The onboard entertainment was not up to the standard of the Avalon cruise we were on last year. There were no ship tours of wheelhouse, galley etc. Overall the cruise was a wonderful experience that we did enjoy. Much to our delight we had the same wine waiter, Dimi, as last year. Different country, same waiter, excellent, the service was exceptional. read more Well done Avalon, we will sail with you again.
Overall it was a fantastic cruise and experience. As it was my first cruise, therefore I am not able to compare. However I think there is always room for improvements, such as better storage for suit cases in cabins or that no drinks were served during entertainer performances and events.
Every day was minutely scheduled to get the most out of the day. Mostly travellers were older people and many found the early starts tiring. I think the younger ones who drank and partied the night before were even objecting to the early starts. Otherwise it was a very memorable experience.
Would certainly cruise with Avalon again 1
Magnificent Rivers of Europe
Pauline , WA, Australia, Jun 2015
This cruise exceeded expectations. We enjoyed the freedom of doing our own thing whilst appreciating the optional extras available. It suited our needs perfectly and represented excellent value for money. Everything was well organised yet casual. No timetables to observe and whilst there were plenty of included activities there were also many more read more optional available. We would certainly cruise with Avalon again and use Global Journeys as our booking agent.
Second river cruise with Avalon and they do it very well 2
Burgundy & Provence (Southbound)
Graham & Caroline, SA, Australia, Jun 2015
This was our second river cruise with Avalon Waterways and they do it very well. The ship was possibly the oldest in the fleet but you wouldn't know it, it looked brand new. The service is excellent as is the food. The tour started in Paris where there was a couple of optional tours on offer and the only inclusion was a tour around Paris is a coach. read more The hotel in Paris was very big but of a good quality and handy to the Metro. The Tour Director was very good, very helpful and kept the tour on track. The French countryside is beautiful and the places visited were all very interesting. At the end of the river section of the tour you are coached to Monaco which takes about 4 hours and we stayed in the Fairmont Hotel. The hotel is of a very good standard and well located to the Casino and other attractions. The only activity offered in Monaco is an optional tour comprising a dinner and walking tour of the old part of the city. We didn't do this optional tour (it was quite expensive) and as we stayed an extra day in Monaco, we arranged a half day guided tour of Monaco separately, which was very good. Although Monaco is not very big, spending only half a day there is not really enough and I would recommend staying an extra day.
Excellent apart from the cruise director 1
Paris to Normandy
John & Angela Jonson, Australia, Jun 2015
This trip was excellent apart from the cruise director (Sylvia). We thought we might get a cabin up-grade due to the fact that in August 2013 we spent a lot of money for the Magnificent Europe trip. We were on the ship for 3 days when Angela came down with a form of chicken pox and was asked to leave due to being contagious. We had travel insurance read more but we were still out of pocket about 7k. We were told a couple of days before we were to board ship that there were 7 available cabins and that it was up to the cruise directors discretion on whether or not we could get a cabin upgrade. Sylvia said she would contact Brisbane in relation to this but came back with a letter for us advising that they had not heard about this and therefore wouldn't consider it. I said to her that we probably wouldn't consider Avalon again because of this, and she agreed with us. We thought the cruise director would 'bend over backwards' to please her passengers. She came across to people that she couldn't be bothered with anything and wouldn't go the 'extra mile' for anyone. For this only reason we wouldn't consider an Avalon cruise again. Thank you.
This Avalon River Cruise was worth every penny, it was an experience of a lifetime. Beautiful ship, fantastic staff, so helpful and friendly, always had smiles on their faces. The excursions were excellent, and having a limited amount of people on the ship meant that you get to know just about everyone on the ship. I would recommend this cruise ship read more line to anyone who asks, you could not get better value and service.
Overall a really nice tour 2
Carol H., QLD, Australia, May 2015
A lovely trip despite it raining a fair part of the trip. The ship was very nice and I would have been happy to spend longer on the cruise part of the trip. I was sorry the weather didn't allow us to sit up top often. The ship Crew were great, quickly remembering your name, and doing fun things like making the bath towels into dog shapes and leaving read more them on you bed with your sunglasses on them. Food was plentiful and nice. Sights were lovely. I didn't do many optionals, as I had just come off another very busy tour, and so I enjoyed a more leisurely time, but I did do the wine tour in the Hungarian countryside and it was delightful. Our guide Peter was pleasant and obliging. Overall a really nice tour.
The crew were very nice and service was excellent. Our cabin was very comfortable and the cruise director was very entertaining and helpful. We were very disappointed that the cruise ship Vista had engine problems and we missed out on the first 2 days and also the last two days of the cruise. Although we still completed the journey by coach, it was read more never the same. Avalon has promised compensation, but up to now, we are still patiently waiting for it to show up in our account. Yvonne, our booking consultant was very efficient and helpful in organising our trip.
Most enjoyable and certainly to be recommended 1
Romantic Rhine
Graeme & Ron, WA, Australia, May 2015
The Avalon Luminary is a fine river ship which provided ample room in the public areas to relax and move about. The cabin we had was on deck 2 with a French balcony and it was a good size for two with well laid out facilities and ample storage. All the staff on board were excellent and responsive to our every request. The food was excellent and there read more was never any shortage either for the breakfast buffet or the al a carte lunches and dinners. The included shore excursions were well organised and the guides were, for the most part, very knowledgeable. One slight disappointment, and not the fault of the cruise line or captain and crew, was that due to the low level of many bridges and the numerous locks we passed through, the sky deck was only open for use for the first day and the last two. This meant that for 10 of the 13 days this area was unavailable. The only other issue was, for an Australian, the beer was almost always never served as cold as we would have liked. Regardless of these two minor issues, the cruise was most enjoyable and certainly to be recommended.
Very good overall service on the cruises 2
Rhine & Rhône Revealed (Northbound)
John, Kathryn, Malcolm, Elaine, David & Roslyne, NSW, Australia, May 2015
The team on the Rhone cruise were 5/5, and 4/5 on the Rhine (although here the Maitre D. Peter was a 5.5) However combination was very good overall. Cabins were great and much improved on the Danube cruise of 5 years ago. In fact the cabins were superb. The only disappointment was the onboard entertainment which fluctuated from very good guest presenters read more to very average music. Notwithstanding we enjoyed ourselves and put on a few kilos from the great food.
Thank you Yvonne for all your patience and help with booking this magnificent experience. Linda, my daughter and I had a fabulous holiday. Every day was a WOW experience and in fact I don't think that I could have taken too many more overwhelming days. Everything was perfect from the beautiful room where we could lie in bed and watch the river and read more villages pass by; the exquisite room service with lovely touches like the open fire on the TV screen in the evening; the welcoming and beautiful personal interaction by all members of staff but particularly the waiting staff; the well organised and professional program provided by Mark the tour director; the intimacy and friendship for passengers because of the small numbers of passengers for the ship and the high level of competence of the captain and the crew. I could go on and on but in essence I would definitely highly recommend this cruise to all who are seeking a wonderful and hassle free tour of Central Europe. Just one part of our flights was a problem as timing was tight between Budapest and Frankfurt and the flight was a little late into Frankfurt where we were dropped off by a bus a great distance from our next flight and lifts weren't working. I would suggest at least a 2 hour turnaround for such a leg as this. Many, many thanks Yvonne.
Absolutely recommend it to anyone 2
Ken & Helen Middleton, QLD, Australia, Apr 2015
Absolutely recommend it to anyone, everything was 1st class plus, the attention to detail was right up there. There was even Vegemite for breakfast if you wanted it, it's examples like that could fill the page. We also went on the maiden cruise of the P&O flagship Britannia which was very ordinary compared to Avalon. I can't speak highly enough about them. Thanks.
