Avalon River Cruise Reviews

Our experience with Yvonne at Global Journeys was exceptional. We enjoyed our Avalon Christmas Markets cruise. The towns visited were wonderful and the shore excursions used excellent local guides. The ship was very comfortable with the catering excellent. Beginning in Prague, there was a significant amount of 'free time'. The tour commenced on 7/12 ...read more at 18.00 and we bused to Nuremberg on Monday at 13.00. Only 1/2 a day (Sunday am) was organised. Some other expensive 'pay for' excursions were offered. The ship cruise director (Nico) was good. The welcoming cruise director (Hendrick) was abrupt and not welcoming at all. Ironic that the Saturday night commencement is described as a 'welcome'. Some issues were experienced by some passengers (not us) of fumes entering their cabin. We are aware of some passengers changing cabins. This needs to be addressed as cruise fares are expensive and this should not happen.

Our river cruise was better than we could have imagined and we will highly recommend Avalon River cruises. Great food and excellent waiter staff. Our Tour Director was excellent and could not be faulted. All the crew were courteous and polite. All our tour guides were exceptional and made our excursions so informative and interesting. Just an amazing ...read more experience - a dream come true!

This European river cruise was the best holiday we have ever had. Every detail had been expertly planned by Global Journeys. Avalon Waterways cruise ship 'Affinity' was staffed by exceptional friendly, helpful and professional crew. The food and drinks provided were abundant, varied and delicious. Included sightseeing was thoroughly enjoyable. I ...read more would recommend this cruise to anyone considering a river cruise holiday and have plans to book another one in the future.

We just loved everything, Robert our tour guide was excellent, everything was just wonderful. Avalon was better than expected and we would recommend it it anyone. No negatives - all positive. Many thanks.

Almost every aspect of the tour we found excellent. Other aspect that Australians dont usually experience, like our American counter-parts, tipping. Although we paid for tipping as part of our package and in addition paid for our optional tours costs, tipping always seemed to be an expectation and some times an embarrassment, because we only had large ...read more Euro bills. After a couple of days we grew accustomed to the practice and always made sure we had sufficient 1 & 2 Euro coins at the ready. That doesn't seem a lot but 1 Euro was about $1.33. (Suggestion): Let Aussies' know 2 to 3 Euros is acceptable, given there are 10 to 16 couples on most optional tours that tallies to a nice tip. Don't include it as part of the tour cost, but as an optional extra. Our whole experience was beautiful, the staff bent over backward to assist our every need. The Captain so friendly and his Ship wonderful accommodation like a five star hotel. The menu's and beverage selection first class, really didn't have a single thing to complain about. Our tour guide Tibo, what can one say to a person who is such a perfectionist. The optional tours and guides he selected were the best we've ever experienced. Tibor was a great host and joined in with us a meals, on tours and was always available if or when we needed something sorted, day or night didn't matter. One unfortunate incident that happened to us, was credit card fraud and our Bank cancelled our card. This occurred on the day our Ship docked in Amsterdam and I reported the matter to Avalon Waterways as we paid our onboard account and optional tour invoices with the Mastercard in question. Our Bank assures this is but a coincidence, as computer fraud can happen anywhere, anytime nowadays. After such a wonderful experience, our next holiday will probably be another Cruise but of 7-10 days duration and possibly be through France in a couple of years. All we are going to work on to improve our travel is something for jet lag!

We did not enjoy this Avalon cruise as much as our APT cruise and would not travel with them again, most of the tours we had to pay for, the food was mostly the same with not much variety, the newsletters from the tour director were too mixed up and hard to follow and a lot of the local guides were very rude, we were also expected to pay tips to drivers ...read more and guides even on the free tours and tips to crew and cruise director at end of cruise, also had to pay for most drinks - all of which we did not on APT.

Our river cruise was everything we expected and more couldn't fault any of it. Would recommend Global Journeys to all those wishing to do river cruises. Special thanks to Yvonne for all the help with our booking and friends bookings. Thank you we had an awesome holiday.

The Avalon Panorama was the most amazing 'hotel on water'. The room was very comfortable (not that we were in it much)! Room service was excellent. The layout of the boat was very practical and our cabin towards the front of the boat was in a good position. Tours were very well organised and range was also very interesting with experienced guides in ...read more each town. We enjoyed being able to choose some optional extras online before we left home. Could not fault the lounge or dining room service and the food was simply wonderful....such a variety everyday. Entertainment on board was excellent and nice to get a feel for the different countries performers. All the staff without exception were amazing and could not do enough for us. Would go again tomorrow and definitely with Avalon. I would also be open to giving testimonies for you if it were required. We have since talked 4 other friends into going on the Panorama next April (2014). They have also booked through Global Journeys. Global Journeys were also wonderful to work with. Yvonne - our consultant was very obliging and answered all our questions. Yvonne contacted us by email when we needed to communicate. She was always available to take phone calls too. Her suggestions on room placement on the boat were spot on and made our travels very easy and comfortable. Our holiday experience was amazing and our memories will live on forever.

The whole Avalon experience is a class act, except, one of the touted highlights of the Danube cruise is the trip down through the spectacular Rhine Gorge. We had seen it on a Trafalgar tour last year and eagerly looked forward to a return trip. For reasons that were not apparent, we entered the gorge just on dark and lost the spectacle completely. ...read more There was bitter disappointment on board. To our way of thinking, the shore excursion to Rudesheim that afternoon should have been shortened by at least an hour to have allowed sailing through this Unesco World Heritage Site in daylight. Missing the Rhine Gorge is close to a money back disaster in our mind. Five weeks later, I still seethe at the thought of missing this highlight through what appears to have been poor planning. There may have been a reason, but we could not get it on board.

This was a wonderful experience. There was a balance between sailing and visiting towns along the river. Life aboard the cruise was great! The crew went out of their way to make sure we enjoyed ourselves and wanted for nothing. The Scenery is comfortable with contemporary furnishings and fittings. My cabin was more than adequate for me. I would highly ...read more recommend this cruise to my friends.

Our first experience on a river cruise - certainly enjoyed it. Cruise Director kept us well informed and was excellent. Would certainly recommend Avalon. Georgie was very helpful with our booking and answering our questions.

What an experience, and what a lovely interactive small group on board. Day tours were excellent, although a little too much history - glad there was not an exam at the end! Accommodation on the lower deck was great, as time on board was either upstairs or asleep. Tour director did an excellent job - timings were great. Meals superb. I have recommended ...read more it to friends.

We loved every minute of our Avalon cruise. There were only 145 passengers on board and even though we were amongst the youngest on board, we made some great friends. The quality and layout of the cabins was very high and we particularly enjoyed being able to open the huge glass doors and watch the world go by from our bed. The level of service from ...read more all of the staff was also faultless. The meals were varied and represented local cuisine. The additional activities, entertainment and included tours were all very well organized and good fun. We followed our European river cruise with a 7 day sea cruise to the Greek Islands. There was no comparison. The Avalon cruise was superior in every way. Thank you Frances and Hannah at Global Journeys. Your advice and assistance was very much appreciated.

The 'river cruise' is marketed as a 13 day 'river cruise', whereas in fact we were only on board for 6 nights. This was hard to find out from the itinerary and really only became apparent after we had paid and the final travel documents arrived. The 6 days on board were fully catered for and so the contrast between that and the rest of the tour, when ...read more only bed and breakfast was provided, was very stark. This was particularly so, as the food on board was terrific and my needs as a coeliac were fully catered for. The river cruise'itself was very good. The only down side being the tour director who really pushed his additional tours - all extra of course - and did little to let you know what was going on. Hence we did take up some of the optional tours, not realising what we were missing if we had stayed on board. (Something that was really annoying. Yes we enjoyed the tours we went on, but it made us feel that we really did not get the full benefit of the already very limited 'cruise.') In addition even some of these tours were falsely advertised - for example pushing a tour to Saltzberg with its shopping and then telling those on the tour the night before that as the tour was on a Sunday the shops would be shut! (We did not book to go on this tour thank goodness.) Doubly annoying for those people that did, as once booked these tours could not be cancelled.

Then once in Prague, for three nights in the Hilton Hotel, not the Prague Hilton in the CBD, but the furthest major hotel from the CBD that could only be reached through quite a long walk through some very dodgy streets, there was only one included tour. This was also not explained until the final travel documentation arrived. Oh, as a by the by do not change money at the Budapest airport. You will be ripped off and the taxi drivers all prefer Euros and will rip you off again when they change their fare from Euros to the Hungarian currency! Get Euros and then change at one of the Bureau De Change places in Budapest - after you have carefully looked for the best rates, they vary enormously! Secondly, in Prague beware some Bureau De Changes give one lot of exchange rates on the boards outside and then another when you get inside. We were warned many times about pick pockets, but never about the exchange problem. We lost a fair amount in one exchange from this practice in Prague and when we talked to the tour guide he said that this was common, legal practice and to beware! Would have been nice to know that beforehand! Yes, we had a great time, saw some beautiful places and ate some delicious food, but it could have been even better if we had realised exactly what we had been booking before the final travel documentation came through.

Lovely to go with a small crowd of like minded people. Can't fault the food & general care. The staff with their final concert, go 'the extra mile'. Also the small towns along the river are a great change from large cities with 4 cruise shiploads of passengers trying to see the same things!

Cruising is my preferred form of travel and this was certainly up to expectations. Ocean cruising probably offers better value for money, but this is a somewhat different experience with the emphasis on what happens off the ship. In relation to the ship, accommodation was cosy but comfortable, meals were varied and of a high standard and staff/crew ...read more were friendly and helpful. Sailing from Amsterdam to Budapest worked well for us. The second half of the cruise had more highlights and was certainly a busier time. After leaving Amsterdam, a definite highlight of the trip, the next couple of cruising days were more 'low key' and gave us a chance for a bit of a rest. (Could be worthwhile depending on what you do before or after the cruise.) As with any tour you only ever get a glimpse of what's available but it was a good balance at a reasonable pace. This cruise provided access to a range of sights and experiences (large cities, small villages, history, culture) and I would certainly recommend it.

We enjoyed every minute of our Amsterdam to Basel river cruise. The flexibility offered by this type of travelling makes group travel enjoyable.

This was our first organised tour in Europe, having previously travelled independently, and our first cruise of any type. We wondered whether we would feel a little constrained or overly organised but, on the contrary, we thoroughly enjoyed everything about our Magnificent Europe River cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest. The itinerary was fast enough ...read more paced for us to not get bored and relaxed enough for us to wonder why we hadn't travelled this way before! The best thing about the cruise was probably the service and friendliness of the entire crew - they were all wonderful and definitely an asset to Avalon. Our cruise director was superb: professional, knowledgeable, highly efficient as well as entertaining. We also enjoyed all of the on board entertainment and of course, the food was amazing. The only slight criticism I would have is that our room was a bit small but as we weren't in the room much at all, (we had superb sunny weather) this wasn't a problem really. All in all we had a wonderful holiday.

Loved the ship, extremely clean, excellent service, can't praise the staff enough. We felt as if we were VIP's and indeed we were treated as VIP. Very much like a floating 5 star hotel. Hotels we stayed in before and after we joined cruise were 5 star as well. Very relaxing, although during part of the trip we encountered a lock master's strike, we ...read more still were able to see and experience lots, in fact as we had to detour a bit, we actually saw more. The tour director was excellent, he made sure we were always kept up to date, he endeavoured to make sure we saw it all and more, he was also relaxed we didn't feel pressured to do anything we didn't want to and his suggestions were excellent. The food was first class, and plenty of it, we never had a repeat evening meal in the 19 day cruise, a couple of the lunches were similar. Would definitely recommend Avalon Waterways and would consider a future river cruise.

Journey was well organized & fulfilled my expectations. Enjoyed & learned a lot about the places we've been to. The boats crew were professionally efficient and possess excellent customer relations.