Avalon River Cruise Reviews

Thank you Georgie for booking my trip with my friends and we had no problems with arrival but we did not spend our whole time on the MV Avalon Panorama which is beautiful throughout because of a Lock Strike (could be ongoing). It would of been nice to know that an optional tour in Amsterdam on the day of arrival for those who have not been before ...read more should not be missed. So arrive early morning & go see the windmills, clogs & cheese and then be taken directly to the ship where your luggage is already in your room awaiting you to unpack. I had to change my arrival time so I could go & it was an extra cost I had to bear.

Once onboard the ship I was escorted to my room which was on the lower level and was beautifully fitted out and was as quiet to sleep in at any time. No noise at all. I only had to walk up one flight to the dinning room which served excellent meals for dinner (all 3 courses including wine) and the buffet lunch served in the same room or a light lunch served upstairs in the lounge area near the bar. The bar also had happy hour each evening before dinner if you wished to have a drink before going to dinner. You put it on tab & fixed up account at end of the tour. The tour director Hendrik was very professional & wonderful, and when we were involved with the lock going on strike, he gave us the option of staying onboard or going by by coach for the 4 days.

I bussed it & spent 1 night in Linz & 2 nights right in the center of Vienna at the Inter Continental walking just down the street to see the Royal Waltz Concert which was great. I was disappointed having to repack & take all my belongings with me on the coach as we rejoined the ship before getting into Budapest in Hungary. I took this cruise as I needed a much deserved rest after a most stressful year. I would recommend Global Journeys to all.

We started the cruise from Amsterdam and despite the floods the cruise went ahead. I was impressed that Avalon Waterways had arranged another ship to start the cruise and had the original ship booked at the half way point for us to changeover. This all worked without any problem or fuss and everything was arranged perfectly. I would definitely recommend ...read more Avalon Waterways they provided the best quality, best service and excellent staff. The cruise director was fantastic.

Very well done. We made many new friends. Even the optional tours were well priced. Excellent organisation and timing.

We enjoyed every minute of our cruise down the Rhine Basel to Amsterdam and would recommend it to anyone. Beautiful food. Great staff.

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.

We had an amazing time, thank you for all your help, the trip was excellent so glad we went through the Moselle River it was absolutely gorgeous. Avalon Affinity was excellent, the food was fantastic and the service impeccable. We enjoyed our cabin it was again excellent. We can't speak highly enough of Avalon and Global Journeys. Thank you for all ...read more your help and look forward to returning to Europe in the next couple of years.

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 great. It was well organised before we left and during the cruise. The cruise director was very experienced and helpful. No complaints at all. Loved it.

The Avalon cruise from Paris to Normandy was fantastic. The ship was amazing, the food and wines of the region were excellent. Jerome our cruise director was very good and extremely efficient. All the staff on board the ship were great and cared for us very well . We had a wonderful time.

An extraordinarily well planned and organised trip.

We think the fact that the cabin is 200 sq ft without extra verandah is a good idea, because during sunny weather we can open the floor to ceiling glass windows, thus making the whole cabin into a super verandah, while during not so good weather we have a large cabin! Food is excellent and also the dining seating is variable, so you can sit alone just ...read more to be romantically inclined or you can join new friends and have dinner together. Unfortunately we got infected by cough virus after we arrived at the end point: Budapest. Also the tour guide Andre is fantastically helpful! Although we did not book any flight from Budapest with Avalon, he arranged to keep our suitcases in the Budapest hotel until our flight is ready, so that we can roam Budapest on the last day without having to cart suitcases with us as our flight is not until 4 pm in the afternoon. Thank you for the wonderful service you provide us, even setting aside our anxiety about whether the tour will be cancelled because of the European floods. We would not hesitate to recommend your company to our friends.

Due to weather conditions in Europe just prior to our cruise we missed 1 night of sailing and had to change boats after our Vienna stop. Despite these difficulties everything was done to compensate for the changes and the cruise went very smoothly. Staff were friendly and helpful and our cruise director Erik kept us informed re any changes. Some extra ...read more excursions were included free of charge. Overall it was an extremely pleasant experience! Food was of an excellent quality and presentation had you feeling you were in a 5 star restaurant.

This river cruise was excellent, great crew great food and great tour director.

The cruise was fantastic! The boat was brand new, the cabin was very well appointed and quite large with a full wall of sliding doors, the food could not be better and the service was brilliant. There was a good balance of shore excursions and time to relax on board. The whole cruise was very well organised and we had a daily info sheet with all the ...read more activity details, town maps etc. Thanks for your excellent service too!

We thoroughly enjoyed our three days in Munich especially staying at the luxurious Sofitel, and the Castle Tours with excellent local guides. On the ship, staff were smiling and always helpful. Food was excellent with great variety. Our tour leader Sabine was outstanding, spoke five languages and organised all of our excursions very efficiently. She ...read more was always enthusiastic, patient and approachable. We loved the various towns in Germany and Alsace and their associated history. We had many good local guides and were divided into small groups, and had Vox radios and earphones which made understanding the guide's commentary easy, though it would be better if they all had fixed rather than hand-held microphones. We purchased the Avalon USB stick with great photos of our trip. (Ed. This river cruise has changed slightly in 2019 so this review is based on the slightly different previous itinerary.)

Magnificent Europe river cruise with Avalon in June 2013 was all that I hoped for and more. The good things started with Global Journey's Tour Consultant Georgie and everything ran like clockwork. Very impressed with Avalon. Their wonderful Tour Guide Barbara must be the best tour guide in the business. The challenges they faced due to the worst flooding ...read more of the Danube since the middle ages were overcome without any disruption to passenger comfort or activity. My only regret was that I didn't hand over all my other travel arrangements to Georgie. I certainly will in future.

Given the difficulties with the flooding in southern Germany at the time, Avalon did an excellent job of keeping us on the rivers for the whole trip and well informed with daily status updates. While we changed boats twice (an average of 5 days on all 3 boats) any inconvenience was minimised in the way it was organised. Global Journeys also did a very ...read more good job of following on all requests prior to our departure. Overall we were very happy with our trip and have returned with some great memories.

I enjoyed both cruises. The places visited were interesting and the guides very informative. Of the two cruises I thought the Seine cruise better. The staff were caring and responsive on both boats. The Tour Director Daniella was excellent as was our cabin steward on the second cruise. The internet service was excellent and free. The only real issue ...read more was the noise level in the dining room of the second cruise boat Creativity I think. It was very loud. Not sure why this occurred when it did not occur on the Seine Cruise. All passengers complained but nothing could be done except to ask them to please be extra careful to keep the communication low at the tables. Thanks Georgina for your assistance in setting up the cruise arangements. We are stll in the UK!

This was a great tour and well organised. Internet was available almost throughout (except at the land based hotels and it should be included there too). Food was great. It would be nice to have something like sandwiches available for a snack throughout the day on the boat. Please also ask Avalon not to run 'port talk' while leaving port as people want ...read more to be on deck watching. The side trips and local things like winery, string quartet and small boats up the Danube delta were fantastic.