Avalon River Cruise Reviews

Exceptional cruise, well looked after, room, excursions, meals and staff excellent. Probably would go in a warmer time of year next trip. Met many new friends, atmosphere provided by staff and entertainer was very pleasant, looking forward to our next trip.

Easy booking online, lovely crew, interesting places, and the food was great. Don’t arrive in Budapest too early as days off the ship were 3 prior to embarkation.

Everything was taken care of during our Magnificent Europe Cruise! The food was superb as was the wine and service. There was always plenty of tours and the cruise director kept all passengers well informed. Our only disappointment was the lack of water in the Danube due to the long hot summer. So we were forced to continue by bus!! However Avalon set ...read more us all up in a fabulous hotel in Vienna!

The tour itself lived up to the advertising. Culturally inspiring with fabulous Avalon support staff. Special thanks though to the adept travel agent Tracey of Global Journeys as I tasked her with the impossible: Book a cruise 1 week from departure. This was no problem for her, with all tasks managed proficiently and expertly given the challenging timeline. ...read more Thanks!

In Bucharest the Hilton Athenee Palace provided rooms of widely varying quality eg. Room 352 : Cracked hand basin; dirty, stained lounge chairs; torn, stained office chair; entrance carpet loose - a trip hazard. But some other rooms were 4 star. Perhaps a change of hotel would help. The Sofitel Chain Bridge Hotel in Budapest was the epitome of a first ...read more class hotel.

Onboard our breakfast and lunch meals were buffet and quite good. For evening meals, whilst the waiters were superb, food took forever and evening meals typically took 2 hours and sometimes longer. When two chefs quit on the same day, and it took an hour between the appetiser and the main course, the Maitre D' insisted that there was no problem. Hotel staff and crew were otherwise friendly and obliging.

We loved this trip! Avalon met expectations. I admit personally I had set a very high standard for them to meet after travelling with Viking for a Danube cruise. The rooms, the food, the options, the service, everything was of the highest quality. I have two points of feedback that let them down slightly, but I cannot stress enough, these are my observations ...read more only and did not impact on my enjoyment of this great trip.

1. Older passengers were struggling and left behind/unaccounted for by excursion guides on several occasions. Only other members of the group raised concerns regarding footing safety and their lack of keeping pace with the group.
2. Timings were very tight around excursions on several occasions and the crush/complaints and behaviour, along with the corresponding rush to eat, at the buffet was disheartening. Everyone was fed perfectly well but an adjustment to timings here would leave people a whole lot happier.

This was our second river cruise with Avalon and was just amazing. A 5 star floating hotel through the best parts of Europe! Incredible staff, who have the attitude of 'nothing is a problem' and do anything & everything to make your holiday the best. The food is amazing and be prepared to come off weighing more than when you started your cruise. The ...read more array/selection at every meal is extremely good, as is the selection of wines, beers etc. Our room was very comfortable and always serviced twice a day! Beautiful amenities are provided and all linen is very nice. Each town that we stopped in was incredible, as were the activities and extra options. We also had great entertainment on board too!

We were lucky enough to have Hannah Campbell help us again with our bookings and can’t thank her enough for the great and very professional job she did of organising our trip. Also the price of the trip, compared to other travel agencies, was very good. Highly recommend Global Journeys for all types of travel! Many thanks Hannah, you made our booking so easy and always kept us very well informed! Great job!

Thoroughly enjoyed the holiday. The staff on board were amazing, the included tours were fabulous. Food was great and not too much. When the cruised finished, we were able to stay on board until 4pm in the afternoon. This was great as we had accommodation in Budapest and unable to get into the room before 2pm. Would absolutely recommend this holiday ...read more to all my friends - we will be back!

Best cruise I have been on. The staff were excellent, friendly and always helpful.The ship was great - rooms were much better than a large ocean cruise ship room. We all enjoyed the whole cruise and would have no hesitation in doing another trip with them.

Excellent tour. Highly recommended. Great scenery. Great excursions. Great food, wine and entertainment. Excellent cruise director, cabin staff and waiters.

A big thank you to Jemma and Global Journeys for making this possible. You guys are the best. The cruise was amazing - we just discovered river cruising and are loving it. Amazing food, amazing service and people, amazing boat, amazing activities, and experiences. As far as we can tell, no corners were cut. And most things were included. Everything ...read more done with class. We could get used to this. As the tour director said, the history of Europe is to be seen from its rivers. It's a very immersive way of travelling. And no frequent hotel swap is a big bonus - let alone how good it is. On a side note, we got there when Europe was hit by a heatwave and all records were broken at every stop. Reminds us of summer in Perth! It got hot which limited the amount of exploration we could do during the later part of the day. But luckily we didn't experience any complications - the water level on the Rhine was navigable.

We were looking for a relaxing pre-home trip after having travelled on the Trans-Siberian train trip from Japan to St Petersburg for 4 weeks. We found this Rhine cruise to be surprisingly active and a lot of fun, in a "have a look at each town and city along the way and get out and see everything", kind of way. The food on board was excellent, rooms ...read more were well set out and regularly serviced by some really diligent and committed staff. The tour director knew exactly what she was on about and had things organised to the nth degree. Wait staff were also very friendly and very keen to see to our every request.

We had high expectations as several of our friends had done this and similar cruises and to our delight it lived up to the expectations. Our ship the Avalon Tranquility II was a joy to be on, staterooms were great as was the crew, food and entertainment. The days were filled with exciting new places to see and explore. We would happily return to do ...read more another cruise on a different waterway with Avalon. People at Global Journeys were great to deal with, very professional and kept us informed throughout the whole experience will definitely use them again.

Travelling from Budapest to Prague with Avalon Waterways via the Danube was a memorable experience. Our ship was the Avalon Passion built in 2016. The ship was clean and comfortable and the entire crew were friendly, polite and helpful and all spoke English to a competent level.

Our cruise director Bram held regular information sessions to keep ...read more us informed of what was in store for us the next day. The atmosphere aboard ship was relaxed with no need to wear formal dress for meals and guests were allowed to relax in the lounge, on the sun deck or in their cabins as they wished. We were very well fed with a wide variety to choose from for breakfast and several choices for lunch and dinner with the menu changing each day depending on the country we were travelling through.

At each stop along the way there were local guides on hand to show us the sights, with coaches included where necessary, and many optional tours available at reasonable prices. I can personally recommend the Hungarian wine tour, the Vienna food tour and the Prague dinner and folk show (a bit of a theme there). Stops on the cruise included Bratislava, Vienna, Durnstein, Melk, Linz , Passau and Regensburg.

My fellow passengers were a mixture of Australians, New Zealanders, Americans, Canadians, Chileans, Indians and other cultures. Among those I was able to share a meal and/or drink with were a Canadian fireman, an ex NFL player wearing a Super Bowl ring, a US attorney, a former miss Australia and other interesting fellow travellers.

Thanks to Hannah from Global Journeys for arranging my booking and keeping me informed when things were due both to and by me and overall making the process simple.

Avalon Waterways run great river cruises. The Rhone River cruise was great. Poetry II ship is a lovely vessel, our suite was very comfortable, staff were really good. Excursions on shore were well organised. Food was prepared well, we enjoyed the panorama lounge to have lunches and dinners to watch the river go by.

The Rhine River cruise was good. ...read more Expression ship a bit larger and slightly less performance of crew and staff. Great scenery on both cruises. Would recommend Avalon for any cruising in Europe. We really enjoyed our time on the rivers.

I have booked with Global Journeys before and I highly commend Georgie for her professionalism in assisting me to plan our Avalon Waterways Cruise and flights. Our trip was faultless with all flights, connections, transfers and meeting points working out perfectly.

The Avalon cruise met our expectations and more. Our cruise host Gayle was warm and ...read more welcoming and carried out her role with fantastic organisational skill. Our cabin was spacious and comfortable with the wide sliding windows affording wonderful views as we glided along the Rhone and Saone Rivers in southern France.

Freedom of choice for meals, seating and optional shore excursions allowed for flexibility and an opportunity to meet and mix with fellow passengers. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience - exceptional dining, good onboard entertainment and interesting land tours - a highly recommended French River Cruise!

Pretty towns with decorated stores everywhere. A great variety of quality keepsakes instead of the usual stuff. Had plenty of time to explore the town or stop for coffee and cake. Townfolk warm and welcoming and good sense of humour. Wear good walking shoes as most streets have the original cobble stones. Avalon staff were thoughtful and professional. ...read more Food on the ship was fantastic and changed each day.

We were pleasantly surprised when we booked online and found that we were allocated our personal travel agent. This made the process really easy and pleasant. Our ship, the Avalon Passion, was new and offered comfort beyond our expectations. All staff were knowledgeable, courteous and helpful. Our fellow passengers were friendly and many made interesting ...read more table companions.

The whole experience was excellent. The help and communication I received from Yvonne Brooks of Global Journeys was first class.

We are extremely happy to leave some feedback about our recent Avalon River Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. The program was first class as was every aspect of the service. Great, knowledgeable and very friendly staff. They went well beyond what we'd expect to make the journey so special. Our cruise director was brilliant and so entertaining.

Avalon ...read more made sure every little detail was addressed and this was confirmed when we discussed issues with travellers who were cruising with other companies. It was relaxing yet very special and the overwhelming feel was of that of pure satisfaction. I only wish I had the will power to resist the food!

This is not our first cruise but I would certainly recommend Avalon to anyone considering cruising.