Magnificent Europe

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.

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 another cruise on a different waterway with Avalon. People at Global Journeys were great to deal with, very professional and kept us informed throughout...read more the whole experience will definitely use them again.

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 made sure every little detail was addressed and this was confirmed when we discussed issues with travellers who were...read more 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.

My travelling companion looked forward so much to this trip, as we had heard so many positive things about it. And I have to say for the period we were on the Avalon Expression it lived up to every comment we had heard. The Avalon service and organisation was second to none. We always looked forward to meal times.... sublime! What a great team of waiters & chefs, always obliging and happy to make your experience special.
I honestly can't say what was my highlight,...read more but I did love the Bavarian region, with its magical castles and well preserved historic villages. Looked forward every morning to another new destination with excellent local guides showing us around our port of call. Of course this is inclusive in your trip costs. We had a good mix of travellers, but it would of been nice to have known where everyone had travelled from. Not sure if this is Avalon's policy not to introduce everyone. I never did find out.
Our room although compact was excellent, it seemed to be serviced twice a day. We were on the 2nd level, with its lovely wall to wall windows including sliding doors. However on reflection I would not hesitate next time to take a lower level cabin. Reason being, one is hardly ever in their cabin as the itinerary is full and a high percentage of the time when berthed you have another boat tied up along beside you blocking any view.
Sadly our trip was short lived as six days into our 15 day cruise we had to leave the boat and travel the remainder of the journey by coach, staying in different hotels mostly every night. The reason being that the Danube river was too low for the boat to pass through. This affected all boat companies travelling this route. As very sad as it was Avalon did an amazing job to move and accommodate 130 people every night. They still maintained our original itinerary along the way. Hats off to Avalon for their slick and seamless organisational skills. Also for their generous refund to make up for our disappointment. At no time along the coach route were were we out of pocket.
I am hoping to book another trip with Avalon through Global Journeys, they were great organisations to deal with. Would highly recommend a river cruise as the passenger list is about 145, such a complete contrast to most ocean cruising.

Only spent 7 nights on cruise ship, then was told that the cruise could not continue due to low water levels on the Danube and the drought in Europe. I believe that Avalon Waterways would have been aware of this prior to our departure therefore giving us the option to opt out. We were given the option to leave the cruise after 7 days but that would have been costly for a lot of people and a great inconvenience as we had other airfares and accommodation booked for after the cruise....read more
We did enjoy the 7 nights of cruising but not happy with the long bus trips used to fulfil the rest of the programme. Avalon did do a wonderful job to put plan B into action but not the holiday we were after. River cruises need to be thoroughly invested before booking as we believe this has happened on a number of occasions, although no mention of this from agents etc. Had no problem booking with Global Journeys, thank you Hannah.