Avalon Passion Reviews

This was our third Avalon river cruise and we weren’t disappointed. Despite the itinerary being changed due to low water on the Danube. Avalon handled the situation well. Stayed in cabin 210 which was only a short walk to the main sections of the ship. Food and staff very good, though there appears to be less staff on board. Due to the low water we ...read more stayed 2 nights on the Avalon Impression docked in Budapest. We were then bused to Bratislava for our day tour there and continued on to Vienna to join our correct ship the Avalon Envision.

All crew were the same on each ship which helped with continuation. Avalon provided each passenger with cash to purchase lunch in Bratislava and also some free optional excursions as compensation. Tracey handled our booking very professionally, as always! Appreciated the updates on the changes. The team at Global Journeys are great and will continue to be our go to agents. They offer great value and a friendly and helpful team.

Travelled on Avalon View, an excellent vessel. Cabin and crew were great. Our river time was cut short by one day due to low water levels in the lower Danube but Avalon responded well with alternate arrangements. Transylvania extension was excellent, thanks to our local guide, Stefan.

We had a really great time from the very beginning with excellent service from Rachael in organizing our trip at relatively short notice. The boat looked new and was very clean, the crew were all fabulous and Daniella the Cruise Director was outstanding and always available to give advice and or support the passengers. The only downside was of course ...read more the low water levels in the upper parts of the Danube which prevented us from completing the journey in Nuremburg. This impacted every cruise company. Having said this, Avalon did an outstanding job adjusting the cruise by adding a few more stops along the way and through offering free excursions to compensate for the inconvenience - which in my view was minimal.

The food was excellent and we really enjoyed just sitting on the deck or in the cabin, and taking in the beautiful sites as we sailed along the Danube. We are not cruise junkies, but this exceeded our expectations and if we do take another trip, it will certainly be with Avalon.

We recently completed a wonderful Amsterdam to Budapest cruise with Avalon along the Rhine, Maine and Danube rivers. Like many, this trip had been deferred, with credit, for two or more years. We soon began to realise how much we were again enjoying our experience of travel. A sense of normality returned and we gained a renewed love of such scenic and ...read more historic beauty as the castles along the Rhine and later in the Wachau Valley on the Danube.

The cities in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary were alive and well with tourists beginning to return in numbers. A bubble of joy and happiness radiated on the faces of travellers and locals from the various cultures seemed delighted to welcome us to their environs. Covid precautions were sensibly in place but did not hamper the joie-de-vivre in our hearts. It felt so good to be ‘travel-alive‘ again.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

It was not the fault of Avalon that there was insufficient water in the Danube to allow us to do the whole cruise we had booked to do. However, Tony, our tour leader and Avalon worked very hard to make our experience enjoyable and memorable. We were able to visit every advertised port, other than Nuremberg, plus we visited Linz and for a fee, a bus ...read more excursion to Bratislava was offered, which we did and enjoyed very much. The food provided on our ship was of exceptional quality and the staff serving us more than met our expectations.

It was disappointing, to us, that the mix of passengers on the ship was limited with the vast majority being from the US. We like to meet people from many different nations but on this occasion we were limited to mostly the USA, followed by Canada, some from the Philippines, a few from Hong Kong and we made up two of only three Australians on board.

The booking process was so easy with Jemma, nothing was too much trouble. The river cruise was fantastic, the staff on the Avalon Impression were amazing. It was very tiring but very rewarding as we saw so much. It's hard to name one highlight as there were many.

A delightful journey through the waterways of Europe from Amsterdam to Budapest. Well looked after by the crew, meals superb and we enjoyed the various excursions. The cruise director was very knowledgeable and kept us informed daily. The local guides were all very knowledgeable and most helpful throughout. Fellow passengers were a good mix and we made ...read more many friends. Service staff were exceptional - I would employ them all tomorrow. The ship was well appointed and very comfortable. Our Captain went above and beyond to ensure we got to our destination. Even though the water levels did not cooperate we were well looked after in the alternative accommodation provided. Have recommended this trip to friends and colleagues.

I have just returned from my trip on the Danube. From arriving in Bucharest to leaving Budapest I could not fault this wonderful journey. I chose to do the Transylvania Extension - and the cruise that had the Danube Delta excursion (photo). Both one of the many highlights for me. All hotels Athenee Palace Hilton (Bucharest), Kronwell (Brasov) and ...read more Intercontinental (Budapest) exceeded my expectations. The local guides were all so friendly and knowledgeable and I learnt so much - in particular Juliana who joined us in Bucharest for the Transylvania Extension and left after the day trip to Constanta. I have travelled extensively and she was one of the best, a great young lady. I was a solo passenger and the cruise and airfares were organised by Madeline at Global Journeys. I have rated all aspects of this river cruise 10/10!

Took the 8 day cruise from Bucharest to Budapest via the Danube Delta. More remote than the western part of the Danube with few towns on the river, hence there were some long coach trips for sightseeing. However all worthwhile as there are many interesting places to visit. Highlights were the bird life on the Danube Delta, the river mouth at the Black ...read more Sea, the town of Constanta, passage through the Iron Gates and Veliko Tarnovo and Belogradchik in Bulgaria. Also took the pre-cruise extension to Transylvania which was worthwhile. Avalon Passion is a near new ship and pleasantly fitted out. Food was excellent with many local specialties available. Entertainment other than the resident pianist was only two shows before dinner, much less than previous cruises with Avalon and other operators.

It was our first ever river cruise and we had medium expectations. Well, we simply loved the whole experience. Everything was perfect. The food was exceptional, the cabin was large with a balcony which we enjoyed and we were surprised how well the bathroom was designed. The cruise manager, Hendrick, was confident, humorous, organised and left us with ...read more no doubt that we were in good hands. We have been back home for five days and tonight we are already planning our next Avalon river cruise.

We've recently returned from the 13 Day Blue Danube Discovery with Avalon Cruises. All in all the cruise was a great experience even though the waters of the Danube were very low in parts and our ship and itinerary had to be changed. We were unable to visit Nuremburg at all and stayed overnight in Linz and two nights in Passau which differed from the ...read more itinerary. Avalon were very kind in offering the Vienna concert to all passengers free of charge due to the changes.

However we still had our 7 nights on the ship which was very pleasant. Food was great; company was excellent and the wine and beer tastings were also fun. We had a singer aboard one evening who was also very good. Our tour director, Robert was very efficient and made us all laugh with his very dry wit! Global Journeys were excellent to deal with and I would certainly book through them again.

I have used Global Journeys previously for booking holidays and have found their consultants very efficient. This was my second trip with Avalon and it was excellent. Could not fault any aspect of accommodation, food, guided tours etc. We had to leave the ship just before Budapest due to low water levels but Avalon quickly sorted out alternative arrangements ...read more for those travelling on to Amsterdam. Would recommend both companies for any holiday destination. Had a great time.

Global Journeys made the booking simple and looked after all the necessary things. The cruise did not live up to expectations with only about 3 days where the scenery was spectacular. The balance was ordinary, with the locks being monotonous. The shore excursions of the smaller towns were excellent. It was more of a shame that we ran out of water and ...read more had to be bused on several occasions. When we finally got there, Budapest was the highlight and a must see city.