Avalon Visionary Reviews

Although we've been on several ocean cruises, this was our first experience on a river cruise.

Being on a much smaller vessel with a lot less people created plenty of opportunities to get to know other travellers on a much more personal level, mainly because of the number of times we could meet them. The downside though is that on a couple of ...read more evenings, we were tired from the day's activities and didn't feel very sociable, but there was nowhere to hide!

The ship itself was adequately fitted out with all necessities but wasn't that impressive as far as a river passenger ship goes. However, the cabins were a standout. Ours had full length floor to ceiling sliding windows that gave the illusion we had a balcony. The king bed was very comfortable and faced the windows. A full sized mirror on one side also gave the illusion that the statesroom (as they called it) was larger than it was. There were adequate power points which I'm particular about. Special mention must go to the fabulous and spacious ensuite decked with stone tops and a range of L'occitane branded toiletries. Overall, a luxurious and well-equipped statesroom.

Although the daily breakfasts and lunches were generally good, the dinners were particularly superb. It was like eating at a fine dining 5-star restaurant each night, enjoying the company of people we've gotten to know quite well.

As for the included shore excursions, we had mixed perceptions. The locations we stopped at were interesting to us, more so because we were exploring new territory, but we felt that mostly the local tour guides assigned to our group needed to be more engaging and amiable. With many of them, we felt they didn't try (or maybe didn't know how) to connect with us on a personal level. They came across as guides who needed to impart as much data as possible in the short time they were allocated.

Finally a word of compliment for our pre-trip consultant, Jemma Rosen. We didn't start off well, with another consultant but when Jemma took over, she proved herself to be a worthy representative of Global Journeys. She was professional, had a sense of humour and was very responsive to questions - a great person to deal with.

Would we sail with Avalon again? Quite likely given what we know now. It was a great experience overall and while not everything met our expectations, we were quite satisfied with what we got.

As the ratings below suggest, everything about the cruise was very well organised and managed. We would recommend the tour package to anyone,..... but pay the extra and avoid the cabins with only high-level windows (Cat E)! Hotels in Prague and Paris were unnecessarily extravagant for those on a tight budget. You become very aware of the rates if you ...read more extend your stay!

We had travelled with Avalon previously and again found them to be excellent. The included excursions were very good and there was an extensive range of optional excursions offered. Everything was taken care of so we had a wonderful carefree holiday.

It's difficult to criticise Avalon because they do river cruising so well. They are very well organised, the ship is very comfortable, the ship staff are fantastic and it is difficult to get off at the end having not put on weight as the food is top quality. This was out third cruise with Avalon and the main thing that stood out on this cruise as notable ...read more was that most of the cruising was done overnight except the stretch between Passau and Melk which is done during one afternoon and is well worth being on board for (some people were off on optional tours that day). Some people don't like overnight cruising as it can be a bit disruptive to your sleep with vibration due to running engines and bumping as you pass through locks. Having said that, the ship is generally very quiet for sleeping and although we did notice the odd vibration or bump, you do get used to it and it didn't effect us very much.

There are nearly 80 locks to go through on this cruise but most you will hardly notice. One other noticeable thing was that the ship did not dock in many of the towns visited along the way. We were quite often dropped off before the towns and then bussed to the town. After the visit to the town we were bussed back to the ship which had sailed on down the river. This was different to other cruises where we were often docked in the towns and could walk into the towns. This is however only a minor point and didn't tarnish our experience. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this cruise.

The tour started poorly because of river levels and on the first evening we were put in a hotel overnight instead of joining the boat. The set meal served was sub standard very disappointing. The second day was spent on a long coach ride to join the boat, for the day's lost off the boat we were promised a 50 per cent refund which our tour director advised ...read more would come through you our agent. The tour now proceeded OK with the top deck and facilities closed. Tour now continued with a certain amount of uncertainty due to river levels and it was advised the final part could have to be completed by coach and we could pull out and be part refunded if we desired. This was not a option we could consider because of onward bookings already in place. On the positive side the crew, food and tours were very good and they made every effort to make our holiday enjoyable. The pre dinner drinks were not free only happy hour disappointing for the price paid.