Avalon Waterways

Had booked our first river cruise with Avalon. We were due to do a Danube cruise from 8 July 2022. Unexpectedly my wife was diagnosed with a serious medical complaint on 31 May, and so, we had to cancel the cruise - 5 weeks before it began. Having contacted Avalon, they initially refused to either, return any of the £3430 already paid, or allow us to take a later cruise - even though they would have been able to resell our cruise! Could not believe that a company could be so mercenary. After much angst, they reluctantly agreed to reimburse £534 but no more. OK we are now having to reclaim what we can through our travel insurance but their callous approach still amazes and leaves a bad taste. If we could have given no stars we would have!

We took the cruise from Croatia to Black Sea and were super disappointed due to the following:
1. Dissatisfied with food:
a. The food quality was not even close to mediocre. Frozen foods were utilized to make dishes.
b. There was not even one day when the food tasted good. Even the desserts were horrible.
c. Choice of restaurants and menu items outside on excursions was horrible.
3. Cleanliness on the ship was not up to the mark. There were cob webs everywhere in the room. So many mosquitoes, moths, spiders and other bugs were everywhere.
4. There were no social evening activities planned. There was one informational talk at 6:45 pm by cruise director followed by dinner every night.
5. Enthusiasm of the staff members was low. They did not interact nor engaged in activities nor conversations.
6. For physical activity on the ship, there was a tiny gym on board and one 30 minute stretch class at 6:30am daily.
Overall we were very disappointed with Avalon waterways and will not be recommending it to any one in the future.

I have very good time in Europe trip specially Mr Toni is Very good service he gave I want travel one More Time really is very good me and my family enjoy thank you

We’ve done many Globus trips all over Europe but this is our first river cruise. We didn’t know what to expect, but we have been pleasantly surprised.
Rooms-we stayed in the Panoramic suite. Wonderful room with big sliding doors. So nice to cruise with door open. Beds were extremely comfortable too.
Food- amazing!!! They really cater to your needs. The drinks flowed freely at lunch and dinner too.
I highly recommend this cruise. We will be back!
Ship was Tranquility II.

Danube cruise with Transylvania extension.
Beautiful ship with much larger cabins than many of its competitors. Pleasant public areas. Excellent, friendly, helpful staff.
The food was OK, but not wonderful. The soups tasted too similar and often had an oily skin. A prawn cocktail with one (!) prawn is not a prawn cocktail. Food was obviously cooked well in advance and kept hot, so the meat and fish was often dried out.
The tours and guides were good, especially the optional Puszta tour to a ranch, preceded by a Budapest city tour. Really enjoyable.
However, a lot of the tours were rushed. There was only enough time for a quick guided tour of the museum at Constanza and Lepenski Vir, then we had to rush back for meals, instead of having an extra 20 - 30 minutes to look around on our own.
As a superficial introduction to the region it is fine, but much too rushed to be really enjoyable.

We just returned (5/8/22) from the Avalon Tranquility II cruise from Amsterdam, to Rotterdam, to Antwerp and back to Amsterdam. This is our second Avalon tour and we were thrilled with all aspects of the cruise. The ship is beautiful and wonderfully maintained. The cruise director, Simone T. was charming, smart, organized and in control of all aspects of a perfect trip. The sailors, servers, housekeeping were all professional, personable and as helpful as could be. The excursions, food, and logistics were outstanding. This trip was about the cities and not so much about the countryside, so there was much more exposure to the industrial ports than on other European river excursions.

Wonderfull and good

Globus, of which Avalon is a subsidiary, recently sent me an email advertising your tours. In it was a tab "We stand by our guests.
If things don’t go as planned on-trip, our guests are never left to face a cloud of uncertainty alone. Instead, they’re always in the care of our operations team while in destination."
In our case, this was not the case.
We purchased the Avalon Galapagos tour and arrived in Quito, Ecuador March 29. My wife contracted the Rota Virus at the hotel at the beginning of the tour. She was bedridden for four days, with four doctors' visits plus a lab tech. She even had to receive an IV right in the room. We were completely abandoned by Avalon. When the tour left town to fly to the Galapagos Islands, the only telephone call we received was from a local rep informing us that the tour's rooming responsibility towards us had expired. He told us we had to make our arrangements for a room until the tour returned the following week. Even after my travel agent contacted Avalon Home Office, no one provided any assistance. The worst tour ever. Then, in submitting a claim to Avalon's recommended insurance company, AON, I was told that in order to process the claim for trip interruption, we need to provide Attending Physicians’ Statements---in English, from Ecuador. I paid a small fortune for what turned out to be a plane flight and a ride to and from the hotel. Some people have asked what did I expect from Avalon. How about a telephone call asking how my wife was doing. How about assistance with arranging housing while waiting for the tour to return. Or, asking if I needed a translator for the doctor's visits or my many trips to the pharmacy. Or, a recommendation for a specialist. Joseph Cerroni

I took the Grand France River Cruise and loved every minute of it. Lots of choices for excursions and the flexibility to make changes when needed. Both Cruise Directors on each ship (Jean-Loup on Poetry II and Gayle on Tapestry II) were very helpful, friendly and informative. In fact, all of the staff on each ship seemed to go out of their way to make sure I was enjoying myself.

We traveled before the Omicron outbreak. We were only the third cruise at that point after the initial outbreak of Covid. We felt very safe. Everyone was vaccinated, wore masks and our temperature was randomly taken on a regular basis. The crew was amazing ! Accommodations and food were excellent and I would highly recommend Avalon to anyone considering a river cruise.

Almost two years in the making because of Covid delays, my wife and I were blessed to be able to take our Romantic Rhine River cruise in October. It was amazing; everything that we had hoped for, and more. We loved our ship and crew, our cabin was airy and spacious, the food was great and the excursions were first class. We are already saving up for next trip, which we will arrange with Kat, our Avalon planner!

My husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary on the Avalon Paris to Normandy sailing in late October. We had a fabulous time and were well cared for during the sailing. The crew was very excited to be back at sea! The excursions were well organized and Covid protocols were followed. Can’t wait to sail with Avalon again!

Wonderful trip

The cruise was wonderful. The itinerary, excursions, food, and service were all outstanding. What an attentive staff!

We had a perfect holiday on the Danube starting in Budapest. As it was at the start of the lifting of Corona virus restrictions there were only about 30 passengers on board. The food was good, and plenty of it, the service was just as good. There were interesting excursions provided. The hotel at the start was first class.