Avalon Waterways - Avalon Vista Reviews

The crew was great, enjoyed the entire trip. The only downside was the dinning room at night. It was too loud and you could not hear the people across the table.

We thoroughly enjoyed our Rhine River cruise. From the room to the food and staff, everything was great. We will definitely take another Avalon cruise. Chris our agent with Avoya was excellent!

Had an amazing time.

Gorgeous weather, excellent service, delicious food and fun excursions on Avalon Vista from Amsterdam to Basel.

The onboard staff was top-notch, providing personalized service and kindness. From waitstaff to bartenders to the cruise director, we were looked after with caring and kindness. The ship was very nice, with no lack of luxury. My travel representative from Avoya, Michael Vernon, was excellent. Will use Avoya Travel again for sure!

Highly recommended.

Lake Como Hotel had no heat and hot water very limited most mornings. Tour director took no action. Most people on the cruise got sick. Welcome dinner, tour director did not interact with guests but sat by himself at a table, not with the guests. Upon arriving on the ship I asked to cancel the Amsterdam bike tour on the last day and was refused by tour director. My husband wasn’t feeling well and it would have been too much. When my husband requested the cancelation the day before the bike tour, he was told by the tour director that it had to be canceled 3 days before! So we had to pay for the tour we didn’t take.

Beautiful relaxing cruise, ship, staff and food, all excellent.

This cruise is thoroughly recommended. I will do again when able.

Avalon’s staff was great. Unfortunately the weather was terrible for the first part of the trip. Maria the person in charge of the guests was very accommodating. I found the food lacking. The soups were always broth and were not tasty. The deserts were mostly the same every night. And the entrees served were ok but just ok. Many at our table ordered the steak as an alternative dinner which was good but served dry with no sauces. The salads were good and breakfast was always good. Happy hour was enjoyed. I did accidentally paid for two excursions that were at the same time and was told that I would get as refund for the one I didn’t go on. The tram to Mount Pilatus and train ride through the Alps, Lake Lucerne and Como were my favorites

The entire cruise was fantastic. The ship was beautiful and very clean. All the crew members were helpful and very accommodating . The food was terrific and left nothing to be desired. All the tours were interesting and the guides were very knowledgeable. My favorite tour was the Black Forest. I would love to visit it again and stay there for at least Two weeks. Thank you for a wonderful and memorable time. Evelyn Hoard

A fantastic trip! No complaints! Loved every bit of it!

We had the vacation of a lifetime! Avalon was much better than we expected!

We were initially booked for Non Stop IAD to AMS. When the tickets were issued they included a three hour stopover in Copenhagen with no one meeting us at the airport. This required a $80 taxi ride and the destruction of one of our days in Amsterdam because instead of arriving in the morning we finally got to the hotel in the late afternoon. So, day one was shot. THANKS! The return was worse. Instead of an 11am flight from Zurich we were booked on a 7am flight back to Copenhagen. This means that the day in Basil was eliminated and requiring us to get up at an ungodly hour in Basil and take a $300 taxi to Zurich. What we wound up having to do was waste the hotel room in Basil and take the $80 shuttle to Zurich and get a $200 hotel room near the airport in Zurich so we could be there in time for the 7am flight. We never had a catastrophe like this with Viking. They took care of us from the minute we got off the plane until the minute we got on the return trip home. No extra charges no wasted hotel rooms, just good service. Too bad for you, I of the age where contemporaries ask about our journeys...and too bad I will gladly tell them that if you have a lot of extra money and time on your journey to replan your itinerary, the ship and crew are great but the service on either end is awful.

Disappointed as I just booked my third Avalon cruise, and that there are no specials for returnees on the upper decks.

Fine cooperation of the weather added enormously. River cruise service was excellent, with exception of falsely advertised, overtaxed wi-fi connection onboard. Stops were just right, with exception of inattentive shore guide in Cologne that caused me to get lost in that city on German Unity Day without a cell phone or credit card with me, and no way to contact ship, getting tired and more and more lost, and it getting dark. But this too was an unforgettable excursion! That's travel for you - the antidote to ignorance. With minor disappointment about the hurry-up-and-wait scheduling, and overall lack of concern for travelers with disabilities, I enjoyed myself immensely. I'd like to go back and cruise the Danube, though I'd fly KLM only, as Air France 2-legged return trip via Paris just about finished me off, arriving home sick and tired. Jet lag is real, Amsterdam delighted me, Germany surprised me, France underwhelmed me, Switzerland impressed me, and Italy surpassed even my fondest hopes. Did not like shlepping my own luggage on the Monograms extension, and Italian tour guide Tiziana was impatient and curt. All personnel were competent, and some will always be more appealing than others. Milano driver Allessandro stood out in conversing in Italian with me, and Milan accommodations at The President thrilled me. Just that Air France trip home, but I've already covered that. Next I wanna see Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Vietnam.

This cruise was an amazing experience, and it allowed my husband and me to see so many countries! However, as newlyweds in our late 20s/early 30s, we underestimated how much these river cruises and vacations are geared towards an older demographic. We had an amazing time and made the most of the experience, but if you're under 55, you might want to book a different vacation experience.

Avalon out did themselves again. Entire staff did an excellent job and the food was fantastic. The only hiccup was the internet which only worked sporadically throughout the trip.

Internet service was awful on board Transfers should be included for all passengers regardless of making extensions before or after the cruise Lounge staff needs to be increased during happy hour Some excursions had too little time, Strasburg in particular. Cabin was great Chef was great Cruise director helped us tremendously with our transfer issues. Guides in Amsterdam, Colon and Heidelberg were wonderful, Strasburg not so much

The River and Avalon Cruise part of our vacation was wonderful! But I could not give a 5 star because the monogram addition was not quite what we expected from this company. To explain: There was a section where we had to transfer our luggage from street level onto a train. We are all elderly people. Most of us were able to do this on our own, but several people struggled and even injured themselves with lifting heavy luggage onto a train which was over three feet above the street level. There should have been a person there to assist as there is a bus driver when traveling by bus. This was disappointing, and not worthy of a top notch cruise company. In fact, the whole monogram section of the cruise addition was a bit disorganized, and not up to Avalon standards. I would be hesitant in the future to add a Monogram extension to my cruise.

Excellent in all areas

We had such a great time on this cruise. We did have a change some plans because of the low water levels but the staff did a great time adjusting and planning a logistical miracle for 2 ships of passengers. It was not in the plan but there are some things that simply can not be avoided. We will be doing another cruise

The ship was very nice as were the staff on board. Very helpful and pleasant. Only disappointment was the historic low levels of the Rhine River which required us missing the highlight of the cruise: the Rhine Gorge.