The highest possible praise we could give for our Romantic Rhein experience is that we booked a cruise for next year within two weeks of returning. Apart from a hiccup around airport transfers, this ranks among the best vacation experiences we've ever had. The itinerary was great, communication was solid, and everything on board the Avalon Vista was excellent. Our cruise director, Sorin, was fantastic, and every single on-board staff member exceeded expectations -- with special compliments due Simone, Hnin, Mojito, and our cabin attendant Ahmed. We're pretty experienced travelers and we also tend to be highly critical travelers, and yet I only have praise for Avalon Waterways in every respect! read more

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Do not under any circumstance choose Avalon Waterways for a cruise. They have a horrible policy with respect to getting patrons back to the ship. Here I present my story. The ship's manager onboard the Avalon Expression in Germany would not listen to my complaint about the difficulties we are having trying to find the pick up locations to get back to the ship. He just laughed and said that no one else had that problem. That response really made me angry and I cursed him. I then apologized. He did not accept my apology and berated me for at least 2 minutes using the F word in his tirade. I asked if he was finished and he said no. I cursed him again and went to my cabin. For two days in a row we had problems finding the bus for return to the ship. On Tuesday June 3, 2025, I was told there would be a 5 pm bus and none was there. I had to walk over a bridge to get back to the ship. On Wednesday, we were told to just walk straight that way for 15 minutes. We got lost and panicked. My wife started crying. There is no phone number in the AVALON app to call. We decided to walk back and hope we ran into some fellow travelers. My wife recognized a guide who escorted us to the bus stop. I have had to take anti-anxiety medication after having gone through 2 traumatic events today. To have my wife crying on vacation and feeling that we would be left in a strange city would make anyone anxious. To have someone laugh at me after these horrible experiences caused me to snap. As we went to happy hour, I was instructed I would be standing trial in a Captain's Mast. At the trial the ship's manager told multiple lies. I called him a liar and he did not deny it. I must now be on my best behavior or be severely punished. read more

buckle and dime company! was delayed one day due to airline trouble. had paid $110 for airport transportation. i emailed Avalon from columbus Ohio where I was stranded to let them know I would be one day late. company verified through email. when I arrived in Lisbon, no transportation was there! I paid uber $10 for trip and requested my $110 back. Globus refused. They kept my money and told me to contact the insurance company or the airlines. The cruise director had accepted responsibility and indicated Globus (parent company) would give me my money back. read more

Looking for a different type of vacation? Then how about a cruise down a river in Europe or China? Avalon Waterways specializes in these type of vacations. I recently took their Rhine River cruise through France, Germany and Holland on their Felicity ship. Not the huge cruise ships that you might imagine from an ocean cruise but more a flat bottomed river cruiser with about 69 cabins (4 suites), a full dining room, lounge, back lounge, sky deck and workout room (don't get too excited- there are about 3 pieces of equipment in that room!) The rooms are pretty good sized- I upgraded to a suite for a little extra space, and the beds are comfortable (thick foam pad top), the bathroom was marble with a great shower and there is plenty of storage space. Most rooms except for the bottom floor have sliding glass doors that open to let in the river breezes. Service is impeccable- from the crew who tidies up your room twice a day to the restaurant staff who make the on board dining experience a pleasure. Since you are on the ship for a week- you get to know the staff by name and they know yours so you feel right at home. If you are not an adventurous traveler- you can eat three meals a day on the boat. For me, half the fun of being in a new place is trying out the local cuisine so I missed quite a few of the meals on board but the ones I had were quite good. The breakfast buffet had hot and cold breakfast items and a chef who would make you omelette's or eggs each morning. Lunch was either a buffet or you could sign up to eat out on the sky deck with more casual food offering like steak and chicken grilled. And for dinner? A 5 course meal with several choices. A couple of hints if you do decide that this type of a trip is for you. First of all- while Avalon makes scheduling the trip easy and could include air fare and transfers- their prices on those are really high. You would be better off scheduling that separately (I saved about $800 booking my own flights) Also- their transfer times are way over stated so you end up standing around and waiting (not my favorite thing to do so skip the bus and take a cab) Secondly- these cruises skew older. I was one of the youngest people on the cruise. The average age appeared to be about 62. So bring your own fun friends along for the ride as the lounge, etc is pretty much empty by 9pm. Or here's an idea . . . .connect up with the crew. When in port- they know all the fun clubs and bars in town and there is something fun about dancing the night away with the ship's purser and engineer! (thanks, guys for including me in your fun!) Also- the optional shore trips that they offer are skewed toward the older passengers so you often find yourself on a bus when you could walk, or taking a different way in a town to avoid a lot of stairs. One day we wasted a ton of time boarding a bus to town and when I walked back- I realized we were only about 2 blocks from the boat! Speaking of those optional trips . . .if I were you- if you have done any traveling at all, skip them. While cheap, (about $30 E average)they are boring, and very touristy. Get yourself a guidebook for the area and go and see the things that interest you. I went on one of them just to check it out and found myself in some kind of a tourist trap which I usually avoid at all costs (you know the ones, where the tour ends at a "gift shop" and they leave you about 2 hours to shop). Since this is not a cheap date (about $3000 US dollars per person double occupancy) plan before you go. Make the most of the cities that you are in. There is an included city tour each morning that helps you get your bearings but once that is finished try not to go back to the boat. Spend the rest of your time in each town exploring or you will feel that you missed something. The only days I ate on the boat were the days that it was moving during meal time. Yes- I know you are paying twice this way- but you will never regret it. Finally- know before you go- that parts of the river are industrial and not exactly "picture worthy". While they try to schedule those parts of the trip while you are sleeping, there are some moments where you wonder if you are ever going to see the castles and towns that you expected. Trust me . . .you do. All in all- this is a great vacation for an inexperienced traveler who wants to "get their feet wet" in Europe. I liked not having to pack and unpack when we got to each city, but I missed the flexibility of traveling on my own, and setting my own schedule but that's probably because I am an experienced traveler. I wish that Avalon offered a "pay as you go" version as I like the ease of getting from city to city on the boat- but I'd like to pay for only those meals I ate on board and for those city tours that I took. Bottom line, would I do it again? You bet. I'd just make sure that more of my fun friends came along with me the next time! read more

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We booked the Danube River Cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg from Sept. 19- 26- 2023. Our ship was the Envision. Our room was on the 2nd level of 3 at the very back of the ship on the starboard side. Though we paid hundreds of dollars more for a room with the large sliding doors we were unable to keep those doors open because of the diesel fumes entering the room during sail. We also did not realize that, when docked, there was often another ship docked adjacent to ours. This meant that we had to keep our doors and shades closed. On another evening (Saturday) there was a strong odor of sewer gas in our room. When I complained to the duty desk I was told that others had complained and that it was caused by the ship docked along side of ours. The other reason that we give only 2 stars is that the food served onboard was only average. We are not fussy diners but the food on the British Air flight to Heathrow was better than what was served onboard the ship. Examples... dry escargot served in some kind of rice/grain mix, filet steaks that were not particularly good, dry overcooked lobster. I was sent a Survey to fill out on the second to last day of the cruise. In that survey I listed my complaints and sent it back immediateld. Now, nearly 4 weeks later, I have had no response from Avalon. Never again. I have no complaints about the service of any of the staff. It's just a shame that such an expensive vacation proved to be so underwhelming. Dave P Northbrook, Il read more

4.5 stars, Yelp. It wasn't perfect but probably as close as you can get. We traveled with AW in May 2017 on their Danube Dreams cruise. If booked a year in advance, what we did, there was free airfare. Flew into Budapest, spent two days exploring this fantastic city totally both modern and historic; not mutually exclusive. There were castles from 14th century yet free wifi everywhere we went. Friendly people who almost all spoke English. We traveled the Danube and while on the ship unlike an ocean voyage, there was always something to see on the riverbanks. Whether it was other boats, fishermen, people walking or biking waving to you from the banks, or locks; plenty of them. I had heard that riverboat cruising has mediocre food. It makes sense in a way because they don't have the luxury of many kitchens nor the room like ocean cruisers. In fact the kitchen on the Avalon Illumination was only 300 square feet. Despite their space limitations the food was very good! They usually offered three or four entrées done in the style of the country/city you were travelling through at the time. Neat. If those meals don't rock your boat,(sorry, couldn't resist) you could always ask for a steak, fish, or chicken even though not on the menu. Although they bring a lot of food with them, the chef knows where to go at each port to pick up fresh produce or native food to supplement , which he'll do every chance he gets. All the staff speak English; some better than others. Service in the dining room was excellent. We were always greeted in a friendly manner, talked to professionally, and they even kidded around with us. Coffee, wine, beer, water glasses were all filled without need to ask. Tables cleared in timely manner and food delivered hot Breakfast is always buffet yet there is a sous chef doing omelets, etc if you so desire. Lunch similar with both meals having many choices for salads, sandwiches, fresh breads, fresh fruit, desserts, etc. Svetla, our chambermaid was incredible. She knew when we went to breakfast so she scurried in and made up the room while we were gone, every day. She kept the room awesome and is an asset to Avalon. Excursions were 4 out of 5 stars. Very good but the ones not included are fairly steep, but how often will one visit a concentration camp in Austria for instance so we did them anyway. The guides spoke into a transmitter and we always had earphones to get the story while walking around. I no doubt am leaving something out but I totally enjoyed Avalon and wouldn't hesitate to sign up for the next river cruise. read more

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My husband and I took an Avalon River Cruise on the Rhine River. The service and food on board was excellent. However, I feel they misled us as to what we would see daily as we cruised on the Rhine River. On a 7 day cruise, there was actually only one day with beautiful scenery. I also had the impression we would dock at each stop and be able to walk through the towns. This was not the case. On several stops we docked in industrial areas and were bussed into the towns. The Avalon brochures are misleading in this aspect. I also was disappointed in the lack of onboard activities. After disembarking the ship, I received an email stating I had left clothing in our state room. I contacted our travel agent and assumed it wouldn't be a huge issue to get my clothing returned. Our cruise ended in early October, and I have yet to hear from Avalon, let alone receive my clothing. I'm disappointed in this and will continue to try to contact Avalon concerning this issue. read more

I found a customer service rep to be condescending and rude. He disconnected the call. I tried to call back 8 times! Yes 8 times! It rang and then someone hung up. Unacceptable and unprofessional. Rep never called me back AND he had my phone number! I had questions about a tour but I guess he couldn't be bothered. It appears this company doesn't monitor its customers no-service reps read more

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 true. 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. Now, to add insult to injury, Avalon has not responded to AON Travel Insurance's request for information. I submitted my claim April 13, 2022, and today, July 6, I am still waiting for my claim to be paid. AON says they need to hear from Avalon before they can proceed. Joseph Cerroni read more

My wife and her elderly parents booked Avalon Waterways Blue Danube Discovery Cruise. This was intended to be a "trip of a lifetime" for my 88-year-old mother-in-law. My father-in-law, who is 90, had been saving for years to make her dream a reality. Despite spending nearly $8,500, this dream, was instead a nightmare. While they were still healthy enough to participate in such an adventure, my father-in-law, asked my wife and me to plan the trip and accompany them. After doing extensive research, I (unfortunately) selected Avalon Waterways. To be fair and honest, I must report that the ship was very nice, the staff and crew were very accommodating, and the food was very good. HOWEVER, our experience was NOT EVEN CLOSE to the cruise that is portrayed in the slick advertising brochures and web photos. BUYER BEWARE!!! So, back to the specifics of our experience. As I mentioned, this was intended to be a true trip of a lifetime for my 88-year-old mother-in-law. Highlights of that dream included: visiting Nuremburg and Budapest; sitting on the deck of the ship for hours and hours, just relaxing and watching the world go by; being pampered with exemplary service, and gourmet food; and the ability to see much of Europe from the deck of a ship, not driving around in vans or buses. I want to clearly disclose that the root cause of the issues encountered was extremely low water conditions. Clearly, that is not something Avalon can control or is responsible for. HOWEVER, the manner in which they dealt with these conditions are the reason for our dissatisfaction and complaints. We realize that changes to the cruise itinerary were necessitated by nature and are not Avalon's fault. None-the-less, the actual itinerary was dramatically different than what we booked, and had we known this in advance, we would have never booked this trip. Although the Cruise Director and local staff did their very best, the manner in which Avalon handled this situation and the significant changes caused were disappointing. We were initially informed of the itinerary changes and just 4 days prior to cruise departure. Although Avalon offered a 100% refund, at that point, we were already in Europe, so couldn't cancel the flights, other bookings, nor utilize our trip insurance. We were stuck and had limited options. I did some research and found that the LOW WATER CONDITIONS WERE KNOWN FOR QUITE SOME TIME, yet Avalon chose to wait until the last minute (obviously to try and salvage their revenue from the trip). While this was good for Avalon, it was not for their passengers. We even discovered that other competitors of Avalon's had contacted their customers weeks in advance, and several had even cancelled their trips and issued full refunds / credits in order to treat their customers fairly. Avalon, however, was focused solely on profitability. The net result was fewer nights on board than we had booked and significant time in tightly-packed buses, rather than a full week relaxing aboard a luxury cruise ship, as envisioned and paid for. Specifically, * We spent 6 nights on the ship, instead of 7, and 1 night in a dingy hotel. While it may not seem like a big deal, it is a 15% reduction vs. what we'd paid for; plus, for 88 and 90 year old people, packing, unpacking, lugging suitcases for a one-night stay is hard work and very undesirable. * The hotel Avalon Waterways booked in Nuremberg was mid-level, at best, and in NO WAY comparable to the Avalon Artistry II. The rooms were tiny and lacked air conditioning. We had to sleep with the windows open to get air, but then were kept up all night due to the loud noises on the street. None of us slept a bit. Additionally, the food at the hotel was atrocious! Dinner was barely edible, and certainly not in any way gourmet; breakfast was simply terrible. Only the flies that were all over the food buffet seemed to be happy. * If we had wanted a bus tour of Europe (which was NOT my mother-in-law's dream trip), we would have booked that and paid a fraction of what we paid Avalon. Driving around on a cramped bus is not appealing to us, nor anything close to what we paid for. We would never sign up for that kind of vacation. The modified itinerary included 7 hours of bus time. This equates to a full day's worth of bus time, rather than time relaxing on the deck of a luxury ship. While we understand the reason for this, it is not what we paid for. It was painful, and not pleasurable. * Missing Nuremburg - even though Avalon did bus us to Nuremberg, we didn't arrive there until 4:45pm and had prior, non-changeable bookings to depart very early the next morning (based on the original cruise itinerary). Therefore, even though we stayed overnight in Nuremburg, there was no opportunity to schedule a tour or even walk around to get to know the city. As a result, one more of my mother-in-law's dreams was not fulfilled because of the changes to the itinerary. TO BE CONT. read more

I tried to book directly with Avalon. Since the trip was still a year away and I had not finished researching our options, I decided to wait a month to see if rates came down. The agent said that they would. After several of my emails went unanswered I called in again. The agent I spoke with said the rates had risen by $2k. When I sent him the emails showing that the agent said that they would go down and that I should wait he was unapologetic. In fact, he was downright apathetic and rude. I asked, kindly, that he have a manager call be back. That was days ago. No one has called me back. When you charge $5k PER PERSON PER WEEK, you better have customer service down. I can't help but think this experience must reflected in their cruises. read more

The Avalon river cruises are definitely slower paced. I took my parents on a Rhine River cruise on the Avalon Felicity. The crowd is a bit older (average age in the 60s) and if you are looking for entertainment, gambling, and lots of partying, this is definitely not the ship. If you want to meet a lot of interesting people in a warm, cozy atmosphere and enjoy beautiful scenery, then this is the ship for you. Although you hit many beautiful cities along the Rhine River, the included excursions are short and do not give you enough time to explore. The excursions do touch the highlights of each of the cities, but you may be better off exploring on your own, especially if you want to sample the local restaurants and stores. I ended up with the cheapest rooms on the bottom of the boat, since we booked the last two cabins left on the ship. Although the cabins on the bottom floor did not have the large windows, the room was extremely comfortable, clean and cozy and we rarely spent any time in the room except to sleep. We brought ear plugs since I heard the "cheap" rooms were noisy, but we heard very little noise except for one tumultuous night in the canal locks. The crew is absolutely fabulous from the cruise director, purser, and cleaning staff. Service was amazing. Dinners are delicious and take almost 2 hours since you are served four course meals, so expect dinner to take up a large portion of your evening. We allowed the server to select our menu choices each night and were not disappointed, especially with his dessert choices! If you like to explore, like I do, I would suggest that you skip the optional excursions and do some exploring on your own. Take Carol K's advice (earlier review) and ask the crew about the fun places to go! They will show you an awesome time! read more

We took the "Danube Symphony Eastbound" river cruise on the Avalon Panorama and had a great time. This cruise starts with a hotel stay in Munich with expeditions every day, then you travel by bus to Passau to board the ship. They you proceed down the Danube, stopping once or twice a day to visit the small towns on the way, until you get to Vienna. These are English-speaking tours and the staff speaks good English. They hail from a variety of Eastern European countries (Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria) and apparently also from China and the Philippines. These are very different from ocean cruises. The ship holds 166 passengers, with a crew (mostly hotel staff) of 45. While in Munich breakfast was included, and on board all three meals. There are not continuous buffets on board like ocean cruises, but you get breakfast and lunch buffet and a sit-down 4 (or 6) course meal at dinner. There are also snacks available at all times, plus an afternoon tea and late-night snacks in the lounge. The food is eclectic and tasty - mostly a variety of European fare, some local favorites as you travel along, and some American-style food at breakfast. You won't go hungry. The best part of the cruise is the walking tours of each town (in larger towns there is also a bus tour). These have knowledgeable local guides whose English is usually good. We overdid it on the optional expeditions and got worn out. The included walking tours are excellent and unless there is something in particular you want to see you can usually make do with those. My favorite expedition was the Dachau concentration camp near Munich - important but chilling. The last night we had an excellent concert with the Vienna Supreme Orchestra, a small chamber orchestra that does a lot of Strauss and some other things, along with some opera snippets and ballet. read more

This company as a whole needs a lesson in compassion and dire situations. Thank you the condescending and threatening email about my mother almost dying. I did NOT know that the reimbursement of a $500 deposit would bankrupt your company. Glad my mother didn't die though because then the whole family would be out of everything. My husband and I will NEVER CRUISE with your company and rest assured we will tell others TO NEVER CRUISE WITH YOUR COMPANY. read more

My wife and I booked along with our friend of over the past 50 years to travel on a Globus/Avalon for a Danube River cruise which was scheduled to depart earlier this month - October 2020. Due to COVID the tour was canceled by that company, yet they refused to return the deposit even though they announced back in July they were returning those same deposits. Just 3 weeks ago, I had a Facebook Messenger dialogue with a representative of Globus asking me to be patient and she will get an answer. After a week without a response I tried to reach out back via Messenger only to receive messages that agent is not available. Several times tried again, but regardless of when, I get the same message. They refuse my attempts to reach out, and will not return the $500. Planned originally to rebook after the pandemic but can not deal with a company that lacks integrity. What would you suggest? read more

Buyer beware! The Danube is low and has been low all summer. Our ship couldn't get down the river and we were transferred to another ship on the other side. Avalon knew this problem yet never called us to address the issue. Our itinerary was changed from day one because of the water level. If you have an upcoming trip on the Danube I would contact them to change the date or location of your cruise. All Avalon offered us for our inconvenience was a refund of $200 per passenger. We sailed from Budapest to Amsterdam. We started on Vista and ended up on Visionary. read more

AVALON Waterways is a greedy cruise line. We placed a $500. deposit for a trip from Paris to Normandy in June 2019 for the 75th Anniversary of D-DAY WWII. We deposited for the cruise on December 27, 2017. On August 13th we notified our agent that are unable to travel at that time and needed to cancel. The line said the deposit was nonrefundable however our travel agent had blocks of rooms and was able to fill our spot immediately. "Doesn't matter that is our policy, the deposit is non-refundable" I was told by a representative of Avalon. I'm sorry but there are too many other fine cruise lines that would not be as greedy as Avalon. We had a fabulous trip with Viking last November and I know they would not have treated us this way. We will never choose to sail with Avalon and we let our travel agent know our feelings. In fact we belong to the Commemorative Air Force and we initiated the idea with her and now a large group (44 customers) are scheduled to go to Normandy for the celebration. Do NOT book with Avalon your deposit is NON-REFUNDABLE. Choose Viking Or Any Other Line. Oh, and they also had the nerve to add on a $50.00 cancellation commission fee!!! Sad Couple In Phoenix. PS We have never Yelped about any company and frankly we have never been treated this unfairly. read more

We recently returned from the Legendary Danube cruise. Most of the tours were predominately motor coach. We saw some beautiful places, but our comfort was not at the top of the list. The dining room air conditioning was not able to keep up with the heat. Our entire table poured sweat every dinner and guests had to fan themselves and use their ice water glasses on their foreheads. Staff commented they were working on it, yet this continued everyday of our trip. As for the bus tours, it was near 90 degrees everyday and 2 of our drivers refused to turn on air conditioning or open a window. It was down right dangerous. Often we would smell raw sewage in our bathroom and room. The smell was strong enough to wake us in our sleep, and make me gag while showering in the morning. The internet was not dependable- as well as the television. Nuremburg is not worth the stop, but we definitely loved our 3 days in the hotel in Prague. Salzburg and Budapest are also beautiful. The staff was kind, pleasant and apologetic, but ineffective at solving problems. read more