Introduction This was our first, ever, river cruise, having been on 11 previous ocean cruises. We had attended a travel seminar almost two years prior and our interest was piqued by a competing river cruise company. When we began searching companies online, however, we settled on Avalon for three reasons, two of which we felt were completely objective while the third might be a bit subjective:
1. Bed configuration. Some may consider this trivial but we didn’t. The ability for both of us to lie there watching the world go by our large windows rather than one looking over the other did not escape us as being very important.
2. “Balcony”. Some ships have introduced “ocean-cruising” balconies – those small plots of real estate outside of the room proper. These ships are of finite width and taking this space to provide a balcony subtracts space from the overall room size, period. Avalon’s suite ships have a three sliding door configuration, allowing for 2/3rds of the window to be opened to the outside. One gets the best of both worlds with this scenario – a “balcony” while not eliminating overall internal living space.
We probably had the best possible cabin. Floors 2 or 3, in the middle, would be the place to be. Quiet. No noise from either end of the ship. Good location when in port.