Avalon Panorama Review
Rating by category
Additional details
My wife and I are in our mid '60's. This was our first river cruise. The Panorama is a newer ship in great shape, with sliding glass doors on all of the rooms that are above the waterline. We found this to be an exceptional feature that added a lot to our travel experience. Because there is no "Balcony" the size of the cabin is larger than a ship with balconies. (Remember, there is a width limitation imposed on the river ships because of the width of the locks on the river.)
Another feature that is really worth mentioning is the draft of the boat. I don't know how you find out the draft of a river cruise boat. Perhaps, you can find it on-line or the cruise line will tell you prior to booking. Why is this important? The Rhine and Danube rivers are experiencing low water levels this year. The Danube seems to be the more problematic of the two rivers. The Panorama drafts 3 to 4 feet less water than a lot of other cruise ships. We never had a problem and we were able to maintain our schedule.
During our on shore excursions we met several different people in various ports, who were traveling on different cruise lines. (Primarily, Viking). They told us that the Viking cruise ships on the Danube were all docked in port and not sailing because the water level wasn't deep enough. They had to pack all of their belongings and be taken to the next port by bus, where they would board another cruise ship for the night. This process was repeated from port to port. One of the news bulletins I read on Cruise Critic at the time, mentioned that Viking had a real advantage over other cruise lines because it had so many ships on the river, it could dock them and use them like hotels in this manner. I know many of the cruise ships can accommodate about 195 people. The Panorama accommodated about 166 people. This is probably one of the reasons that we could keep sailing when other ships were docked. This is a MAJOR benefit, because one of the primary benefits of a river cruise is avoiding the inconvenience of packing and unpacking every time you move to a new city.
Cabin Review
Panorama Suite with French Balcony
The cabin and bath room were excellent. We really enjoyed lying on the bed with the sliding doors ope, watching the sites pass by in the evenings. Since I am a sailor, sailing 38 to 40' sloops, I wasn't expecting much as far as the size of the bath room. I was surprised to find that the shower and the bath room were very roomy. They were also done with some type of ceramic tile, which looked like marble. What an improvement over the light weight plastic one sees normally on pleasure sail boats. Water pressure and hot water were also outstanding!
Port Reviews
Cologne
Not much to see in Cologne since it was bombed out during the second world war.
Bratislava
Enojoyed walking and shopping in old town. We also enjoyed looking across to the West side of the river and seeing the housing left over from the communist days.
Vienna
The bus tour could have been skipped. The Eyewitness book on Vienna did the trick. We followed the Rick Steves audio tour, but it was a disappointment too.
Nuremberg
Took the excursion to the Nazi Rally Grounds. The museum was excellent!
Regensburg
Enjoyed our time in Regensburg. Visited the City History Museum, where they had a great section on the Roman Empire along the Rhine River. This is where we learned that most of the cities on the Rhine grew out of military settlements of the Romans.