Overall:
I think that I'm the fourth person to review this sailing of the Artistry II. After sailing three times with Viking and once with Vantage, Avalon is our new favorite cruise line. We chose this cruise for the beautiful scenery along the Moselle and the starting and ending points (Paris and Amsterdam). We were with siblings, and it was their first river cruise, so we thought that this would be an ideal first cruise.
Avalon is very similar to Viking in terms of food, service, etc., but we really like the Avalon ships much more than the Viking Longships. The ship was smaller (110 meters vs. 135), and it held 128 people instead of the 190 on finds on a Longship. The public areas seemed roomier, but the real Avalon advantage was the staterooms. On our last Viking cruise we had a 135 sq. ft. French balcony cabin. Avalon’s 200 sq. ft. cabin is about the same size as Viking’s Veranda cabins (205 sq. ft.), but on Avalon, the area that serves as a balcony becomes inside space when one shuts the wide siding glass doors. As mentioned earlier, the beds facing the window are really nice, and the extra shower space from the slanted bathroom wall was great.
The Avalon staterooms have received CruiseCritic’s award for best staterooms, and it’s obvious why. The standard rooms (on the top two decks) are 200 square feet, and the beds face the windows which open to make a virtual balcony, but when they’re closed, the space is available for use inside. I didn’t think a lot about the slanted bathroom wall, but it makes a BIG difference. The shower was very roomy compared to other lines on which we’ve sailed. The room has a minibar which the cabin steward will clean out for you if you want to keep your own drinks in it.