This was our third Avalon River Cruise - prior ones were Paris to Normandy, and Prague to Budapest. We have continued with Avalon because we have been very happy with all aspects of cruise. For this trip, we chose to tour Paris on our own and joined the Burgundy & Provence tour group at their hotel prior to their boarding the buses to meet the cruise boat. When we arrived at the boat, our luggage was already inside of our room making it very easy to unpack.

The ship, Avalon Poetry II, is new, modern and very clean. Nice contemporary lines and plenty of space for passengers. Excellent food and terrific staff with a wonderful attitude and great sense of humor. All the public rooms and decks were well laid out and the cabins were superb (see cabin review below).

The included tours were excellent. We had many very good guides, the best being Emmanuel in Avignon. We purchased two optional tours: Cormatin - Palace of a fairy tale time which we liked very much, and Saint Paul de Vence, which was the most expensive excursion of the trip, had good points and bad, worth noting in detail. The village was lovely, lots of things to see and shops to visit, but we were rushed and wished we had more time. The excursion also included dinner at a "1-star Michelin" restaurant, Alain Llorca. It was a total disappointment. With few exceptions, the wait staff was unpleasant and, with the exception of the entree, we had no idea what was being served. Wine service was minimal, people who didn't drink wine were charged an exorbitant fee for their soft drinks. While the dining room was lovely, the high ceiling and poor acoustics made it difficult to talk to people at our table. We felt like "tourists" and for the price we paid, and the reputation of the restaurant, we should not have felt that way. We highly recommend changing this option to include more time in the village and either a group dinner in another restaurant or dinner on your own. This experience should not deter anyone from booking with Avalon. The trip was excellent and we are sure that for this one excursion, appropriate changes will be made. Read more