This was our 3rd Avalon Waterways cruise in Europe. Of all the regular river cruisers we spoke with, they universally said that the Amsterdam to Budapest cruise was their favorite, We now know why. This cruise is absolutely beautiful, and gives you a taste of so many different destinations, cultures, and incredible sites. We actually sailed from Budapest to Amsterdam,. Either way, it is a beautiful cruise.
We found all of the Avalon ships to be spotless, albeit without a lot of fru fru decorative frills in the lobby and dining room. The food was what you would expect on any cruise line, really good but not great.
What set this cruise apart was the way the ship Captain, The Cruise Director, and especially Avalon Waterways handled some unexpected navigational challenges along the way. On every river we sailed, there were unexpected river depth challenges that required a lot of thought and planning on all of the crews part to get us where we were going. Due to unexpected river traffic created by a grounded river freighter on the Danube, we were late arriving on some of our scheduled ports of call. Avalon handled these challenges flawlessly.
We really loved the Panarama Suite cabins. They are 30% larger rooms and the bed is facing the French balcony window. (Remember, if you have a room with a real balcony, you give up that amount of space inside the actual state room. Sounds great in the ads, but real balconies are not really functional since room space on a river cruise ship is so limited to begin with..) The room service staff and maids did an excellent job daily and were great to deal with.