Avalon Illumination Review

Great First Cruise

Review for Europe River Cruise on Avalon Illumination
User Avatar
pilotandme
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: Sep 2017
Cabin: Panorama Suite with French Balcony
View from the ship
Top deck with the chess board as we are passing through a lock.
Our spacious stateroom.
Parliament Building in Budapest at night.
Brief tour of Bratislava in the rain.
On our way to a monastery and a brewery for a beer and pretzel
Dinner aboard the Avalon Illumination
Windmill Village
Windmill Village

We cruised from Budapest to Amsterdam. This was our first cruise and we enjoyed it immensely. The ship, the state room, the scenery, the shore excursions, the food, the staff, the service, etc. were wonderful. It was great being part of a small group where we could get to know our fellow travelers and where everyone spoke English. Our state room was spacious and we appreciated the additional living space by not having an exterior balcony. The food was good and we appreciated the wide variety and the attentiveness of the staff. The towns we visited were very nice and most of them were off the beaten path for most travelers so they were locations we otherwise might not have visited. The on-board entertainment was not to our taste, but the effort was appreciated. The tours were very slow and not as detailed as we would have liked. This was particularly sad since we had such a limited time to visit each location. The enrichment activities were good and I wish there would have been more of that. I suggested to our cruise director that a Facebook group for our cruise be set up so we could all share pictures and keep in touch, but as of a month after our trip, to my knowledge, this has not been done. We very much recommend this trip to anyone interested in river cruises.

Cabin Review

Panorama Suite with French Balcony

Cabin P

Our cabin was lovely. We appreciated the extra space in the cabin by not having an exterior balcony. We especially enjoyed coming back from dinner and fining the lights on, the TV with the fireplace and classical music going and our bed turned down. Thank you.

Port Reviews

Vienna

We explored Vienna on our own and had a great time. The tour provided was poor at best as the guide just took us to see the high end shops as opposed to seeing Vienna.

2 Helpful Votes
previous reviewnext review

Find an Avalon Illumination Cruise from $1,452

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.