Avalon River cruise excursions

[stephenson]

Hi all. We are cruising on the Avalon "Expression" the end of September, 2023 from Amsterdam to Basel. Does anyone have recommendations for any of the elective excursions that Avalon offers? We have never been on a river cruise and wondered which excursion-aside from the ones which are included in our package- would be worth signing up for . Thanks!

 

[Souschef]

We took a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, in the opposite way you are going. We got on the Rhine where the Main river enters. I have attached a copy of our trip story to help you.

 

[OldShooter]

Hi all. We are cruising on the Avalon "Expression" the end of September, 2023 from Amsterdam to Basel. Does anyone have recommendations for any of the elective excursions that Avalon offers? We have never been on a river cruise and wondered which excursion-aside from the ones which are included in our package- would be worth signing up for . Thanks!

We are really not "cruisers" but when we took the Viking trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg I booked private guides for shore excursions. The Moscow guy was great; he met us at the dock and whisked us into town. We were there well before the boat buses and had complete flexibility for the day, then back to the boat. St. Petersburg was a little more complicated because our after-the-cruise hotel-arranged guide broke her collarbone the night before so the hotel owner ended up being our guide. Again, complete flexibility for where and when to go. I would never take a cruise company excursion where an independent option existed. Even if a private guide costs a few bucks more, as a % of the trip cost it is negligible.

 

[athena53]

Even if a private guide costs a few bucks more, as a % of the trip cost it is negligible.

I agree with that- have booked many good ones from TripAdvisor reviews. You'll also get a lot of good advice on the CruiseCritic boards- they have separate boards for each port. The caveat is always that if you go out on your own and get back to the ship too late, they may leave without you, but good tour operators do everything to make sure that doesn't happen.

 

[Sunset]

I agree with that- have booked many good ones from TripAdvisor reviews. You'll also get a lot of good advice on the CruiseCritic boards- they have separate boards for each port. The caveat is always that if you go out on your own and get back to the ship too late, they may leave without you, but good tour operators do everything to make sure that doesn't happen.

But on a river cruise, if you did miss the sailing, phone the ship and grab a taxi to take you to the next town (or dock) to get back on the ship. We always took the emergency paper slip with us, that had the phone number to call. Never had to use it.

It's unlike a Caribbean cruise where if you miss the ship, you are stuck on a little island and the ship is on another one.

 

[Dranoel]

We returned from our first river cruise on Expression Amsterdam-Basel earlier this month. We really enjoyed it. But, we took only one optional excursion. We toured the Maginot Line and found it a fascinating informative piece of WWII history and worth the fare. It's underground, so bring a jacket.