AWFUL!!! DO NOT DO IT!! AND IF YOU DO, DO NOT LET THEM DO YOUR ADD ONS BEFORE, AFTER OR FLIGHTS
by cwilliams841741
We had initially booked for May of 2020 and had to reschedule due to the global pandemic. I had a major medical event while trying to rebook and our credit was about to expire so I asked Avalon to do the air and add-ons, WHAT A MISTAKE!! The ship was changed, which was fine, but we later learned from the cruise director that the original ship "was old and being retired so the new one was better." Yet they were glad to book us on it to start with for of course full price. The day before we left on the cruise the itenerary was changed and the most important stop for us was cancelled, Nuremberg. The next problem was our flight to Prague. We flew from Tampa to Chicago, had a 6 hour layover, flew to Vienna for 8 1/2 hours, another 3 hour layover and then to Prague. UNBELIVABLE!! There were couples from Canada that flew to Amsterdam and then to Prague, we can also fly from Tampa direct to Amsterdam. Why were we flown so far out of the way with such poor connections? The add-on for Prague was a joke and very expensive. The charge was $1,000.00 for 2 nights w/ breakfast, a walking tour of a castle and city tour. I priced the hotel and it was $188.00 a night, how much was Avalon making on each add-on per person?? And then the motor coaches started and continued throughout the entire trip. Our embarkation port was then a 4 hour drive instead of 2 hours and the itenerary was completely changed and other ports were missed. The entire time the cruise director acted like a used car salesman trying to tell us how wonderful everything is when it was all terrible, "please look over here while we try to distract you from reality". Some of the guides were good others were absolutely terrible. The food on cruise was at times inedible, not just my opinion but that of most of the passengers. German food is not listed as a favorite worldwide cuisine in the top 15 yet most every meal and in each catagory was German and not done very well. I love vegetarian food but they tried to hard and totally missed the mark. You should not come off a cruise having lost weight, on this cruise it was very easy. I understand they want to offer some regional meals but there should be more middle of the road dished. The dining room staff worked hard and were friendly, the remainder not very friendly at all. I could go on and on with more issues but will finish with our return flight. Avalon scheduled us for a 6:30am flight home that required us to leave the boat at 3:15am and then travel for the next 20 1/2 hours to get home. When I asked the cruise director about this, he blamed Bonvoy cruises. Most every passenger caught a respiratory virus, confrimed by urgent care when we returned home, and this may have happened as there never seemed to be anyone cleaning the handrails or the common areas even though you could hear and see everyone was sick. Best of all was the bus driver pulled up to the airport, pulled out the luggage and left. Thank goodness Viking cruises had representatives meeting their passengers at the airport door and offered assistance to all of us. This also happend when we landed in Frankfurt, they meet our plane for their passengers and took pity on us and escorted us to customs and to our gates with many helpful hints about food, shopping and restrooms. Overall this was our first and last river cruise, Avalon was very disappointing on every level. This terrible experience was very costly at $15,000.00 for 11 days, and as advertised everything is not included so be prepared.
