River Cruise Expert

AvalonWaterways Panorama - Rhine River

In the spring of 2017 I booked my first European River Cruise and I've been hooked since.   To celebrate a "Big" birthday, I decided to take my first trip to Europe and booked an Avalon Waterways River Cruise from Amsterdam to Brussels. This was on the Rhine River and the theme was "Tulips and Windmills"  During this trip, one of the excursions took us to Keukenhof Gardens, which is open seasonally in the spring.   It was such an amazing experience.   The best part was that it was included as part of my package price.   We went on so many interesting excursions, sometimes two a day either in the same city or two different cities depending on how close we were. Local Guides met us at each port and we learned so much about the places we were visiting with history, foods and spirits to try along with local shopping.     

December of 2019 took me to the Danube River and we started in Vienna, Austria, and ended in Vilsholfen, Germany.  The theme of this river cruise was "Christmas Markets". The western side of Europe had suffered a historic drought in late summer and fall leading to very low water levels.   We did make several modifications to this itinerary and had several longer days with travel via bus since we stayed in Vienna for the first few nights of the cruise; however, we actually were able to see more local and authentic Christmas Markets in the area. Try the Gluhwien, you won't be disappointed. 

Fast forward (post-pandemic) to June of 2022.   Again with Avalon Waterways, I had a break in my schedule and there was sailing on the Rhine River, again from Amsterdam but ending in Basel.  This itinerary had the theme of Romantic Rhine.  My favorite part of this cruise was the commentary along the river by our cruise director as we sailed past 20 castles and he filled us in on the history and folklore along the way of each property.   What an amazing morning and we had wonderful weather as well.   We visited 4 countries and each one was better than the last.    As your travel advisor, I take my travel experiences and match them with your expectations for the trip you take.   I love talking about my travel adventures and hope to help you narrow down your choices for your next river cruise!