Cruising the Rhine with Avalon Waterways

I recently took my first European River Cruise to celebrate my anniversary. We cruised from Amsterdam to Basel. We spent a night in Amsterdam at the Marriott which was very nice and went to the Ann Frank House. The following morning we went to the ship and spent one night on the ship in Amsterdam. We took a tour the day we got on the ship and then the following morning a Canal Cruise which I had always wanted to do. We then set sail and went to Cologne, Rudesheim, Strasbourg, Heidelberg and the Black Forest. We had an included excursion in each stop. When cruising the cruise director would be up on deck giving explanations of what we were seeing.

Every day at 5:45 we had a happy hour. Then dinner which was open sitting. We ate at the same table every night as we had a window seat and the same water which we liked. After the cruise we spent a night in Basel and then rented a car and went to Zurich and spent the day there. The following morning we flew home.

In Amsterdam we went to the Anne Frank House. In Cologne we took a walking tour, in Rudesheim we went to the Music Museum and in Heidelberg the Castle where we had lunch. Then we had some time to wonder on our own. In Strasbourg we had a walking tour. It would have been nice to spend more time in Le Petit France as this was really charming and beautiful. In the Black Forest, it would have been nice to spend more time in the forest itself. We went to a village and saw how they did things during that period 1700’s. We saw how they made butter. We also had a lunch on this tour.

The ship was very nice, cabin very comfortable. We had a French Balcony. Bathroom was spacious and the staff could not be nicer.