The entry-level stateroom, measured
The Avalon Visionary is the first of the six 110-metre hulls, delivered by Den
Breejen in 2012. One hundred and twenty-eight travellers, 64 staterooms, around
thirty crew. The line announces her on the Danube; the 2026 calendar adds the
Main, between Prague, Vilshofen, Nuremberg, Vienna and Budapest.
A published review calls her entry-level stateroom small, with no sofa, no
armchair and no coffee table. That is accurate, and it goes with the two fixed
lower-deck windows set high on the wall at water level, which do not open. We
would always rather tell you that before you board.
What the short format allows
One hundred and ten metres instead of one hundred and thirty-five is
twenty-five metres less to fit into a lock. That difference opens river branches
the big hulls do not climb, and it explains why this series holds the Moselle,
the Saone and the Garonne while the other holds the Rhine and the Danube.
The ship is scheduled for refit in 2026. Depending on the month of your
sailing you will travel on a redone ship or on one still waiting its turn.
The other ships in the fleet
The Avalon Imagery II covers four rivers the line names itself. The Avalon Tranquility II adds the Moselle. The
Avalon Illumination and the Avalon Expression are 135-metre hulls.
What the fare covers
All onboard meals are included. Wine and beer come with lunch and dinner,
sparkling wine is poured at breakfast, and the lounge keeps coffee, tea,
filtered water, soft drinks and pastries available around the clock. A happy
hour runs each evening. Outside those settings, spirits are charged as you go:
there is no unlimited drinks package the way an ocean ship sells one.
Shore excursions are included and chosen port by port from three families.
Classic is the traditional guided visit. Discovery puts your hands into
something, a workshop, a kitchen, a trade. Active walks, cycles or climbs.
Bicycles, including electric-assist ones, are carried on the European ships.
What stays on your bill: air travel, gratuities, optional excursions and spa
treatments. Gratuities are not included in the contract. They are left to your
judgement, and the line suggests a practice without charging it. Seasonal
offers cover them on selected departures only, so check the exact sailing
before counting on it.
Satellite Wi-Fi is provided on the European ships. The line commits to no
level of service in its terms, and a lock transit or a deep gorge will drop the
link. Plan to work aboard, not to depend on it.
The stateroom, and the misunderstanding to clear up
The line's signature is called the Panorama Suite. The entire outside wall is
a glass panel, floor to ceiling and wall to wall, that slides sideways and opens
roughly two metres. A second glass panel then rises from the floor and ends in a
handrail: that is the safety barrier. The bed faces the glass rather than the
wall, unlike nearly every other river line.
This is not a balcony. You do not step out, you do not set two chairs and a
table outside, you do not lean over the hull. You stay in the stateroom in front
of a wide opening. The difference from a French balcony is one of scale, not of
principle. The choice comes from European locks, which fix hull width: adding a
balcony would have cut into the interior, and the line kept the interior.
The thing that disappoints people sits one deck lower. The entry-level
stateroom on the lower deck does not have this arrangement. It has two fixed
windows set high on the wall, at water level, that do not open. No air, no
sound, no smell comes in. It is a perfectly decent room, but it is not the one
in the photographs, and the difference is paid for in category rather than in
surprise at embarkation.
One honest last point: an open glass wall lets in whatever passes. Insects,
the smell of a farm, factory smoke, the noise of the quay when the ship lies in
a city centre. At side-by-side moorings, common in Vienna, Budapest and
Cologne, the opening looks straight onto the neighbouring ship.
From Quebec
None of these itineraries begins here. A transatlantic flight is required and
it is not included in the cruise fare. From Montreal several embarkation cities
are reachable without a connection in season; elsewhere, expect one connection
in Europe.
Arriving a day early is not a luxury. A delayed bag or a shifted flight can
be absorbed by one spare day, and cannot be absorbed at all if you land on the
morning of departure. Plan the return day too: leaving the ship happens earlier
than people expect.
Our advisors assemble the flight, the cruise, the hotel nights and the
insurance in a single file, and you remain covered by Quebec's compensation fund
for travel agency customers. Write to us and we will look at what the season
allows.
