First, I want to preface this entire post by saying – Our trip was amazing – I’m VERY grateful for the time and the trip away.   I also want to be honest, so you can see if a Danube river cruise is right for you.

This trip was one my husband earned through his company.  Other trips he has earned through his company have been- Marrakech, Little Dix Bay, Sicily, Mexico- punta mita / riviera maya /  nayarit, Rome, disney cruise,  Nevis, St Lucia, Turks & Caicos  … I may be missing one or two more that I can’t remember right now.  These trips are always incredible opportunities to see more of the world.  Thankfully we can always choose to take the kids too!  or not (:

We were all set to go to Bali this October, but those trips were canceled due to the volcano in the area.  So we picked this Danube river cruise with Avalon.  I’ve had a bunch of people ask “did you know it was an active cruise?” … I don’t think I did.  I probably just didn’t pay very close attention though! 

We have cruised before … a Disney Cruise  and a transatlantic cruise.  We did a transatlantic cruise because believe it or not, it was the cheapest way to get home that Fall from Switzerland … with all of our bags.  Plus, we figured, when would we not be in a hurry to go home again?!  I often hear people say “I’m not the cruise type” … but I think they can be great depending on what you want to do.

Positives about our Danube River Cruise on Avalon Luminary:

• The ship is small.  Apparently the Danube’s water is low right now, so many ships were not able to go through and their passengers had to be bussed from port to port rather than sail.  But ours, for the exception of one port, was small enough to not have a problem.
• The views from the room  (and really the entire ship!) were beautiful.  Our room had floor to ceiling windows.  It was really breathtaking just from our bed.
• Drinks are included for lunch and dinner!  We have not been on a cruise where this was the case, so that was certainly a plus.
• I loved how you could see many ports, and didn’t have to move your bags.  This is the jewel of cruising I think.  Unlike larger cruises, we also stayed overnight in a couple ports.  I loved that we could just hop off in Vienna and really explore for two days.  And we could go to our next stop, and we didn’t have to shlep our luggage from hotel to hotel.  Your downtime cruising to the next port is either while you are sleeping, or while you’re having lunch or a snack.
• At least one excursion per day is included in your rate.  My favorite was biking the Wachau Valley.
• There was plenty of entertainment aboard – bands and musicians.
• One of my favorite things was sitting on the lounge chairs on the deck while we were cruising.  It was truly stunning!
• We met really wonderful people on this cruise!  We met two couples that we loved and they always travel together… so we just sort of inserted ourselves into their group.  Sorry for crashing your vacation guys!
• free wifi!
• I loved seeing smaller cities off the beaten track I would have never experienced otherwise.
• One thing I was asked a bunch is “how did it feel to be the youngest on the cruise ship?”  My friends were like “how’s your old folks cruise?” … Honestly, living in Florida, I am so used to an older population, and have legit 80 year old friends so I never thought much of it.  The cruisers were in great shape!!   I guess JB and I are both old souls because we loved being with this age group.  I would say the average age was 60.  and there were other couples around our age!

I wouldn’t necessary call these negatives, but these were things I noticed that may be an issue for some:

• For breakfast and lunch aboard the cruise it’s all buffet style.  I really wouldn’t have minded this but there were several people aboard the cruise who got very ill, and there was no room service available to them.  So sick people were coming out, touching the handles on the buffet to serve themselves … and well, a lot of other people got sick.  I think I picked the virus up too, but thankfully didn’t get it until I was home.
• Service on cruise ships are usually over the top but this was much more self serve.  I think this is because the staff is much smaller, in order to accommodate the smaller cruise ships.  For example, they would bring a big pitcher of water to serve yourself at dinner (which is fine!) but then they’d never refill it.
• There were a lot of informational meetings (one every day) and I felt that much of what was said could  have just been communicated via text messages or their app.
• I have never done tours where you follow the person with a flag and have an ear piece in all day.  We did one of those on the first day and that’s just not for me.  I have issues with noise, and just having someone talk non stop in your ear about history facts is not my idea of a vacation. It’s just not for me.  Some of the included tours are not like this, but some are.  Some people love these kinds of tours though!

All in all, it was a wonderful trip!   It was a lot of activity (biking and hiking), and it was a wake up call that I needed to get in the gym more (: !

Have you been on a river cruise?  It’s a beautiful way to see lots of Europe!