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Avalon Waterways: This is the way to see Europe

Courtesy Globus Family of Brands


I’ve had many people ask me about river cruising in Europe as a travel option. I always tell them there are very good reasons that river cruising aboard a ship like the MS Creativity has become so popular.

At the 2010 BankTravel Conference, I shared some of those thoughts with delegates at a luncheon where I introduced Patrick Clark of Avalon Waterways as a presenter:

“Many of Europe’s most majestic cities were built centuries ago on major rivers, and nothing is easier than cruising right into their very hearts,” I began.

“The Creativity is one of several new ships built by Avalon in the past couple of years, and these are elegant ships. The meals and food service on this cruise were exceptional, and we loved the open seating. We met lots of people from all over the world during the week.

“The wait staff became like family to most of us. We enjoyed a very nice selection of wines through the course of the week.

“Our accommodations were superb, and the staff on board was very attentive. It was a very young, very hip, very enthusiastic staff from many parts of the world, and they had obviously been well trained in hospitality.

“At every stop, we had very professional sightseeing guides. We used headsets, broke into several groups, and these guides knew their cities. Kim and I are fairly independent travelers, but after our first guided tour, we would not have missed one of these walking lectures for anything.

“Speaking of independence, it was also very easy to take an evening off and go into a given city for a drink or a dinner on your own. One evening after dinner, we joined a group from California and walked back into Rudesheim, Germany, to visit a pub.

“Another evening, we had dinner on our own in a neighborhood cafe we had found in Speyer, Germany, and in Amsterdam, we went with several others and stumbled onto a really neat Tibetan restaurant just outside the red light district for a meal none of us will ever forget.”

For more on Avalon Waterways:

Rhapsody on the Rhine
This is the way to see Europe