We just completed a 10 day Danube River cruise on the Avalon Expression (7 nights on board) and were very disappointed with having to travel by bus for a good part of the trip.

We arrived in Prague for a scheduled three night stay there and were told the first night that the river cruise would begin in Passau instead of Nuremberg due to the Danube water levels. Our cruise director deceptively indicated at that time that the change was quite minor and that we were not missing much in terms of interest on the river. In fact, we travelled by bus to three of the eight ports and missed about one third of the cruise. What we could see of the river from the bus looked quite beautiful and the Avalon brochure invites us to "Bask in the vibrant atmosphere and take in the remarkable views along the river" when it refers to this part of the trip.

What made the experience much more negative was the response to my question concerning the possibility of seeing a part of the river we missed since we arrived three days early in Passau on a seven day cruise, the heavy rain in the three days since his first advice had brought the water levels up to a much higher level and there were large river boats travelling the river by that time. He advised me in a loud and angry voice, almost shouting, in front of dozens of passengers that he was the boss, he would be telling us where the ship was going and not the other way around and that he would not discuss it further. This from a person who was to be the ship's passenger representative! Read more