Spectacular river cruise!!!!

We had never been on any type of cruise. The 16 day river cruise was a much more intimate way of being introduced to cruising and with this our first trip to Europe this appealed to us as a way to be able to visit 5 countries, 6 counting an excursion to the Czech Republic. Once we arrived in Paris August 2nd our luggage was looked after throughout the cruise from beginning to end. Transportation to and from hotels, the boat and airports were excellent. Paris was more than we could imagine. The Avalon Artistry II was grand. It met and exceeded our expectations. The Artistry II staff were efficient, accommodating and would go to great lengths to make things happen. The food on the cruise was excellent. Enjoyed the gallery tour.

We cannot say enough about 'Katy' our cruise director. She was MAGNIFICIENT. Her daily port talks were entertaining and informative. She then followed up with her 'love notes',(the daily news letters). We thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment that was booked on the ship.

We were glad to have all the included tours. We were able to see all the sights we wanted to see and then some with the extra tours you were able to pick.

The only downside to our 'bucket list trip' were the flights. We flew out of Buffalo NY and the United Airlines flight was cancelled to Newark NJ. Called the on-call Avalon number and they were wonderful. They found us a flight and rebooked us. We were 1 hour late arriving in Paris. Also would have liked to fly direct with NO connecting flights.

I don't think we would book another river cruise as it was quite costly and we could most likely do 2 or 3 all-inclusive 2 week holidays to different islands for the price we paid for this cruise. We believe that we picked a cruise that allowed us to see places in Europe that we wouldn't have been able too, which is what we wanted.

Now we are interested in experiencing ocean cruises.