This was a fabulous cruise. My wife and I enjoyed every minute of it. Avalon must be praised for getting everything just right. I could not be more impressed. Particularly outstanding was the quality of the boat's staff. It cannot be easy work yet everyone single crew member always appeared happy and eager to please. Either Avalon pays them extremely well or they are very well trained or both. This goes from the Captain, the Cruise Director on down to the cleaning people and the waiters and waitresses. They all speak decent to good English and are most helpful.

The rooms are perfect. Very well thought out. Plenty of room for all of our clothes. Very clean. Beautiful big windows looking out at the scenery although we spent most of our boat time on the upper deck.

The meals were all wonderful. Lots of choice for breakfast and lunch. The dining room was noisy but not unbearable. I bring this up because on a previous cruise with Avalon on the Rhone the dining room was so noisy you could not have a conversation with your neighbor. The Illumination clearly has better soundproofing. Read more