This was our first river cruise. We have been on multiple ocean cruises and have heard great things about river cruising. We chose this cruise as Christmas is my favorite time of year and I love decorating at home. Avalon has beautiful ships. Our room was on the top floor, which really is only half a staircase form the lobby. Plenty of room for the week. Not as large as ocean ships but very nice. Food was excellent, our waiter quickly knew what we liked and was always accommodating. You do not have to sit at the same table, but we liked George so much we always sat at one of his tables. This being a small ship, you quickly make friends with many of the other passengers.

The few negatives we do have were, need more entertainment in the evening. They did have a couple of nights with outside entertainment, but most nights was just the piano. We found on those nights most people did not come down to the lounge.

Second, we would have liked to stay in some of the smaller towns longer. They were the towns we came to see. Nuremberg was not our favorite. Christmas market was large, but city was depressing. The smaller German towns may not have had large markets, but the stores were quaint and the people very friendly. Just didn't have enough time there. Read more