The Avalon Illumination is a beautiful vessel, essentially a floating luxury hotel. Lovely experience on board with a wonderful Czech hotel manager, Barbora, and a smiling, mostly Romanian, crew. Top-notch organization from Dutch cruise director, Mark. Excellent meals and many charming small touches, such as glasses of lemonade awaiting us when we returned from excursions, or dining hall decorations that reflected our ports of call.

The Prague to Budapest route was great, with visits to three great capitals and fascinating smaller cities (e.g. Regensburg, Linz).

There were also enrichment activities such as a lock expert who gave a fascinating power point presentation; a tour of the wheelhouse; and various musical acts in the evenings. Read more