In October, we travelled as a group of six, for an 18 day cruise along the Danube river from Prague to Bucharest. What a wonderful time we had on Avalon's Illumination. The food was wonderful, the ship immaculately clean and the staff very personable. However, we knew that there had been a drought in Europe all summer and there was a possibility that it would affect our sailings. It did indeed. We were unable to sail a good portion of the river itself. About half way into our cruise we were told we could no longer navigate by ship to many of our destinations due to the extremely low riverbed. We would have to be bussed to various locations and back again. It was very disappointing, but, Avalon went above and beyond what I understand is normal in these situations! We were not simply offered a monetary credit on a future cruise. We were given the choice between staying on board (and taking in some different sights cruising back along the way we came) or terminating our cruise and flying home. Either way we were being reimbursed for those days!! We naturally chose to stay on board and ride out the adventure! Even though we were being compensated for those 7 days, we were given extra excursions, flown by charted planes to one destination, saw absolutely wonderful little towns that were new to our cruise, and did not lack for interesting and new adventures; all fully paid for. It is true that we had to be bussed to several locations and missed a good part of the actual onboard cruising part of the trip, but, Avalon can not control the river levels, and they managed to make lemonade out of what could have been a very sour turn of events. We cannot say enough about the wonderful staff and cruise director who did everything in their power to make sure that we enjoyed everything to very best of their abilities. Countless hours on the internet and telephone were spent by our dedicated and very professional cruise director making alternate plans and arranging for special busses and local mini cruises (especially in Budapest) so that we could experience some of the beauty of sailing in approximation of our cancelled cruise along sections of the Danube. (Thank you, Gusta, you were amazing!) All in all, we had a wonderful experience and quite soon after we got home we found refunds deposited into our accounts. We will DEFINITELY choose Avalon again, next time we want to cruise. Thank you Avalon!