Cruise Passenger > Reviews > Review: Avalon Luminary

Review: Avalon Luminary

Published by

Published on

8 May 2012

I have just returned from a seven-night Avalon Waterways river cruise on board Avalon Luminary through Holland at the start of the tulip season. I attempted to blog from the rivership, but although they had free wi-fi/internet, the reception was patchy and caused some frustration, so here is my report from dry land. This will be an abbreviated report as I will be writing a full report in the next issue of Cruise Passenger magazine, illustrated with many colourful photos.

Getting to and returning from each destination can be an extremely pleasurable experience if planned properly. On the other hand, lack of planning and not leaving enough time for potential mishaps can turn the event into a nightmare.

I always plan to arrive at the embarkation port at least two days ahead. With all the unforeseen mishaps that are possible, such as airlines experiencing delays, one certainly does not want to “miss the boat”.

After a faultless flight from Sydney via Dubai to Amsterdam on Emirates, we arrived in Amsterdam refreshed and ready to begin our exploration of this storybook city. We had booked into the Amstel InterContinental Hotel, a five-star property on the banks of the Amstel River, which certainly lived up to our expectations. One of their three restaurants had a Michelin star, however the other two were exceptional. After two days of independent sightseeing, it was time to join our fellow passengers at a centrally located hotel, where after some light refreshments we were driven a short distance by luxury motor coach to board Avalon Luminary.

Watch this space…

On boarding Avalon Luminary we were welcomed by the captain and crew then offered cocktails. After being shown to our staterooms and settling in to our very comfortable cabin, it was time for the mandatory evacuation drill held on the ship’s sundeck.

It was tulip season and all on board were looking forward to going to Floriade and seeing lots of tulips. The passenger mix was about 80 per cent North Americans with Australians making up most of the balance.

One of the beauties of river cruising is that total passenger numbers are usually about 120 and it does not take long to make many new friends. The open seating at all meals means one usually dines with different people each day. Another added plus was that Avalon’s Ambassador, Steve Liebmann, and his wife were on board. All the Australians were very thrilled to be travelling with Steve and I was especially pleased as Steve and I used to work together in the early days of television.

The second day saw us dock at Kinderdijk, famous for its many well-preserved windmills. Although not used for their original purpose (which was to pump water from the low land), these are now a huge tourist attraction and everyone’s cameras were working overtime.

We were looking forward to our afternoon (included) excursion to Keukenhof, famous for its acres of tulips.

After visiting the windmills of Kinderdijk we returned to Avalon Luminary for lunch. It was great to sit down and dine while watching the beautiful scenery as we sailed towards Rotterdam, where we were to board coaches for the journey to Lisse, home of the famous Keukenhof Flower Park. This would turn out to be perhaps the highlight of our cruise. I have seen some beautiful gardens in my travels around the world but none could come close to the acres of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths that were in such abundance in these gardens.

The tulips were the real stars, all picture perfect and my camera was in overdrive. There were several pavilions housing many different varieties. Virtually every bloom was a masterpiece – no imperfect blooms to be seen anywhere. Our main reason for booking this cruise was to see Floriade and the tulips of Holland.

In some of the pavilions, local traditional dancers performed in national dress. There were several spots to sit down and have coffee or hot chocolate served with delicious pastries, the local most popular treat was profitjes, served with a chocolate sauce. At the end of the season, which runs from March to May each year, the whole park is mulched and newly designed plantings start for the following year. This is definitely a not-to-be-missed attraction.

Our trip to Delta Park at Veere, home of one of the engineering wonders of the world that I had seen on the popular TV show Megastructures, was inspiring. In 1953 after a combination of high winds and a hurricane there were over 100,000 acres of land flooded due to the breaching of the dykes. More than 1,800 lives were lost. Because of this the Delta Plan was devised, which involved shortening the coast line by about 450 miles with a gigantic tidal barrier to protect Zeeland from flooding. Several dam-like structures were interlinked and are incredible to behold. We walked through the insides of some of the dam walls, with the sound of the sea pounding in our ears.

After lunch we arrived in Middelburg, where with a local guide, we walked around the town, finishing up in the beautiful Town Hall where we were given an official welcome and offered delicious Dutch specialty pastries. After the walking I did not feel too guilty eating them.

As usual, before dinner, we went to the daily port talk which covered what we were to expect the next day. Most on board had a few drinks before heading to the dining room, we enjoyed the sounds of the on board pianist, who entertained each evening. On many nights we were treated to local entertainers who disembarked before the ship’s usual late night departure.

After our usual buffet breakfast we boarded our coaches for a short ride to the city centre of Ghent. We were offered the choice of joining the slower walkers or the normal pace walking group and because of my knee replacement, I chose the former. However, I think our local guide was not informed as we passed the other groups on several occasions. After a quick work in his ear we slowed down to a more comfortable pace and got to appreciate this charming town. Belgium is famous for its superior chocolate and the only advantage of walking at a faster pace was that I saved a lot of money on buying chocolates. We visited all the main points of interest in the town. Unfortunately, one of our group tripped on the picturesque cobblestones, which are common to most areas we visited. She was taken to hospital and later we were given the bad news that she had broken her hip. This really brings home how important it is to have travel insurance and to wear the correct walking shoes.

After lunch we joined most of the passengers on an optional excursion to the historic town of Bruges. A highlight was a canal boat ride around the town. Back to the ship for coffee and cakes and our pre-dinner lecture on the activities for the next day.

Our Avalon river ship docked almost in the heart of Antwerp, the second-largest city in Belgium and the second-argest seaport in Europe. The local guides in every city or town we visit deliver a wealth of local information and are extremely well-educated about their cities’ history.

Our walking tour included the fortress on the river Scheldt, Antwerp’s oldest preserved building. It was here that the local legend of Antwerp’s symbol, a hand, originated. We found some chocolate hands in one of the many outstanding confectionary shops and could not resist buying a box. From the fortress it was only a short walk to Grote Market, a large square surrounded by many splendid guild houses and the local city hall, considered a masterpiece.

This afternoon, there was an optional tour to Brussels, but we chose to enjoy a relaxing time on board.

We stepped straight off the decks of Avalon Luminary and into our walking tour of Maastricht. Everyone was quite excited because later this morning we were to go by coach to Venlo, the location for Floriade. This giant festival is held every 10 years, each time in a different part of Holland. Floriade features not only tulips but has many pavilions from various countries that promote horticulture.

The temperature, even though it was spring, was quite cool. Many of our fellow passengers from the USA didn’t look up their temperature charts before setting off for their European cruise, so more than a few hadn’t brought adequate warm clothing with them. All the Australians on board had no problems as they dressed for the weather.

To be perfectly honest, Floriade was a bit of a let down. It appeared that many countries had no pavilions, possibly due to the international financial crisis and those that had pavilions had very poor displays. The real highlight of our trip was our visit to the Keukenhof Gardens. This is on every year and I highly recommend that if you love flowers, a river cruise during the European spring must include Keukenhof.

Back to where we started – Amsterdam – a truly beautiful city, where our river cruise began. We are overnighting here on the ship and departing after breakfast the next morning.

Coaches transported us to a point where we boarded small canal boats that took us on a wonderful tour through the myriad of canals around Amsterdam. These long, narrow vessels were fully enclosed by glass panels, although some of the more hardy chose to stand on the open back deck. I found I could get better photos here and braved the elements. We had been so fortunate throughout the tour with mostly clear days and bright sunshine. I took more than 4,000 photographs during our seven-night cruise!

There was an optional tour in the afternoon to Edam and Volendam, and before dinner there was a cheese-tasting and presentation. Dinner was almost a sad event as we were saying our goodbyes to the many new friends we had made on this wonderful river cruise.

Believe it or not, one of the most popular optional tours was held this evening and, yes, it was a tour of Amsterdam’s famous Red Light District. Many people hurried through their desserts to take this tour. I preferred to stay on board and have a second dessert.

The seven days went all too quickly. My only negative comment, which I believe relates to all river cruises run by different companies, is that the 8.30am included tour departures should be put forward to 9am, thus allowing for less rush and a more leisurely breakfast. The 12 noon lunch would then become 12.30 p.m., still allowing plenty of time for optional tours in the afternoon.