- Avalon announces new excursions designed around specific seasons.
- The shore excursions designed to deliver more immersive and personal experiences.
- The new line-up will launch in 2027.
Avalon Waterways, in a bold new move, is launching new excursions based around seasonal activities – all designed to connect guests more closely with the regions they visit.
The new seasonal excursions will be launched in 2027 and may even influence guests when choosing where and when they want to cruise, with specific activities designed to match.
Avalon President Pam Hoffee explains: “Where you go matters. When you go can change the experience entirely. Our new seasonal excursions connect our guests more deeply – and authentically – to the places they’re exploring. These are experiences that exist for a moment, and that’s exactly the point.”
The new excursions are timed to take advantage of events that don’t exist year-round, creating a more exclusive, personal connection with the memory. Whether it be the springtime fleeting blooms and harvest traditions or the time-honoured rituals of wine making shaped by local life, the excursions are hand-picked to embrace moments in time.
Avalon’s seasonal excursions for 2027
The new seasonal excursions are designed around each destination – capturing moments that are fleeting, local and connected to time and place. And as no two travellers are alike, Avalon’s new seasonal experiences build on its already existing signature approach to shore excursions, offering freedom to experience it your way with choices in every destination.
Through the Avalon Choice Excursions, guests can explore each port in different ways – whether that means Classic sightseeing, Active exploration or deeper cultural Discovery. Seasonal experiences aim to add another layer to that choice, offering time-sensitive moments.
Highlights from the new 2027 lineup will include moments in the South of France with hands-on apricot picking and tastings, fields of purple in bloom with lavender visits and distillery experiences timed to the season, Autumn in Normandy with apple picking and cider tastings as orchard life comes alive, cooking what the season calls for with hands-on culinary classes featuring fresh, regional ingredients from local markets, picking, tasting & enjoying summer with strawberry harvest experiences that celebrate the season, discover the art of distillation through flower picking and essential oil workshops rooted in tradition, and experience harvest traditions across Europe with vineyard visits and farming practices shaped by generations.
According to Avalon, the introduction of seasonal excursions comes as traveller preferences continue to shift toward more intentional, cooler and less crowded travel. They claim seventy-five per cent of 10,000 Avalon cruisers prefer to travel outside peak months, a trend already reflected in booking patterns. In 2025, Avalon saw off-season sailings grow 18 per cent year-over-year, driven in part by expanded capacity in late autumn and early winter.
Ms Hoffee ads “Travellers are realising that shifting when they go doesn’t compromise the experience. Instead, timing can enhance it.
With fewer crowds, cooler temperatures and in some cases, more value, we’re opening the door to different experiences year-round. The introduction of seasonal excursions takes that concept even further.”
The small ship company’s broader philosophy is that perfectly timed, perfectly sized design creates better experiences for guests. And with Suite Ships intentionally sized for fewer guests and more space, and itineraries built to invite both guided discovery and independent exploration, Avalon is striving to create an environment where moments can be captialised more fully year-round.
