By: Scott Ruffing
My wife and I decided to take the Viking Rhine Getaway from Basel to Amsterdam, an 8 day trip with 2 post nights in Amsterdam. We’re both in our early 40s which made us among the youngest travelers on the boat.
My wife and I decided to take the Viking Rhine Getaway from Basel to Amsterdam, an 8 day trip with 2 post nights in Amsterdam. We’re both in our early 40s which made us among the youngest travelers on the boat.
This past December I had the pleasure of joining Avalon’s Tranquility II for its “Festive Time on the Romantic Rhine with Avalon Waterways” itinerary. This was my second Avalon Waterways vacation, and it will not be my last. My friend Akram was excited to join me for this trip (full disclosure: all the best pictures in this blog are his). What follows are my impressions and musings about the trip, although we did so much that I couldn’t possibly include everything. If you are the kind of person who (like me) likes to sit and go through photo albums with people, then you might find the read rewarding.
When I opted to take a trip, I gravitated toward the Globus family of brands. They’ve been in the business over 90 years and, from a customer service standpoint, they’re a standout. I would be traveling with my mom and wanted the experience to be as stress-free as possible. Sailing from Basel to Amsterdam allowed us the chance to visit our German roots, cruise through the Rhine Gorge, and we would only need to unpack once – the delightful perk of a floating hotel. With that in my mind, we decided that the Romantic Rhine with Avalon, the sailing sister company of Globus, would be the perfect fit.
Travelers go on river cruises because it allows them to visit big cities and popular towns. However, it’s really the small towns and villages you have never heard of that make river cruises in Europe the experience of a lifetime. The Rhine and Moselle river cruise by Avalon Waterways highlights these small towns perfectly.