Paris and Normandy is a 7 day cruise, beginning and ending in Paris. We extend 2 days at the end of our cruise to enjoy the city of lights and gastronomy. Day 1 we board at our leisure, meet our ship staff, unpack, and meet everyone for our embarkation dinner and drinks. Day 2 brings us to Vernon, home of artist Monet, where we actually can visualize the gardens where he got his influence to paint. On day 3 we visit Honfleur for the very best fresh seafood in the world. We enjoy local food and wines prepared by our chef and we retire early waiting for day 4. An early rise and we are off to Normandy and the beaches of World War 2. What a heartwarming day this is. Another great local meal and wines on board as we socialize with our new friends. Day 5 takes us to Rouen for our bike tour with the included bikes kept onboard. Day 6 takes us on a tour of the grand Chateau Gaillard with a perfect wine tasting and local cheeses. Day 8 we stop in Auvers sur Oise where we meet the local artists displaying some very fine and unusual pieces, one of which is perfect for our home living room. We disembark in Paris for 2 days of sightseeing, food, wine, art, and everything we can absorb in “Gay Paree”. We have learned that AMA has gourmet food, very fine wines, excellent service, and really does deserve the Berlitz rating.
Our next company is Avalon Waterways. A very large Sister to Globus Family of Tours, Avalon is usually considered the largest fleet of ships in the industry. Constantly adding more ships, at last count they had 26 ships Avalon sails Europe, China,. Southeast Asia and South America. Avalon has garnered some of the top accolades in the industry including “Best River Cruise Line”, Best River Cruise Cabin”, and “Best Overall River Cruise Company”. Avalon is perhaps best known for innovative suite design. They pride themselves on having suites where the beds face wall to wall, and floor to ceiling, open air suites. Avalon offers personal service and customer oriented staff. Always having on board bikes and personal listening devices for tours is a hallmark of this company. They call the experiences “Your Voyage Your Way”, where they include many of your experiences in your price, while giving you options to include or not include some experiences. They offer premium spirits and L’Occitane bath products on board.. There are 4 distinctive offerings from Avalon that they categorize to help you decide which cruise and which ship. They have “ Active Discovery” cruises where you get to retrace WWII Smugglers, or visit a local castle to meet the owner, or canoe on the Danube, or see a medieval Knights tournament. Let’s take a cruise;
Check back next week for our next cruise.
