River cruising is a bucket list item, at least for my husband and I. With him being a decade older, we don’t always agree on places that we want to go. After all, he had already seen half the world when I was just starting my exploration of it in my 30s.
However, we came to the same conclusion about taking a river cruise about a decade ago. I remember that day vividly.
What caught my eye were the high glass-panelled river boats gliding by. It was then that we both agreed to add river cruising down a river in Europe, to our bucket list.
But we never got around to crossing it off, until this year. It was also a good way for us to see Eastern Europe because to drive around multiple countries would be too tiring at this stage of life. I had also been warned that when staying in old European towns, we would have to haul our luggage up many flights of steps to get to our lodgings.
So after scouring various readers’ reviews on Cruise Critic, Travel + Leisure and Trustpilot, we decided on Avalon Waterways.
We settled on exploring the Danube, the second-longest river in Europe. The Danube From Romania To Budapest itinerary was chosen as we could cover five countries in Eastern Europe over nine days.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
The trip started in Bucharest, Romania and would cover Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria before ending off in Budapest, Hungary.
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First impressions of river cruise
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
I confess: I have a very grandiose and romantic idea of the Danube River due to The Blue Danube waltz.
It was at the boarding port of Oltenita in Romania that I first saw the Danube River this trip. Frankly, I was disappointed as the river was not as pretty as I imagined. I recalled thinking that Johann Strauss had taken quite a bit of artistic license with his classical piece. But a music piece titled “The Greenish-Brown Danube” would probably not become as popular.
However, the service from Avalon Waterways more than made up for the disappointment of the river.
We were promptly ushered up the Avalon Passion. This ship is 443ft in length, with 16 staterooms and 76 suites, and has an international crew of 47. There’s also complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the ship — handy for checking in with family or posting snapshots of the journey.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
We had actually arrived two hours before the official boarding time because I had misread the travel docket offered by Holiday Tours, the Singapore agent for Avalon. My husband was a bit cross with this and so I was grateful that Avalon had anticipated such situations. We were not the only ones.
A handful of passengers had arrived even before us and were at the lounge where the light buffet lunch was ready. Seated in groups of three or four, I heard a cacophony of American voices. They didn’t seem particularly friendly.
Because our recent trips were with groups of friends and family, I had been apprehensive about traveling as a twosome.
The Avalon staff suggested that we could also have a light lunch before going to our rooms.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
After we were finished, a member of the housekeeping team led us to our accommodation for the next eight nights. When she opened the door, a fresh floral scent greeted us.
Framed behind the floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall panoramic windows were the Balkan Mountains. These windows are a distinguishing factor of the Panorama Suite by Avalon Waterways. We could take in the ever-changing scenery along the river when in the room — one of the small luxuries that made a big difference to our trip.
The room was more spacious than we had imagined. One of the reasons was because the king-sized bed was constructed on a platform with enough room underneath for four suitcases. Great for us with a lot of luggage as we were in the UK visiting family for a week before the start of the river cruise.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
The trapezoid-shaped shower also made the shower area bigger than on other cruise ships I had sailed in.
Safety briefing with a difference
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
Who would ever imagine that a ship’s safety briefing can set the tone that makes all the difference in a holiday? Tibor, the cruise director, started with the usual lines such as “follow the lights if the ship is plunged into darkness, just like on the airplanes.”
But as he bantered on, the Avalon good humour infected us.
We would also see Tibor every day before dinner as he would share more about the programme for the next day and to answer any questions. As a senior, I’m thankful that information was given in digestible bits so that we could discuss and do some research on the sights.
About a month before the cruise, we had to make choices for excursions, categorised as:
- Classic
- Active
On some of the days, there were two choices in the ‘Classic’ category. The option ‘Active’ was more physically demanding in that we could do the tours on e-bikes. Mostly we chose the Classic excursions as it was something we could do together as a couple.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
This pace was enjoyable and I didn’t feel rushed at all.
Empires rise and fall along the Danube River
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
I learnt a lot of history and culture from the daily excursions. The thing that struck me most about each of the towns we visited along the Danube was how their storied past unfolded through the fortresses along the riverbanks.
Our guide in Svishtov, Bulgaria, explained how the Tsaravets Fortress constructed in the 12th century was once “a castle of Bulgarian tsars”. Further down the river, Vidin’s Baba Vida fortress had to “withstand many sieges, from Bulgarian tsars who lost their country to Serbian rulers”.
Golubac in Serbia “was a defence post against the Ottomans and 150 years later, its Hungarian conquerors,” according to the Serbian guide. The Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia, was the most well-preserved as a 17th century engineer deemed it “too beautiful to suffer the fate of other fortresses”.
As much as I was enthused by the military history, we were ready for other experiences!
Enjoying local specialities
In Bulgaria, we were introduced to the famed Damask Rose – considered the Queen of Flowers for its intense fragrance and special oils. A couple of days later, a fellow passenger shared that “her hands had smoothened out” after using the moisturiser.
The Balkans are also famous for local wine specialities. At Ilok in Croatia, we were treated to the famed Traminac wine, which the guide proudly proclaimed, “has been on the Buckingham wine list since Queen Elisabeth’s coronation in 1953.”
It was a semi-dry white with a floral bouquet. If I had luggage space, I would have bought a few bottles because it goes down well with local food and I can imagine having it with curry chicken or char kway teow.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
Another notable wine was Bermet, a sweet dessert red which we tasted at the Museum of Beekeeping and Wine in Serbia.
Although the local wine was a nice treat, it was the other part of the museum that was the standout to me at this stop: the family’s beekeeping beginnings.
Tour guides are cultural storytellers
The most memorable tours I’ve had over the years are when the tour guide didn’t just share history but intriguing stories about people and glimpses into past civilisations. The Avalon Waterways tour guides are definitely a notch above average.
Our English guide in Bulgaria, Denis, promised that we would master a bit of Cyrillic language (think Russian words).
He taught us some two-syllable sounds and words that would ensure our survival: whisky and pizza.
Besides Russia and Bulgaria, the Cyrillic alphabet is used in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and Montenegro.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
Just as witty was our guide Romana from Ilok, Croatia who jested about her upbringing. “Like all mothers in Croatia,” she told me, “you’re allowed to drink from 11 years old, but don’t kiss anyone till you’re 16.”
A little bit of rock n roll, and a whole lot of soul
The question we get after we tell friends about our river cruise holiday is inevitably, “How was the food?” The menus, which were changed daily, always featured a few dishes from the area that we had visited that day. So too the wines.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
I salute the chef on this cruise for his creativity. I recalled that at the beginning of the cruise, we were invited to a ‘meet the chef’ session to brief him on special diets and allergies.
As for entertainment, we had Trivia night, Disco night, a Hungarian dance performance and a Bohemian night in Belgrade.
Bulgarian folk dance performance on the ship.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
The final verdict: finding a tribe on the Danube
As for my initial apprehension about unfriendly passengers, it was for nought.
Our shared experiences with fellow cruise passengers bonded us in deeper ways than I thought possible — whether it was over yoga, or the day’s sightseeing, or disco nights. For each encounter, friendships from a new corner of the world opened up — Tirtzah and Rick from Ohio, Jaski and Kiran from Mumbai, Ina and Jim from Florida, Christine and John from Australia, and the list goes on.
In a decade from now, I’m sure that I wouldn’t be able to recall the name of every fortresses we visited, but I’m confident that what I would remember how each of these friends made the river cruise so special.
Credit: Lena Soh-Ng
Given how much we had enjoyed this river cruise, we were not surprised that this was a second or third time on an Avalon Waterways river cruise for some of the passengers.
Which is why I can’t wait to plan a 2027 river cruise with some of my newfound friends.
This article is brought to you in partnership with Avalon Waterways; however, the trip itself was independently funded.
