Speaker 5 0:01

Hi, and welcome back to my miniseries on Traveling Solo on Z Michelson Travel Podcast. It's a ZM Max Travel radio production. It's presented by Collage, travel Media Network, and this is your space for inspiration, confidence, and a little bit of luxury, whether you're traveling across the world or simply dreaming about your next adventure. And of course, I am Z Michelson. I'm a travel advisor. A media host and an advocate for all those solo travelers who refuse to wait to see the world. Now, on today's episode, we are talking with Denise from Avalon, and it's for anyone who has ever thought, I wanna travel, but I don't wanna wait for someone else. But where should I start? Where should I look to go? Where do I wanna go? Let's think Avalon.

Speaker 0:53

And again, this is Z Michelson, and thank you for joining us today. And as I promised, I brought Denise back from Globus and she is going to talk about Avalon.

Speaker 2 1:03

Yes.

Speaker 1:04

And she's gonna be talking about solo travel on Avalon.

Speaker 2 1:07

Yes. Yes.

What Avalon Waterways Is

Speaker 1:07

So first, tell us a little bit about Avalon. What is Avalon?

Speaker 2 1:10

Yep. So Avalon Waterways is a part of the Globus family of brands. Mm-hmm. And Avalon waterways are our river cruises. And Avalon Waterways has been around over 20 years, and Avalon is part of Globus family of brands, Globus family of brands. We have Globus Cosmos, land Tours.

Speaker 1:27

Right.

Speaker 2 1:27

And then Avalon Waterways was the last brand to get added.

Speaker 1:31

Right?

Speaker 2 1:31

So we own 16 ships and 15 of them are in Europe and one is in Southeast.

Speaker 1:37

Now these are river cruises?

Speaker 2 1:38

Yes,

Speaker 1:39

these are river cruises. So the ships are not as large as we see these ocean liners.

Speaker 2 1:43

Not at all. Right. The most that we will have, like for the Rhine or the Danube is 168 passengers.

Speaker 1:51

Oh, that's nice.

Speaker 2 1:52

Oh, very nice. Yeah. Yeah. The smallest one we have, well, we have the, the Mekong, Vietnam. Cambodia with the Mekong River. Only 18 cabins.

Speaker 2:00

Oh wow.

Speaker 2 2:01

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:02

That's very intimate.

Speaker 2 2:03

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2:03

Right.

Speaker 2 2:03

And the Duro, which I got booked on yesterday, I'm finally going only 102 passengers. And that's in Portugal, right? On the Duro River. On

Speaker 2:12

the Dura River.

Speaker 2 2:13

Yes.

Speaker 2:13

Now I understand when you're on the Duro River. It usually docks at night.

Speaker 2 2:17

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:18

cause it doesn't travel down the Duro.

Speaker 2 2:19

Correct.

Speaker 2:19

Because it's a little dark there.

Speaker 2 2:21

Yeah. And it's a little bit different than the Rhine. And the Danube. Right. So I'm looking forward to it so I can experience it myself. Mm-hmm. So I can fill you guys in.

Speaker 2:28

Now, how many ships again, does a, has?

Speaker 2 2:30

16.

Speaker 2:31

16. All in total? Mm-hmm. Are there any new ones coming up or you can't talk

Speaker 2 2:35

it? They can't tell us. They're not telling us because they're afraid We're going to tell you.

Speaker 2:39

You're gonna spit it out.

What Is Included Onboard

Speaker 2 2:40

Yeah. They're, they're, they're very cautious because they wanna fill up. The next year before they bring out too much flashy stuff for the year after.

Speaker 2:49

So what is included on one of these river cruises?

Speaker 2 2:51

Oh, so we're not all inclusive, but I would say 95% all inclusive. Mm-hmm. So all of your meals, right? So you have early riser, breakfast, breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea time at four o'clock,

Speaker 3:03

right?

Speaker 2 3:04

Your beer, your wine refreshments are included for lunch and dinner. But then we have happy hour, which is included an hour before dinner, right? There's a whole list of drinks.

Speaker 3:12

Nice.

Speaker 2 3:13

And then also we have tea thyme also now sodas, refreshments are included throughout the day.

Speaker 3:19

That's good.

Speaker 2 3:20

Yeah. And then we have two, I think my, the most important, my favorite part of the two cappuccino makers.

Speaker 3:26

Oh yes.

Speaker 2 3:26

On board. And that as your cappuccino, your lattes, and those are also included. All of your excursions, you have three different excursions. They're active, they're classic, and they're discovery

Speaker 3:38

that you have three different. At each port or

Speaker 2 3:41

it really depends. Like the lower Dan Ube you won't have, you know,'cause there's not that much to do with the lower Dan Ube. Mm-hmm. But you might have two to pick from.

Speaker 3:49

Oh, nice.

Speaker 2 3:50

You know, some days, some days you might just have a walking tour,

Speaker 3:53

so at least one per day.

Speaker 2 3:54

Oh. Uh, yeah. I mean that is few and far between when there's only one. Mm-hmm. But like the Wachau Valley, there's like six different excursions. Amsterdam, there's like five or six different excursions that you can choose from that are. Included.

Speaker 4:10

Right.

Speaker 2 4:10

Um, some river cruise companies only have one excursion.

Speaker 4:13

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 4:14

And then everything else is extra. But we have all these different choices included. So your meals, your excursions, your, your beer, your wine, your sodas, all of that is included. Not the beer and wine, not throughout the day, but you have it for lunch and dinner and happy hour, so,

Speaker 4:30

right.

Speaker 2 4:30

And then don't forget, on a river cruise, you can bring on. Wine, beer. We won't confiscate it.

Speaker 4:37

Oh, you don't charge a co fee?

Speaker 2 4:39

You know, they might,

Speaker 4:40

they might charge a co fee fee, so

Speaker 2 4:41

I was

Speaker 4:41

But they won't take it away from you.

Speaker 2 4:43

Correct. We don't

4:43

wanna

Speaker 4:43

have a special, special with dinner. That's nice.

Speaker 2 4:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You bring it on. Mm-hmm. I've been on plenty where, you know, you're going through, like, I'm doing the ro.

Speaker 4:51

Right.

Speaker 2 4:51

All the port wine.

Speaker 4:52

Oh, yes.

Speaker 2 4:52

You know, and people are bringing it on. And maybe just bring your own opener and mm-hmm.

The Cabin Design Difference

Speaker 4:58

Call it a day. Right. Sit back, relax. Yeah. Now there's something unique about Avalon's cabins.

Speaker 2 5:04

Yes. We call it the view.

Speaker 5:06

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 5:07

So 80%, and this is a big difference with Avalon, some river cruise companies. To get to these larger cabins, you need to upgrade like all of these d. Levels, right. To get these mm-hmm. Large cabins. Mm-hmm. Not with us. 80% of our cabins are 200 square feet with the beds facing out,

Speaker 5:27

nice

Speaker 2 5:27

beds facing out. So you're facing the sliding glass door, which is 11 feet and seven feet of it open up.

Speaker 5:34

Right. So that's nice. It's not a typical balcony though, that people might think.

Speaker 2 5:39

Yeah. It's not like you can't go out onto a balcony. Right. We call it a French balcony.

Speaker 5:45

Right.

Speaker 2 5:45

But it's nice because there's not a balcony, so you have 200 square feet of complete living space.

Speaker 5:50

Right. And it, it opens completely.

Speaker 2 5:52

Yeah.

Speaker 5:53

So

Speaker 2 5:53

open air balcony as we call it.

Speaker 5:54

Yeah. So it's very nice. Yes. So that's a little bit different with Avalon.

Solo Deals With Waived Supplements

Speaker 2 5:57

It is

Speaker 5:58

now because we are talking solo travel.

Speaker 2 6:00

Yep.

Speaker 6:01

What does Avalon do for the solo traveler?

Speaker 2 6:03

We have waived single supplements on select sailing, select savings, select right, say that three times. Fast select Yes. Select sailing.

Speaker 3 6:12

And you know, we talk about solo travel a lot.

Speaker 4 6:15

Yes, yes.

Speaker 3 6:16

And solo travel with Avalon. How is that, how do they work that for the solo traveler?

Speaker 4 6:21

Yeah. So we don't have any single cabins, right? But we do waved single supplements,

Speaker 3 6:27

right?

Speaker 4 6:27

It is a huge savings. So what that means is we don't ding a single as a double

Speaker 3 6:33

Nice.

Speaker 4 6:33

So you just pay that one. Price.

Speaker 3 6:36

Right.

Speaker 4 6:36

Double occupancy.

Speaker 3 6:38

Right.

Speaker 4 6:38

And we have selected sailings that are waived single supplements.

Speaker 3 6:41

That's nice too. And again, contact your travel agent. They can talk with you and say, okay, do you have any waived single supplements? And is it based on sailings? Is it based on time of year or both?

Speaker 4 6:54

Both. Uh, both. So for 2026, we do have some dates. Not a lot, but we do have some.

Speaker 3 7:00

Right.

Speaker 4 7:00

But for 2027, we have. Quite a bit.

Speaker 3 7:03

Right.

Speaker 4 7:03

And the nice thing about this too is that you can take whichever cabin you want. You just can't take our royal suite because we only have two of those.

Speaker 3 7:12

Right.

Speaker 4 7:12

But you can take a lower category or you can take a panorama suite.

Speaker 3 7:15

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 7:16

Because sometimes companies, they'll either have single cabins that are really small.

Speaker 3 7:21

Right.

Dining Options For Solo Travelers

Speaker 4 7:21

Or you can only choose the lower category. Mm-hmm. So with us run of the ship, except for the royal suites.

Speaker 3 7:26

Now what about dining? When a single person gets on and they, you know, sometimes they don't wanna be alone, sometimes they wanna be alone.

Speaker 4 7:34

Yeah.

Speaker 3 7:34

How does, how does Valone work

Speaker 4 7:36

that? So we, we have open seating. Oh. So we don't have assigned seating. So you just sit where you wanna sit.

Speaker 3 7:41

Nice.

Speaker 4 7:42

But we do have room service. Oh. So if you, if you know you just wanna eat in your cabin, you can do that. Or we have, in the main lounge, we have a light lunch and a light dinner.

Speaker 3 7:52

Right.

Speaker 4 7:53

So if you just wanna grab something quick, you can do that If you don't wanna sit in the dining room for a little while. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. So it's, it's, it's easy. And then because we don't have assigned seating, you're, you're sitting with all these other people, right? So even if there are couples, they need to be sitting with other people too.

Speaker 3 8:12

Right.

Speaker 4 8:13

So they, they need to mix a mingle

Speaker 3 8:14

and you know, they need to mix a mingle. That makes it fun.

Speaker 4 8:17

Yes.

Speaker 3 8:17

That makes

Speaker 4 8:18

it fun. Yes, definitely.

Speaker 3 8:19

So you do, you do accommodate for that in some form or fashion?

Speaker 4 8:23

We do, and we have wave single supplements for the Mekong, Vietnam, Cambodia with the Mekong and Europe.

Speaker 3 8:29

Wow.

Speaker 4 8:30

Yeah.

Speaker 3 8:30

And you would think the me count.'cause it's a smaller amount of people.

Excursions River Sights And Nightlife

Speaker 4 8:33

Well, they won't have many cabins, but they do do it. And those cabins are 245 square feet. Wow. So we don't even have different categories on that.

Speaker 3 8:41

Wow.

Speaker 4 8:41

Yeah. Nice.

Speaker 3 8:43

Now how easy is it to navigate the ship?

Speaker 4 8:46

Oh yeah. I mean, there's only, you know, a few decks. You have your bottom deck, which. Wan, you know, Swan has your gym and your, your swan view. And then the next deck is the lounge with some cabins and then your next deck or cabins. And then the top is the top deck deck or the sun deck. So very easy to navigate. Very easy. It's, yeah. It's not like a big ship cruise where you need to look at the maps by the elevators.

Speaker 3 9:10

Now when you say you have excursions, at least one purport. At least one

Speaker 4 9:14

purport. Oh yeah. At least, yeah.

Speaker 3 9:16

And you do so many dockings.

Speaker 4 9:19

Yep.

Speaker 3 9:19

Per trip. And how is it to sail down the river? What is it like be I be, I know we've talked before, you said sometimes you'll, people like to leave and then meet the ship at another port. Yeah. And you just wanted to sail

Speaker 4 9:31

along. Yeah. You know, it's, it's nice just to cruise down the river and look at the castles. If you're doing the Rhine, right, it's beautiful up there. Look at all the little towns, or if you're going through like. Like in Portugal or the Melle, all the vineyards along the way. Mm-hmm. It's absolutely beautiful. And then some nights were docked at night, but then some nights were cruising at night just to get to the next place.

Speaker 3 9:55

Right.

Speaker 4 9:55

But what's pretty cool about cruising on. R Rivers in Europe are all the locks that you go through and just the engineering that it took to get you down the river.

Speaker 3 10:04

Down the river.

Speaker 4 10:05

I mean, some of them have 30 locks that you go through. Wow. After like a couple locks, you're like, ah, you know, we're going through another lock again. Another

Speaker 3 10:11

lock.

Speaker 4 10:11

But the engineering is pretty amazing.

Speaker 3 10:14

So you can sit on the top deck and watch how they do it. Yeah. Or you can go downstairs in the lounge. What goes on inside? Is there any kind of entertainment at night? What goes on? Yeah,

Speaker 4 10:25

so at night we have local entertainment. Mm-hmm. Or we have trivia night, or we have a dance contest, we have karaoke. So there's always something going

Use A Travel Advisor For Promos

Speaker 3 10:34

on. There's something going on at all times, so that makes it nice.

Speaker 4 10:37

Yeah.

Speaker 3 10:37

So again, we're saying definitely get insurance.

Speaker 4 10:41

Yes,

Speaker 3 10:42

definitely talk to your travel advisor.

Speaker 4 10:44

Yes, please.

Speaker 3 10:44

And let them know what rivers you wanna go on. Or sometimes they don't know the rivers, right? So they should tell their travel advisor, they wanna see Germany or they wanna see France, whatever they want. And then the travel advisor can say, well you need to be on this river.

Speaker 4 10:56

Right. And and another thing about travel advisors is they're all a part of these different consortias

Speaker 3 11:02

mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 11:02

With these added promotions.

Speaker 3 11:04

Right.

Speaker 4 11:05

So don't think when you call us directly that you're getting a better deal because you're not.

Speaker 3 11:09

Right. Yeah.

Speaker 4 11:09

So all these agencies have added benefits that can go on the booking,

Speaker 3 11:14

right? The travel advisor does know where, as I call it, know where the bodies are buried. Yes. And know what kind of deals or promotions are going on at that time.

Speaker 4 11:22

Yes.

Speaker 3 11:23

So they can. Yeah. Your price point that you're looking

Speaker 4 11:25

for. Yeah. And you have me and other BDMs for other companies that you contact. Mm-hmm. I have advisors call me all the time going, all right, I'm looking at this cruise. Is there a promo that I'm missing?

Speaker 3 11:36

Right.

Speaker 4 11:37

You know what, what, what else is out there?

Speaker 3 11:39

What else is out there?

Speaker 4 11:39

Yeah.

Seasonal Sailings And Christmas Markets

Speaker 3 11:40

Now do the ship sale at. Full, full years or there like cutoffs?

Speaker 4 11:45

Yeah. You know, they stay, they don't go in January, February. Okay, so March they start in your tulip time. Cruises, right? Idam, yeah. And then April, everything is pretty much full on.

Speaker 3 11:56

And I'm gonna say something crazy like Christmas markets.

Speaker 4 11:58

Oh gee, I, I think everybody was on a Christmas market this past Christmas. Yeah. So. A lot of the ships are operating November, December, but not all of them. Right. But we do the DanUp and the Rhine Christmas markets. Oh, and the new one that we added yesterday, you guys are hearing it for the first time, is festive time on the Duro.

Speaker 3 12:20

Oh, wow.

Speaker 4 12:20

Yeah. Yeah, so I guess Portugal has Christmas markets too.

Speaker 3 12:24

Wow.

Speaker 4 12:25

Yeah.

Speaker 3 12:25

Everybody's getting into the Christmas market mode.

Speaker 4 12:28

Yes. I actually did one with Globus

Speaker 3 12:30

mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 12:31

In uh, November, and absolutely loved it. I did Prague, Vienna, Budapest, and saw all the Christmas markets.

Speaker 3 12:37

Oh yeah, I'm sure.'cause that's like the hug.

Closing Advice And How To Book

Speaker 4 12:39

Yeah, it's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. It was nice.

Speaker 3 12:43

Well, Denise, I appreciate you coming and talking today. Thank you for having

Speaker 4 12:47

me.

Speaker 3 12:47

And any last words for the solo traveler?

Speaker 4 12:51

You know, definitely check out the Globus family brands in Avalon because we have some great promotions for you. Um, you know, we didn't even mention Cosmos and we have some deals on Cosmos too. So check with your travel advisor and see what promotions, you know, any of the companies out there have, but especially the Globes family and brand.

Speaker 3 13:09

Right. And like I said, I trust Globus because they took good care of my daughter when she was a teen. No,

Speaker 4 13:13

right. I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 13:16

Well, you have a great day and

Speaker 4 13:17

hope to see you

Speaker 3 13:17

on the rivers.

Speaker 4 13:18

Yes, thank you. I'll see you there.

Speaker 7 13:20

Well, you've been listening to my podcast. I'm z Michelson. It has been brought to you by ZM Max Travel Radio, which is a part of Collage Travel Media Network. I hope I'm inspiring you to take these episodes and to travel somewhere on your own and share it with someone who might be waiting to take their first solo trip. And if you're ready to plan your own journey, I would really love to help guide you there, and I am reminding you. You deserve the journey, especially the one you take on your own. So go boldly, go beautifully and don't wait. You don't have to travel alone. Remember travel solo, but not alone. Thanks for listening today. And of course you can always subscribe to my podcast. It's absolutely free. And like I always say, shoot for those stars. And if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on your next adventure.