I recently enjoyed a 9 day cruise on the Avalon Poetry. The cruise was one of the most enjoyble vacations I have Taken. The cruise was a 9 day Tulip time cruise from Amsterdam to Amsterdam. The cruise visited Holland and Belgium.
The city tours were very good and the guides were excellent. We Normally had at least a hour and a half to explore the city on our own after the tour. We had city tours of Amsterdam,Antwerp,Ghent,Middleburg,and Rotterdam.
The entire staff of the Poetry were very professional and did a wonderfull job. I was really impressed with the kitchen and dinning room staff. The meals were very good.
My stateroom was on the bottom floor and was small but well designed. The bed was very comfortable.
The Poetry is a very nice ship. I enjoyed going up to the sun deck and watching the small towns and other river trafic pass us by.
I really en joyed this cruise and would higly recommend it to anyone. Avalon is a top notch company and provides excellent service.

I also took this same trip on the Poetry with a friend beginning April 16 but had a totally different experience. It was one of the more dreadful trips I have taken.

We booked the flight thru Globus and arrived in Amsterdam about 4:00pm and were greeted by a person to transfer us to the boat as promised. The problem was, no one told us that since we arrived so late in the day, we would see absolutely nothing of Amsterdam. The optional tours of the museums and Anne Franks house was only available to those who arrived early in the day. Had anyone told us that, we would have only agreed to a flight that got us in early. Remember, we did not pick the flight, Globus did. They should have know that although Amsterdam is listed as a city visited, those of us arriving late would not get to see a damn thing. It was very disappointing. So, 2 days of our trip was travel even though the itineary says "Day 2 Amsterdam."

Day 3 says a visit to Kinderdijk which is a "village" with 19 windmills. Sounds good, as you are suppose to be able to go inside a couple of the windmills that double as homes. But, we did not get there until almost 4:30 and everything was closed. We did get to walk down the path to the windmills, but had only 25 minutes!

Remembering this trip is called "The Tulip Time Cruise" a trip to the Keukenhof Gardens was included. It is described as: 70 acres of parkland with lakes, sculpture gardens, greenhouses and a windmill to explore. Millions of flower bulbs are grown here that present a spectacular display of blooms every year. [b]Problem was you only get 2 hours there. [/b]Not enough time to even scratch the surface.

The last night the Poetry docked in Amsterdam late in the day. No time to visit any of the Dutch Master museums or anything. We were docked 3 deep and to leave the ship we had to go up on the top deck of the Poetry and then go down stairs of the second ship, cross over to the ship nearest the dock to get off. For the price of this trip many, especially the older folks, did not expect to have to go up and down the stairs of 3 boats to get off ours. No one was there to assist anyone.

I will agree that the ship staff were very good. I did not care for the food, but the food and hotel staff work very hard. The ship is clean and our room was always clean and neat. Those people work a lot of hours. A couple of the nights there was a speaker after dinner, once about diamonds and one lectured on tulips. There was also a musical group on night. Other that this, there is absolutely nothing to do in the evenings. The lounge (bar area) is almost completely empty by 9:30 every night.

The local tours were fine and the guides knowledgable. The cruise director on the Poety was absolutely horrid and inept. You rarely saw her and she gave us next to nothing in information. One time when we left the Poetry by exiting thru another cruise line boat, we picked up one of their handouts and were very pleased at the information. It listed all the local attractions, museums etc, with hours of operation, cost, location and how to get to them. Our cruise director gave us a one page of info she obviously got off the internet by the "cut and paste" method that gave a brief history of the town, but no details. Her information on one towne was all about the nightlife of the towne. She obviously did not read the info she copied from the net as it was useless. We had 1.5 hours in that town in the morning! All the nightlife info was of no use to anyone on the Poetry.

I was amazed at the conversations aboard the Poetry about tipping. So many people, including us, tipped the staff very well, but not the cruise director. Numerous people mentioned they were not tipping her at all as they felt she didn't do anything. I really think Avalon Waterways needs to look at the satisfaction level of passengers in regard to this cruise director.

In closing, I do not think this cruise compares to others offered by Avalon. We previously had taken the Blue Danube cruise and loved it. The Tulip Time Cruise does not compare and the cost is not worth it.

I think it is deceiving to even list Amsterdam when, unless you add extra days, you see little or nothing of it. It is a shame to go all the way to Holland and miss the Rembrandts, Vermeers, Van Goghs and other Dutch Masters. Globus should do a better description of exactly what you get to experience so folks are not disappointed.

I would not recommend this trip and before we ever booked another trip on Globus, or Avalon Waterways, would check to see who the cruise director was.

Just my opinion!

Sorry, I posted the wrong date on the reply. We went on the 4/8/06 trip.