Why I nonetheless assume Avalon Waterways has the very best river cruise cabins

It is all concerning the view.

As I write this, I’m propped up in mattress on Avalon Waterways’ new Avalon Alegria, marveling on the gorgeous panorama passing by just some toes past my toes.

The 102-passenger river vessel is crusing up Portugal’s famously beautiful Douro River Valley, and I am being handled to an ever-moving scene of rolling hills, vineyards and centuries-old cities.

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It is a view I would not have if I had been lounging in mattress on most different river ships in Europe — at the least if I had my again to the headboard.

Not like on Avalon Alegria, the beds in cabins on most river ships in Europe face sideways to an inside wall. It is uncommon for cabins on river ships in Europe to be configured in order that the beds face the view.

It is somewhat factor that makes all of the distinction.

As I’ve written about a number of instances over time at different publications, Avalon Waterways has my favourite river cruise cabins in Europe, largely as a result of the beds are configured to face the view in most of them.

It is not simply the view-facing beds in Avalon cabins that win my adoration. It is the usage of an nearly full wall of glass alongside the view-side of many Avalon rooms to border the passing surroundings.

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Whereas not each cabin on Avalon vessels in Europe is configured this fashion, a big portion are. Avalon calls these view-facing cabins with partitions of glass Panorama Suites, and so they could make up roughly 80% of the cabins on lots of the line’s vessels.

It has been a key differentiator for Avalon because the cabins started rolling out in 2011. That was the 12 months Avalon unveiled its first Suite Ship, as the road calls vessels with such cabins. The road now operates 16 such vessels in Europe and Asia.

Glass partitions as an alternative of balconies

One of many massive variations between the Panorama Suites on Avalon’s Suite Ships and the cabins on the river ships of some rivals is that they do not have balconies. That permits your complete wall going through the skin to be became one massive glass panel.

On most Avalon ships, these glass panels measure an astounding 11 toes vast.

What’s extra, the glass wall can slide open sideways to create a seven-foot-wide opening for recent air. (Don’t fret; you will not fall out when it is open. There’s a secondary glass wall that rises up partway with a railing at its prime to create a security barrier.)

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As I’m seeing on Avalon Alegria and have seen when crusing many different Avalon vessels, the Panorama Suites usually have small seating areas subsequent to the partitions of glass. When the glass wall is slid open, you have got the sensation of being on a balcony regardless that it is not a balcony, as you may sit within the seating space on the fringe of the now-open wall.

An “open-air” balcony, as Avalon calls it.

It is the spotlight characteristic of a cabin kind that’s good in nearly each method. At 200 sq. toes, Panorama Suites are bigger than most traditional cabins on European river ships. They’re fashionable and trendy, too. They’ve comfortable beds and stylish, marble-lined loos.

Including balconies to cabins on river ships is not simple. The narrowness of the locks on European rivers signifies that river ships should be constructed to be very slim — too slim to have cabins which can be each spacious sufficient to be comfy and have balconies at their ends.

Nonetheless, many river traces design their river ships with balconies hooked up to cabins regardless of such limitations, as they imagine it is what prospects need. They do it by stealing area away from the inside elements of cabins.

The result’s usually cabins which have balconies however really feel tight on the within.

In designing its Panorama Suites on river ships with out balconies however with stellar views by way of partitions of glass, Avalon has bucked the development in river cruise cabin design — and in simply the suitable method.

Cabins with balconies are all the craze in cruising, in fact. And cruisers assume that is what they need. However while you’re river cruising, what actually issues is the view. You need to see the surroundings of the river financial institution because it rolls by. And, ideally, you need to see it from the consolation of your mattress.

On that rely, Avalon’s Panorama Suites, with their view-facing beds and partitions of glass, have delivered mightily since they first started debuting in 2011.

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