Avalon Waterways review

The product list for Avalon Waterways is cruise and nothing else. A quote from the site therefore covers the voyage itself, not a package with flights, hotels or transfers attached. Anyone planning a river trip still has to arrange the journey to the ship and the return trip separately.

The company is headquartered in the United States, so its booking conditions, cancellation rules and payments are set under that country's law. If you are booking from somewhere else, the sensible move is to read the conditions on the site against the protection you already have at home before a deposit goes out.

Avalon Waterways was founded in 2004 and still operates from US. A trading record that long matters on a trip paid for months ahead and sailed once, since the same operator handles a cabin change, an upgrade or a late cancellation rather than a broker passing the booking along.

Emirates lists flights, hotels and tours, which covers the flight, hotel, transfer and parking end of a journey. Avalon Waterways lists cruise, so a river voyage booked with one of the two leaves the rest of the trip on a different site. Most travellers need both halves somewhere.

Not with Avalon Waterways, whose products are cruise. Intrepid Travel lists packages, tours and cruise and Čedok lists flights, packages and tours, so either can carry rail or flights next to a cruise. With Avalon Waterways those add-ons sit on a separate booking with separate terms.

The site puts Avalon Waterways at 8.6 overall, splitting that into 8.5 for the offer and 8.9 for trust. The offer side matches a product list of cruise that needs no unpicking, and the trust side sits with a company founded in 2004.

The page lists 3 alternatives next to Avalon Waterways, and each sells more than cruise. Emirates covers flights, hotels and tours, Intrepid Travel covers packages, tours and cruise and Čedok covers flights, packages and tours, so the choice comes down to whether you want a cruise specialist or a wider basket.

Intrepid Travel is the nearest fit, with packages, tours and cruise keeping cruise in a list that also covers rail and flights. Čedok is similar, with flights, packages and tours. Emirates sits further from a river trip, since flights, hotels and tours carries no cruise line at all.

This site's ferries and cruises category puts booking fees side by side across 68 brands. Avalon Waterways sells cruise, so the fare for the sailing is the only line to model, and there is no transfer or parking add-on to budget for on the same booking.