Two more Suite Ships coming
Avalon Waterways will launch two additional Suite Ship class
of vessels in 2016 — the 128-passenger Avalon Imagery II, and the 166-passenger
Avalon Passion. The Avalon Imagery II will sail the Rhine River and the
Avalon Passion will sail the Upper and Lower Danube River.
The company next year will retire the 138-passenger Avalon
Scenery, a vessel that launched in 2008 and most
recently sailed in the south of France. It will reposition the
138-passenger Avalon Affinity, built in 2009, from the Rhine to France’s Rhone
and Saone rivers.
With the two new vessels and the one vessel being retired,
Avalon will have 16 ships in its European fleet in 2016.
In the endless push for new river cruise itineraries in Europe, Avalon
Waterways’ latest expansion is to Belgium’s Meuse River, on which it will sail nine-day voyages in 2016.
While most river cruise lines sail from Amsterdam to
Maastricht in the Netherlands, weaving between Belgium and Holland along the
two countries’ vast network of canals and rivers, Avalon has decided to offer a
sailing that goes a bit further south of Maastricht, along the Meuse to the Belgian city of Namur.
In addition to responding to demand for Belgium, the new
itinerary allows Avalon to get away from bustling Amsterdam and offer
flights into and out of Brussels.
“Amsterdam in March and April, it’s a busy place. This is a
way to offer some alternatives to that demand … and a new river,” Avalon’s
managing director Patrick Clark said during a press briefing in France onboard
the new 128-passenger Avalon Tapestry II. “Right now, that sailing
on the Meuse, we are the only ones doing it.”
The 138-passenger Avalon Luminary and 128-passenger Avalon Artistry II will sail the "Enchanting
Belgium" itinerary, which will have four departures in April 2016. Prices start at
$2,699 per person, based on double occupancy.
The company has also added the eight-day "Essential Holland
& Belgium" from Amsterdam to Vilvoorde, Belgium, in the southbound
direction, and from Brussels to Amsterdam in the northbound direction.