Ahoy cruisers!
Welcome to Germany and on our first ever river cruise.
[David] Join us on our epic journey as we sail toward to Amsterdam.
We'll be conquering our fears
and visiting some of the most stunning places we've seen.
Wooh! Oh my gosh!
This is not just any coco butter.
This is Lindt chocolate coco butter.
[Ben] From medieval castles.
To letting our inner Van Gogh.
This is so much fun isn't it. I'm loving it.
And beautiful houses to stunning live entertainment.
The door has closed behind us.
There is no going back now.
[Ben] Our adventure starts here.
This is my favorite bit about cruising is the first time board the ship.
Is it your favorite bit? Let us know.
[Ben] Well it's mine!
[David] I'm so excited to get onboard. [Ben] Come on David hurry up!
[Ben] Let's not waste an y time. [David] Ben is go eager.
Let's get onboard. I can't wait to see what the ship is going to be like.
Come on!
[Ben] Let's go! Let's Go!
[Ben] Oh my gosh guys. I've got proper butterflies
[Ben] I got the butterflies!
Avalon Panorama. Here we come!
7 nights from Mainz in Germany.
All the way to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
[B] To the Dam!
This is gonna be home for the next seven days.
[B] This is so weird!
[B] This is not for normal. [D] It's tiny!
[B] It's just not the normal way is it. You just walk straight on!
[D] It's tiny compared to a cruise ship.
[D] There is no security or anything.
[B] Yeah there's no security. No lines.
[B] You can walk on and off when you want.
[B] This is great!
I wonder if this is is what it feels like to have a private yacht.
Just hop on and hop off.
[B] I think thats our room there.
[B] I know we are second from the front.
These are so lovely and they're so close to the water as well.
The balcony rooms.
I'm so excited.
First-ever river cruise for both of us.
So we're gonna experience it with you.
[B] Haway man David let's go.
There is a bit of motion. I think we best get onboard.
[Claps]
[B] Oh my god guys this is it!
[B] Look! The stars.
[B] and we're on board.
Let's go
[D] NWelcome aboard the Avalon Panorama.
She's our home for the next week.
She's a all suite ship with just 83 cabins.
Inside she's elegant and contemporary.
She's the perfect base to take in these incredible views.
Let's have a look at our room. Oh my gosh.
[B] How awesome is this. [D] Its Amazing!
[Gasps]
[Claps] Look at this room guys.
This is so cool.
Shall we do a bed test?
[B] Do a bed test.
[Laughs]
[B] So we have 2 singles. Obviously we're gonna get made into a double.
[B] But that's fine. The room steward will do that for you.
He might have to do it while I'm lying here.
[D] So does this open?
[B] Yeah ofcourse it does. It's gigantic.
It's like seven foot tall and the 11 foot wide.
How to open a window with David.
[B] Oh hi guys!
[B] Hello over there.
[B] How are you doing today?
[B] It's gorgeous isn't it guys.
[B] It's huge.
This is incredible.
Oh wow!
[B] [sings] Let there be light.
[B] That's crazy.
That is so cool.
[B] Oh my gosh guys. Look at this.
[B] You have got a gigantic view.
[B] That is freaking - look at the size of that!
[B] It's huge.
[B] Look at David's the scale. He is a human being.
[B] Thats crazy. It's so big.
[D] Oh my gosh.
[B] What is it like?
[D] it looks like something from like - [B] Giz a look. I'm really scared.
[D] that Hotel in Dubai. It's amazing.
This is one of the biggest bathrooms I have seen on a ship.
Is it re- [Ben gasps]
[In Yorkshire accent] Ey' ey'...
[Knocks]
Real marble.
[B] Ooh! The shower is huge.
I can fit me in it!
You can get another person in it.
We can have a shower party.
[B] Oh look at all the products as well. It's all L'Occitane.
[D] Oh this is lovely. [B] Proper nice isn't it.
This is really nice.
[B] This is such a treat. Agh! The door keeps suitting.
Cheers!
[B] Cheers David.
[B] How amazing is this.
[B] Are we the luckiest people in the world or what?
This is incredible.
[B] Wow.
[B] It's huge. It is a by far the biggest cabin I have ever had.
Yeah it's really big.
[B] It's mashoof. Oh it's amazing.
And I love the windows.
I like the fact that it just opens up the space.
Do you know what I mean?
Like you can be sat laid on your bed and watch the world go by.
Look I can see people getting on board.
They are all getting excited. Hi. Hello. Everyone's so friendly.
It's really lovely.
Everyone's really chatty. Everyone said hello to us.
People are talking to each other as well.
[B] We start our cruise in the city of Mainz.
Just a short journey fromFrankfurt.
The historical city of Coronation and largest financial center on the continent.
The thing I like about a river cruise so far is how relaxed it is.
We got on, we checked in but the room wasn't ready.
So we left our stuff with reception and then just walked off.
There's no security checks. There's no passport control.
It's so lovely.
We're now walking into the center of Mainz.
Isn't it just so pretty.
Look at all of the trees and the greenery.
It's such a nice day as well.
It's about 28 degrees celsius.
Which is sort of mid eighties Fahrenheit.
So it's such a perfect weather.
It's lovely to walk around in.
It's not cold and it's not too hot.
But yeah it's such a beautiful place so far.
Let's head into the centre.
[B] So guys.
I'm not sure what you think about that name.
I'm not saying anything.
It's an ice cream shop.
Nothing more.
Everyone's eating and drinking.
There is lots of people walking around with glasses of wine and things.
I fancy a glass of wine do you?
[B] People are having a really nice time by looks of it.
[B] It's a Saturday here guys. So that's probably why it's so busy.
[B] Its right in the summer on Saturday's.
Right in the central square you've got the the main church.
and also the Gutenberg Museum.
Which is one of the top things to do in the town.
[B] Awesome.
[B] This is Mainz Market.
It happens three times a week and it's one of the oldest market in Germany.
You've got fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers, wine, beer, ciders.
Loads of different foods. Loads of sausages obviously.
So you have Frankfurters, bratwurst.
It's really cool.
It's really buzzing.
I'm not sure what other days it happens.
But it's definitely happening today which is a Saturday.
Some of those popular things seem to be wine and strawberries.
I think it's a strawberry season at the moment because everybody's walking them with.
Boxes piled full of strawberries.
It's only 2.50 50 for a box so it's not too bad really.
And then everyone's seems to be enjoying the wine as well.
[B] I know a lot of people are on the wine.
[B] You've got watch out for the bikes because they are blooming lethal.
So what a gorgeous square as well with the fairytale architecture.
[D] It's really - sort of - its proper what your imagine Germany to be like.
[B] It's very fairytale.
So this is a local wine that have grown around here in the vine yards.
[B] How awesome.
So, Got a Riesling.
[B] How much is that? Yeah that's really nice.
[B] That's the German wine main wine.
€5.50
[B] That's good. Why don't we get a bottle?
Yeah, I may do.
Let's get a bottle and take it back to ship with us.
[B] That one looks really nice the one you had.
This one. The Riesling?
Yeah, let's try that one.
I've just bought myself a bottle of the local Riesling wine.
It was only six euros. Well five fifty plus the tax.
So we can enjoy this back on the ship, in our cabin or maybe at dinner.
I just want to try something from the local vineyards.
For six hours you really can't go wrong.
So these strawberries are absolutely delicious.
So I think we're gonna get some to try and share between us.
I am going pick this one.
Yes. I think 2.50 for a punnet. Not too bad.
They're in season and they're from their farms around us at the moment.
Lets buy these.
So these are in season at the moment they were everywhere in the market.
We kept seeing people eat them so we thought we would get some.
Oh gosh guys this feels a bit posh doesn't it.
It's lovely.
They are delicious. Oh I feel like a king or two queens.
This is so nice.
We've had such a lovely day and don't forget guys you can follow our our adventure on Instagram.
Its Instagram.com/CruiseWith
We're posting photos and Instagram stories all the time.
Right let's get backing in feel I am burning. Its boiling isn't it.
Let's get back on that beautiful ship.
Once back we get ready for our first dinner onboard Avalon Pannorama.
Pause now if you'd like to take a good look at the menu.
Tonight we're here in the dining room for our first dinner of the evening.
The menu looks absolutely delicious.
So used have your appetizer, your main course and dessert.
At dinner l the wines that are in the menu are all included.
Which is a great.
There's a choice of three wines.
[B] The bread is so yummy There is three different types of bread.
You've have a Pesto butter. We've got normal olive oil with balsamic vinegar
and then it's sort of like a lemon -
This one tasted like an Indian butter.
It was really, really delicious.
[B] So what's really nice about this is you just pour everything yourself.
So you've got the balsamic.
You've also got a massive pot of water over there.
So you don't have to wait to be refilled.
I think they knew I was coming because I go though water like no tomorrow.
[B] Every tables got it so. I think that's really good how you can serve yourself.
There is no formal "You have to sit here"
Just pick a table you like. Have a seat.
The Waiter is a really friendly.
[B] They are all super friendly.
They are on first-name basis . So it's really relaxed.
[B] I there's only about 150 people on.
I think we're gonna get to know people maybe after a week.
I already know all our servers our waiters already.
Yeah really surprised because I thought it's gonna be quite a formal experience.
But really relaxing.
[D] This is the chard salad with blue cheese and a vinaigrette.
[B] How is it?
It's really summary.
It's really refreshing
[B] I have had my starter I had the poached pear in a red wine reduction sauce.
It was really nice it actually tastes a little bit like mulled wine.
So those like cinnamon flavors in there there was mint and grapes.
It's really tasty, really refreshing.
David salad looked really good as well.
Cheers guys.
Wow dinner was absolutely spectacular
and the local wines were really good to.
So we're back in the room now and it is lovely.
We've got our beautiful double bed which our lovely room steward set up for us.
It's gorgeous isn't it.
Look at that view outside.
I love these windows.
I could stay here all day and all evening just people watching.
Enjoying the nice sunset with a breeze.
Our room steward is absolutely lovely.
Yeah she said if there's anything you want let them know
and I said can we have two extra pillows?
and she got them there and then.
[B] It's great guys, look at this our bed is facing the outside.
So when we are sailing you can just sit here and watch the world go by.
Gorgeous sunset.
Don't think this is really cute when they do the turn down on an evening.
They put a little romantic fire on the TV.
[B] I know I love it.
[B] It's like the Netflix fire.
It's the Netflix fire.
Oh that bed looks awfully appetizing right now.
[B] Lovely big cabin guys really pleased with it.
Yeah, loving it. Really good.
[B] Very impressed so far are you David?
I am!
We are going to have a wander down to the back of the ship
to get ourselves a cup of tea or a cup of hot chocolate.
[B] Hot chocolate mmmmm.
Have a look around.
So we're in room 301.
It's actually a really nice position because it's really close to the lounge and the restaurant
and at the end here, you'll see, we're going to is the aft of the ship.
It's a lounge with a coffee machine that's open 24 hours a day.
But, to be fair, wherever you are on the ship it's so small that you can get everywhere within a couple of seconds.
So let's go down.
We have literally comes steps away from our room to the aft of the ship.
Or the boat?
[B] Nice little media corner isn't there.
Really cute it's like a little library.
There's games
and there's a tea, coffee, ice, juices and water that are available 24 hours a day.
You've got this lovely seating area.
Which especially right now at sunset is gorgeous.
Can you see the bridge out there?
It's beautiful.
Sunset is absolutely beautiful tonight.
Lots of people are up on deck enjoying the sunset
and I don't blame them.
It is a really really pretty time of the evening.
There's lots of activity going on on around.
People on the dock and there's there's a bar over there we have been recommended for a good gin and tonic.
[B] I think it was called the beach bar
That's it for day one here on the beautiful Avalon Panorama.
We've just had our dinner in the main dining room.
It's our first dinner on board and it was absolutely delicious.
I was really surprised with how relaxed and it was.
But oh boy that food was really good.
I think it was like speciality level on other cruise ship.
So overall it was just a fantastic experience.
But what a jam-packed day it has been today Ben.
It's been amazing.
We have to say about the passengers onboard.
It's a much younger crowd than we thought we were going to see.
Lots of people in there 20s, 30s and 40s all the way up to 50s and 60s.
So it's a real diverse crowd.
Especially with the Active Program that Avalon now have.
In all of the ports there's some active options.
So you've got jogging, hiking, running, will be cycling in Amsterdam.
We are going for hike tomorrow in the forest.
We're really looking forward to that.
I guess that attracts people and have also got an adventure coach.
Who does yoga, sports and stuff through the day.
So there's a lot to do.
You don't have to stationary these.
You're right in the city so there's so much to do and see.
There be lots of walking.
Tomorrow sounds amazing I mean we're going to be here in the morning.
We're going for a nice hike coming back for lunch.
While we sail somewhere else.
Then we're going to go and do something else in that port.
Come back for dinner, then go to another port where we're going to go to a castle
where they're going to host a reception.
For the whole ship.
It's gonna be another jam-packed day tomorrow.
That's something else as well I think I didn't realize.
I thought it was just literally gonna be sort of like sitting and watching the world go by.
You can do that if you want to.
You can stay on board.
They said if you want to lie in don't feel like you have to come out
and do any of these excursions.
They will not call you they'll just let you lie in or whatever you want to do so that's really nice.
But we want to get a good night's sleep so we can enjoy the most of the day.
Yes we'll see you in the morning.
If you enjoyed this series of vlogs please consider supporting us on Patreon.
There's loads of awesome rewards like early access to our videos.
Join us next time when we go hiking in the beautiful vineyards we also take a trip on a cable car
then visit the beautiful castle in the mountaintops.
Don't forget to subscribe until next time.
Happy cruising.