The art of river cruising with Avalon

It breaks on the fifth swing. And everybody starts clapping and cheering.

The godmother of the ship, Marilen Sandejas Yaptangco — the first Asian and the first Filipino for an Avalon Waterways ship  — lets out a sigh of relief along with the crowd of photographers, guests and locals in the cold afternoon wind of Middleburg, the capital of Zeeland province in the Netherlands.

Bubbly from the bottle of Moet & Chandon runs down the bow of the ship, now officially named Artistry II, and onto the Scheldt River. The ship had made its way from the Port of Antwerp in Belgium, to Middleburg for this ceremony with the godmother and her family — husband Alex Yaptangco and children Miggy and Rafa — Avalon executives, media and travel industry guests.

Looking beautiful with her hair on one side and wearing a dress by Nono Palmos, Marilen wishes her “godchild” many safe journeys on these storied rivers.

 â€œI christen this ship Avalon Artistry II. May all who sail on these rivers in this beautiful vessel enjoy their voyage and take home with them the joy and friendship of a shared journey. May her captain, her crew and her passengers be kept safe in their travels and may she enjoy clear skies and calm waters,” Marilen says.

Two days after her christening, Artistry II, named after the very first ship of Avalon Waterways, begins her journeys on the beautiful rivers of Europe starting with the company’s No. 1 itinerary, “Romantic Rhine,” a river cruise that starts from Amsterdam and ends in Basel.

“The christening tradition is 4,000 years old, going back to the Vikings and it was a pagan ceremony,” says Avalon managing director J. Patrick Clark Jr. during the earlier press conference. “There was bloodletting and a high priest saying incantations to please the gods. ”

Later, they used holy water and then wine.  “The ship owners would fill golden goblets with wine and throw them over the ship and the spectators would dive into the waters to retrieve them,” he continues. “In the early 1800s, the British christened ships by choosing a male member of the royal family.”

Patrick says it was King George who first chose a woman to christen a ship. “But the lady didn’t have a very good aim and the bottle hit a spectator…who sued the royal family.”

These days, the champagne bottle is tied at an angle and then swung toward the ship for easy breakage.  Patrick jokes, “We thought, should we go back and reintroduce older tradition? But then bloodletting might not be a great idea, so we have agreed to keep it simple.”

Baron Travel president Marilen Yaptangco admits that she was surprised when she was chosen to become godmother of Artistry II, a piece of news she received over dinner in Sydney in August 2012.

“I thought they were kidding me,” Marilen says of top Globus executives who handle the brand for Australasia, Ray Smith and Stewart Williams.

“They were teasing me, saying, ‘How would you like to be on another Avalon ship?’ The year before I was on the inaugural cruise of Panorama in Frankfurt, so I said, sure,  just let me know when. They said, ‘How would you like to have another role? Would you give us the honor and pleasure of having you as godmother?’ I said, ‘You’re kidding, right?’”

No, of course, they weren’t kidding. Because eight months later, in April, Marilen found herself walking towards Artistry II in Antwerp and feeling a swell of pride as she saw the Philippine flag waving in the air, flanked by the Belgian and Avalon Waterways flags.

Marilen couldn’t have been paired with a better ship either. Artistry II is the most modern — both in technology and design — in Avalon’s fleet of 12 ships (average age of ship: two years). “We have the youngest fleet in the industry,” says Patrick. “We like to retire them young because we want to have brand-new vessels  when new engineering and new tastes come along.”

Avalon Waterways belongs to the Globus Family of Brands, which has been in the touring business for 85 years, along with Cosmos and Monograms.

Marilen says, “Globus Family of Brands has been with Baron Travel for 25 to 30 years since my father’s time. Globus acquired Avalon 10 years ago and began building its fleet. It wasn’t only until four years ago that we introduced it.”

That was also the time when Avalon entered the Australian-Asian market with Circuit Travel in Sydney.  “We’ve come a long way,” says Ray Smith, Globus GSA manager, who is overseeing business development in Australasia. “When we opened our office, we were told there was no market for river cruising in Asia.”

Asia, in fact, has been seeing fantastic numbers for Avalon with 250 to 300 percent growth in the past two years.

‘In Bruges’

There is a town in Belgium that I have always wanted to see. Well, not always — only for five years actually, after I saw the movie about two Irish hit men (Ray and Ken) trying to lie low after Ray shoots a priest— so they hide out in Bruges.

It is a funny, dark comedy with snappy, offensive dialogue. It also has lots of swearing. The word “f*ck” or its derivative is uttered 126 times — and it’s only a 107-minute movie!

Ken: Coming up?

Ray: What’s up there?

Ken: The view.

Ray: The view of what? The view of down here? I can see that down here.

Ken: Ray, you are about the worst tourist in the whole world.

Ray: Ken, I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn’t, so it doesn’t.

In real life, Bruges is breathtaking.

On a Friday, our touring group  —travel and media people from Asia, South Africa and Canada invited by Avalon to experience river cruising with landexcursions in some of the prettiest and oldest towns along the way— rounds up a corner and there I see the bell tower.

“Is that where…?” I ask the local guide, Marc van der Weed, excitedly.

“Yes,” he says. Later he would say that most people who go to Bruges know the movie or at least about 10 people on the coach would know it. “It’s a little strange that only you seem to be asking about it in this group,” he says.

Walking around Bruges is like walking back in time — 500 years ago, in fact, when women were thrown in the asylum for being actually crazy and for just being a tad eccentric.

Bruges is a fortress built by Baldwin, the Count of Flanders, in the 9th century and one — like the rest of Belgium — that is mighty proud of its local beers. You can even take a guided tour at a small brewery and find a bar that has more than a hundred kinds of beer.

Renaissance architecture, cobblestone streets, horse carriages, cafés, delicate lace made from locally grown flax or silk are some of the attractions of Bruges. But it is perhaps on its canals that you get to see most of this Flanders town in just half an hour — ancient houses now owned by the present-day rich, a hospital turned into a university, foot bridges, monasteries, churches and swans gliding alongside your small canal boat.

Bruges also has several museums dedicated to what Belgians love best: a museum for fries, another for diamonds, one for beer, and yes, one for chocolate.

Antwerp

In the historical center of Antwerp, our tour guide asks, “Do you know any famous Belgian products of people?”

Friends say, “Chocolates! Mussels! Diamonds! Waffles! Fries!” 

At the back of the group, I yell, “Hercule Poirot!”

He is a fictional detective, yes, but he is a famous Belgian, even more famous for correcting people that he is Belgian and, non, not French.

The local guide explains that when you say you “are as famous as a Belgian,” it actually means you are not famous at all.

What’s to see in Antwerp? The diamond stores, which are located about 20 minutes from the historical center, the Antwerp Central Train Station (even if you are not going on the train, people say it is worth a peep), the guild houses surrounding the market square, Rubenhuis (the house of painter Peter Paul Rubens, now a museum).

Taking its name from “aan de werpe,” which means “at the throw,” in Dutch, referring to where the river throws its sand,” Antwerp took over the diamond trade after Bruges declined. It was also once one of the most important financial centers in the world but its own decline signaled the beginning of the golden age of the Netherlands.

Today, Antwerp is Belgium’s second largest city, next only to Brussels,  and has attracted many Flemish and foreign artists, writers and young people. It also has one of the world’s largest ports.

Keukenhof

April is tulip season in Holland — or at least it is supposed to be.  This winter has been very long, which means a late spring. The tulips are abloom but shyly so.

Still, Keukenhof Flower Park welcomes visitors from around the world wanting to see its seven million bulbs as it does every year from March to May. Set on 70 acres with lakes, fountains, a windmill, formal gardens and greenhouses with 700 varieties of tulips, Keukenhof is the centerpiece garden of a country that is passionate about tulips.

As huge as the park is, our local Dutch guide Ewald Bogers  says there are only 25 full-time gardeners in Keukenhof. In the eight weeks or so that the park is open, it welcomes about 800,000 visitors who spend 350 euros on hotels, food, merchandise, parks and pretty much liven up the local economy. 

The tulip numbers for the entire Netherlands are staggering: 3.5 billion bulbs exported every year and 45 million are auctioned every day. By the way, a Dutch auction is different — it starts with the auctioneer asking for the highest price, until the price is lowered and a bidder is willing to accept the price. 

Cruising in style

We all know the expression “the journey is the destination,” but in Avalon’s case, both journey and destination are things to experience.

Avalon provides interesting (and inclusive) land tours with mostly two choices  — one can choose between, say, Bruges and Ghent, or the Kinderdijk Windmills and Keukenhof Flower Exhibition.

But on the way there, oh they will truly pamper you. The suites, staterooms and restaurants are all well appointed.

The design of the bedrooms is somewhat innovative — a Panorama Suite, measuring 200 sq.ft. or 18.5 sqm., is not cramped at all. Square-shaped — as opposed to rectangular like for most ocean liners — the suites’ beds face the French windows which open up to seven feet wide. The wall between the bathroom and bedroom is angled, which gives more space for the shower stall and allows the bed to face the windows and give enough space for a sofa, an occasional chair and a coffee table.

No small detail is overlooked in terms of amenities either: Comfort Collection beds are covered in Egyptian cotton linens, and the toiletries are L’Occitane.

Artistry II has a main dining room, where the meals are paired with wines; the Panorama Lounge with the bar (and a dance floor, of course) and club chairs perfect for drinks and a light tapas-style dinner; and the Club Lounge, for 24-hour coffee, fruits and cookies. After a sumptuous dinner or an enriching tour, the Filipino group usually gathers at the Club Lounge for coffee or drinks at the Panorama Lounge.

 Artistry II feels like a five-star hotel — your bedroom is never too far, no long and winding corridors to get lost in — and after a few days, the passengers will truly have made friends for life.

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For more information on Avalon Waterways’ river cruising, contact your preferred travel agency or Baron Travel Corporation, General Sales Agent in the Philippines of the Globus Family of Brands ( Globus and Cosmos Motorcoach Tours, and Avalon Waterways), at 817-4926 or e-mail ftd@barontravel.com.ph, btcftd@barontravel.com.ph. You can also log on to www.avalonwaterways.com.