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For us, a week long river cruise was part of the trip to do the Paris marathon in April every year. Until the last year, we went with a river cruise line that is now defunct. The last year (8 years ago) we went with Viking and the difference was night and day. The Viking "Paris" cruise didn't even dock in Paris, it was at some town down river. Rooms were comparable, the food wasn't as good, and the crew wasn't so friendly. They tolerated some really surly crew members, particularly the bartender. They tried to do a hamburger and fries lunch and totally blew it. Cold french fries - in France?
I've never heard of Avalon. I only have that other company to compare with , and I don't like Viking. The river cruise business was getting crowded 8 years ago and it's probably worse now. At some stops the boats were docked 3 deep. If you were last in line you had to walk across two other boats to get to shore. If you were first in line two boatloads of passengers were tromping across your boat to get to shore.
Get off the boat and eat at a local restaurant as often as you can.
Skip some of the organized excursions and go hang out in whatever town you are docked at.
Make sure you know when departure times are. Don't be caught out on the down when the boat leaves.
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