Well, I can honestly say that overall we had a good time, but that was because of the sights we saw and the people we met, and not because of Scenic, who did not, in our opinion, provide value for what we paid for the holiday.
We started the cruise on Scenic Jade and had to transfer to Scenic Jewel because of the low water situation. Scenic handled the transfer of ships very well and with as little inconvenience to us as possible. The cruise itself was from Amsterdam to Budapest, and the scenery and the journey itself were really beautiful, with highlights like the Rhine Gorge, which I think we were lucky to see before the water levels dropped even lower.
We knew before we went that our mobility would limit us from some of the extensive walking excursions but, having read the Scenic advice that we needed to be able to climb stairs from ship to ship, that hadn’t indicated that some of the ports required a very lengthy walk to the coach or that parking for some of the excursions again meant a long walk from the parking area to the destination.
In addition, even where there was a coach portion of the excursion, no consideration was given to anyone who could do that part but not the one- or one-and-a-half-hour walking tour that came with it. Considering that Scenic cater mainly for an older clientele, I find this incredible, and there seemed little consideration for anyone who was not fully mobile, to the extent that there were days when 10% plus of the passengers stayed on board as they felt they couldn’t cope with the tours. Surely there could be more consideration and some places where there could have been better options.
Scenic themselves, in their brochure, say, “Whichever pace you prefer, Scenic Freechoice offers a diverse range of sightseeing… enable you to indulge your interests and tailor your days to your preferences” – obviously not if you are not quite that fit.
On some of the tours there was little time to see everything suggested – e.g. at Rüdesheim, it was suggested on board that after Siegfried’s Musikkabinett Museum (an absolutely fascinating place and some wonderful instruments we wouldn’t have missed), we might like to take the cable car up to the Niederwald Monument, but there was so little time before we had to get the little train back to the ship that it wasn’t possible. There were other places as well where it wasn’t possible to see areas in depth.
We would have liked to have taken the tour to Salzburg but felt there would be far too much walking for us, so we asked if we could be dropped off so we could see things for ourselves and not hold others up (this was important to us, as it would be unfair to those more able than us) and be picked up again later, but this wasn’t deemed possible, so we had another day on the ship.
There were two days at Vienna, and we asked on the second day if we could be dropped off somewhere rather than take a walking tour, but that wasn’t offered, so we went to Schönbrunn Palace. Here, the walk from the car park to the gates told us we couldn’t manage the palace tour. We were able to take our time and have a coffee, and there is a little train that goes all around the gardens, which was well worthwhile.
We were unable to continue to Budapest because of the low water, so docked at Komarno – normally a one-and-a-half-hour drive to Budapest, but roadworks meant it was over two and a half hours. At least we still got to Budapest and the sights of this lovely city. The cruise was worth it for the places visited and the scenery on the way.
The Scenic ships are lovely, and we had a suite on the Diamond Deck, which was fine and well equipped. I wouldn’t want to be lower down, but the views from the balcony when sailing were fantastic. A few times when docked, we had other ships on one side of us, but this wasn’t a problem.
The cruise director, Graham, was a great help and performed his duties well within what he could offer. He gave us advice on what was and wasn’t suitable for us, walking-wise, and we really appreciated his honesty.
Unfortunately, we had two flights home cancelled by KLM, and the initial reaction on board was, “You will have to sort it out – it isn’t our problem.” This was from a company who encourage you to book everything with them to “ensure getting to your destination, and travelling home, is a stress-free pleasure”.
In fairness, once it was realised that there were several of us with the same problem, Graham did all he could to arrange an alternative flight. Alas, this didn’t leave any time to transfer at the interim airport, so it needed an overnight stay at the Marriott in Budapest, which was to be arranged at our expense.
When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered that the taxi to take us to the airport the next day hadn’t been arranged, but we got that sorted. Then the flight was cancelled again, and some of the other travellers tried, unsuccessfully, to contact Scenic but were not able to get anyone. Fortunately, the Marriott staff there were superb and helped us sort out a few final details, far beyond what they should have had to do. The evening meal we had there and breakfast were both far superior to anything we had with Scenic.
Scenic make a big deal over their “It’s more than fine dining. It’s a complete epicurean experience”, but in reality the food was not one of the highlights and at times was decidedly average. It was certainly not world-class at any stage.
The breakfast buffet was OK, but things like the scrambled eggs were warm rather than at a decent temperature, and the quality of some of the items wasn’t great. The informal lunches were fine and what one would expect at that level. The main evening meals were, alas, not that good. I was happy that they tried to reflect local regions, but when you serve items like dry, unappetising Wiener Schnitzel, as just one example, and poor-quality goulash, then they are not reflecting the cuisines in a good way. You just had to see plates going back with food left because it wasn’t that good to know that they were not getting it all right.
The Italian meal at Portobello’s was the best offering by far and very enjoyable. The Table La Rive experience just didn’t live up to the advertising and was not world-class by any stretch of the imagination. Out of our table of eight, we know that six were very disappointed with the evening and the quality of the food, despite the enthusiasm of the crew members. The wines may be described as “remarkable” – so remarkable that a couple were just not that drinkable and were left by the diners.
Certainly, praise is due to the crew on both ships for their enthusiasm, friendliness and service, all of which were of the highest standard. Many went out of their way to be helpful, from reception to dining and bar and suite attendants, all of which made the journey enjoyable, if not the best.
On-board entertainment by visiting artistes was very good, and it would have been good to have had some more and varied entertainment, but that couldn’t be expected when the docking situation, etc., was changing almost daily, so well done for arranging what we had.
In many ways, we were lucky with our timing, as the river situation, which can’t be helped and which Scenic did their best to counter with alternative docking arrangements and bus journeys, has got a lot worse since our cruise. I certainly wouldn’t choose to travel if there had been any more bus transfers. The main reason for a river cruise is the wonderful scenery on the way, and without that it wouldn’t be the same.
It was an interesting experience. Would I take another river cruise? Probably not. Would I ever go with Scenic again? Definitely not. The hype and promise in the brochure are far from the reality that we had, and the resulting cruise was not good value for what we paid.
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