Jump to content

The MS Royal Crown - what is happening?


notamermaid
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello,

 

I am puzzled by this ship and its cruises. Renamed and declared a luxury cruise ship, cruisecritic has a review but it is not clear when this was written. As a luxury cruise ship should it not be doing Christmas markets and festive cruises, one might wonder? Yes it should and was supposed too:

 

According to an internet booking agent it is chartered to do short Christmas market trips along the Rhine, but has not left its current dock for weeks (according to marinetraffic). The charter company ewaterways does not list any cruises on board the Royal Crown, though.

 

The vessel had been sold to a Dutch company which I believe went bankrupt in 2011, the ship is registered in Hamburg.

 

The Royal Crown did sail in Summer, having also been affected by the flooding in June.

 

I would have been interested in such a Christmas market tour.

 

Its sister ship the River Cloud II wiil be sailing the Danube next year and is doing fine.

 

Anybody know anything about this?

 

Thank you.

 

notamermaid

Edited by notamermaid
Clarification
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I rode MS Royal Crown in October this year and the trip from Regensburg to Budapest was terminated mid way due to a failure in charter contracting. Of course there were explanations abound, but my more simple remembrance is that the owner seized the boat, the charter company(s) removed the passengers, and the boat headed back upstream. The MS Royal Crown was appointed for luxury cruising, albeit the material condition was deteriorated noticeably. I would have been surprised if the MS Royal Crown had been able to service cruises immediately following this failure and it appears from your investigating, that this vessel has yet to regain its status as a luxury cruiser.

 

The Cruise Critic has been the most viable source of communication under the circumstances. River cruising has its uncertain moments, but the MS Royal Crown is clearly an uncertain platform for its intended purpose in 2013.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its sister ship the River Cloud II wiil be sailing the Danube next year and is doing fine.

 

Two weeks ago, Sea Cloud (Owner of River Cloud II) wrote to their german audience - they are going to sell the River Cloud II after the 2014 season.

 

Die Wettbewerbsentwicklung im Flussbereich hat es in den letzten Jahren zunehmend schwerer gemacht, unser Produkt als kleiner Anbieter ebenso erfolgreich zu vermarkten wie unsere Segelkreuzfahrtschiffe. Während die Sea Cloud und Sea Cloud II ein Alleinstellungs*merkmal im Hochseebereich haben und dadurch sehr erfolgreich in der Nische sind, ist es im Flussbereich immer schwieriger geworden, die hohe Qualität des Schiffes herauszustellen.

 

Looks like the market became too competetive. They did not mention who bought the ship. But as the other cruise lines are going to publish their cruise dates for 2015 in Q1 / 2014 we are going to find out soon enough.

 

(Edit: Typo)

Edited by ingo_e
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for both posts.

 

Looks like the future for the sister vessels is uncertain.

 

Just briefly: the Royal Crown was moved shortly before Christmas to another small port, which is called Brohl-Lützing. That is north of Andernach on the left bank of the Rhine river. The signal sent on marinetraffic gives the port as Leutesdorf, which is on the right bank of the Rhine. I reckon this is just a more suitable place for mooring in winter.

 

More info shortly.

 

notamermaid

 

Still too warm for this time of year, rain has stopped, river levels hopefully staying where they are over New Year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

We embarked MS Royal Crown 12th October 2013 expecting a wonderful cruise as we had been on this ship the previous year and had a great time....however on 14th October instead of cruising through the Wachau Valley we were left moored on an island next to Melk. We were informed at dinner that our cruise is finished and that we would have to leave the ship the next day.

At a meeting following dinner we were told that we had to leave our cabins after breakfast and that we would be allowed only water and toilet paper after breakfast until our coaches arrived at l2noon.

The staff who had been brilliant were in tears as they were loosing their jobs and having to travel back to Romania etc.

There was a letter awaiting us in our cabin stating that due to irreconcilable differences between ewaterways, Neerlandic and the hotel management company River Advice that they had no option but to agree to an early termination of the cruise.

I hope that this is not the end of this lovely little cruise ship and also hope that no other passengers and crew are hurt by decision makers who have no care.

Edited by rivercruiseangel
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello rivercruiseangel,

 

welcome to cruisecritic. Is this the Morecambe in the North of England?

 

Thank you for your information. A highly unusual and sad way to deal with paying guests. :(

 

The Royal Crown is still in Brohl-Lützing north of Koblenz. I have not seen any cruises on the this ship advertised yet.

 

River Advice is a services providing company (i.e. ship, employing crew) based in Basel. It has been renamed FleetPro.

 

notamermaid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

wow what an unpleasant experience. hope you were refunded in full? at least you were not too far from home. anyone from say Australia would have been severely disadvantaged.

 

what did you do after this experience?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We travelled back to Budapest where we we able to catch our sceduled flight back to Manchester.

Has not put us off river cruising and have booked a cruise on the Cyrano de Bergerac from Bordeaux.

Hebridean Holidays have advertised cruises on the Royal Crown End of May from Amsterdam. Noble Caledonia have adveritised cruises on Royal Crown In June 2014 and September 2014.

 

Rivercruiseangel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

In June 2014, Noble Caledonia is offering a 23-night cruise on the Royal Crown, sailing from Amsterdam to Bucharest. Originally priced from £6000, they are now offering all suites at around £3500.

 

Is this boat still considered a major risk and is the itinerary perhaps unachievable?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

 

I cannot locate the Royal Crown either and will not be in the area of its last dock at Brohl-Lützing for a while to see if it is still there. Hebridean Island has chartered the Royal Crown for this year as well. Neerlandic still lists the Royal Crown as part of their fleet, I think they provide the crew, i.e. the captain and staff, while FleetPro seems to provide the hotel staff. All looks a bit complicated, I wonder if that is where those issues arose from last year?

 

The ship looked good when I saw it and I would not describe it as a risk as such. If well looked after I cannot see why it cannot sail on a 23-night cruise. I just have my doubts about this previous charter / owner / provider business mix of last year, if you know what I mean. But perhaps I am just a little pessimistic. The cruise that ended prematurely was an ewaterways charter. The one's I could find for this year are Caledonia (as you mentioned) and Hebridean.

 

There is a private you tube video which you can find under Royal Crown River Rhine Cruise. It was taken on a sailing just after the May/June flooding and when you look closely in the background you can see trees in water. The water level was still very high on that gentleman's cruise.

 

notamermaid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

The itinerary is achievable, we did 7 nights on Royal Crown from Amsterdam to Regensburgh in 2012 ( a great holiday ) and booked for 7 nights in 2013 on Royal Crown Regensbugh to Budapest (Disaster holiday all passengers had to leave ship because of the dispute). Ewaterways took us to all ports of call by coach after ship but packing and unpacking and not being able to get into hotel room till late, husband not getting gluten free food that he required, made our holiday not the experience that we had booked and paid for. Offered 15% off future ewaterways holiday not acceptable.

If Neerlandic still own this ship I would be wary of booking, our Cruise Director said that Neerlandic do not understand the Holiday Maker Trade as they are Goods Barges and Tanker people.

The ship possibly needed a new engine shortly and when we were cruising on it in October 2013 the Decking badly needed varnishing.

The food and the staff were great and our cabin, a double bedded with lovely shower room was good.

If I were thinking of booking I would seek reassurances, that given the past history of this ship, that you would get a refund if the cruise were to either not happen or to terminate early and always pay via Credit card and keep all paperwork as to promises, itinerary etc.

The original price you quoted seems totally over the top to me and the new price of £3,500 is more reallistic.

Good Luck and ask more questions, keep written replys.

Kind regards

Rivercruiseangel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello rivercruiseangel,

 

according to a poster on a German site there was some work going on in Brohl-Lützing, so perhaps the new engine you have mentioned?

 

It seems the cruise director was right about Neerlandic. Their website lists the Royal Crown as their only vessel for passengers, all others are tankers and barges.

 

notamermaid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello Canal archive,

 

for anybody with great concerns for booking a cruise on the Royal Crown or a cruise they have already booked, that is of course the best thing to do. If I had real doubts about the ship being able to sail (for whatever reason) I would make those known to ABTA directly.

 

As several companies have chartered the Royal Crown, for me personally as I do not intend to cruise on the ship this year, for the moment I will just leave it at that and assume that last year's problems were a one-off (bearing in mind the comment about Neerlandic, though).

 

The listing for the dock in Rüdesheim for 17th of June reads: Neerlandic Shipping BV Royal Crown from 6pm to 11pm.

 

The port of Brohl is often in a dead spot section of the Rhine, i.e. signals are not sent on a regular basis.

 

notamermaid

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Hello,

 

good news: I spotted the Royal Crown on a webcam a few days ago! The ship is now sailing along the Moselle.

 

I hope the cruisers on board are having a great time. :)

 

notamermaid

 

We had a night of heavy rain and storm in the Rhine valley, but it has brightened up now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...