pontac

I've not seen any trips to Asia where it's a long cruise that you can fly in, go straight to the boat, cruise for a couple of weeks and fly home. We don't want a lot of travelling - whether by air or road - connected with a relatively short cruise.

53 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

Business is business I suppose. Viking knows what customers expect and/or are used to and tailor their offering to that.

That, but also competition. Scenic include gratuities for everything - i.e. for coach drivers and guides as well.

Why doesn't Viking? I'm assuming - and it's only an assumption - that the majority of their customers are from the USA who are used to and happy to pay tips. While it's easy to not deliver tip envelopes to UK cruisers its not so easy to manage driver/guide tips.

Viking - and I expect the others - have different offerings in different markets.

Our host has said he won't book Viking while they require full payment so long before travel. But plenty of Americans do, so I'm assuming Viking won't see the necessity to change until their US payment policy becomes a serious obstacle to them getting bookings.

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

It would be interesting to compare - with current exchange rates - the cost of the same cruise in Pounds vs. CDN dollar.

Name a cruise and I'll tell you the UK price; but UK prices also include travel (air with option of trains when possible)

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

Off topic, but I cannot miss this statement?  What do you mean withdrawn SSBP from the 2025 cruises?

Reference to  UK, as per start of my post. Gratuities & SSDP included in UK prices since pandemic, SSDP not included as standard in 2025 Cruises.

The SSDP is still available to buy.

Excellent informative review, @reeves35, thanks

8 hours ago, TomSoBronx40thPct said:

We’re averaging twice as much time in transit as time spent walking about the “cultural-points-of-interest.”  With luck, our impressions will change but this is a very different from our usual land-based European experiences

Presumably the land-based trips go close to the site of interest. With a river cruise if the site is not on a river bank then a coach is needed to get to it. Further away the site, longer the coach trip - which will be true for all river cruise lines.

On Day 3 there's an included excursion the Strasbourg in the morning, but you could stay there longer and return in the afternoon as there were shuttle busses in the afternoon.

8 hours ago, TomSoBronx40thPct said:

 We have only sailed the Rhine waters in the dead of night, with views of the locks

To cover the long distance from Basel to Amsterdam in 7 days and to allow off-ship excursions a lot of cruising is done of necessity at night.

On Day 5 -tomorrow if your cruise ends on 22 May - you'll cruise along the middle-Rhine in day time and see lots of castles and the Lorely rock. Grab a seat at the front of the bow for a good view, or the sun-deck. You want to see both sides of the river.

22 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

I only mentioned it as included gratuities seems to be a UK and Australian thing.

UK didn't use to include gratuities. We used to get the envelopes on our bed at the end of a cruise with option to pay recommended amount by card at reception, which we did. Much prefer gratuities included but aware that it may be withdrawn, as they have withdrawn Silver Sprits Drink Package from the 2025 cruises.

Offerings by the different companies change from year to year.

Trouble is, one soon runs out of European rivers. We're doing rivers we've done before, either different cruises or different cruise lines, both with the intention of having different excursions.

I really enjoyed our cruise two years ago along the Mosel(le) which was uncrowded, had pretty villages and great scenery. Unfortunately the Mosel stretch was quite short and the cruise started in Basel and went down the Rhine. All the same we saw things we hadn't before and felt no guilt about missing excursions to places we'd been before.

If you're interested in wine then try Bordeaux; if you're interested in wine, history and scenery try the Rhone Lyon>Avignon. We've done that twice now, both directions, attractive scenery, ancient towns.

We've not been on the Asian cruises, looking at the brochures there seems to be a lot of flying when you get there. Toying with the idea of cruising on the USA rivers.

4 hours ago, Bubbeh said:

Sounds just like a Cabin Attendant to me.  Butler?

That was my point. Scenic annoy me with their hyperbole.

2 hours ago, Kristelle said:

I'm not comfortable ringing to get a coffee or cocktail brought to my room when I am perfectly capable of walking down the corridor to get it myself. 

The only time we asked our cabin attendant to get us anything is was a coffee after we'd seen the very long queue at the only customer coffee machine. We thought the  cabin attendant would be able to get us a coffee quicker. Alas not.

Encouraged by @Canal archive though, I will be asking the cabin attendant for several things at the start of the cruise I take next month and will relate my experience back in my trip report.

8 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Standard North American mattress sizes

River cruise line boats in Europe are not made or equipped in North America, though. Different countries have different sizes which is what, regrettably, I didn't make clear.

As a wine drinker, I'd say it's a trifle uninformative 😁

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I never knew you could have a butler on a river cruise ship

 Well, it depends on what your definition of a butler is.

Scenic advertises butler service to guests, but I don't think Lord Grantham would recognise it as butler service. It's a member of staff who supplies a limited range of services to every cabin on that deck. This picture of what the 'butler' does is in @1of4 s trip report Going Live on Scenic "Chef's Culinary Adventure of Belgium and the Netherlands with Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk"

And there was an advertisement for a deeply discounted cruise with APT that said some cabins had the services of a 'Private Butler', though it didn't say what cabins or what the butler would de.

I looked into bed sizes some time ago. I could not find a standard size across bed manufacturers.

The only consensus was that Queen size beds are larger than double sized beds and smaller than King size beds.

18 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Scenic is the top line of the company and Emerald is the 'budget' line

With Emerald when you buy their most expensive drinks package (Platinum) you can choose wines from the wine list that cost up to €25, and get Prosecco by the glass.

On Scenic you don't have to buy a drinks package as drinks are included, and you can have Champagne.

Also if you like a breakfast Bucks Fizz or Mimosa you're out of luck with Emerald as no alcoholic drinks are served before 10am, whereas Scenic have a couple of bottles of Champagne on self pour at their breakfast buffet.

But if you don't drink or don't want Champagne this differention doesn't matter.

9 hours ago, dtenel said:

Would love to know more about the Szechenyi thermal baths

Australia08 visited the baths on her current trip, read her report and if you have questions ask her as she is posting very day on the cruise underway now.

53 minutes ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

s there a bar on the top deck of the Scenic Amber?  The Scenic website does not have a deck plan for their river ships, just a simple side-view, so it's difficult to tell what is on which deck.

No, there's not. Like other cruise lines, in order to make the boat as big as possible and yet to fit under low bridges everything on the top deck can be collapsed and the wheelhouse can be lowered.

However, you can be served drinks on the top  deck by waiting staff.

The side view identifies the position of restaurant and bar. Yes, a plan of each floor would be useful.

I don't know if you have this video on your site, but on the UK site there is a video of the Scenic Jasper - which is a sister ship to Amber - which shows the top deck and people being served drinks there. This is a link to the video

https://www.scenic.co.uk/river/river-experience/ship-experience/our-ships-europe?wvideo=cccst0gtf8

12 hours ago, Kristelle said:

well of course one cannot go on 2 excursions at same time and of course excursions have costs - not sure what point your are making here?

The only point I have been making in this thread is to ignore luxury/budget labels and decide what is wanted. Anything included by a cruise line that is not on the want list is a cost to the cruise line that is reflected in the passenger fare, so why pay for what is not wanted?

Of course, sometimes discount offers give one the opportunity to book a cruise that offers more cheaper then one that offers less. 

5 hours ago, Kristelle said:

well, yes, I guess if it is all inclusive and you dont want to go on any excursions and you just planned to stay o n the ship, you are paying for excursions for other people

It's a choice one takes but it's a fact that when you book an excursion you cannot also go on the other excursions running at the same time. They have a cost - the guide at least, maybe coaches, admittance fees .....

5 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Okay I will most probably get slated or chucked off this forum for this but what planet is the person above on? Talk about discrimination Scenic is an all inclusive company what you pay for is what you get it doesn’t matter that you may not want to do what is on offer you made the choice of travelling with them. In the many times that I have I’ve never been disappointed. I’ve always had superb service the crew have at all times been amazing. It’s our choice not yours! I fully expect an objective comeback or maybe not so ********** it. And I understand your cruising with them again poor them!

This is plain rude. And shows you didn't read what I wrote.

8 hours ago, Kristelle said:

What  I liked about Scenic was that everything was included upfront, no extra costs at all - and choice of excursions, not one excursion same for all.

While it is true that passengers may choose form any excursion at no extra cost, it's converse is that passengers are are paying for excursions they don't want to go on  - or can't  go on.

8 hours ago, sjde said:

Are there any river cruises that don’t include alcohol? 

Riviera didn't include any alcohol, but in their 2024 & 2025 itineraries they are including their 'superior drinks package', though on reading what's included it seems like house wines with lunch and dinner.

Cruise lines change their offerings, not only their itineraries and excursions but also what is included. Two years ago Scenic gave out a rather nice backpack and supplied chauffer car to/from airport. Not now. Post pandemic Viking included their Silver Spirits drinks package, not from 2025.

Many people now reading CC will be thinking about booking a 2025 cruise. Read carefully what is included because the trip reports and reviews you read here are talking about pre-2025 cruises which may not be the same. Look at the date on CC featured articles; ones I have read are quite incorrect with what happens now.

1 hour ago, sjde said:

I saw these lines listed as budget river cruise lines. Do you agree?

Who decides which is a budget line? The lists I've seen have  every line that doesn't claim to be luxury or super-luxury as budget.

For me, the only criteria of budget is cost - as per the word budget- but then it becomes a minefield as to what is included and what is not - and even more importantly whether you want what is included. For instance, if you don't drink alcohol then the inclusion of 'fine' wines is not a luxury to you, and you'd be better off not paying for other peoples drinks.

I've got some upcoming Scenic cruises. They claim they're 'ultra-luxury', I'm blowed if I understand what that actually means. Having cruised with them before I  rate them less luxurious than Viking which make no claims to be luxurious.  And again, some of these 'luxury' lines have sales where they deeply discount the price of their cruises.

I say, ignore these labels, take with a very large pinch of salt the lines' own trumpet-blowing, and decide what you want then find the line that offers it at the lowest cost. Anything extra they offer is something you don't want and will be paying for.

If you search the forum for 'Venice' you get result, these may be of interest:

I’m on board Uniworld SS Venezia - Page 2 - River Cruising - Cruise Critic Community

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2890372-uniworld-venice

If you're thinking of cruising with Uniworld the posts mention a one day bus trip from Milan to Venice with a stop in Verona and lunch at a winery in Valpollicella

The map of the journey for  MILAN, VENICE & THE JEWELS OF VENETO is 

But if you don't fancy a long bus ride - and I sympathise - one can book just the cruise element, i.e. start at Venice.

I thought Uniworld were the only operators in this area, but perhaps you're talking about another?

12 hours ago, TikiIslandGirl said:

will meet us in baggage claim

No-one can meet you in baggage claim, they'll have to be in arrivals after you pass through customs.

2 hours ago, Australia08 said:

No, we did not have this problem.  It could be because some of the countries are now part of the Schengen countries, making travel between them much easier.

That's good. Serbia is not in the EU, and Croatia, Romania & Slovakia are, but Croatia and Romania activated Schengen after I was there. So perhaps since the cruise ends in Romania and the excursion to Serbia is less then a day it doesn't count

On 1/9/2024 at 8:41 PM, cruise4mom said:

Emerald states that wheelchairs are allowed but not on board.

No wonder you are confused. The UK Emerald FAQs doesn't say they are no allowed on boards. The warn that there may be 'limitations' on board and that bathroom doors may not be wide enough for some wheelchairs.

From the website (FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions - Emerald Cruises)

Do your Star-Ships and luxury yachts provide mobility/wheelchair access?

We welcome passengers with medical conditions or disabilities and can provide mobility provision when notified in writing prior to boarding.

However, please be aware that there may be limitations on board and during excursions.

In addition, standard suites and bathrooms have significant thresholds and cabin doors which limit access, meaning they may not be wide enough to allow access to many wheelchairs. Please speak to a member of our team about your requirements prior to booking.

You don't say which Christmas Markets cruise you are taking; Emerald show Christmas Markets of Europe and Christmas Markets on the Danube for 2024 - (no 2025 on the website) but only two Christmas markets are mentioned in the itineraries.

A concern not mentioned is the time of year. The nights are long and the weather cold. There may be snow, sleet and ice or rain. 

@1of4 stumbled on wet stairs coming down from the sundeck and broke bones on a recent cruise - Going Live on Scenic "Chef's Culinary Adventure of Belgium and the Netherlands with Lynn Crawford and Lora Kirk" - Page 10 - River Cruising - Cruise Critic Community And that was daytime.

I was rafted (tied to) a boat on our cruise last month, we had to go down their sundeck stairs that were wet, steep, narrow and metal. There was only one hand rail and  we were advised to go down backwards. I stayed on board in the afternoon because I didn't want to risk those stairs again. I'd hate to do them in the dark or when icy.

Can you switch to a summer cruise?