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Anyone on or just off a Scenic cruise this yr?


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I m taking my first on that line in 6 wks.(Budapest to Bucharest) and wonder if any of you could post reviews of current season cruising?

Realize not as many go on this line(since it seems the thread is all Viking,all the time).

But would like up to date comments.

Thanks in advance.

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Hi Alexandra remind me what date are you going? We go on Gem 18th July, have just got our Eurostar travel times and Gem has been handed over to Scenic. We did Budapest in the opposite direction and really loved Budapest did all the offered activities and a bit of off piste wondering, our best was cruising out of the city at night, magical with the lights etc what a start to a cruise, the best.

Enjoy

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Going June 13.Have been to Budapest before.Loved it and wanted to go back and spend more time there.

Scenic had the best dates,itinerary,and ships for this area.Love the 5 star claims,HOPE its really true.

Even put a HOLD on N.France for 2015.The jr.suites (and above)go fast it seems.

Hope someone will let us know how this yrs.cruises are going??Need up to date reviews PLEASE>:D:D

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I too will be looking for some Scenic Reviews. We are setting off on 17th September from Budapest to Amsterdam on the Jade which has only recently been handed over. Probably on it's 2nd or 3rd sailing now.

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Cruiser - read the same two posts and it sounds to me like a person who may have had one bad experience and is now blaming everything and everyone for it. From, all the food was bad because the cooks don't know how to cook to the A/C not on to not getting your money back, appears they covered all the negative bases.

 

I wouldn't put much faith in the review. Sounds like someone with an axe to grind. Perhaps they didn't do their homework and expected a river cruise to be like an ocean voyage and now want to blame someone else. They must have had one good experience. I have not sailed Scenic but I'll bet your cruise will be great.

Dave

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We did our first river trip with Scenic last October...Amsterdam to Basel. We had an absolute wonderful time, despite some cold wet weather. The food, while not 5 star, was very acceptable. There was a nice variety with hot items always offered during their buffet breakfast and lunches. Some of the ports have optional free excursions. And we really enjoyed the motorized bicycles that are available at every stop. You can use as little or as much "help" as you want.

 

Entertainment is what you should expect on a river cruise. In a few towns, they bring on local entertainment. I thought they did a nice job for the size of the boat. Do not expect large cruise ship style things. And I do have to say that the "crew capers" was absolutely the best I have ever seen on any cruise. It was so fun.

 

This mix on our boat consisted of mostly people from Australia and New Zealand, with quite a few Canadians and English, with about 5 American couples. If you are the type to open up to others, you should have a great time.

 

Hopefully for you, our experience was not unique, and yours will be as good. We will definitely try Scenic again if we do another river cruise.

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It is interesting that Trip Adviser has redacted a lot of posts about Scenic Tours, there does seem to be some sour grapes but I expect that happens with all cruise lines. In the UK there has been some concern expressed in some of the media that Trip Adviser is being manipulated by a few unscrupulous individuals, it has been suggested to get freebys.

I have yet to have any and I mean any bad or indifferent experiences with Scenic Tours. Before retiring and through business we traveled the world 5 star, such a difficult way of life! Now in retirement we like to follow this example as far as we can and so far Scenic have provided it fully. If they fail we will go elsewhere (or we find a better itinerary) and let CC know why.

I really enjoy reading everyone's experiences be they good or bad but what I do not understand is why complaints are not made at the time and if they are what is the outcome? I don't want to start another flood rant as that is covered in the small print of all the river cruise lines.

Just a by the way my friends dropped by on their way to a retreat, he has bad brain damage, they went on a river cruise with Viking last year, I know some complain about the number of posts for them but this is only good, he became very ill at night and the Viking crew were execeptional one call from his wife and in very short order the boat was stopped and he was in hospital having tests and being sorted, his son flew out from the UK and after 24 hours they were all back on board including the son for the last few days of the cruise, now that's what I call a good news story.

 

Happy Scenic cruising all.:):)

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Thanks all,never heard that about Tripadvisor.I,too,was skeptical of that review..all BAD? no way.

Now we need a few positive member reviews from this yr.

Have been on 10 river cruises,so know what to expect and what not to.Think some go on them not realizing how different they are.

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Going June 13.Have been to Budapest before.Loved it and wanted to go back and spend more time there.

Scenic had the best dates,itinerary,and ships for this area.Love the 5 star claims,HOPE its really true.

Even put a HOLD on N.France for 2015.The jr.suites (and above)go fast it seems.

Hope someone will let us know how this yrs.cruises are going??Need up to date reviews PLEASE>:D:D

 

If possible please report back once you complete this cruise and let us know whether it measures up to a luxury product. Would love to know your impressions.

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Hi All, I have got so tied up with our upcoming cruise that I forgotten that I wrote a review of our Scenic, Amsterdam to Basel cruise last year on Scenic Diamond, it is in the review section, hopefully it will cover some of the questions anyone may have if there are any other questions just ask. Scenic Gem is now in Amsterdam, it's fun watching where the different boats are.

 

Happy cruising.:)

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We did the same no problems at all in fact because of the ships being upgraded, enclosing balconies for example and becoming all inclusive and butlers on all decks it was that bit better if that was possible. Maybe some of the tirades last year have put people off reporting on CC or most Scenic customers are not interested in CC. Enjoy your trip in June and I will post if I can from on board or when I get back.

Happy Scenic cruiseing.

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Also, in US Scenic is a relatively NEW cruiseline.Only heard about it last yr.and checked web and got brochure.Boy, it sure LOOKS great.Top of the line.Sort of like Seabourn,etc.only on the river.

My TA is Australian and told me about it also.She s been on 2 and LOVED it.Her next favorite is AMA(which I HAVE taken and by favorite SO FAR).:):)

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Hi All, on the 9th May Scenic put a promo video on you tube narrated by Robert Powell I mention this because you do see quite a bit of the ship and it does explain the food, butlers and all inclusiveness fairly well. You even see the bath in the Royal Suite!:)

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When I opened a restaurant, yelp contacted us wanting us to pay a membership fee. If we did, then they would no longer react our positive reviews. It felt like blackmail and we chose not to join at all. I post this to point out that they aren't as transparent as it seems. At the bottom of each page is a spot where you can click to "show filtered". I am assuming that TripAdvisor does the same since you can unfiltered theirs as well. To test this, I and 4 family members posted rave reviews on the restaurant. Not a single one showed up unless you clicked unfiltered. Just a thought to keep in mind if you are reading lots of extreme reviews.

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When I opened a restaurant, yelp contacted us wanting us to pay a membership fee. If we did, then they would no longer react our positive reviews. It felt like blackmail and we chose not to join at all. I post this to point out that they aren't as transparent as it seems. At the bottom of each page is a spot where you can click to "show filtered". I am assuming that TripAdvisor does the same since you can unfiltered theirs as well. To test this, I and 4 family members posted rave reviews on the restaurant. Not a single one showed up unless you clicked unfiltered. Just a thought to keep in mind if you are reading lots of extreme reviews.

 

How do you unfilter Tripadvisor reviews?

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Hello all,home 2days from our scenic cruise Budapest to Amsterdam.On the scenic Jade it's 2nd cruise. We had a balcony cabin scenic has changed from a sliding door to the balcony to folding door system so room is even more opened up. We kept those doors open most of the cruise and closed the other balcony door which goes up and down when needed. everyone working on the boat was wonderful never once heard any request turned down. Found the food very good most of the time,wine glasses were never empty unless you said no,as for quality of wine to us it was good,but we cannot claim to be wine experts. All the tours were good, for us stand outs were cesky krumlov,regensburg, the monastery visit during the village day. The dinner at Marksburg castle was better then expected. Will write a full review later, but if anymore questions ask away here cheers

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SO GLAD to read a positive review and will look forward to your longer one.Any details would really help us newbies to Scenic.

Did they every have lunch or dinner on top deck?or could you take food up there from River Café? Did you ever use room service?How was the hotel in Budapest?What was the entertainment like at nite?

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The Marriot in Budapest was very nice,great location,ask for a castle view room.Spent very little time on top deck,as I'd closed along the main river ,as was also cold and windy up there.We never used room service at all,we just went and got coffee ourself. Portabellos is great but the menu is the same everyday,so one visit was enough.

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Hey Alexandra - I did post a review (very positive) from my cruise last October; but I guess you are wanting something more recent. I can tell you that we did order room service every morning by having our Butler deliver coffee and croissants for us to enjoy while getting ready for the day - we then went and had a full breakfast too :-)

 

Our Butler was great and delivered every day exactly on time.

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Good points.Will ask for those rooms.ALso, good to hear about room service.Think we d like full breakfast some days by room service.That and the tub prompted booking jr.suite.Want some real pampering,haha.

Yes, did read all the 2013 reviews.We just need some NEW ones for 2014,I ll do one when I get back too.

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