Live Trip Report Scenic River Cruise Jewels of Europe August 2022

[English Tim]

My wife and I booked this cruise last Autumn, but it was recently cancelled and we were rebooked on Scenic Jade from Amsterdam to Budapest, departing August 17.

 

We flew British Airways from London Heathrow to Amsterdam on an early flight, which meant leaving home at 04.00. Now that we are Scenic Platinum we are entitled to free transfers from our home in Dorchester to any airport. The journey was quick and being BA gold, we could check in at the First Wing, which meant were soon in the lounge having breakfast with champagne.

 

The plane was late leaving and arrival at Amsterdam was delayed, plus immigration was delayed, meaning a slight delay in arriving at ship, in pouring rain. When we arrived at our cabin our shoes and socks very wet!

 

After a quick buffet lunch we went in search of a canal tour from near Central Station. This cost 10 euros each and was very informative.

 

We decided not to fully unpack our clothes, as we are due to change ships due to the low water levels on the river Rhine.

 

Dinner was very good, but portions were small. Austrian wine was excellent.

 

We had an early night as it had been a long day.

[LATTELOVE]

Ahh, how nice of you to do this review.

We have never done a river cruise.

One day we would like to try it.

For now we will be following your report.

Thank you for taking your time to do this.

[mozfoz]

Regarding the canal cruise, which tour  company did you use. Our flight time just got changed and our window of opportunity for a canal tour just got much tighter, if not impossible. We arrive 10:40 and need to be aboard Uniworld by 3:00, so only something close to the dock(Central Station) may be possible.Thank you in advance 

[English Tim]

7 hours ago, mozfoz said:

Regarding the canal cruise, which tour  company did you use. Our flight time just got changed and our window of opportunity for a canal tour just got much tighter, if not impossible. We arrive 10:40 and need to be aboard Uniworld by 3:00, so only something close to the dock(Central Station) may be possible.Thank you in advance 

There were several companies doing several trips per hour, so you shouldn’t have any issues. I can’t recall which company we used.

[Canal archive]

English Tim exactly which Scenic cruise are you doing please?

[notamermaid]

Thank you for taking us along on your journey through Europe. Have a great cruise, we all know it is going to be a bit adventurous in this drought.

 

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Just had a notification that Scenic have added an additional 8day cruise on the Douro in November this year.

 

[English Tim]

Day 3

 

Originally we were due in Cologne, but river levels meant docking in Düsseldorf, then yesterday we were told we’d been delayed so we’d have a brief stop at Duisburg to drop tour passengers off, then carry on to Düsseldorf. 
 

This morning when we awoke, we noticed we were past Duisburg so then an announcement that we’d be docking at Düsseldorf. It is a bit of a nightmare for all, especially the cruise director, who has to keep redirecting the tour buses.

 

We are going on a bike tour, which now leaves in the afternoon instead of the morning. We believe we should be swapping ships at Frankfurt tomorrow, after a bus tour of the Rhine Gorge and Rudesheim.

 

The food and service on Scenic Pearl is excellent, as is the CD Nick!

 

I am having the odd problem with posting, as some posts disappear, so hopefully this one will actually go live.

 

So far the cruise has been a bit chaotic, mainly due to the river levels and no one knowing from one day to the next what might happen. We docked a bit late, which resulted in shortened tours to Cologne, not helped by heavy traffic. We did our own cycle tour around a very busy city, then returned for an early lunch before an organised cycle tour in the afternoon. They organised tour was good fun and went along the riverbank one-way and returned via a beer garden, which was very interesting, as I managed to order a second beer, instead of asking for the bill. I shared a second beer with a Canadian family, who we met on a tour. There were 10 of them but not all on the tour and they were great fun. The return ride to the ship was very interesting, as one person had a puncture and another lost a pedal. We got back just in time for the port talk, which was about a transfer to our new ship, which was going to be a very long day, due to expected heavy traffic on the autobahn to Frankfurt.

 

We thought about going by train, but due to a special offer on the trains and it being the weekend we were advised against, as we might not be able to get a seat.

 

The plan was for Tours to go via route is home, for a visit to a music museum, followed by a further drive to Frankfurt and as I don’t like travelling by coach, due to my height, the nice tour director said we could travel on the bus with the luggage, which would go straight to the ship. We chose this option, which turned out to be an excellent decision, as we arrived in time for a relaxing lunch, which utilised the room service menu as standard facilities weren’t available, which is not surprising as there only five of us on board. We thought there would be just two of us on the luggage bus, but my wife has been talking to the Canadian family and three of them decided to join us and it was a really good trip helped by an excellent young driver, who turned out to be the owner of the bus firm, who spoke excellent English. He was highly qualified at all levels of vehicle and during Covid as there were no bus passengers, he drove HGV lorries.

 

Rosy and I walked into the city centre and took a tram ride, which took a circular route and we were given pretzels and apple wine, we thought that the music playing, but there wasn’t. We got a reduced fare of €3.50, instead of €8 so a real bargain.

 

The remaining passengers arrived at about 6 pm, had a quick freshen up before a port talk and dinner, which was followed by a name that tune quiz, which was very popular and raucous.

[Canal archive]

Thank you English Tim brings back very fond memories especially of quiz night as per yours, on our second Scenic cruise our team of Commonwealth countries - Australian - Canadians- New Zealander’s and us with much hilarity managed to win. Our Prize bottles of fizz - ah but this was the first year of all inclusive so in the end it was top deck on a beautiful starry night and a good drop of fizz. Keep enjoying I’m living with you vicariously.

[notamermaid]

Thank you very much for your long post.

 

6 hours ago, English Tim said:

the nice tour director said we could travel on the bus with the luggage, which would go straight to the ship

I never knew that was possible/allowed. Great of the CD to suggest that.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 hours ago, English Tim said:

The plan was for Tours to go via route is home, for a visit to a music museum

I'm guessing that 'route is home' is the spell check translation of Rudesheim?

[CPT Trips]

A CD’s flexibility and “outside the box” thinking make for great cruising. 

[mac's dog mom]

Remembering the music museum, I put out the music box holiday tree every Christmas. It was a cold & wet day when we visited. Road the tram in the wind & rain. Loved that entire cruise so much.

[English Tim]

Yesterday, we visited Miltenberg, a very pretty town, very popular with locals and tourists. My main purpose of going was for a schnapps tasting , which didn’t disappoint. We enjoyed various flavours and had about 12 or 13 examples in a nice warm room with meat and cheese to soften the blow. Previously we had walked around various cellars and very cold temperatures and had an explanation of the production process.

 

We met a lovely family of 10 from Canada, and one father and daughter Lionel and Maddie, joined our tour. Maddie managed to taste about 11 of the examples, which was a sterling effort. Afterwards they went to a beer garden, but I decided I probably needed a rest, So I sat on a fountain and listen to a rally, in German of course, protesting about coronavirus lockdown, Russia’s action in Ukraine and other things. Maddie has a fantastic wardrobe of beautiful dresses. She also seems to be an expert on technology, which could be very useful.

 

Later, We returned to the ship by bus and almost immediately had a port briefing followed by dinner at Table La Rive, a wine pairing meal, which was extremely disappointing. The food was very good, but we were a bit rushed, but there were only three wines, compared with the five, which we enjoyed on a previous occasion, on Scenic Sapphire, in June. In particular there was no desert wine, when we previously had enjoyed a fine Sauternes.

 

After dinner there was a performance by a Zither player, which was very good but for some strange reason no drinks were served during the performance and there was no warning so a lot of people didn’t have a drink. 

[notamermaid]

Thank you Tim for your post with lovely photos. One question if I may: the wheelhouse looks down and the sun deck railings look down. Difficult to see from the angle. Is the sun deck closed for a long time on the Main?

Thank you.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by notamermaid

[English Tim]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Thank you Tim for your post with lovely photos. One question if I may: the wheelhouse looks down and the sun deck railings look down. Difficult to see from the angle. Is the sun deck closed for a long time on the Main?

Thank you.

 

notamermaid

 

My wife and I were just discussing that very question and one of the reasons that we are not nearly as keen on this cruise as we have been  on previous cruises is that the Sun deck has been closed most of the time, along with the vitality pool. There have also been no fitness or stretch classes in the mornings.

[notamermaid]

Thank you. So Scenic and Viking are very similar with regards the sun deck being closed.

2 hours ago, English Tim said:

There have also been no fitness or stretch classes in the mornings.

That I something I had not thought of before. Comes naturally with the safety when the sun deck has to be closed, but it just something that does not spring to mind immediately as a consequence.

 

I can understand that this takes some enjoyment of the cruise away.

 

notamermaid

 

[Cleopatra99]

7 hours ago, English Tim said:

My wife and I were just discussing that very question and one of the reasons that we are not nearly as keen on this cruise as we have been  on previous cruises is that the Sun deck has been closed most of the time, along with the vitality pool. There have also been no fitness or stretch classes in the mornings.

May I ask ... why is the wheelhouse etc down ?

[English Tim]

9 hours ago, Cleopatra99 said:

May I ask ... why is the wheelhouse etc down ?

 

9 hours ago, Cleopatra99 said:

May I ask ... why is the wheelhouse etc down ?

When the ship goes under low bridges the sundeck is out of bounds and the wheelhouse has to collapse like a concertina. 
 

this morning, we did our first stretch/exercise class, but we are a bit concerned about some of the exercises, which we don’t normally do until our bodies are warmed up.

[English Tim]

We had an early start at this book and so I decided to stay on the ship and then use one of the electric bikes to explore on my own. Rosy and most of our new friends, from Canada, went on a tour of a Palace (masks had to be worn) and then a wine-tasting, returning at lunchtime, for an impromptu deck party, on the section we could access.

 

I don’t think I have ever seen so many bicycles, as on this cruise and clearly many people cycle to the station leaving their bikes in the big mess. 

 

Some of us watched a very nice good violinist, playing a variety of tunes before departing at the next lock.

 

it has been a real pleasure to get to know this Canadian family, but sadly only 10 of them could come. That evening they invited us to join them for dinner and we had a great time.

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, English Tim said:

We had an early start at this book

Spotted the autocorrect quickly, question was, what does it stand for? I think the photo explains it, "we had an early start at Würzburg"! 🙂

Thank you for the video and photos. What a lovely thing to happen, meeting that Canadian family.

 

14 hours ago, Cleopatra99 said:

May I ask ... why is the wheelhouse etc down ?

Your question has been answered of course, but just to expand: there are so many low bridges on the Main and Main Danube Canal, that the sun deck may be closed for days as the crew do not want to, cannot or are not allowed to spend so much time putting down and up the railings often. You can read a little more here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670259-the-river-main-infos-and-river-cruising-experiences/

Post #4 and a few following that one.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[LATTELOVE]

7 hours ago, English Tim said:

We had an early start at this book and so I decided to stay on the ship and then use one of the electric bikes to explore on my own. Rosy and most of our new friends, from Canada, went on a tour of a Palace (masks had to be worn) and then a wine-tasting, returning at lunchtime, for an impromptu deck party, on the section we could access.

 

I don’t think I have ever seen so many bicycles, as on this cruise and clearly many people cycle to the station leaving their bikes in the big mess. 

 

Some of us watched a very nice good violinist, playing a variety of tunes before departing at the next lock.

 

it has been a real pleasure to get to know this Canadian family, but sadly only 10 of them could come. That evening they invited us to join them for dinner and we had a great time.

B93458F7-C1FA-438C-B7C2-37A4781B718F.MOV

Wow!!

So beautiful, enjoy your day!

[CPT Trips]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

Your question has been answered of course, but just to expand: there are so many low bridges on the Main and Main Danube Canal, that the sun deck may be closed for days as the crew do not want to, cannot or are not allowed to spend so much time putting down and up the railings often. You can read a little more here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670259-the-river-main-infos-and-river-cruising-experiences/

Post #4 and a few following that one.

 

notamermaid

 

 

We were fortunate to have a captain who regularly put the railings up when there would be a few hours of  “safe” cruising on the canal and Main.

[English Tim]

Yesterday, 23 August, we visited Bamberg for what should have been a black beer tasting, preceded by a short walk. It turned out to be a long walk followed by a short beer tasting, which was a shame. We did see some nice buildings, a lovely rose garden and some views, but I just wanted a cool beer as it was very hot.

[English Tim]

Today, August 24, there were two tours the first going to the town for sightseeing and the second visiting World War II visiting Zeppelin fields, Nuremberg war trial courts and exploring propaganda. 
 

I chose to take one of the ships bikes to the tram stop, but when I reach there I realised masks were required so I cycled into attempting to add to my lederhosen collection, but I was unsuccessful on this occasion. I spent about three hours cycling around the city.