Interested in a comparison between HAL and a Scenic River cruise?

[Mtn2Sea]

Really enjoying your review!  So sorry to hear about your accident, but glad you’ll still be able to visit Keukenhof Gardens.  We were there on April 18 last year and they were beautiful.

[1of4]

2 hours ago, albingirl said:

Enjoying this review.  Thank you.!

Thanks for following along!

[ontheweb]

48 minutes ago, Mtn2Sea said:

Really enjoying your review!  So sorry to hear about your accident, but glad you’ll still be able to visit Keukenhof Gardens.  We were there on April 18 last year and they were beautiful.

And they are still beautiful. We were just there this past March.

[1of4]

49 minutes ago, Mtn2Sea said:

Really enjoying your review!  So sorry to hear about your accident, but glad you’ll still be able to visit Keukenhof Gardens.  We were there on April 18 last year and they were beautiful.

Oh thanks for telling me that. It really was the highlight for me. We just learned tonight that the boat won’t be able to make it to Hoorn on Monday due to bad weather making conditions on a large lake unsafe. It can still change but right now the plan is to bus the tours to Hoorn but dock in Amsterdam.   Tuesday is the Gardens!

[1of4]

Finishing up with the laundry…we left the bag on our bed this morning and it was folded and waiting for me after lunch. 

[1of4]

Most people spent the afternoon upstairs on the sun deck but I wasn’t going to tackle the stairs. But on a riverboat you are never that far from the water whether it be in the dining room or your cabin. 

[RuthC]

7 hours ago, 1of4 said:

My husband really did listen!

He's a keeper! 

[Bostonjetset]

Sorry to hear of your fall. That puts a damper on things but thankfully Keukenhof is a go. We went last year and it was a highlight of Amsterdam. Enjoy and hope you get better soon. 

[1of4]

…and sometimes you are close to the water on a riverboat but the view is terrible. 

[Iamthesea]

On 4/13/2024 at 11:40 AM, 1of4 said:

I didn’t get off the boat which turned out to be a good thing because everyone said it was a tough walk due to construction and cobblestones. My DH went to Ghent which was enough walking for his knees so he didn’t venture into Antwerp after returning. 
 

 

Unfortunately Brugge is not on our itinerary. Tomorrow we will be in Nijmegen in place of Arnhem which is under construction. 

 

So sorry to hear of your accident. 😥  Hope the injury is not too severe.

 

Your husband is a sweetheart!!!  Did he like Ghent?  On my upcoming cruise with DH, we have a chance to go to Brugge or Ghent.  Since we went to Antwerp and Brugge by train last year, on a land trip, we are thinking of Ghent this time around. 

 

Also, thanks to your mentioning of Arnhem, I looked it up and am interested in touring the town.  We have made connections there by train a couple of times and never thought about what the town would look like.  I feel like we have missed something!!!  Sorry that your river ship cannot make it there.

[1of4]

12 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

 

So sorry to hear of your accident. 😥  Hope the injury is not too severe.

 

Your husband is a sweetheart!!!  Did he like Ghent?  On my upcoming cruise with DH, we have a chance to go to Brugge or Ghent.  Since we went to Antwerp and Brugge by train last year, on a land trip, we are thinking of Ghent this time around. 

 

Also, thanks to your mentioning of Arnhem, I looked it up and am interested in touring the town.  We have made connections there by train a couple of times and never thought about what the town would look like.  I feel like we have missed something!!!  Sorry that your river ship cannot make it there.

He very much enjoyed Ghent but his knees…not so much!  It was a 2.5 hour circuit walk with 1 hour to shop. The cobblestones made it a rough go but he loved seeing it. 
 

He didn’t see anything of Arnhem. We docked in Nijmegen which is not far. His goal was the Airborne Museum as I had 3 uncles in WWII and one was wounded just outside the “Bridge too Far”. 

[1of4]

This difference goes to Scenic: toilet paper, unless HAL has upped their ply level from 1. Scenic uses quilted toiled paper that is soft and is 2-3 ply. 

[rafinmd]

On 4/14/2024 at 5:31 AM, 1of4 said:

…and sometimes you are close to the water on a riverboat but the view is terrible. 

Inside of a lock chamber?

 

Roy

[1of4]

24 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

Inside of a lock chamber?

 

Roy

In this case, we were tied up at the dock in low tide. 
 

here is inside a lock

[prisage]

On 4/13/2024 at 3:01 PM, 1of4 said:

Finishing up with the laundry…we left the bag on our bed this morning and it was folded and waiting for me after lunch. 

As long as you keep the bag to the right quantity, can you send in another bag later in the cruise? When I read it, it sounded like you could only send in one bag over the cruise of the seven day cruise. Your review is so appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to post here. 

[1of4]

44 minutes ago, prisage said:

As long as you keep the bag to the right quantity, can you send in another bag later in the cruise? When I read it, it sounded like you could only send in one bag over the cruise of the seven day cruise. Your review is so appreciated! Thanks for taking the time to post here. 

I believe it is only 1 bag of laundry once per voyage unless you are in the top suite. 

[floridababa]

River cruising is by far outstanding. We did a river cruise with Scenic 3 years ago.

We did try last year but it got cancelled due to low water. We got notified A week prior to sailing. We were heart broken.

I sail with Hal lately but the memories of the river cruise beat the other 85 cruises

[1of4]

Well it has come to an end. In about 10 hours we will depart the Scenic Jade for the final time. Here are departure instructions.  

[momatibm]

We sailed on Uniworld many years ago. We really enjoyed it. We are 4star mariners and really appreciated the excursions that were included. Because there was a problem with the original ship we had booked, Uniworld added a pre cruise stay in Prague with tours, and travel to the new departure 'port' including reserved train seats and station pickup. All in all it was a great trip.

[1of4]

Once per cruise Scenic includes a “Scenic Enrich” experience which is a private function just for Scenic guests. It is an art, music or cultural experience so could be a private classical concert or vocal performance but in our case it was an exclusive viewing of the Dutch Masters art exhibition in the historically significant Amsterdam gas works. Art was projected onto all room surfaces so I could not go with my vestibular issues. 

 

Here’s what my husband had to say:

 

Scenic provided our cruise with exclusive access to the Fabrique des Lumieres show in Amsterdam. Fascinating display though at times kinda disorienting

Edited April 18 by 1of4
Correcting a typo

[1of4]

I have hinted at the all you can drink alcohol, coffee (including specialty coffees) mock-tails, etc. since I hurt my foot I wasn’t able to get better pictures but these will give you an idea. The lounge has a very expensive coffee/hot chocolate machine making excellent drinks at a push of a button. It also has a tea making station with an instant hot tap and many selections of both tea bags and loose tea. The bar includes Remy-Martin, high end Scotch selection, champagne, etc. The dining room has a wine wall. 

[ORTravelGal]

On 4/15/2024 at 12:43 PM, 1of4 said:

This difference goes to Scenic: toilet paper, unless HAL has upped their ply level from 1. Scenic uses quilted toiled paper that is soft and is 2-3 ply. 

I just got off HAL’s Rotterdam today and I’m pleased to advise we had 2-ply TP on the entire 14-day transatlantic crossing. 😉

[Cruise NH]

On 4/15/2024 at 5:14 PM, 1of4 said:

I believe it is only 1 bag of laundry once per voyage unless you are in the top suite. 

Are you talking about a deal you had for one bag or are you saying that everyone on the boat (other then suite) are only allowed one bag each?

[1of4]

27 minutes ago, Cruise NH said:

Are you talking about a deal you had for one bag or are you saying that everyone on the boat (other then suite) are only allowed one bag each?

Typically river cruises do not offer laundry, or laundry packages. You can pay per item, and pay for pressing. Scenic offers 1 kg of free laundry per cabin per voyage. The Royal Suites get unlimited laundry. 

[Cruise NH]

1 hour ago, 1of4 said:

Typically river cruises do not offer laundry, or laundry packages. You can pay per item, and pay for pressing. Scenic offers 1 kg of free laundry per cabin per voyage. The Royal Suites get unlimited laundry. 

Thanks for the clarification!