Scenic Sapphire Comments

[emel]

Just returned from Nov 3 to 17, Budapest to Amsterdam cruise.

Just want to say that the ship was great, we had a junior suite and compared to the Windstar ships there was a little more room and the bathroom was huge. Very clean and comfortable. We used the balcony every day mostly first thing in the morning and last thing at night and a for short periods during the daytime. We were very busy during the day with touring. The staff and crew were wonderful. Helpful and courteous. The tour director Werney was excellent. He was knowledgeable, friendly, very helpful and made it his busines to know his passengers. We had very good weather, clear but not always sunny for all but two days and in the 40 F and 50 F range most of the time. Very unusual for this time of year and the locals agreed. The embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly. They practically welcomed us with open arms. Wine with dinner and lunch was free flowing and good quality. We were not pleased with the quality of the food, especially dinner. We were expecting quality more like what we had on the Windstar when she was with the Holland America Line. (Although we found their quality dropped after HAL sold them off). Breakfast and Lunch had buffet and menu selections. They were usually adequate but boring after the first week. The canapes delivered twice a day to the room were sometimes good and sometimes unusual.

The tours with 2 exceptions were great with excellent tour guides and well planned tours. I think the problem with the 2 was more with the tour operator not Scenic's TD. Overall we gave Scenic high marks in all categories except for the dining experience. Otherwise we enjoyed ourselves very much, met some great Aussies and Kiwis. Might do another river cruise sometime way in the future on another river but too many other things to see and do before another river cruise. That's all, I don't plan to go into details on tours etc. Lots to do to get caught up. Hope this helps.

[orchestrapal]

Emel: Enjoyed your review.

Please tell us how many Americans you met on the boat?

It does seem that they do not yet cater to the American/Canadian markets.:confused:

[cbdnewbie]

Hi Emel,

 

Thanks for the review that you posted. My husband and I booked a Scenic Tour cruise for next year. As we are new to cruising, could you kindly tell me the dress code for the Welcome and Captain's dinner. Is is really formal with ties and dinner jackets for men and semi formal for ladies? What about the dress code for the "regular night" dinners? Smart casual or are there passengers wearing jeans?

 

Thanks...

[emel]

Orchestrapal, No Americans, only Aussies, a few Kiwis and 2 Canadians. The 2008 launch was aimed primarily at the Aus. market. Not sure when it hit the North American market but when I checked in May there weren't many rooms left, I had to wait for a cancellation for the Jr. suite. The 2009 promotion is concentrating a lot more on North America.

 

Cbdnewbie, dress code is casual. At dinner, only two or three dressy nights and that was a mixture of casual to cocktail dress, no tuxes or formal dresses. Some men wore jackets or suits with ties but they were in the minority and most women wore dressy tops with slacks or a low keyed cocktail/dinner dress for the formal nights. Otherwise it was quite informal, sports or polo shirts with dockers for men and blouses or sweaters with slacks or skirts for women. Sometimes after a long day on tour, dress was even more casual with a lot of people, like jeans and sweatshirts. I think the more time we had to prepare for dinner the fancier job we did. Because of the weather, I only saw shorts the first or second day on some men at lunch time.

[cbdnewbie]

Thanks heaps, Emel ! I can now stop worrying about what kind of clothes to pack for the cruise :) - with regards to the quality of food, I can also now stop worrying about gaining unwanted kilos :D

[orchestrapal]

Thanks emel, that is just what I expected to hear.

[eedee2]

Hi Emel. Were you in one of the junior suites at the aft of the boat? On prevoius posts there has been mention of the aft suites as being effected by noise from the engines and also fumes from the engines making it unpleasant to sit outside. If you weren't in one of the aft suites did you hear any comment about them? Hope you can shed some more light on this matter!

[emel]

Hi Eedee2, We had RJ302 which is on the port side, midship. It's the first stateroom as you enter the passengers hallway, so very convenient that way. It's the handicap suite so it has a few features to accommodate a handicapped person such as the door opening and closing automatically but I can't see a wheelchair manuevering in that room. I did find it a little noisy since everyone passes your door and some passengers were quite loud. Also extra loud noise drifts up from the reception and lounge but later in the evening, for the night, they close a door at the entrance to the hallway which blocks out all noise coming from reception or the lounge. The noise is only a problem from the loud party animals who have no regard for other passengers. We had a few of them on our level.

 

I don't know anything at all about the rear Jr. Suites, did not meet those folks. Sorry.

[newnanna]

Hi Eedee2,

Just returned from the Scenic Emerald and yes the passengers in the suites at the back of the ship did have problems with not only the noise but vibations. One couple demanded they be shifted and luckily they were able to be but the others weren't so lucky. One couple was so distressed that as soon as the ship docked in Amsterdam they left the ship and booked into a hotel for the night.

another couple said they had to sleep with earplugs. Apparently, on some occasions the vibations were so bad thet the drinking glasses fell to the floor and smashed. I must admit I did take a walk up the hall way and yet the vibations were very strong, and the noise quite loud, and definately would not accept a cabin in that area.

[eedee2]

Thanks for the information about the aft of the boats. Do you think its likely that the Scenic engineers will be addressing this problem? Or is this this maybe just how these boats will always perfom?:confused:

[eedee2]

Just read on a prevoius post that Scenic will be looking into the noise/vibration problems!

[newnanna]

Yes, I also heard that the engineers will be looking into the problem.