Has anyone cruised on Scenic Emerald?

[Hot2Travel]

Looking for any opinions on the Emerald.;) Did you do Budapest/Amsterdam?:)

[De Boss]

:rolleyes: Just home from cruising with the Emerald. Actually enjoyed the trip from Amsterdam to Nuremburg before we had to change to Sapphire. Reason given - water levels too high due to melting snow and flooded river.

Emerald great, although rear was a bit noisy; staff fantastic, superb and extremely friendly. Didn't have internet much of trip. Food was great. Bit of a line to get lunch at buffet, but worth the wait. Scenic could have had more hand washing stations, as I felt there wasn't enough and some times none at all.

Enjoy your trip.

[De Boss]

Further to last posting:

 

Wine flowed at lunch and dinner, but you can order a beer if you want and included. Porto Bellos is a must do, so book with Maitre De early to secure your reservation - is silver service and limited places, but great experience and again included in price. Laundry is best done in your cabin as quite expensive otherwise. We found we washed and anything to be pressed was given to butler. (We were on Danube deck) Allow 12 hours for return of pressing.

[steamboats]

De Boss,

 

There definitely was no high water on the Danube river in April (and still is not). And the Canal doesn´t have any water level problems at all as an artificial waterway. And Nuremberg is on the Canal.

 

But there was (is) a lock closure Apr 21st - 29th on the Main river, the Canal and the Danube river down to Regensburg. Below Regensburg all locks are open.

 

That was most likely the reason why you had to change ships.

 

steamboats

[Hot2Travel]

Thanks DeBoss for the informative report. :)

[De Boss]

Hi Steamboats,

Thanks for the info on water levels. We were told that levels were too high for ship to pass under, but many passengers have another theory which we are dealing with, through our tour company. We sailed between 23 March and disembarked in Vienna on 4th April, so definitely no lock closures.

De Boss

[steamboats]

DeBoss,

 

Anyway there was no high water by that time either.

 

I´m currently in Budapest and lots of ships were in yesterday. No high water at all (and I´ve seen high water in Budapest).

 

steamboats

[Hideawaycouple]

We have just finished our Scenic River Cruise on the Emerald, from Amsterdam to Budapest. Let me just say that you will have a wonderful time. The crew and the service they provided was five star. The food was exceptionally good. The facilities are also five star. I cannot put into words how great it all was. Our cruise director, Tanna, was very good. You can order from the menu at lunch instead of lining up at the buffet which is what we did to have a more relaxing lunch. The five course dinners each night were exceptionally good. The serving size of each course is not huge so you can afford to order more courses than you normally would. I am only a small person (50kgs) and usually only have a small appertite but even I could fit in most courses each night. Our room was very comfortable and plenty of storage space so you can settle in to your 'home' for the two week journey. I personally cannot fault anything with the cruise.

[sanny]

:rolleyes: Just home from cruising with the Emerald. Actually enjoyed the trip from Amsterdam to Nuremburg before we had to change to Sapphire. Reason given - water levels too high due to melting snow and flooded river.

Hi DeBoss, how very interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are having ENORMOUS issues re our recent cruise. And now you have just confirmed something that I have suspected all along. We were booked on the cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest sailing 23 March. In fact, I booked this cruise because our wedding anniversary was 22 March and we would have been celebrating in Paris!. In November last year we were contacted by Scenic to say that this cruise had been cancelled. Funny, you must have been on someother Scenic cruise that departed Amsterdam on 23 March - not the one we were supposed to be on. In any case, they moved us to a cruise which departed Amsterdam on 20 April - this cruise was affected by the lock closures, and I can assure you that it was very, very different to what we expected from the advertising. Not only did we have to change ships, 5 days of the 14 day cruise became a bus tour - actually, worse than that because not only did we have to travel to the scheduled stop, but we had to return - 3 days in a row. Somehow I think it would have been better if they hadn't lied to us and we had travelled when we should have (23 March) and we would have only need to change ships - and skip the bus tour! I'd be very interested to know of any ongoing issues you may be having with Scenic. I can provide my email address if you'd prefer.