We choose this particular trip for three reasons. First, we specifically wanted a Christmas market trip in Germany. The itinerary and length of trip matched exactly what we had in mind. Second, when looking at various trips the partnership between Scenic and National Geographic had strong appeal for us. Finally, in reviewing the Scenic Cruise line, their amenities and full service approach it all added up to booking with them. Once the initial booking was made it could not have been any more organized and easier. Every detail was captured and managed by Scenic. We chose to make our own airline arrangements but once made they added it to our itinerary and took care of connections from airport to hotel, hotel to ship and back again. It was as close to having private trip planner managing all the details as it could get. One month before we were to sail, we received detailed instructions and recommendations at our home. Once we boarded the plane to travel to Germany, Scenic really took care of everything after that. Arriving at the ship, the embarkation was smooth and fast. It could not have taken more than five minutes to check in and be escorted to our room. Their the staff assigned to us went over all the details of the room, what was available to us and how to contact them. The ship was modern, build in 2015, and immaculately clean. It remained that way throughout the trip. Our junior balcony suite was spacious and comfortable. We had plenty of room for our clothes and to spread out, including a glass lined balcony. The first evening and every evening after that the cruise director went over details for the next days itinerary and options. Each stop had several choices for guests to take advantage of ranging from fully guided tour to complete free time. Everything was completely organized and clear. After that talk, in the evening, a summary of what was said was placed in our room to help us remember. Also, there were countless staff available to answer any questions and help with any issue. On board each day were culturally related entertainment that were tied to the area we were in. Each offering was of high quality and enjoyable. In addition, two National Geographic experts on board gave presentations on the cruise that also were tied to the trip and region. They also accompanied us on our shore excursions and were available for any discussion. Shore entertainment excursions were also of the highest quality in wonderful settings. An example would be a private concert in a palace in Vienna that included an orchestra, opera and waltz. Really breathtaking. All shore excursions whether entertainment or informational were well organized with simple instructions. If informational local guides were well prepared, professional and highly informative. Food and drink on board were excellent and plentiful. As with the trip, we could have as much or as little as we wanted. Always great quality, the chef and other staff were also readily available for us to discuss the menu and quality. If we wanted special orders they were fulfilled with no problem. This was an excellent cruise from start to finish. Professional crew, focused on us having a great time really brought it all together. We would definitely recommend this trip and use Scenic again... Outstanding. Read Less

Joined friends on a Christmas Market River Cruise. We had booked two nights pre cruise and two nights post cruise in local hotels.Three days before we left home, Scenic changed our hotel from a 5 Star to a 3.5 star hotel. the business office insisted that this was considered an upgrade for us. The two nights were over $650. USD Embarkation as well as disembarkation were very smooth. The cruise director, Richard Gray, could not have been more accommodating. The ship is Lovely, and the cabin adequate.The service level is very high. All the staff were top notch. As there are drought conditions in Europe, the River levels can be an issue. We were prepared pre-cruise, that there could be an alternate itinerary. As it turned out this cruise was the first all season,to make the entire cruise on the river. There is much hype about their special pillows. Problem was that they ran out of the special down pillows on the first day. There is also much hype with regards to the cuisine. They should tone that down a bit. The buffets are good. Much selection for breakfast and lunch. You also have an option of ordering of a "special menu". Menu items were not freshly prepared. In general there is an issue of cold food. If there is a special menu offering Eggs Benedict, it is a reasonable expectation that the dish will be freshly prepared. That was not the case. The eggs were cold and overcooked. The food needs help. Read Less

Wanted to cruise from Budapest to Neuremberg on the Danube. We spent more time on a coach than on the river. In fact we only 'cruised' for 4/5 hours in daylight during the whole 7 days. Please check carefully water levels before you book. We were not advised of any problems until less than 24 hours before departure. We would have expected to be contacted and offered the possibility of cancellation due to the circumstances. Fortunately for us the weather was great and we were able to make good use of the electric bicycles that were available. This enabled us to see some of the countryside along the river. Shuttle bus services were put on which we used to visit local towns. Instead of sitting on a coach for up to 3/4 hours. Remember if you book a balcony suite you could be docked for hours/dayd looking into someone else's balcony on another cruise boat. Talking to other passengers who had cruised with National Geographic before, this partnership left a lot to be desired. Their representatives were very pleasant though. Be very wary if you have an intolerance or allergy to certain foods. My experience was difficult to say the least. Read Less

We chose this cruise line because rated as a "luxury all inclusive" line. Just prior to leaving, we read on Cruise Critic that our ship (the Jasper) was not in position for our cruise. We then called Scenic who confirmed that indeed we would not be on the Jasper (built 2015/2016) but rather on the Crystal (built 2012). We were on this ship for only two nights before we were told we would have to repack to transfer to the Ruby (built 2009). The staff on the Crystal must have known we were only going to be with them for 2 days because they seemed disinterested. The cabins on both these ships were smaller than what we paid for on the newer Jasper. There was also no pool on either ship unlike the Jasper. We have been on 23 ocean cruises with numerous cruise lines and have always found the food satisfactory; this is the FIRST time we have been disappointed with the quality and variety of the food! However, the service on the Ruby exceeded what we experienced on most of our ocean cruises. We understand that low water levels can't be controlled, and we were happy that we didn't get bused from town to town, at no time did anyone from Scenic offer a rebate given we had paid a higher price for booking on the Jasper. Given our experience mentioned above as well as some other minor issues, we will not book another river cruise. Read Less

An acquaintance recommended Scenic to me. We chose the Danube cruise with the Prague extension. Our first problem was arriving at Frankfurt airport: there was a holiday in Germany and as a result three long delays to get to our gate, so we missed our flight. Then Prague was unseasonably cold and many of us were not dressed for it. We had many upsides in Prague. The breakfast buffet was really excellent at the Marriot and the tour guide gave us insight into Czech culture given the Hapsburgs, Hitler, and Soviet invasion and domination. Due to low water levels, we were bussed from Prague to Passau, rather than to Regensburg and at the end of the cruise, we had to be bussed to Budapest, instead of cruising. We covered less than 30% of the river than planned! Scenic are compensating many of the passengers with a small refund. The itinerary changed very little from the plan: we had less time in Budapest, a stunning city, and we had the added option of exploring Passau, a very beautiful town. Regensburg was also very interesting. I was disappointed by the tours of Melk Abbey, Saltzburg and Vienna. The concert at Vienna was excellent. Mostly we cruised during the night but we did see the Wachau Valley which is truly beautiful. The breakfast and lunch buffets were excellent, while a la carte dinners were a bit mixed. When we eat at other locations it was also mixed. On the whole, I think Scenic staff did the best they could to entertain us and provide a 5 star experience. The meals on the boat and otherwise need some tweaking, and they now seem to be warning customers about low water levels in advance. Read Less

The water levels are low in Europe and itinerary disruptions are not the fault of Scenic, however what was controllable by Scenic was not well done for the most part. To Scenic's credit, tour director Richard worked his heart out to try and make the trip enjoyable for all and they are lucky to have him. The cabin was as advertised, small but comfortable. For anyone sailing in fall, skip these ships with the glassed in porch. You lose room and seldom open the windows, especially with all the flies in Passau! Dining was dreadful with food that was poorly prepared or of such small quantity that it became a subject of conversation amongst passengers. Even the specialty restaurant was not as good as the dining room on an Oceania ship. The dining room service was dodgy at best. Getting a second cup of coffee in the morning was near impossible and at supper the service looked like a fire drill with staff running here and there. Put this down to lack of staff. The excursions from day 3 to day 7 were as advertised. The endless bus trips the rest of the days did not make for great outings. e.g. Two hours in Regensburg instead of a day. To sum up, Scenic has very nice brochures but is very poor at delivering on the promise. Read Less

Chose this cruise as I wanted to cruise on the Danube from Nuremburg to Budapest. When we got picked up at Munich aiprort we were told that due to low water we would be bused to Passau so missed a large part of the cruise down the Danube. Then the ship only cruised for half a day during daylight hours. I thought there would be a lot more cruising during the day not at night and the tour descriptor did not make it clear that 90% of the cruising would take place in darkness. Once we got to Vienna again we were told the water was low so we would have to be bussed to Budapest which meant we had to retire early at night to pack our luggage to be taken off the boat at 0800hrs and board the buses at 0830hrs for a three and a half hour drive to Budapest. At Budapest we were taken on a rushed bus tour of Budapest and then taken to a hotel. Our luggage arrived later and again we were rushed to go onto a boat on the Danube for an evening meal. The boat was poor as was the meal. To say we were disappointed from start to finish with this cruise is an understatement. I am sure Scenic would have known about the low water levels on the Danube, the water just does not drop overnight. Scenic should have cancelled this sailing or we should have been made aware that changes would take place before we left the UK with the option to arrange other dates. Very poor Scenic, you put money before your customers. Read Less

Cruise had a great crew especially the Cruise Director, Richard Grey. Hotels in Prague and Budapest were good and well positioned in their cities. Food and service were good. Our guide in Prague was especially good. The Tailor Made devices are a good idea but don't work consistently. Scenic and all other cruise companies were impacted by low water levels on the Danube and although we were assured by customer service prior to our departure that the worst outcome would be a ship swap and that we would not be spending a lot of time on buses, we did in fact spend most of our week on buses. As it turned out, the only times we spent on this river were from Passau to Melk and from Melk to Vienna. We understand this was out of Scenic's control due to water levels. However, we missed our excursion to Nuremberg as we would have been on a bus for 8 hours to get there and back. It was two hours each way to Regensberg and we never did get to cruise the river from Vienna to Budapest and had to be bused there as well. We also missed out on a tour of the village outside Budapest. Again, we understand this was caused by low river water levels. However Scenic's River Cruise Guarantee in the form of compensation was totally inadequate. In the end, we received compensation for less than 10% of the value of our cruise. We paid luxury cruise prices for a river cruise that turned out to be more of a bus tour and we certainly did not receive 90%+ value for money. When i returned from our trip, i contacted customer service to register a complaint and was told that someone would respond that day. No one called. I was told to send an email to their customer service department and got an automated response that they would get back to me in two business days. I had to call them on the 4th day to get some action. In their River Cruise Guarantee, their Terms and Conditions state that they will not pay for claims arising directly or indirectly from: Consequential loss of any kind including loss of enjoyment.Their financial response to our loss of enjoyment is an insult to their customers. Their assumption that there is equivalency between a river cruise and a series of bus trips shows a complete lack of concern for a travelers enjoyment. If you are considering Scenic for your next cruise, be aware that if the trip goes off the rails even if it is not their fault such as river levels, they are not concerned about your loss of enjoyment as evidenced in the compensation that was offered. we have had a good experience with Avalon and we will go back to them on our next cruise. For anyone looking at this review, i would check out Avalon for your river cruise. Read Less

I believed that we were booking a 5 star cruise, we ended up on the worst experience in25 plus ocean cruises. Communication from Scenic was non existent. The day that we were flying to Budapest I called the Scenic office in Vancouver and the rep. Promised to call me when he got into the office. Well, he never called me, but I did receive a call from Nat. Geo. Who told me that we would be transferred from the airport in Budapest to a meeting room at the Marriott hotel where we would await others before we would be bussed to Vienna, a three hour bus ride after an overnight flight from North America. He told me that we would be on the Scenic Amber, which I knew was impossible as she was in Amsterdam, not Budapest. After that the cruise was downhill all the way. No daylight in the stateroom as we were moored to other ships in Vienna. The food was the worst I have experienced, poor choices, very poor quality. The farewell dinner was spaghetti with tomato sauce. I couldn’t believe it! We experienced only 3 hours of daylight sailing. The excursions were not what we were advised when we booked. The Butler was a joke as he was a butler/ waiter/ sailor. The Captain never showed for the Captains welcome cocktail party or the Captains farewell party, yet we did get to see him very often outside the wheelhouse on the sun deck having a smoke. This felt like a Mickey Mouse outfit, my apologies to the mouse, but it felt like we were sailing with a company that was in financial trouble. Read Less

Gems of the Danube river cruise (my husband and I were actual paying cruisers on the Jasper just 11 days ago. We were not compensated in any way to write this review) We did online research of several cruise lines. We were particularly looking at the excursions offered on various cruise lines. We felt Scenic offered a good variety of choices. Some active choices and some less active choices depending on how you're feeling. As expected the excursions were well thought out and executed. When traveling to a particular location we were aboard Volvo coaches. Very nice. Everything on the ship was done on time! Including embarkment and disembarkment, excursions, meals, entertainment, etc. Very nice. I can't say enough about the ship staff/crew. Super friendly! Every time we passed a staff member or had an encounter with one they smiled and greeted us. They genuinely seemed happy to be doing their job. We met some very interesting crew members. Funny and entertaining. Our cruise director was Richard from Yorkshire and he was so funny. He never got flustered either. Each room has a butler. The name of our butler was Graykor and he was very attentive. If you called him with a need he was at your door in a mater of minutes. The Hotel Manager on our ship was Marco and he assured that everything ran smoothly. And let us not forget the bartender. His name was Mikol (pronounced Me-Hi) and he was so funny. We loved getting to know him. I elected to have an optional massage during out first day of cruising to work out the knots from our traveling. The massage therapist did not disappoint. He gave an excellent deep tissue massage. Ahhhhh And the fee was no more then I would have paid here at home. The food! Oh the food. I miss it already. Excellent regional food. Buffet (excellent buffet food) or menu ordering for breakfast and lunch. And a fabulous menu of choices every night. The food and wine were paired as well. Twice during the cruise we received an invitation to a special dinner: Portobellos with restaurant manager Predrag Acimovic, and Table La Rive (for Diamond Deck cruisers) with Executive Chef Antonio Jones. An amazing dining experience with multiple courses. We really enjoyed the nightly entertainment too. Hungarian folk dancers, Viennese Waltz Dancers, Decades Disco with Enzo, Schuplattler Dancers, Trivia Challenge night, Music and dancing every evening throughout the cruise with Enzo at the piano. Last but not lease we made some wonderful friends and exchanged contact information. You know it's a wonderful vacation when you come home with new friends! I highly recommended Scenic Cruise Lines. It met and exceeded our expectations. I realize I used a lot of adjectives & exclamation points - but I'm still enjoying the wonderful memories we made on such a fun cruise! Read Less