Cruise was supposed to be a river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, however, low water levels resulted in being bussed 800 km of the 1400 km trip. Scenic was not, of course, responsible for the low water, however, they almost certainly knew well before the Oct. 16/18 start date that they would likely have to bus passengers for more than 1/2 of the trip. They therefore should have cancelled the trip as they knew they would be unable to provide the product promised, or even a reasonable facsimile of it. This was a very expensive bus tour. We were put up at a hotel in Budapest for 2 days before being bussed over 300 km to board our ship. We were scheduled to be on the Crystal but instead boarded the Pearl (sister ship) but for only 2 days then bussed over 300 +km to board the Opal which we were on for 6 (or maybe 7) days then bussed for about 200 km to board the Amber which we were on for 3 days. Breakfast & lunch were, of course, buffet and were good. Dinners were, however, inconsistent. Beef not cooked correctly, entrees not hot. Service was good ie. prompt. Not the over the top friendly we're used to on ocean cruises. Could be because the crew was eastern European & it's not their culture. Very little on board entertainment but none really expected. Nice comfortable lounge. Read Less

Based on our Travel Coordinator's advice we selected the Scenic Luxury Cruises for our first cruise. The entire crew was superb. They were very attentive to our requests. As an example, while on shore I asked our Cruise Director, Cathy, if she could point me to a pharmacy to purchase some throat lozenges. She said she would take care of it and when the group got together a little later, Cathy had purchased them and did not make a big deal out of it. River cruising will always be impacted by the amount of water in the river. The Rhine River was sufficiently low that we had to disembark the Ruby and take a more shallow day cruise through the Rhine River gorges. While the guests were on the day cruiser, the crew disembarked our luggage and drove to the other end of the gorges where the Crystal was waiting when we arrived. Scenic and their crews did an excellent job of keeping the passengers informed and then doing the ship switch professionally. By the way, the unplanned day cruise ship was filled with tourists and locals and ended up being a pleasant experience. The on shore tours and events were excellent. In addition to the crew, we enjoyed meeting fellow passengers and sharing stories. In summary, Scenic was a great experience. Read Less

Our cruise director was fantastic. She did her very best to resolve problems and kept a very positive attitude throughout the entire trip. We did not really appreciate changing ships after four days, without being told at the beginning not to unpack all our clothes. Communication would have been appreciated. Loved the electric bikes. Disappointed one tour was cancelled. Loved the opera and piano concert at the palace.... and we are not really opera fans! The performers was fantastic. The setting was dreamlike! Marco, the piano player on the scenic was wonderful. A real entertainer. We really enjoyed his performances. Food was ok. The steak and lobster dinner was a disaster. Most dinner choices were tasty. Portobellos was very good -- but you had only one night. Hated flying Air France ( 9 hours in premium business class with a small bottle of water given at the beginning and a 3 ounce glass distributed in hour 8. Awful service). Loved flying KLM. Our cabin on the Ruby was well laid out. The cabin on the Crystal not so functional. We believe Scenic did the best they could given low water levels Read Less

I chose Scenic for our Rhine River Cruise based on web research (including this site) and other independent sites. Obviously Scenic is not as well known in the U.S. due to their lack of advertising. Every time we would mention that we were going on a River cruise folks would say, "On Viking?" Ah, the power of PBS advertising! I knew that with water levels low in Europe this summer the potential for an interrupted journey on the Rhine was a possibility--and, yes, that's exactly what happened. However. I give Scenic high marks for handling this in stride and my remembrances of this cruise will be about the wonderful experience, service and excursions rather than the slight trip disruption. Having never taken another river cruise I don't have a basis for comparison but I doubt that any other company could pull this off any better than Scenic. We disembarked Amsterdam on the Scenic Ruby (instead of the Jasper as advertised) and Scenic was very open that up river problems caused them to switch boats. No problem, the Ruby was an excellent vessel that was refurbished not too long ago. Great crew (excellent butlers), great food and entertainment and top notch cruise director. Shortly before we reached Koblenz we were informed that the trip would be interrupted so we had to repack. After our morning excursion to Cochem (outstanding) and lunch (o the Ruby) Scenic put us on a commercial sightseeing boat to go through the Rhine Gorge for three hours (i.e., not bussed but still cruising) and then coaches for the last 40-50 km meeting our new ship (Crystal) at Rudesheim. When we arrived in our new cabin all our luggage (including carry ons) was waiting. The cruise continued as normal, albeit with a different ship which was virtually the same as the Ruby although the Crystal was several years newer. Never crew but same great service, food and entertainment and our Cruise Director (Kathy) stayed with us which really helped the continuity of the cruise. I would recommend Scenic and take the exact same cruise EVEN IF I knew there was going to be a water level disruption. The Scenic people are pros and this was a first class cruise. Scenic made a big deal about how we continued cruising despite the interruption whereas other cruises required passengers to finish much of the tour by coaches. I don't know how true that is, but I will remember this wonderful cruise experience, not the slight trip interruption. Kudos to Scenic. Read Less

After lots of consideration, we booked our first ever river cruise with Scenic, on their Rhine Highlights cruise which departs from Amsterdam and meanders down the Rhine to Basel, Switzerland. We chose Scenic largely because it was advertised as all-inclusive and also to experience the line's newest ship, the Jasper. Thus, we were dismayed to be informed the day before departure that the Jasper was unavailable and we had been switched to the Scenic Ruby (a considerably older build). Transfer to the ship from the airport was handled very smoothly. The Ruby is showing its age a bit, and the layout of the Royal Balcony Suite, especially the bathroom, was such that it seemed a bit cramped. Nonetheless, the room was spotless, and we were greeted with all the special amenities that Scenic offers its guests. The crew and staff were outstanding, especially our cabin butler and housekeeper. They both learned our preferences within the day and insured that everything was as we liked it throughout. Due to low water levels, we were transferred to the Crystal after three days. It totally met our expectations! And service! Our Ruby butler communicated our preferences to his counterpart on the Crystal and everything was exactly how we wanted upon arrival! Dining options were excellent, especially the two prime dining experiences, La Rive and Portobello. Even in those venues, my husand's needs for gluten-free choices were accommodated. The excursions were all well planned with varied options from which to choose each day. The cruise director was great. She pulled off a miracle when, on the day of the ship transfer, our ship was unable to arrive as scheduled to pick everyone up. On the fly, she arranged lunch for 166 people and made alternate transportation plans...all with a smile and good humor! I also appreciated that some options were available for "gentle walkers" - those people who preferred less strenuous activities, even though we did not need those. I thought the cruise was exactly as advertised and it was indeed all-inclusive. I'd certainly rate our as Scenic experience excellent and would definitely choose to cruise with them again. PS: My ratings reflect our experience on the Scenic Crystal, not the Ruby. Read Less

We did a European river boat cruise with Scenic. With river cruises you need to be aware that if river levels are either to high or to low your cruise may become a bus tour. We were very fortunate that we were able to go all the way from Budapest to Amsterdam. The ports we came to were all beautiful and full of history. Our ships cruise director did a wonderful job. Scenic gears there excursions to an older age group 60-75ish. What we were really disappointed in was the service and food. The morning meals when order from kitchen often took a long time and came out cold. The same happened at lunch. The buffet if you came later was often cold as well. At dinner time the meat was often very dry and limited menu to order from. Even though we struggled with the food we did have some excellent service from Antonio and Royanto. We did use room service 4 times. Twice we got what we wanted once the order was wrong and once it never showed up. We were disappointed with the cabin Stewart. She never gave us clean towels or glasses unless we asked for them This should of been done daily. Our bar fridge was not filled up daily as it should of been. We had to complain to front desk a few times in order to get things done properly. Read Less

Friends past experience had me yearning to sail on Scenic having already done one riverboat cruise on Avalon As expected Scenic provided a five star experience. Nothing was too much trouble and everything ran like clockwork. The dining and bar staff were exceptional as was the young lady who cleaned our room We sailed from Budapest to Amsterdam for 15 days. My only complaint and this is a huge one was about the location of our stateroom. Never ever take the last suite on the middle deck. My husband called it the cell from hell. And we became very sleep deprived due to the boat engine being right next to our verandah We did complain however the boat was full so no change of cabin was available Excursion and entertainment was super. The food was tasty and the wine ran freely My husband loved being able to check a bike out and ride when he wanted to. A lovely trip minus the cabin Read Less

Ships looked inviting and upon the advice of our travel agent, liked the flexibility of payment plan and the all inclusive feature, nice when you don't require using your credit card too often. Everything was well co-ordinated and our cruise director on the Ruby and Chrystal did an outstanding job. Our cruise had to be deviated due to low water but the extra time and effort taken by Scenic to ensure that our trip was memorable certainly paid off. We had a wonderful experience. All the stops were lovely and each offered a diverse selection that appealed to anyone. Enjoyed the great selection of food and the flair of the country we were in at the time. Staff were warm and pleasant and always willing to help. Ship was kept very clean and inviting. We certainly would recommend travelling on a river cruise and Scenic would be one of our top choices Read Less

A European River Cruise had been on our Bucket List for sometime. After attending the Information Meeting we were completely sold and booked immediately on the Jewels of Europe Cruise - Amsterdam to Budapest and onto Prague. Our experience with Scenic was everything we had hoped for and much more. The ship(s) (will explain in a minute) were very well appointed, our cabin was spacious and comfortable, the staff were marvellous and very attentive and the food, exceptional! As stated in the information we had received ahead of time, and from what we had read during our research, these river cruises can be affected by the water levels. Such was the case during our cruise when the recent heat wave across Europe left all the main waterways at exceptionally low levels. As a result, we were forced to change our ship twice in order to get around the low waters. Scenic found solutions and even though we had to change ships twice mid journey - through no fault of theirs, they made the transitions seamless and all passengers that we came in contact with were thankful that we were able to remain 'cruising' and not be relegated to Buses for the remainder of our journey. We travelled on the Scenic Opal, transferred to the Ruby and finally to the Scenic Crystal. All ships, staff, accommodations and food were top notch. Our excursions were all wonderful with experienced and interesting Tour Guides. We loved having choices and the Enriched Experiences were terrific. All in all, I cannot think of a single thing I would change.... we loved 19 days with Scenic. I think they went out of their way to make us feel special and well cared for, with no detail overlooked. A special shout out to our Tour Director, Tadej..........he worked tirelessly to ensure everything ran smoothly...... thank you for making everything so special!! Read Less

On advise from our travel agent and excellent reviews we decided to travel through Europe on a river purpose built vessel and experience this fantastic trip ourselves , booked a year in advance to secure a cabin on deck 3 ,before the actual cruise we booked through Scenic into the Marriott ( outstanding hotel) and the view on the Danube river to give us enough time to explore the city for a couple of days The day of embarkation , smooth and hassle free, disembarkation in Amsterdam likewise with transfers well organised by our outstanding cruise director Patrik . The Ship is what it is , modern and clean with excellent and very professional and friendly staff who do their best to make this a great experience. We didn't use the room service as we preferred to use the dining facilities in the main mess room, that was our choice , my guess is the cabin (333) is fairly compact but well appointed but not great for in cabin dining :-) The set up of these ships , only one dining room to accomodate all passengers for meals and if the bell rings for ' Chow time' people seem to rush down to secure their seats and if you decide to enter a bit later you feel sort of stranded , Scenic try to sort this out by using their Porto Bello area in the main lounge as well , this helps to a certain extend and this should be done every time , and am sure the hotel staff is aware of this . Dining is okay , I am not a complainer by all means, on a scale of 1-10, cannot give it more than 7.5- 8 , their is choice however , but would love the dining degustation experience that was offered to us at the ' Captains Table ' on every occasion and for all guests, as is the Porto Bello fine dining experience . Entertainment , love our pianist Marco Di Napoli Shore activities , out of this world ! Well organised , loved it 100 % Do I want to make another cruise with Scenic ? Probably as a foody and wine lover perhaps France , make no mistake the German and Austrian wines are excellent too. Read Less