Monarch Empress Review

4.0 / 5.0
12 reviews

5 Star Cruise, 2 Star Home Office Customer Service

Review for Europe River Cruise on Monarch Empress
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SandraPittsburgh
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Oct 2018

My husband and I took the Danube River Cruise with Prague & Budapest end of October. We are highly seasoned international travelers. We have taken numerous ocean cruises (premium to luxury), and this was our second river cruise. Through no fault of Gate1, our flight was delayed by 6 hours due to having mechanical issues causing a change in aircraft, and then waiting for the reserve aircraft to go through safety checks prior to departure. While waiting for departure, my husband called not once, but twice to keep Gate1 apprised of the situation. Long story short, we arrived in Prague, and even though we had been told by Gate1 that they would be monitoring the flight status, we, and one other couple, were ABANDONED at the Prague airport and essentially told that we did not arrive within the time frame according to their contract, and it was up to us to make our way to the hotel via taxi. Excuse me, but we were in the Immigration line for 1 hour and 25 minutes, and you took the other 10 passengers AHEAD of us that were on the SAME flight. Post trip -- I issued a Complaint with Customer Service that Gate1 owed us an explanation and an apology … that was 10 days ago … still waiting. I've decided that the home office is simply not equipped to handle simple apologies when they fall short, so expect about a 2 rating on Customer Service from this company from the home office. And, don't expect them to be waiting for you at the airport if your flight is delayed. Honestly, it was a BIG DEAL because we had paid for our transfers as they were not included in our package. And, when you pay for a product, you expect the service to be delivered.

The REAL REASON for this review, is honestly once we got past the initial disappointment, and the "Uh Oh, what have we gotten ourselves into" ... the whole experience changed dramatically. Everything about this trip was truly Top Notch! From the European Guides to the Hotels to the Tours to the Meals provided. Last year we took a Rhine River Cruise with Viking with additional nights pre-cruise in Brugges, Belgium, and Amsterdam. Both cruises were so close in nature that I think you can't go wrong. Following were our comparison observations:

1. Agents/Tour Guides/Cruise Director: All Excellent.

Cabin Review

Cabin C

Beautiful cabin kept immaculately CLEAN! Comfy bed and linens, amazing amounts of storage. We did request a top sheet as we are not used to sleeping with the slip covered duvet alone. The bathroom was very nicely designed and surprisingly roomy, plenty of hot water in the shower, very nice toiletries provided. Our Cabin Attendant was AMAZING!

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