Scenic Amber Review

-- / 5.0
Editor Rating
158 reviews

Outstanding Crew and Staff

Review for Europe Cruise on Scenic Amber
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wishIweretravelling
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Oct 2019

This was my second river cruise, with both being on Scenic. So my only basis for comparison is ocean cruises, of which I've had many. So some of my comments may be due to the nature of the product and its differences from ocean cruises.

Embarkation. Even though we made our own air arrangements, Scenic met us at the airport and whisked us to the ship. There were about a dozen of us, and we were taken straight to the ship in Budapest, where the prior passengers were still disembarking. They made us comfortable in the lounge, and prioritized the cleaning of our cabins, so we were able to access them quite early. This gave us the opportunity to explore Budapest a bit on our own, after a light but satisfying lunch in the River Cafe. The location of the ship--directly across from the Parliament Building--made this exploration very easy. In other words, the embarkation experience was perfect.

Crew. Simply outstanding. The Hotel Director, Cruise Director, and Food & Beverage Manager were very much present, and infused the entire ship with a sense of joy. The waiters and room attendants seemed to share this sense, and made the entire experience an enjoyable one. They all handled a major glitch (see below) well. I have to say, though, that I don't get the point of the butler. Ours introduced himself the first day and was never seen again until our final evening in Portabello (the specialty restaurant), where he waited table. Much less effectively than the regular waiters, but I suppose that's to be expected. When we tried to call him for one thing, his line was busy and did not go to voicemail. We flagged down our room attendant, who happily took care of that and all other room-related matters the whole time. The people next to us had an incident where their laundry came back wet. He said he'd take care of it, but never did. They wound up hanging things around their room to dry.

Cabin Review

Cabin Deluxe Balcony

If you are expecting a cabin comparable to a luxury-level ocean ship, forget about it. But if you go with the understanding that river ship cabins are compact, you'll be happy with this one.

Storage is excellent--there's a full wall of hanging, shelf, and drawer space, as well and under-bed drawers. I was traveling with a friend, so our beds were configured as twins, and there was adequate separation between the two. The beds were quite comfortable and were adjustable, which I loved as it enabled me to tilt my head up, or to put the bed in full seating position. This was helpful, as the only chairs in the cabin are in the balcony (apart from one useless desk chair).

The barrier between the main cabin and the balcony can be opened completely, making the balcony part of the room. We did find that we kept the curtain to the balcony closed a lot, either for privacy purposes--the whole world can see into the full wall of windows on the balcony--or because the sun was on that side making the room too warm. But still, this was nice.

The bathroom was pretty spacious for a river ship. The shower was fantastic, and there was sufficient storage in the bathroom. We could have used some more towel hanging space. The sink was vessel-style, which looks nice but is not very practical, as it is hard to wash your face without getting water all over the floor.

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