We are not "cruise" people. We prefer to rent apartments & cars and stay in small European towns then venture out in all directions on our own. We typically don't like group tours. But, we decided to try a Danube cruise as something different. Our cruise was to go from Budapest to Nuremberg. We flew into Budapest a day early and met our old friends who were doing the cruise with us. The night before we were to board the ship, we received an email. A lock had been damaged and our ship could not get to Budapest to start there. We were so disappointed. At the designated meeting time, they very efficiently put all of us on coaches and drove us 2.5 hours to meet the boat in Bratislava. In spite of all us cranky passengers, they kept their cool.

The first 3 days of planned stops and activities had to be changed on the fly. It's times like this when you find out just how good a cruise line really is! The Scenic crew were Amazing! When our buses arrived and had to park a few hundred yards from the ship, virtually every crew member from cooks to managers to bartenders met the buses with big smiles and schlepped our luggage in the awful heat all the way to the boat while we were welcomed warmly with hot towels and beverages. Within an hour, everyone's luggage was delivered to their rooms. They creatively altered our tour options so that we did not feel like we "missed out." They made sure we felt appreciated the entire trip.

Food, drinks, entertainment, and excursions were all top-notch. The chef was exceptional; tons of choices at every meal. Drinks flowed and Nothing we wanted was extra or too much trouble for the excellent bartenders. Wines with meals were much better than we expected. All the local tour guides used were excellent. The ship was spotless and run with impressive efficiency. The mixture of passengers was great; it did not feel like a "senior" or snotty cruise. Everyone laughed & partied a lot. The dress code was far less formal than brochures make it sound. If we ever do another river cruise, it will definitely be with Scenic.