It's hard to write a single review, because there are so many different aspects of the cruise. So here is my long review, broken into topics.

THE COMPANY

The worst part of the cruise was the lack of information and attention to detail on the part of Scenic. I should have suspected there would be a problem when they canceled our original itinerary (the Danube, departing from Budapest) without explanation. Then, I got a nasty e-mail about them canceling the cruise if I didn't pay the balance owing -- weeks after I had paid for the cruise in full. Scenic provides very little information in advance about the shore excursions, and we got lots of mixed signals about when we could board on embarkation day (everything from "not before 3:00" to "any time." Apparently, there was an "embarkation lunch" that ended at 3:00, supposedly the earliest time we could arrive, so when we got there no food was available until dinner. Many of the materials in our room were for a different itinerary, on most documents we received during the cruise our names were spelled incorrectly, and when we got a fancy invitation in a gold envelope to attend a classical concert in a castle, said castle was in Vienna. The problem? We were in Mannheim. And despite all of the information Scenic provides about its ships, including the nice gym they have on board, there was no gym on our ship (which probably would have been a dealbreaker if we'd known that in advance). For what we paid, I would expect more information, correct information, and a greater attention to detail. Read more