Scenic asked for our opinion after our first ever cruise.
Here it is. The Bordeaux Affair was a fabulous cruise experience except for the total failure of the sanitation system on the ship, and partial for the remainder of the week. This failure was complete at times (leaving cabin toilets full of waste and no working toilets at all for an ENTIRE DAY). Sometimes the blockage was partial, ...
On whole, the trip met our expectations and we will most likely take a future river cruise with Viking, but there were some quirks that folks should understand if they are not familiar with Bordeaux or if they are new to river cruises (or Viking river cruises in particular).
From prior posters' reports, we knew in advance that there would not be much cruising on this trip. If that had been a ...
We'd never taken a river cruise as we normally travel independently, however, I knew we'd need help navigating our way through Bordeaux to learn more about wine. We were so impressed by our cruise director Elia, as well as the entire staff. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and professional. Virginie is truly a charmer!!
Unfortunately, our experience was tainted by a large group of rowdy ...
We chose this cruise to travel with friends who had been with Scenic previously. We travelled by Eurostar and TGV to Bordeaux, which was fine but only just made it to Paris Montparnasse as the cross-Paris timing was very tight. On arrival at Bordeaux we were not met by any representative so made our own way to the ship. From there our luggage was taken on board, we were given champagne and ...
Excellent service from Scenic. All was included: drinks, tips etc, so although it seemed expensive, there was nothing else to pay. There were well organised excursions, with consideration for those with walking problems. They did arrange special itineraries with less walking when necessary. There was a very helpful cruise director, with a good sense of humour. We have been with this company ...
This was a last minute trip for my wife's 70th birthday. We loved the ship, food, service, and met many delightful people. Bordeaux is a lovely region of France, and we learned a lot about wine making and tasting. The atmosphere throughout the whole trip was relaxed, We enjoyed meeting new friends which is easy because the cruise only has a maximum of 200 passengers.
They met us at the ...
Great time. Ship and Staff was first class. Lorin, the Program Director does a great job. All of the excursions were very well done. All of our tour guides were excellent and spoke very good English. Getting on and off the ship was a breeze.
This is a cruise that is definitely wine-centric, but there were some cruisers just along for the ride. Food and beverage offerings were nice. We ...
We are great fans of French reds and really enjoyed our previous trips exploring the Rhone region and Champagne areas of France. Bordeaux appealed for many of the same reasons: lovely scenery, great wineries, picturesque chateaux, farmer's markets and good food.
We chose the Scenic Diamond as there was a good amount of time to be spent in Bordeaux itself, and that was indeed our favorite ...
This Chateaux and Wine Country cruise on the Viking Forseti during the week of Christmas was one of the best gifts we've ever received. We traveled with our family group of 8. A "Viking" met us at the Bordeaux airport, helped us fill out lost luggage forms, and then whisked us off to the modern, sleek Viking Forseti in one of the fleet of clean & swift buses that are part of the Viking ...
The cruise lived up to the description in the literature we received. Service on board was excellent as was the food. The excursions were quite good and two of the excursions were excellent. In particular we enjoyed motoring across the Gulf of Arcachon, seeing and learning about oyster farming and harvesting, sampling local oysters, and finally having an excellent lunch at a local restaurant. ...