Ship was beautiful, cabins were huge very spacious the bathroom was a very generous size with a amazing shower. The dining on board is the best dinning experience i have ever had the waiting staff very polite and knowledgeable regarding wines and dishes being served. The port of call were fantastic great choice with very knowledgeable guides who were happy to answer any questions along the way. Seeing the Eiffel Tower illuminated and sparkling was a great start to our cruise. Service we received from every single staff,crew member was brilliant. The whole experience from start to finish was seamless Entertainment was very low key which was fine, nice music playing in the background each evening. I would 110% recommend a Scenic Cruise to friend and family i can guarantee you will be blown away. Looking forward to planning another one and i know Scenic will be my first choice every time. Read Less

We choose this cruise because of the itinerary, reputation for luxury, food and wine, and the date of sailing. Ship: The ship's decor was okay but definitely could be updated in my opinion. There was a nice area upstairs that was used for alternate dining (the Blue Fox). It would be nice if this was an upper level bar, at least for part of the day. Cabin: The room, for a luxury cruise, was tiny, as was the bathroom. My husband and I are small people and we had to wait for the other to pass before moving about the cabin. The bed and linens were very comfortable though. Dining: The food was usually excellent, and if something occasionally was disappointing there were always other choices. We were however, very disappointed with the "fine" wine included with our cruise and the cost for premium wines was steep. Entertainment and Activities: There was an oyster tasting event on board which was excellent and a cooking demo on Caneles. It was nice to have a piano player in the lounge but the music was pretty much the same every night with the exception of a couple of nights of scheduled singers. The cruise manager did a great job of scheduling activities of varying levels, optional filler events, and downtime. Service: Our cruise manager was fabulous, she even assisted us in scheduling an excursion of our own. The staff was excellent, very friendly and accommodating. Ports and Shore Excursions: Excellent! It was nice that there were choices for different ability levels. The groups were divided into very manageable, comfortable sizes. The ports and shore excursions were very interesting and Uniworld hired excellent guides. I would definitely consider a Uniworld Cruise again. Read Less

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 friends who dominated the ship and activities. Their main objective seemed to be drinking to the point of oblivion. I never expected that from a river cruise!! The staff handled it well, although I think the waiters lost patience towards the end as these guests asked for extra free glasses of wine to take back after dinner in attempts to not have to pay for it at the bar. Talk about reinforcing the "ugly American" reputation... The food was excellent, our room comfortable and spotless, and the morning views on the rivers were spectacular. Bordeaux is an exciting town and easily accessible from Paris by train. Read Less

This was our first ever cruise. We chose the 4 nights trip from Southampton to Zeebrugge and then the trip to St Peter Port (Guernsey) returning to Southampton. We upgraded to deck 11 and had a lovely balcony in a luxurious state room. Our room number was 11074 and we were travelling with family who had rooms 11070 & 11064. We found the service and the facilities perfect. The crew were exceptional and made us feel so much at home and relaxed. Evening meals in the Britannia Restaurant was magical and it was a lovely touch that the waiters all stand in a line at the doorway in to greet you when you arrive each evening. Food in every Restaurant was absolutely brilliant and we all ate like kings for our whole voyage. The evening shows were superb as was the Planetarium show. If I had to say a negative about the cruise it was the very expensive alcohol on board. We really spent far to much money on this and really should have brought more with us to reduce the costing. The fact of the matter is that you pay extortionate prices for all drinks and then to slap you really hard in the face they then add on a Compulsory Automatic Service Charge. On our first night we selected two bottles of wine one Red & One White. The two bottles came to $112:50 and then they added on the Service Charge $16:88 which gave us a total of $129:38. This was far to much and kind of set the theme with costing which made us feel uneasy with Cunard and this policy. Even if you went to the bar yourself and bought two pints of draught San Miguel this would set you back $14:95 which included the service charge of $1:95. Not sure how they get away with this extra costing. One tip we took from friends was to visit the Pursers office when we first got on board and we requested they remove the Automatic Gratuity they put on each day. If we had not done this then the 6 of us would have had to have found between us approx. £300 sterling. Anyway forgetting the moan about the extra chargers we did have a great time and enjoyed a wonderful opulent experience. Read Less

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 escorted through the beautiful ship to our cabin, which although smallish by ocean cruise standards was beautifully fitted with a balcony and kept spotless by our cabin attendant Angela. The dining on the ship was excellent with fine wines and other drinks included. The choice of food was excellent and the two special dining evenings were superb. There was a wide choice of excursions (included) to wine chateaux to taste and dine. Passengers should be aware that they should be fairly fit for the walking involved. The entertainment on board was a resident musician, and guest artistes from the local area, and also a very good crew show. Finally, the crew and service on board was faultless, friendly and attentive with a smile. Disembarkation went smoothly and we were transferred to the station for our train journey back to the UK. Would we go again - yes but would need to pace ourselves for the walking involved. Read Less

We chose this cruise specifically because it was advertised at Jukebox Saturday Night with Ken Sparks. The disappointing part of the trip was that we did not get to spend time with him as he was not well and stayed within a small group for the first week, then he had a heart attack and consequently died. The cruise itself was magnificent, the food, great, the entertainment that was provided by an on board entertainer,great, the tours each day were magnificent, the tour director, magnificent, the staff were fantastic. The tours were a lttle tiring for the people in their seventies, as I am in my fifties and definitely was worn out by the end. The cabin was excellent as we had a balcony and all the trimmings. Overall the cruise was magnificent and I would recommend anyone to go on a cruise with Scenic and I am sure when we can afford the next one we will be going again. Read Less

Cruise was faultless with staff being exceptional. We had a fantastic Cruise Director who ensured the trip went without any hassles. He was very friendly and went out of his way to meet people's needs. The cruise stopped at some ports for a couple of days to enable us to take tours to some areas further away. We went to the Somme area, for example, and also the D-Day landing sites. It meant some longish bus trips bit you got to see the countryside. Guides on all of our excursions whether they were the longer trips of just town/city visits were very good. Our guide to the Somme was exceptional and he helped bring the whole story to life. We dodn't do a lot of sailing during daylight hours but just enough to see some of the lovely houses on France along the Seine. Staff, as mentioned, were brilliant. Very friendly and they didn't know the meaning of the word 'no'. Top, top class. Food was also brilliant with lots of choice. Very difficult to fault. We've sailed with Scenic before and will go again in a couple of years. Read Less

This was the year of the great French roast, Paris at 35ºC and similar to that all the cruise long. The payback was clear blue skies, no rain and great photos.The ship was 100% full, hence the service levels in the public areas were stretched. This cruise is a mixture of great French wines and cheeses (approx 450 different cheeses to be tasted), as far as scenery goes the highlights are the cities. The visit to an old hospital and nearby wine tasting at Marche aux Vin was very interesting, as was our first tasting of French nougat which is based on egg white and honey, as was the truffle farm (with charming hosts & dog). The Sundowners excursion (a walk to a nearby fortress tower) for wine/beer/nibbles with live musicians in a cool afternoon breeze was very hard to take. The itinerary was exactly as published. Compliments have to be given to all the bus drivers - they were very professional, safe drivers who helped some of our fellow passengers with their walkers. Driving through the French countryside was most enjoyable. Read Less

The name of this cruise is "Spectacular South of France". This cruise spends most evenings in ports large and small. The first night is is in Paris, which is not on the river cruised; Saone and Rhone rivers. We gathered for a nights stay at the Scenic's host hotel in Paris. Nice 4 star hotel. The next morning our bags were collected from the hallway at the designated time and we were bussed to the train station for our day trip to Dijon. We were given a short tour. Then we boarded a bus and were transported to the ship that was docked in Chalon-sur-Saone. This is almost an all-inclusive cruise, All drinks, meals, tips, great internet service and shore excursions are included.We also had several special events off the ship that were also included. We visited Tournus, Cluney, Macon, Lyon, Tournon,Viviers, Ardeche National Park, Chateauneuf-du-pape, Avignon, Arles and Tarascon via bus or port. This cruise line obviously caters to Australians and Brits, most of whom were third,fourth or five time regulars with Scenic. We had a blast being one of two American couples. The Australians, in particular, were fascinated by our politics and gun rights. We found the "aussies" to be much more sociable than our American associates back home. We were invited to dine with several separate couples and made some great friends. I can not say enough about the quality of the river cruise experience. On this cruise, you sit where you want, lounge where you want in a wonderfully appointed river "Spaceship". Go on shore excursions where and when you want. The food was top notch, service was impeccable; these guys do not skimp. Our butler "concierge level room" made my wife feel like a queen which made my trip wonderful. Two things I particularly liked about this cruise was the ability tour on your own by foot or electric assisted bike with a "GPS like device" that would self guide you through the port towns. You can also use this device to give you facts about places you see from your balcony while cruising and it is also used for tour guided trips to help you hear better.. We will return to travel with Scenic. The rooms, and bathrooms were balconies were kept clean and the refrigerator was stocked twice a day. Read Less

We have cruised on the larger Oceania ships before and were so pleased. We've done most of Europe already but this was a special cruise that featured the wine regions of Portugal, Spain and France. We cruised on Oceania Sirena. The ports were ok for the most part. We used Tours by Locals for most of our tours, rather than the costly ship tours. I felt our butler did not go over and above his service requirements. The food was excellent, as usual. I did not feel that the Sirena was as luxurious as the larger ships. It had undergone a refitting a few months back, but it still lacked the refinement of the other ships we sailed on. Although we did not attend any of the evening entertainment shows, I heard from several others that they were not great. I seriously doubt that I would ever sail on the Sirena again, but I still love Oceania. Read Less