So, let's start with the ugly. Scenic, as a company, is the worst at communication I have literally ever seen. We were, unfortunately, on our own to get to the ship since we arrived in Amsterdam 4 days early, and once you sent someone an e-mail they would answer you once and literally never answered you again (assuming they answered you). Even my travel agent was waiting on the phone for 2 hours to talk to someone. They got hacked and apparently it was a mess but still....figure it out. You've had my money for 4 years because of Covid. Figure it out. We couldn't figure out where the boat was, no one would tell us, we got no information, no tickets, no anything. Our travel agent hounded them until we got a few pieces of paper, but still no tags no anything. Some people got backpacks, others didn't....it was the worst. I would probably not book them again simply because communication prior to getting on the ship was so horrible. So, until I know they have that piece worked out, it's all just too frustrating.

Once on board, however, things were MUCH better. I figured out there was a cruise tracker that tells you where all the boats are (through another website) so I could see that the boat was not were I thought it was going to be with ALL the other ones at the Central Train Station. I then e-mailed the boat. To my surprise, Djordje got right back to me (wait...WHAT? Someone ANSWERED ME?). He told me where the boat was coming in. I looked that up, but was unsure of exactly where in that docking area they would be so he literally got a google map, marked the spot with a red X and sent it back to me. Bless him. I could then google that, get the address, and direct the uber right to the front. They literally grabbed our bags, swept us in, introduced us to our butler, and then off to the bar for a drink we went. To be honest the Cruise Director Beate was okay, and when we asked if it was possible to hook onto the airport transport from Budapest because we were staying extra, she's like "uh, well we already ordered a car". Hmm...well they could have changed that an ordered a van. Everyone else got a ride who wanted one. So, really she could have been more accommodating. We ended up doing all our own transportation and of course there really wasn't anyone at Scenic corporate you could talk to, so that's that. We were super impressed with everyone else however. The boat was clean, and the itinerary was good.

It was obvious that there is a LOT more viking in the area. They got the best docking areas while we usually had to be shuttled from somewhere else, and there were some lock problems where the locks got too crowded (probably with Viking since we saw them book past us) and we ended up with a 5 hour delay which was a drag because our day in Salzburg turned into an hour. I was also VERY unaware that they would be closing the top of the boat for 5 or 6 days due to low bridges which meant that there was NO outside space to be in, and because we were so far aware from most of our ports of call, there wasn't anything to do. That was a drag. We had multiple delays which I guess happens on these so would have been great if they had a back up plan for all of us (or at least some options). I saw no games, etc. onboard so if they have them they certainly didn't make that common knowledge. Read more