Scenic River

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Doesn't Meet the Hype

Fanning Island

None of the experience with the ship, shore excursions or food can make up for having the 14 day cruise planned from Budapest to Amsterdam terminated after 7 days and then being left in an unplanned city with no assistance The Danube had been rising over the first few days and then at dinner on day 5 we were told the cruise would end 36 hours later in Passau, we were all to vacate the ship by 8 am and we were on our own as to flights and other travel arrangements. Evidently there was a bridge we could not get under.  The closest airports were Munich and Vienna, and after a mass uprising by passengers, the Cruise Director was able to get permission for two of the buses traveling along with the ship to take people to Munich.  But that was all the assistance anyone got in making travel arrangements. We had one day left on the ship before the cruise ended and on that day they continued the planned excursion to Nuremberg where we were able to speak to passengers on several other river cruises in the same predicament as we were.  EXCEPT none of their cruises were cancelled.  Several cruise lines bussed people to a sister ship upriver and continued their trip as planned (and our crew told us Scenic also had an empty sister ship upriver but had not provisioned it).  Others bussed people to Frankfurt and continued their trip by by busing passengers to the ports they had planned to see.  But no one cancelled. Other than a form notice left on our bed on the day we were told to leave, we have never received any communication from Scenic.  Anyone reading this can think of all the ways this should have been handled, even if in fact the only choice was to cancel.  We felt like dairy cows, good while they produced but killed and eaten when it became more convenient.

Cruise Termed 7 days into the 14 day trip

We are well seasoned travellers, just returned (December 2023) from a 15-day Christmas Market river cruise aboard the Scenic Jasper.  By way of an overview, if you would like a pampered, truly all-inclusive vacation-where you honestly feel valued then stop reading this review and book your Scenic experience now.  Scenic set the service, value and experiential bar that competitors strive towards.  We indeed will be booking with Scenic again in the not-so-distant future as they exceeded our expectations.

A few tips:

1.	The room balconies are all season, meaning they are fully enclosed in glass with the ability to lower the outer “wall” by way of power assist.  This significantly expands the usable size of your suite.

2.	Should you wish a repetitive service from your Butler (for example coffee at a set time every morning) identify such to your Butler when you first arrive instead of filling out a room service request daily.

3.	Wear shoes with good grip as the outer stairwell and deck can get slippery when wet or iced.

4.	ASK, The Scenic team go above and beyond to exceed expectations, however they cannot do so without you advising them what you would like.  Our experience was that each guest on board was treated as an individual, so through asking you are able to better personalize your experience.

5.	Scenic runs on time.  If you are the type of individual that habitually runs late or to the exact moment, set your watches ahead so you will not be disappointed.

6.	The ship sailed roughly between 9kph and 12kph so there was always a breeze on the top deck.  This makes it feel cooler then ambient.

7.	The Captain is extremely open (when not busy) to allowing cockpit visitations and explaining the bridge.  Very enlightening and worthwhile.

8.	No one can control elements like the weather, water levels or what other companies do.  Be aware that if water levels are too high or too low you may have to change ships mid-cruise (apparently painless due to the professionalism of the Scenic team).  Also, if the docks in towns are busy, the ship may have to moor to another ship and you would then enter/exit through that other ship.

9.	Use the “River-View” function on the Scenic application.  It indeed provides valuable insight to your journey,

10.	Be aware that when staying in the lower level suites, while your porthole is slightly above water level, the bulk of your room will indeed be below water level.

11.	River cruising is very difficult for those that are mobility challenged.  The movement between decks, inability to access the top deck, steep access ramps and mostly cobble-stone walking paths in the towns can indeed be challenging.  

And a few Observations:

1.	Scenic staff go above and beyond to ensure as a guest we felt welcome, valued and appreciated.  No request was too small or large and the Professionalism and attitude of (without exception) every staff member was exceptional,

2.	The ship and excursions ran with military-like precision and organization.  Contingencies were in place and potential challenges pre-identified and addressed.  The experience of the program director shone.

3.	One cannot find fault with the food. Aside from an extensive breakfast and luncheon buffets, guests could always order from the menu or make special requests as desired.  The snack bar was always fully stocked and dinners were excellent fine dining.  I am unable to offer comments on the room service dining menu as was always too full to indulge. 

4.	The “Enrich” experiences are NOT to be missed.  No matter your interpretation of these events, they indeed will exceed your expectation.

5.	The Scenic experience is indeed all-inclusive.  Unless you frequent the well appointed gift shop or use the laundry services more then your allotment, you will not typically receive an invoice upon departure,

Scenic 2023 Jewels of Europe Christmas Market River Cruise

First time cruisers, wanted to do this cruise for years, decided to go up-market since we liked the idea of a smaller boat.

Transfer arrangements worked well, all we had to do was be at the appointed time and place. Balcony cabin was more spacious than we expected and well designed with plenty of storage.  Excellent sound insulation between cabins.  Bed very comfortable and bigger than expected.

We asked for a top sheet and extra pillows.  They were supplied promptly.

In-cabin minibar was restocked twice a day with drinks and snacks. Cabin made up twice a day if wanted. One free load of laundry was great. Used free pressing of 2 items a day a little, great service.  Only used the butler service a little, he was always prompt, courteous and efficient. 

The food was awesome. Lots of variety, good quality and quantity. Some of the "chef recommendations" were not to my personal preferences, but there were always alternatives. My wife has several food allergies which make eating out a challenge. The chef and restaurant manager met her and the other 6 people with food allergies or restrictions on the first afternoon and noted their details. From then on she received the daily menus in the morning, circled her selections, and they would adapt ingredients just for her. All she had to do was give our cabin number to the server. 

We're not big drinkers so we probably didn't get full value from the free drinks anytime feature of the cruise, but it was appreciated, as well as the no-tipping policy.  All excursions were included.  The only extra we paid for was 2 massages, which was 98 euros after the on-board credit. 

The staff were unfailingly cheerful, helpful and efficient. Couldn't have asked for better.

A few things could be improved- some of the excursions were too short, like the Speyer Technical Museum. Sometimes this was necessary for the sailing schedule,  but sometimes it was just to get guests back on board for lunch. Suggested they could offer a late limited lunch, a bag lunch, or just tell people they would be getting their own lunch.

Evening entertainment was a little dull apart from "Name that tune" silliness. 

Our cabin was near the stern so there was occasionally some noise and vibration when maneuvering, next time we'll look for a cabin a bit further forward. 

For simplicity we chose to stay at the recommended hotel in Zurich to get the transfer to the boat in Basel. Expensive. Next time we would make our own arrangements. 

Overall we enjoyed the cruise very much and thought we received good value for the money.

Excellent cruise, especially for someone with food allergies. 

Jost Van Dyke

I booked this cruise within 4 weeks of sailing and luckily I got the last cabin. I had liked what Scenic offered with their all inclusive pricing and had planned for over a year but ended up last minute booking it due to health issues. 

We were not disappointed. Everything was great, food, service, wines, staff  and excursions. The entertainment on board just hit the right level for us. We were busy all mornings and early afternoon till we boarded the boat for lunch and sailed down the Rhine River. The Scenic App gave us regular updates on sites we passed during our sailing. 

Excursions were varied from city tours, castle tours, cogg railway ride, canal cruise, wine tastings, museums, car shows, perfume tour and of course a church or two, etc. We even had a private concert in a castle just for our Scenic group. 

Ebikes were always available too. There was something for everyone and of course, you were always  free to arrange your own tours too.

If you enjoy river cruising, I would highly recommend Scenic River Cruises and the MS Jasper boat. It was all chrome and glass,  very sleek and modern and a first class experience.

Fabulous Rhine River Cruise 

Boat: Jasper:  Scenic Luxury River Cruise (Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam) a 5 star cruise! 

I want to know, who made up the daily menus? 

No one that is familiar with fine cuisine. 

Food will make or break a company.  Mess up with food, and repeat customers will not return. This company needs hire a couple of trained Chefs to make up a decent modern menu and then train the kitchen staff to prepare it. 

On the third night Beef Tongue was served. The Chef proudly told us it had been slow cooked for 12 hours! Disgusting!  About a week later we were served Beef Cheeks! Again the Chef proudly explained how it was slow cooked for 12 hours to be tenderized. I come from a family that raised cattle. I asked my 80 yr Aunt if she remembered eating Cheeks or Tongue and she indignantly let me know only poor families ate such things. I Googled if Beef Cheeks were a delicacy. It said good for stews for families on a very low budget. Advertised as a 5 star river cruise and for the price people paid ($10,000 CAD plus per person), this is not the cuisine I would expect.  They served the least expensive and lowest quality cuts of beef.  

We had a wonderful server one evening for dinner, Ivan.  I ate only a small amount of my soup appetizer. He inquired if I did not like it and asked if he could bring me something else. I said the soup was too salty. He brought me another appetizer, which again was too salty and I ate only a few bites. He asked about it and I let him know it was too salty. Then the main course arrived and I only ate half. He inquired if I did not like it. I said it's too salty. Next thing I know, the Manager of the restaurant is by my side inquiring. Then he brings the Chef out to speak to me and I find myself giving a basic cooking lesson to the Chef.  I explain the night he served his Grandfather's Borscht recipe it was way too salty. I told him I make a 12 quart pot of Borscht and I add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon maximum of salt. I told him you want to taste the sweetness of the carrots and the beets.  I illustrated if he used 1 cup of salt, then he needed to cut it down to 1/16 of a cup!  The Chef said they cook all their vegetables in salt water and butter. I told him lose the salt. Many people were on high blood pressure meds or other pills for water retention. Salt doesn't help. So let people add it themselves.

I was not the only person to complain that the food everyday was too salty, but I was the one that brought it to the Chef's attention. Everyone said nothing will change, but it did.  The vegetables there after tasted sweet and soups did not taste salty anymore.  I saw him two days later and let him know how good they tasted.

My husband is not fond of pasta. Everyday pasta was served for lunch! The shape of the pasta changed. Either shell, spiral or macaroni, but the Alfredo white sauce was the same.

Fish also served regularly, another thing my husband is not fond of.  So, if you didn't want Beef Tongue or Beef Cheeks, the alternative was chicken or salmon.

The salad bar was greatly lacking.  Maybe 4 to 5 things to put together. e.g. lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions ???

They were constantly running out of things be it food or liquor at the bar!

Everyone knew I had knee pain and struggled with stairs. One afternoon mid trip (2 wks long), I had a hamburger on a plate in one hand & beverage in the other hand. I asked a staff member in the Portabella cafe, if they could help me carry it up top and the response was "No, we're too busy."  He could have called someone else to help me.  So, I set my plate and beverage 4 steps up, then hauled myself up two steps, picked up the plate and cup and moved them up two more stairs, and repeated this until I was high enough that my husband could see me and I called for his help.  Five star cruise.  Hmmmmm ....  Some staff might need better training.

We were able to sit on the upper deck most days. The umbrellas were never set up over the tables at the front of the boat.  They were laying there neatly in a row, but never put up.  Three tents in the back were set up, but only a few people could sit under at a time.

The last 4 days I stayed on the boat.  I went up top to sit and read in the morning around 9:30 am.  It was 32C!  Not one tent nor umbrella was set up on our boat. We were there for a full day; therefore, it is the first thing staff should do in the morning, weather permitting.  After 30 minutes it was too hot and I had to go below.  There was no one in sight to ask if they would put up a tent or umbrella for me to sit under. 

We were parked next to a Viking boat and a couple of shade tents and umbrellas were set up for their guests. 

When sitting up top, there was no staff to take drink orders. One had to go to the bar to order themselves. 

not one server came up top to take anyone's drink orders.  Well into the second week of our trip, one server began coming up top and taking drink orders.  I think she came up to gather empty glasses and ended up taking orders thereafter.  When we did our river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest in 2019, we were on a different boat, but there were always at least 2 servers walking around to take drink orders up top and in the bar.

Internet was intermittent and often non-existent.  We were told that one day they had satellite, then one night the satellite was removed from the ship.

The bottle openers in the room were garbage. Seems trivial, but every time I wanted to open a coke bottle from the fridge, I had to call the Butler to come and open it for me. He had his own, which he pulled out of his pocket. He said, the boat's openers are tricky to use.  I don't know who Scenic's purchasing agent is, but I do know that the wholesale cost of a bottle opener is not more than .50 cents CAD.  I'm sure the purchaser could find another source to purchase bottle openers and for the same price, buy a better quality one that is easy to use.  It's quite obvious they've never used one. My point ... buy a better bottle opener!

PROS:  

Hunor was the Cruise Director on the Jasper, and by coincidence he was our cruise director back in 2019 on the JADE.  He's excellent. 

Ivan (Butler & Server) was excellent, as was Buglas (Restaurant Manager).  Actually all the staff were excellent, with the exception of the fellow that told me they were too busy to help me carry my food up top.

Entertainment was not great.  The guy kept starting things at 9:30.  He's not realizing that majority of the people are in their 70's to 80's. In 2019, things started at 9:00 pm sharp.  Also, he liked to play games "Name that Tune", or "Which Of These 10 Songs Will Get The Most People Up Dancing".  They were ten Disco songs ... wrong era. He didn't start playing the songs until 9:30 or later. By then half the people had left and gone to bed.  By 10 pm the place was almost empty, because people didn't like Disco.  

He acted as DJ, but he would play song after song and no one was getting up to dance.  That should have been his first clue that he should choose different music.  

In 2019, professional DJs were brought on board.  Also, we had dances every 2 to 3 nights. It was great fun. Not this trip. Dances were rare. 

He brought on violinists to perform at 2 pm. Those people that saw the performance said it was excellent, but too many people forgot it was happening. It should have occurred after dinner.  

HIGHLIGHT:  

All the wonderful people we met on our trip. Some new friends, around the world, that we will continue to keep in touch with.  

Everything else was pretty good. 

We could never recommend this cruise line to friends based on this extremely poor menu. Serving Beef Tongue and Beef Cheeks is totally unacceptable on a 5 star cruise.  

We were considering booking a 20 day Scenic Eclipse cruise and were discussing with friends to do the Danube too. After this cruise we've decided to pass on Scenic and try another cruise line.  It's unfortunate, because our first experience in 2019 on the JADE was so good.

Beef Tongue & Beef Cheeks Served for Main Course Unacceptable!

After being very warmly welcomed by front desk staff, we started to learn about river cruising.  Our cabin was very comfortable (Deluxe Balcony on Diamond Deck) with all the amenities you could ever want.  Lots of on-screen entertainment options, so we re-watched some Bond films over the evenings.

On Scenic Jasper, the Crystal Dining Room is the only actual dining room.  Portobello’s is a small section of the Jasper Lounge only set up when people are dining there.  La Rive is a table in the Crystal Dining Room, and only set up when people who are specifically invited are dining there.  The River Café is attached to the bar of the Jasper Lounge with refrigerated offerings during the day.  Meals are good to very good, in our opinion, but selections are very limited.  The Daily Program only shows the Chef’s Daily Recommendations and regularly the dinner information was not posted until after 5:00 p.m.

First night dinner was something of a disaster; service was unfriendly, pushy, and food that should have been hot arrived cold.  We don’t understand why it would be necessary to order dessert at the same time as the meal, but it was requested that we do so every day. We were concerned that this level of service would continue, but thankfully service improved a bit each day.

Dinner at Portobello’s by special invitation was an even bigger disaster.  It was offered on a day when everything went wrong and nobody was back to the ship until after 7:15, so dinner was pushed to 8:15 which is too late for most of us.  Having arrived so late, we would have liked cocktails before dinner, but this request was denied curtly.  DH asked for a glass of wine which was also denied as he was rudely told to wait for them to make their special wine presentation, which we had already studied and found not to our liking.  Mains arrived at 9:40.  We passed on dessert.

We declined the invitation to La Rive.  Reviews from others were varied.

Air conditioning was often overused in the public spaces.  We had a running fight with the cabin steward to keep it comfortable, not freezing.  We turned it off when leaving - when we came back it was set at 18C.  This went on for days until the weather turned cold and rainy.

The Sun Deck is off limits when passing through locks and under low bridges.  It was closed for us for 6 days out of a 14-day cruise… no access to pool.  When you can sit on the upper deck, you need to use your own device to understand what you might be seeing.

There is a lot of cruising overnight.  In the lower deck cabins, there is a lot of noise passing through locks which disturbs sleepers.  There may be delays at locks.  On our trip, we passed through 64 locks.

There isn’t always a shuttle into a city where you may be docked in an industrial zone quite a long way from the town. Book your own taxi is their best suggestion.

Using the Scenic App on shore excursions really requires that you have a smart phone.

Wi-Fi service is better than at sea, most of the time.

On board entertainment is limited.  Traditional folkloric presentation, glass blower, and a couple of 45 minute musical interludes were offered.  A few times, games were offered in the evenings.

Not all ebike batteries are fully charged every day.  Check yours carefully before heading out.  Also, not all bikes were functioning properly.  Test ride is in order, so get to the pier early.

All of our tour guides at every stop were beyond excellent!

Highlight was the evening cruise through Budapest so that we could see everything lit up.

Trip Report for First Time River Cruisers

The cruise from Budapest to Nuremburg could not have been better. The boat, crew, meals & wine, were all superb and good value. The wines were all from the region and were matched to the meals. The excursions were very well arranged and included concerts in palaces and walking tours. Three meals a day are included on the boat with one in a restaurant on the day visit to Vienna. Entertainment was provided on three evenings from local ensembles and included Leder dancing. All the staff were very helpful and courteous. The executive chef and his staff produced superb meals of the highest quality. We will definitely travel with Scenic again. Only thing to be aware of is the restaurant dress code  in the literature talks about formal wear at dinner (jacket and ties for men) when in reality it's anything other than swimming trunks and flip-flops, although it's nice for men to wear a jacket at the welcome and farewell dinners.

Superb holiday with an excellent cruise line

A beautiful boat cruising to some great places .

The food is excellent , the staff are friendly and always helpful .

We couldn't fault the food quality ,the portions at first seemed small but were actually perfect,the captains table was a highlight ,the Italian restaurant less so ,quite big portions and not as good as the main restaurant ,but again the staff were great.

The wines on the whole were excellent following the regions we were in , but one night in Germany we had Californian wines ,WHY ?

Most of the excursions were good ,especially the bike tours ,but the Vienna coffee tour was a let down ,only taken to a coffee Cafe ,given black or white coffee by a surly waiter and not told anything about the history of coffee in Vienna ,disappointing.

The final day was also disappointing ,a hard sell on giving good reviews for the staff and a deadline of having to fill in the survey sent to you email before you left the ship.

The internet was very patchy most of the time and we couldn't  acess our email,so didn't do the survey .

We were told by a fellow passenger that it took nearly an hour ,not the way to end a great cruise .

The last little thing was that no turndown chocolates were left on the last night ,sounds petty but why not we were still on the cruise. 

And it's the little things that you remember.

Almost prefect 

Our friends whom have been on several other scenic cruises including this one highly recommended it to us and we will also recommend it others. The staff was friendly and helpful in a genuine way, not forced. Katerina was a lot of fun, we appreciated Hunor’s brilliant wit.  We especially enjoyed Bagus, Hillman and Madea. They got to know us quickly and our preferences. Such nice men! The excursions were excellent, well organised with lots of information. We enjoyed all of them, especially the bike excursions. The guides were all lovely and very informative. Port Talks were a great way to keep us in the loop. Internet was an issue, often sketchy and difficult to access. There were a few meals that weren’t quite up to par (meat was tough) but still very acceptable. For the last 3 days our cabin TV wasn’t working, we mentioned it several times but it wasn’t fixed. Every thing else was dealt with promptly. Proper glasses for specific drinks weren’t always available for Moscow Mules or Margaritas. That was a minor issue. We used the gym almost daily.  We understand the the small space but we couldn’t keep the temperature down, it got very hot very quickly. The machines were modern and easy to, use. We hope to do another river cruise in the future and it will definitely be with Scenic.

The experience was beyond our expectations. We enjoyed every minute. 

We sailed on Scenic Jasper from Budapest to Amsterdam in late May 2023.

This was our first river cruise and first experience with Scenic after having taken numerous ocean cruises with many different cruise lines.

We have read numerous Cruise Critic reviews and note that prior to COVID, Scenic received mostly positive 5-star reviews, including from many friends who had previously sailed with Scenic.

However, it is noted that post COVID, there have been many negative reviews and we firsthand experienced many of these shortcomings.

Scenic advertises as “luxury cruising” but in fact is no longer a leader in this area, just part of the pack, but still at a “luxury” price.

Our biggest disappointment was with the food and even allowing for the restricted menu for a smaller vessel, we would rate it towards the bottom of our list of over 12 cruises with Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara and Seabourn.

Our advice would be to consider other companies, offering cheaper prices as Scenic is over-hyped, over-rated and certainly over-priced.

Further details are below:

Ship

•	Generally well maintained, airy and pleasant lounge and dining areas.

•	The upper deck had a very small plunge pool and a walking track, as well as umbrellas and deck chairs. On this deck, other ships had facilities such as mini golf, chess, shuffleboard, quoits etc as well as much larger pools.

•	But that was all a bit irrelevant as due to high water levels, our upper deck was mostly closed for most of the cruise. Not blaming Scenic, but potential cruisers need to be aware of the risks of too high or too low water levels. Thankfully, we didn’t need to change ships mid-stream, as a Viking ship did on same itinerary.

•	Double or triple “stacking” can often be an issue where ships are docked immediately next to one another, requiring passengers to walk through one ship’s foyer, to get to their own ship. This is not a great issue, but when you can literally touch a neighbouring ship’s balcony, from your own, it is a bit off-putting which destroys your view and a bit claustrophobic, especially if blinds are drawn during the day for privacy. This is another consideration for potential cruisers who are not aware of this, and not necessarily a criticism of Scenic as all lines do it.

•	The TV displayed the day’s activities but was often not up to date. It would often continue showing the breakfast and morning activities, and lunch menu, but not the dinner menu. The TV would also update on weather conditions but was often not up to date.

•	No hairdresser as seen on Scenic TV ads, just a masseuse and a rather useless salt room, which was seldom used and a waste of space on a small ship.

Cabin

•	We booked a Royal Balcony suite which was very spacious, and we loved the room and location on the ship.

•	The cabin could have been a little cleaner on embarkation, with dirt behind doors and under bed.

•	Some minor maintenance issues experienced such as TV froze up a few times and finally the control box had to be replaced, all done efficiently and promptly.

•	One of the sides of the under-bed storage was broken and continually fell off, but never repaired.

•	The concept of having a private butler is an exaggeration and over-hyped, as our Butler, although always courteous to us and helpful, spent most of her time in the lounge and dining area. But she always responded to every request from us, possibly because of our cabin status.

•	We were told that our minibar would be restocked every morning and evening. It was normally done every second day, not an issue when the bar was so close.

Staff

•	The staff were excellent and a major asset to Scenic, no problems in this area. 

Docking

•	Friends had told us, and repeated in some reviews, that Scenic does not always have the best docking positions. We were often docked further upstream/downstream or on the other side of the river to other cruise ships. This happened on many occasions such as Budapest where Viking and all others docked on the Buda side and closer to town, while Scenic docks on the Pest side and further away. Is this a cost saving measure from Scenic? 

Excursions

•	These were included, well organised with informative guides, no issues here.

•	However, because many ports were only a half day stop with an included tour, there was normally very little free time to explore the lovely little towns, often just one hour (to savour a local beer!).

•	Another issue is that the overall high level cruise itinerary is not really known until you are on board the ship and attend the 15 min port lectures each night before arrival the next day.

•	All ocean cruises clearly advise in advance of the arrival and departure time at each port. This is not the case with a river cruise (well not with Scenic).

•	Acknowledged that river traffic through canals and locks is an unknown factor (one evening had to wait 2 hours to get into a lock), but there is a scheduled itinerary (e.g. arrival am or sometimes pm) and this itinerary was normally met. So why not publish this, with caveats before a cruise is booked?

•	Scenic has a specific App for excursions which requires you to have a Smart phone, for connecting to your specific guide through a Bluetooth earpiece. Too bad if you are one of the unlucky few without a Smart phone. Often, we spent 10 min or so, ensuring that everyone was connected to the guide. Sometimes this was done on the bus, but mostly off the bus before beginning a walk. On 2 occasions, the guide could not get the App to work and so it was back to being close to the guide to listen to the commentary.

Entertainment

•	This was rather basic with a trivia or game show some nights after dinner, or sometimes local entertainers were brought on board. Other cruise ships have a resident pianist, but not the case on the Jasper.

•	There was the occasional lecture, or camera class, but mostly very little else, particularly after sailing at say 1.30pm, until the port lectures each evening at 6.45pm. 

Drinks

•	Drinks (beer, wine, champagne, cocktails) were free flowing, whether from bar or your own minibar.

•	Noting the free flow drinks, it was odd that at the Welcome and Farewell events, champagne was readily supplied, but with only a mouthful or so in each glass. Yes, you could readily get more, but seemed a shame to dirty a glass with such a meagre offering.

•	Cruising the Danube and Rhine and through all the wine country in Hungary, Austria and Germany, we had a diverse range of some excellent local wines, but on some evenings, the standard red or white served at dinner, was from either Australia or California. No complaints with any of wines, but local wines were expected and would have been more in keeping with where we were cruising.

Food

•	I have kept our biggest disappointment until last.

•	The food was mostly below par (certainly not 5 star or “luxury”, repetitive and tiny servings.

•	Some meals were excellent, some okay, but others downright poor.

•	We went to the invite only Portobello and Table la Rive on separate occasions and had wonderful meals, excellent wines and great service. No issues at all, but the standard and quality of the food is what we expected every night, not just twice and as experienced on all nights on other cruises.

•	One night, we had lamb which was an extremely small serve (as were all meals) and it was tough and stringy.

•	Another night, I tried the sirloin steak from the standing menu, which was so tough that I could not cut it, let alone eat it. I advised the waiter and even asked that he request the Chef to see if he could cut it with the steak knife supplied. No reply.

•	Two nights later, the Executive Chef (and his Sous Chef) did the usual tour of tables, seeking feedback and I told him about my steak experience. Neither understood, both smiled without comment and moved on. Very poor!

•	I had “minute steak” at breakfast twice, which was lovely and tender, pity other meat on the ship was not of the same quality.

•	Beautiful big strawberries and lovely white asparagus was in season everywhere and plentiful, but seldom featured on the menu. Pity that Scenic is not able to source fresh seasonal produce and include it on the menu.

•	It would appear that Scenic Head Office compiles all menus in advance (as you would expect) and providores before each cruise with no input from the Executive Chef, who has to make do with whatever Head Office provides him. So, this is a problem with Scenic, not necessarily the Executive Chef, who would seem to have little input into menus, what is served, or the quality.

•	 On one occasion, the dessert was simply 2 scoops of ice cream, with flavouring. 

•	Really, it this what Scenic calls luxury dining?

Scenic is over-hyped and over-rated

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