loriva

Here is a promised update: We received the email with our final docs for our cruisetour starting in Vienna on 15 June on 03 June. (Sorry for the delay in posting as we were away for a family wedding.) Or rather, I should say, we received an email from Scenic with a link to their Express Booking system. We, of course, cannot access that system as it is only for Scenic staff and TAs. (Not sure if that is the fault of our TA or Scenic--putting us into the reservation system as a TA not clients through our TA, that is. Our booking TA had a family emergency last month and left the agency--a very large one--and we've been bouncing between agents since then.) So, had to call Scenic and after an hour and fifteen minute wait (I considered myself lucky given stories of much-longer wait times) reached a reservations agent at Scenic. She emailed us all the final documents associated with our cruisetour. In reviewing them, I understood why everyone who has sailed with Scenic was questioning why I wanted the final documents. They provided little more information on the included tours than we had already, i.e., tour descriptions are still only a single sentence with no information on what will be seen on the tour or the duration (or start/stop times for the land portion, which should be information Scenic knows and could provide). Very disappointing. The only additional material was a transfer from the airport to the hotel (included since we are staying at the Scenic-designated hotel although we are flying in a day earlier than the tour start), meeting time with the Tour Director in Vienna (at a time we already have dinner reservations), and transfer time from the hotel in Zurich to the ship in Basel. The latter is a three-hour block of time for a drive that should take about an hour, so not sure if it includes some sort of panoramic tour of Basel since the arrival time there--1600 hours--seems to leave little time for exploration on our own as there is a Welcome Briefing scheduled for 1700 hours. In going back and forth with the reservations agent at Scenic, I did learn the length of the tours in Strasbourg and Baden-Baden are four hours each and the one in Heidelberg is five hours. (I presume that includes transportation from the ship, which does not seem to provide much free time in cities that are some distance from where the ship will be docked.) She could provide no information on the land portion of our cruisetour. One final tidbit of information I learned from the Scenic agent. If your TA is gifting you onboard credit for a Scenic cruise or cruisetour, they MUST request it at least 22 days in advance of your tour start date--in the case of a cruisetour this means the first date you come into contact with Scenic, not the start date of the cruise portion. Otherwise, Scenic will not process the request or apply the OBC to the sailing. Hope this helps and will report any other updates and when we join our tour.

Hummm, very strange this move. The Jade is supposed to be in Basel on 22 June--that itinerary is still showing for sale on Scenic's website. Why move it from Duisburg where it has been sitting for weeks to Amsterdam and now Lelystad? If they wanted a test cruise, wouldn't it be easier to go toward Basel? Or maybe it was picking up some sort of supplies? Or crew that should have been aboard the sailing that is now on the Pearl? The Pearl also has an itinerary leaving from Basel on 22 June--the Romantic Rhine and Moselle. So it would appear the Pearl is not available to substitute for the Jade on our itinerary.

Inquiring minds want to know--which ship did @CJANDHand @jimmymac613board? The Scenic Pearl is docked in the same spot it did on its previous call in Amsterdam. Cruisemapper shows the Scenic Jade docked on the opposite side of the harbor, not an easy spot for access to the central city. (The anyoverip website still says the Jade is sitting in Duisburg, but we have photographic evidence it is not. Guess that site is not always correct either.) Whichever ship you board, have a fabulous cruise!

Scenic's map (http://www.anyoverip.de/scenic/index.php?ship=Jade) shows it still sitting in Duisburg. So not sure what is going on with Cruisemapper and marinevessel positions. All showed the Jade in Duisburg yesterday and not sure it could have made it to Amsterdam overnight. Also, last Friday, Scenic notified those who were to sail with Jade tomorrow that it would be replaced by the Pearl. Anyone set to sail tomorrow, please let us know what ship you actually board!

Glad you finally received confirmation from Scenic about what we’d presumed for a while based on availability on Scenic’s website and tracking the Jade. I wonder what they will do to accommodate those who had been set to sail on the Pearl’s original itinerary? Presumably there is some overlap between the cabins sold for the two itineraries. Not to mention the differences in some suite categories.

Thanks for the update on your experience. We have done one river cruise previously so we understand the fluid nature. The difference in what we received on planned tours prior to sailing on that cruise versus what is provided by Scenic is still night and day. Scenic has information from its tour operators on what is planned to be included--but they seem to have chosen not to share it with customers. All they need to do to cover themselves in case of delays or otherwise is a simple statement that tours may vary due to conditions on the river. And the difference extends to the land portion of our cruisetour. We have seven days with Scenic on land prior to starting our river cruise. Few of the conditions affecting river cruising impact the land portion (yes, you could be delayed by an accident or other traffic condition on the road as well). But the lack of information from Scenic is the same for the land portion. Here are some apple-to-apple comparisons between tours offered on the land portion of our upcoming Scenic cruisetour versus our upcoming Viking one: --Full Scenic description of tour in Salzburg: Visit one of the city’s famed salt mines where the ‘white gold’ has been mined since the Neolithic age. --Viking description: 0900-1300 hours -- FESTIVE BERLIN (Code: DEBERSEI04) EXPLORE A HISTORIC CAPITAL AND STROLL CHRISTMAS MARKET STALLS -- Immerse yourself in Berlin’s past and present as you tour the city’s sights and shop for festive treats. Meet your guide and embark on a scenic drive by motor coach along Unter den Linden, across the Schlossbrücke, or Palace Bridge, and past the breathtaking neo-Renaissance Berliner Dom (cathedral, on Museum Island). Stop at the open-air East Side Gallery and admire the paintings along a section of the Berlin Wall before heading to the Old Town. Witness the imposing Brandenburg Gate, an entry into the city through which Napoleon once marched and a former symbol of a city once divided. At Checkpoint Charlie, discover stories of brave Berliners who tried to pass between East and West Berlin. After your panoramic tour, take a stroll around one of Berlin’s yuletide markets and enjoy the festive aromas of spiced glühwein and cinnamon-filled treats as you browse the colorful market stalls. 4 hours; Moderate--Walking portions may be somewhat challenging with occasional step-ups, stairs, and inclines. Total time walking or standing normally ranges from 1.5-3 hours.

Thanks for the update--and happy you have the documents. So it looks like one week out is when to start monitoring email for the documents. Please do report back on the cruise--starting with which ship you actually board, of course!

I can't speak for others, but, yes, I am aware of the Trip Personalizer. It provided no information on the land portion of our cruisetour, no information on the cruise itinerary, and limited information on the excursions for booking. On the latter, only about half the ports offered the ability to book a choice of excursions--and the descriptions provided were only a short sentence. No information on how long, if there would be free time afterwards, or other useful detail. Everything else has to be booked onboard. And as I mentioned in post #381 the Trip Personaliser closed 30 days before the scheduled start of our tour. It just says "This booking is locked for finalisation. Please contact our Reservations centre if you need to make any changes." In comparison to the guest portals for Crystal (our only sailed river cruise) or Viking (booked for December), the information on the Trip Personaliser is extremely sparse. Crystal also offered a River Concierge email address where you could send questions or requests when you were past the reservations stage but not yet onboard--and they responded. Again, we remain hopeful things will work out. And I will report in as unbiased a fashion as possible our experiences when underway. But as @Marika71 said, it is not a stress-free start to our journey.

We are due to start our cruisetour (including a sailing on Jade scheduled to start on 22 June in Basel) in 15 days and not a peep from Scenic. Since our tour starts with a land package, it would be nice to have confirmation of hotels. Our TA asked Scenic and received a list of hotels earlier in the year, so we booked a night prior to the start of our cruisetour at the hotel that we think Scenic is using in Vienna. It would be good to have this confirmed, however, so we can cancel the current hotel before the penalty kicks in and book appropriately if the hotel has changed. Since few activities and meals are included in the first week (the land portion of the cruise tour) confirmation of all hotels would help us plan our touring as well as select restaurants. I also like to plan out public transportation to sights, etc. prior to a trip rather than spending my valuable vacation time doing so. And, while I think it will be unlikely, I still hold out hope the final documents will provide some information on the length of included tours and port time (and availability of shuttles if we are docked outside the city center) so we can have a sense of what else we can fit in during our time at each port. As a result of changes from the pandemic, many museums now require booking a entry (generally in 15-minute blocks) and some are booked up a week or two in advance, making not finding out about timing until one has boarded problematic as the busy tourist season kicks off.

From what Scenic representatives have told our TA, Scenic does not even begin to process the final documents until two weeks before sailings/trips. The earliest people have reported receiving documents is one week out and others have reported not receiving hard copies until after they have departed for their trips. The Trip Personalizer on Scenic's website closes (goes to "finalization" status) 30 days out, so not sure why the delay in processing. At this point past the resolution of the problems from the hack on the IT system, you'd have thought the company could have made progress on the processing and be back to the 2-4 weeks they list as the window for delivery of final documents. The good news is people have reported receiving final documents in email and no one has reported being denied boarding as a result of not having a hard-copy boarding pass in hand. The capacity of river ships is small enough that they board you from their list of passengers not what docs you have.

If you need to contact a ship directly, this sticky at the top of the River Cruising board contains email addresses for each of the ships. People have had mixed luck obtaining responses. Experienced Scenic cruisers also believe you should not reach out to staff onboard except for immediate issues--you are on a cruise and end up in a situation where you'll miss the ship, for example. If you are trying to reach Scenic corporate, I have not seen anyone post an email for management. But maybe someone has one. Finally, if you post the question you have for Scenic someone here may be able to help with an answer.

Looks like the transponder issue--whatever it was--has been fixed. The http://www.anyoverip.de/scenic/index.php?ship=Pearl track now shows just ONE Scenic Pearl. The ship looks like it spent about 8 hours in Koblenz and has now made the turn onto the Moselle River. So, back to what looks like the Pearl sailing the "Romantic Rhine and Moselle" itinerary that was to be using the Scenic Jade at this time. The latter is still docked in Duisburg.

Is there a name for this ticket? Is it just the normal one-month pass but with a 9-Euro price? Trying to figure out how to recognize it to select when purchasing at a ticket machine. Or is downloading the DB app and purchasing it that way better?

From the position of the Pearl now, it looks like the swimming pool stop may have just been for a quick dip and rest overnight. Now the tracker is showing the ship docked at Rheinfähre Koblenz-Ehrenbreitstein. That looks like a potential quick ferry ride across the Rhine. Or the cable car from the Deutsches Eck to the fortress in Ehrenbreitstein and a walk through the fortress grounds back to the pier. Could be fun! (Just hope there is an under- or over-pass over the highway and the train tracks. Google maps show a lot of small piers along the river there, so should be some way to access them.) Maybe the story will change once on board, but when I asked about Scenic running shuttles using their coaches outside of set tour times they said there were none. Not sure if that means they no longer have their own buses. Since we cannot obtain definitive information, we need to plan to be on our own for transportation back to the ship. (Plan for the worse, hope for the best!)

It looks like the Scenic Pearl is docked in Lahnstein now--by the indoor swimming pool. The location is a 35-minute tram ride into the Old Town of Koblenz. Instead of a quick stroll from the docking locations I see on the Moselle. (The Pearl docked there when I was following its trip up the Rhine from Amsterdam.) Guess it will give us a chance to see how that 9 Euro for all public transportation in Germany during the summer offer works!

As promised, here is an update on our attempts to obtain information on our scheduled cruisetour with Scenic next month in hope it will help others navigate dealing with the company prior to travel. (Holding a conference call with TA and Scenic, as @jimmymac613did, seems like the way to go given the game of telephone I appear to be caught in.) We've had two rounds with our travel agency, asking two questions--can Scenic guarantee they have purchased tickets for the Passion Play in Oberammergau and can we obtain our final documents on an expedited fashion? The questions were not answered the first time around, so we tried again. In the second round of answers, received yesterday, Scenic did say the Passion Play tickets had been bought. They still did not commit to providing expedited final documents, which, of course, we need to fill in missing details. The Scenic representative did, however, ask what hotel we were using so they could arrange transportation to the ship. Scenic, of course, already knows this information as we are on a cruisetour where Scenic is providing the hotel in Zurich prior to the transfer to the ship in Basel. (The TA should have also known this and responded correctly, but we are now dealing with a succession of representatives of our travel agency as the TA who originally booked this trip has left the agency. We're in the process of obtaining a new TA, but it is too late for this trip.) But it indicates to me a knowledge gap on the part of Scenic personnel dealing with TAs. Still hopeful (because I am a pathological optimist) we can get past this, receive our final documents, and meet our tour director in Vienna in 2.5 weeks and start providing glowing reviews of Scenic as others have done.

That is fantastic information, DougK! Exactly what I hope to learn from CC.com--and pass along when I can. That site furthers my confusion over what the Pearl (which may or may not be the ship we're traveling on starting 22 June if the Jade is still not sailing) did yesterday. According to the usual "Romantic Rhine and Moselle" itinerary, it should have spent the day docked in Kehl (for Strasbourg) but the track for yesterday shows it north of Bonn. Today it is in Mannheim, so that would not seem correct. Some sort of glitch with the transponder on the Pearl? CruiseMapper, MarineTraffic, and VesselFinder all showed the ship bypassing Kehl yesterday. That is when they showed positional information--all had alerts about the long length of time from last report. Anyone have any idea why the ship would not dock at its scheduled stop? Per @notamermaidreporting, it should not be an issue of water level on the Rhine. And DougK's comments about the ability of river cruise companies to post estimated times in port is spot on. The companies must have this information internally. Scenic does not even post the estimated length of its included tours--Viking has detailed descriptions of its excursions as well as start and stop times. The lack of information from Scenic makes planning very difficult. For example, the stop in Rastaat for Baden-Baden. The docking location is about 15 miles from Baden-Baden, so a coach ride will be required to get to the Scenic FreeChoice option of a "Walking tour of historic Baden-Baden." (That is the full description of the tour from the Scenic website.) How long is the walking tour? Is there free time in Baden-Baden prior to the bus returning to the ship? We'd love to visit a spa in Baden-Baden after our walking tour, but have no idea if that will be possible so cannot reserve a time slot at the spa. Or determine if we'll have a ride back to the ship or need to plan on finding our own ride. Perhaps the Scenic personnel onboard (and on the land portion before we board a ship) will be fantastic in helping us plan all this, but it might also be too late to reserve anything. All tiny problems in this world today, I realize. But it seems a luxury company should provide a better experience prior to travel for its clients. Scenic would seem to be able to be reaching out to clients proactively about the ship swap from the Jade as well, instead of clients having to seek out that information.

From Cruisemapper, it looks like the Pearl is sailing the "Romantic Rhine and Moselle" itinerary that the Jade was set to sail based on the old schedule. The Pearl is currently docked in Breisach, which is the first port of call on that itinerary. That schedule would put it in Amsterdam on 08 June. Its next sailing, according to Scenic's website, is not until 15 June on a "Rhine Highlights" Amsterdam to Basel itinerary. We're watching the Pearl's progress down the Rhine (and the Moselle) to get a sense of where the ship is docking. We realize we literally have to go with the flow on river cruises, but nice to know if the ship is docking close enough to town to be able to walk around on our own or if we need to figure out transportation. (We also watched its progress from Amsterdam to Basel, but understand docking locations are different depending on the direction of travel.) In Basel, the Pearl docked at the pier farthest from town-- 3 Dreiländereck, Westquaistrasse 61, 4057 Basel Steiger. Basel is reportedly a homeport for Scenic, so wondering if that means that is its usual docking pier. That pier is close to the Swiss border with France and Germany. Others on CC.com have reported one needs to take tram #8 for about 40 minutes into the city center from this pier. You can see the railroad lines paralleling this pier on Google maps. (You can see the Dreiländer Bridge stop on the number 8 line here: https://www.bvb.ch/en/fahrplan/liniennetz/.) From the Basel public transportation website, it appears there should be a machine from which you can buy tickets at stops. Tickets are sold as singles, multi-use, or a day pass. There is also an app, but it appears to be only in German. Not sure if Scenic offers shuttles into town when they are docked farther out. Hope someone on board will chime in with information. Many thanks,

Scenic's website shows the Pearl doing a 12-day "Rhine Highlights with Switzerland" itinerary departing out of Amsterdam on 15 June. (It's really a 7-day Amsterdam-Basel, followed by a land package to Switzerland. The Pearl turns around in Basel on the 22nd and heads down the Rhine to Amsterdam on what looks like the "Romantic Rhine & Moselle" itinerary.) So not sure the Pearl will be available to sail the Jade's itineraries on the dates scheduled (if needed). Hoping that the Jade is all fixed and you are correct--you will be sailing it starting the 8th of June in Amsterdam. I trust you'll keep it nice for us to board in Basel on the 22nd!

We can hope! If so, please let us know how it goes as we're scheduled to board in Basel after you finish your cruise. Cruisemapper is incorrect about the current itinerary, however--i.e., it shows old information. The Scenic Jade has been sitting in Duisburg since it returned from repairs in Cologne about two weeks ago. Check the "position" tab.