You get what you pay for, and Travel Marvel is definitely adown market cruise line.
The B class Cabin was good, but the rest of the boat was notappointed well, the food was not cooked well, and the boat’s moorings werealways the furthest away (see embarkation issue below).
We explored Budapest under our own auspices, and travelledto the boat by taxi. It took over an hour to find where the boat was berthed,with a very patient taxi driver who did several u-turns and stopped many timesto ask local riverside workers for help. When we eventually found the boat, we had to cross a small park and embarkdown a long and incredibly steep ramp. It was moored quite a distance from othercruise boats, and certainly not in the position ‘between Bridge X and Bridge Y’,as described that morning on their website.
In general, the food was poor quality, the dining room wasmuch too hot in the evenings, and the tables too tightly packed for comfort ofserving. Requesting seats for a group of people was not offered which resulted in dinner time queues and a scrambleto find a table to share.
Breakfasts and lunch menus provided unremarkable content. Therewere mediocre sandwiches, salads laden with a cream coloured dressing (presumemayonnaise), poorly prepared toasted sandwiches, soups which I didn’t like, andfresh salad ingredients but no vinaigrette to go with. They provided balsamicvinegar and a sad bottle of oil with green things inside it, I tried these oncebut the taste was stale. I asked for ordinary vinegar and some fresh EVOO butthey denied having such things.
The Dinner menus were extremely disappointing. Theappetisers were more ‘design’ on a plate rather than quality, or even quantityof content. The soup at the evening meal was no more than rehydrated stockcubes, and not palatable. The mains were often tasteless and lacking freshvegetables, or even any quantity of vegetable. The ubiquitous Roast Chicken,always a daily alternate to the main menu, was inedible due to the high saltcontent of the gravy poured over it. The one time I ate cake for dessert it wasdry and I wasn’t tempted to repeat it. If you wanted a cheese plate, it wasself-serve but you couldn’t get out of your seat without interrupting theentire table (the dining room being cramped as previously mentioned), and so wenever bothered.
The wine served at mealtimes was nearly always an unpleasantchardonnay, or a thin red. Alternatives were given if you argued strongly, buthaving fought for better tasting wine, your glass was often topped up with thewrong wine. The staff were always polite and worked extremely hard, but theirEnglish was not good enough when you needed, or wanted to give, informationabout food or wine.
Less than a third of the roof deck was shaded, and we had avery cloudless, sunny fortnight, so shade was much sought after but often unavailable.We resorted to using the rain umbrellas provided as a shade cover, not easy ifyou wanted to read at the same time. The seating was minimalist ‘directors’chairs’, canvas deckchairs, or flat bed loungers. There was no waiter serviceon the roof deck. Coffees had to be carried up 2 flights of stairs. The roofdeck was closed for days at a time, due to low bridges. When closed, the Loungewas the only communal area to meet for conversation or coffee/drinks. If theentertainment was not to your liking, there was nowhere to go. The Bar was alsoinside the Lounge. The constant unavailability of the roof deck was notmentioned in any of the brochures or documents prior to boarding.
Our boat suffered from a respiratory infectionwhich spread rapidly in the first few days. This resulted in most having anasty cough by the end of the trip, mine lasted another 2 weeks. It was notedthe previous contingent of passengers travelling up from Amsterdam had beensimilarly afflicted. Cruising is well known to attract infectious healthissues. I don't know how this particular infection should have been dealt with,but I felt more action could have been taken.
Disappointed - Budapest to Amsterdam river cruise
in River Cruising
Posted
You get what you pay for, and Travel Marvel is definitely adown market cruise line.
The B class Cabin was good, but the rest of the boat was notappointed well, the food was not cooked well, and the boat’s moorings werealways the furthest away (see embarkation issue below).
We explored Budapest under our own auspices, and travelledto the boat by taxi. It took over an hour to find where the boat was berthed,with a very patient taxi driver who did several u-turns and stopped many timesto ask local riverside workers for help. When we eventually found the boat, we had to cross a small park and embarkdown a long and incredibly steep ramp. It was moored quite a distance from othercruise boats, and certainly not in the position ‘between Bridge X and Bridge Y’,as described that morning on their website.
In general, the food was poor quality, the dining room wasmuch too hot in the evenings, and the tables too tightly packed for comfort ofserving. Requesting seats for a group of people was not offered which resulted in dinner time queues and a scrambleto find a table to share.
Breakfasts and lunch menus provided unremarkable content. Therewere mediocre sandwiches, salads laden with a cream coloured dressing (presumemayonnaise), poorly prepared toasted sandwiches, soups which I didn’t like, andfresh salad ingredients but no vinaigrette to go with. They provided balsamicvinegar and a sad bottle of oil with green things inside it, I tried these oncebut the taste was stale. I asked for ordinary vinegar and some fresh EVOO butthey denied having such things.
The Dinner menus were extremely disappointing. Theappetisers were more ‘design’ on a plate rather than quality, or even quantityof content. The soup at the evening meal was no more than rehydrated stockcubes, and not palatable. The mains were often tasteless and lacking freshvegetables, or even any quantity of vegetable. The ubiquitous Roast Chicken,always a daily alternate to the main menu, was inedible due to the high saltcontent of the gravy poured over it. The one time I ate cake for dessert it wasdry and I wasn’t tempted to repeat it. If you wanted a cheese plate, it wasself-serve but you couldn’t get out of your seat without interrupting theentire table (the dining room being cramped as previously mentioned), and so wenever bothered.
The wine served at mealtimes was nearly always an unpleasantchardonnay, or a thin red. Alternatives were given if you argued strongly, buthaving fought for better tasting wine, your glass was often topped up with thewrong wine. The staff were always polite and worked extremely hard, but theirEnglish was not good enough when you needed, or wanted to give, informationabout food or wine.
Less than a third of the roof deck was shaded, and we had avery cloudless, sunny fortnight, so shade was much sought after but often unavailable.We resorted to using the rain umbrellas provided as a shade cover, not easy ifyou wanted to read at the same time. The seating was minimalist ‘directors’chairs’, canvas deckchairs, or flat bed loungers. There was no waiter serviceon the roof deck. Coffees had to be carried up 2 flights of stairs. The roofdeck was closed for days at a time, due to low bridges. When closed, the Loungewas the only communal area to meet for conversation or coffee/drinks. If theentertainment was not to your liking, there was nowhere to go. The Bar was alsoinside the Lounge. The constant unavailability of the roof deck was notmentioned in any of the brochures or documents prior to boarding.
Our boat suffered from a respiratory infectionwhich spread rapidly in the first few days. This resulted in most having anasty cough by the end of the trip, mine lasted another 2 weeks. It was notedthe previous contingent of passengers travelling up from Amsterdam had beensimilarly afflicted. Cruising is well known to attract infectious healthissues. I don't know how this particular infection should have been dealt with,but I felt more action could have been taken.