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Glad to have you follow along. Since our first Scenic trip was pre-covid, it will be interesting to see what, if anything, has changed. Admittedly, our home weather is making packing a bit challenging since my mind just can’t accept temperatures above zero or what that would feel like!

Thank you. I have been looking at my favourite weather app and looking up Amsterdam and Vienna but this is much better. It will warm up here too, after we leave, but I am having issues remembering those temperatures as I haven’t felt them in 6 months. But with the wind factored in, I should be fine with cotton shirts with or without a sweater under my outside water resistant layer.

Great news! Thanks!

Mother Nature just made things a bit more difficult. My mind is having trouble sorting out what to pack and the scene outside my window doesn’t make it any easier!

Our boat departs today on its first voyage of the 2024 season. Next week we board!

Comparisons are very subjective (and I don’t drink alcohol or eat Pringles 😀). So when deciding on which river cruise company it was the itinerary that was the most important factor. Secondly was the flight was included and we controlled the routing and date we flew. Those were the reasons we chose Scenic for our first river cruise in 2019. We wanted to travel the Seine and Scenic had an 11 day itinerary that hit all our “musts” with many “wants”. But most importantly for us, Scenic is one of only a few companies that sail to the English Channel and into Honfleur. The majority of companies sail only to Rouen and then bus passengers to Normandy. That was the deciding factor for us. Was it nice to get anything I wanted whenever I wanted? Of course! But I am not a fussy person and don’t drink alcohol so they made money on me. I looked at charts such as these to help me decide. But I can’t find the one that broke down the costs on an all inclusive per day. That is the cart that showed me that although Scenic was one of the most expensive on first looking at total cost, it was actually one of the least expensive when you factor in the inclusions like no tipping, laundry, all drinks, flights, transfers, etc. it is a very personal choice so only you can decide what it is that is important to you.

That sounds amazing! I’m sure you will love both. We are flying Premium Economy both ways across the Atlantic as we have to pay for a dog sitter 🤷🏻‍♀️😊😆 as our dog is old and very anxious.

Busted! Now I’m getting the corgi stare of disapproval 😂

Things are starting to get serious around here. Piles of clothes and daily necessaries plus just in case pharmaceuticals clutter most surfaces in the bedroom and bathroom. This is the part I dislike the most. All the while a slow moving Colorado low is hitting us for the next 3-4 days bringing high winds, rain and snow. I see the temps in Amsterdam are 8-10 degrees C higher than us at the moment but that North Sea winds can’t be ignored! So our end trip to much warmer Vienna may be in the same clothes for 3 days 😆 as I haven’t dug out my summer clothes yet. Just kidding but it won’t be extensive.

I am unsure of your method of comparison but I can answer your questions to help you fill in the blanks. For example in 2019 we were surprised to learn that all inclusive for Scenic meant all you could drink of whatever you choose to drink (exception being the top of the top shelf liquor) was included and their wine cellar was impressive. It also meant the mini bar in your room was stocked with whatever you chose, including chocolate and Pringles. One free bag of laundry and, depending upon cabin category, daily pressing. Want your shoes shined? Done. There’s even a pillow menu when you enter your cabin. Did I mention free wifi? But if you want productions in various venues you will be disappointed. There is no casino and the shop is restricted to a small corner of the lobby across from the concierge desk. There is one main lounge where everyone uses and is also the bar and the casual restaurant for quick bites. Let me know what your criteria is and I can help you decide which make and model Scenic attains.

Happy to have you follow along! I’m sure your weather will be better than ours. Thanks for the encouragement for Rob and getting new knees. I’m sure it will make a world of difference so I’m happy to convey another positive experience. DS will be busy on an expedition but DD, although also busy with exams, is dishing out a dose of guilt that she won’t be joining us.

1995 on a Greek ship from Barbados to Spain. My first and only TA.

I used to really like her show “Pitching In” so I am really looking forward to it.

I hope you enjoy your upcoming Avalon River cruise. We took Scenic on an 11 day Seine voyage in August 2019 and fell in love. Disclaimer: both DH and I are not big-mega ship people. That’s just us. So we think anyone who prefers boutique hotels over the large chain hotels will enjoy the river cruise experience. We really enjoyed how you get to know most of your fellow passengers and staff. They really went above and beyond, in our experience, to learn your individual preferences and routines.

Thank you. Rob is now, finally, on the list for knee replacement (s) and when we return he will go on the cancellation list so it may happen sooner than later 🤞He was deemed too young until recently so he has suffered for decades. we are a bit worried about all the walking but he is bringing the kt tape and pain cream. Hopefully the weather won’t be rain every daytime we can’t control that.

Thank you! And yes they sure have! Our son was 7 on our first HAL cruise to Alaska and our daughter 10. Now he is 6’4” and towers over all of us. We made such good family memories onboard the BHBs!

My condolences on the loss of your wife. Glad to hear you enjoyed your Avalon experience and thank you for sharing what it was that made it special. We did have a lot of Aussies onboard in 2019 but being Canadian, we enjoyed that. If I remember correctly, it was Australians and Americans that were the most passengers then Canadians, Kiwis, British and a few other countries sprinkled in. This time, with 2 Canadian chefs, we assume that the bulk of the passengers will be Canadian but we will find out! The boat sold out quickly once the special culinary experience was announced.

Thanks so much Jacqui. It has been a long and eventful 5 years. We are looking forward to celebrating our anniversary and putting some of those negative events behind us.

No, unfortunately not. We leave on Saturday and the eclipse is on Tuesday. It’s huge news and many schools are closed for the day as the timing of the eclipse is just after the schools let out for the day. The Boards are erring on the side of caution. Correct. It is only a partial eclipse in our area. I think Niagara Falls is panicking a bit as over a million people are expected. They are having events on Tuesday like an open air concert. But you are correct, it is too early to say if the skies will be clear.

Thank you so much for this! An information desk is perfect as all I got at the Paris Weston was shrugged shoulders.

Thanks so much! I have been looking at Google Maps to try to figure out how to get places since we have 3 days before we board Scenic Jade. My biggest question has to do with transfers to the ship. In Paris we were given zero information (which I relayed back to Scenic directly after the cruise) about the transfer and as a result people started hanging out on any surface that could be sat on before 10:00 in the morning. It was a gruelling 3 hour wait blocking the whole lobby. So I am hoping that this hotel is better equipped to handle river cruise transfers and has more places to sit.

Yes they are very different. I remember some members of this board being curious and asking questions. So if a river cruise is something you may be considering and you have questions on how it compares to a HAL cruise I’m willing to take pictures and answer questions to the best of my ability. Why did we choose Scenic? Well just as I did before choosing HAL, I did an analysis of costs, inclusions, cabin types, etc. Looking at cost only, Scenic was one of the most expensive in 2018 but with cost of inclusions factored in, it quickly became one of the most cost effective. We will be on the Scenic Jade. It is 135 m in length and takes 163 passengers in 80/82 cabins on 3 decks with 55 crew. Its gross tonnage is 2721. It has 3 restaurants plus in room dining for most cabins, a lounge with bar, a salt therapy lounge, a sun lounge, a wellness centre and a fitness centre.

We are in the bullseye for up to 20 cm on Tuesday, apparently. We are in the snow belt, about an hour north of Toronto’s airport on top of the Niagara Escarpment.

The above is a link to my live thread for our upcoming river cruise. I will try to answer questions and provide as much information as possible. After many years of sailing HAL as a family of 4 I can no longer cruise due to a medical condition. This will be our second river cruise, the first one was in August 2019 on the Seine. And it will just be DH and I as DD is working on her Master’s in Occupational Therapy and DS is about to graduate college with all the qualifications for search and rescue. He will be canoeing in Southern Maine while we are in The Netherlands. We loved everything about HAL but since we can no longer sail the oceans we are loving cruising rivers. Of course we would love to board a BHB but see how a (much) smaller boat compares!

Greetings from still cold Canada where nothing is blooming because it keeps snowing! But this time next week DH and I will be in Amsterdam enjoying 3 days pre- cruise before embarking on our long postponed river cruise. We booked a Christmas markets cruise in November 2019 for 2020…well you can guess what happened so we switched that to the south of France travelling in 2022 but I had brain surgery in March that year and wasn’t allowed to travel. So we switched back to a Christmas market trip for 2023 but my doctor didn’t want me to go if ice and snow was a possibility so…ta-da…we booked this Windmills,Tulips and Belgium Delights River cruise which then turned into this culinary experience and we couldn’t be happier. We embark on the Scenic Jade on April 10. I booked into the Hilton Doubletree Centraal Station in Amsterdam as we get free transfers if we stayed at this specific hotel. Since I use a cane and DH needs two new knees, we felt this was a good idea. I have a WWII tour and a canal tour booked pre river cruise and we are flying to Vienna post cruise. So come along and join us if you are interested. I will start posting daily beginning Saturday when we fly out of Toronto.