Scenic Low-Water-Level Schedule Changes/Cancellations

[Mrs Miggins]

4 hours ago, Philandher said:

Mrs M, were you given the opportunity to cancel and, if so, how close to your cruise. We're due on the Opal in December a quick "like for like" with the Quest or Journey would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Phil

We were given a letter on, I believe, the 2nd day of the cruise.  This said we were able to make a claim under their River Cruise Guarantee and we could, at that point,  leave the ship or if we decided to remain on the ship and continue with the alternate program then we would receive some compensation up to a maximum of 7 days.

I think only two couples left at that point.  Of those that remained many thought that they would get 7 days compensation.  Only by listening to another couple talking to the Cruise Director did we discover that the compensation would be for the number of days that Scenic decided.  At that point I was told 'possibly' 3 days but no-one really knew and all would become clear when we returned home.  We still have no idea despite reading details of the 'river cruise guarantee" online. Scenic UK said we would have an email within a week.   I was particularly disappointed that the special "enrichment" evening was cancelled.  I have enjoyed many Azamazing evenings on Azamara.  We were actually given details of the program before we were told it was cancelled, and I am sure it would have been great.

Before our cruise emails were sent to our Travel Agent saying the departure point would be Kehl another email was sent to them on our actual embarkation date changing the departure to Worms.

 

It is difficult to compare with Azamara.  Certainly the Cruise Director was busy organising changes and talking to unhappy people whilst sitting at her desk in reception.  She did do a 'Port talk' in the evening explaining the various changes and apologising for the situation which was, of course, out of their control.  Unlike Azamara she seemed to have no other function and certainly did not circulate in the bar or dining room, and she had no 'entertainment' function apparently.

 

I would say the food was adequate to good, but not outstanding.  The 'free' bar was nice and the offerings more comprehensive than on Azamara.  Entertainment was poor bordering on annoying.

 

We did however have lovely weather for 6 out of 7 days.  No rain to help the Rhine though.   We saw some new places and revisited others.  We did miss Strasbourg which was a huge disappointment to many.  A trip was put on from Worms but that meant another 4 + hours in a coach so there was a very poor take up.  Some other excursions were offered but again poorly taken up because of 2.5 hours in a coach each way.

 

This has not put me off river cruising completely, but I don't think I would not return to Scenic.  I would stress however that I have friends who have had a great time on previous Scenic cruises.  We were at the end of the season, the staff were fed up and tired because of all the changes they had to put up with.  It was our Cruise Director's last cruise of the season.  She was on our bus to airport but got off at the first terminal in Amsterdam.  She did not even turn to wave to us or say 'safe travels'.  Enough said.

 

[Philandher]

1 hour ago, Mrs Miggins said:

We were given a letter on, I believe, the 2nd day of the cruise.  This said we were able to make a claim under their River Cruise Guarantee and we could, at that point,  leave the ship or if we decided to remain on the ship and continue with the alternate program then we would receive some compensation up to a maximum of 7 days.

I think only two couples left at that point.  Of those that remained many thought that they would get 7 days compensation.  Only by listening to another couple talking to the Cruise Director did we discover that the compensation would be for the number of days that Scenic decided.  At that point I was told 'possibly' 3 days but no-one really knew and all would become clear when we returned home.  We still have no idea despite reading details of the 'river cruise guarantee" online. Scenic UK said we would have an email within a week.   I was particularly disappointed that the special "enrichment" evening was cancelled.  I have enjoyed many Azamazing evenings on Azamara.  We were actually given details of the program before we were told it was cancelled, and I am sure it would have been great.

Before our cruise emails were sent to our Travel Agent saying the departure point would be Kehl another email was sent to them on our actual embarkation date changing the departure to Worms.

 

It is difficult to compare with Azamara.  Certainly the Cruise Director was busy organising changes and talking to unhappy people whilst sitting at her desk in reception.  She did do a 'Port talk' in the evening explaining the various changes and apologising for the situation which was, of course, out of their control.  Unlike Azamara she seemed to have no other function and certainly did not circulate in the bar or dining room, and she had no 'entertainment' function apparently.

 

I would say the food was adequate to good, but not outstanding.  The 'free' bar was nice and the offerings more comprehensive than on Azamara.  Entertainment was poor bordering on annoying.

 

We did however have lovely weather for 6 out of 7 days.  No rain to help the Rhine though.   We saw some new places and revisited others.  We did miss Strasbourg which was a huge disappointment to many.  A trip was put on from Worms but that meant another 4 + hours in a coach so there was a very poor take up.  Some other excursions were offered but again poorly taken up because of 2.5 hours in a coach each way.

 

This has not put me off river cruising completely, but I don't think I would not return to Scenic.  I would stress however that I have friends who have had a great time on previous Scenic cruises.  We were at the end of the season, the staff were fed up and tired because of all the changes they had to put up with.  It was our Cruise Director's last cruise of the season.  She was on our bus to airport but got off at the first terminal in Amsterdam.  She did not even turn to wave to us or say 'safe travels'.  Enough said.

 

Thanks for the insight, quite informative.

 

I think we'll just have to sit and pray for rain between now and mid December!

[jo-b]

Just to add to this, on return home early October I wrote to Scenic about our disappointment with the communication or lack of from their HO. Received a phone call yesterday and a very nice young lady apologised on their behalf and said they were aware their communication between onboard and HO and thus on to the customer had fallen short and they were having reviews about what they could do better for next year. 

 

She mad us a very fair offer of a voucher off a future cruise which we thought was very reasonable. All we suffered was the lack of info, two boats neither of which was the one we booked and a pleasure boat I the gorge which was not brilliant as there were corporate groups on board who didn't care where they were! 

 

so we nay we'll give Scenic another try, maybe on a river with water in it!!

[LizzieBliss]

Can someone please give me an idea of what Scenic might compensate per day when they end up bussing passengers from port to port if they are unable to sail?  The Scenic call center is vague to say the least! Like so many of you we are trying to decide if we proceed with flying to Europe or do we use our cancellation insurance.  Some of the decision depends on what kind of compensation Scenic will give us for the pain and suffering of being bussed. So far this is not looking like it will be the Christmas markets cruise of our dreams.😪Thank you for any light you can shed.

[andreas butter]

Leaving Scenic Opal at Regensburg today due to low water. If you decide to take their offer to leave compensation is $400pp per day. If you decide to continue compensation is $200pp per day Aud and you continue by bus to your end destination. Max 7 days compensation. We left Amsterdam November 7 for Budapest. Too much bussing for us. Compensation depends on fare paid. We are continuing buy our own hire car. Hope this helps.

[jeb_bud]

On 10/24/2018 at 7:40 PM, hernstro said:

We took Scenic's Romantic Rhine and Moselle Sept. 10-24th. We had to skip the port of Rudesheim, as we were behind schedule by 5 hours due to low water in the gorge.  Since returning, our TA has emailed Scenic twice inquiring about compensation for this missed port as well as a couple of other hiccups. Thus far, no response from Scenic. Very disappointing. If we do hear back from Scenic, I'll post something here.

 

However, we thoroughly enjoyed the Scenic Jewel and felt the staff provided excellent service. Based on the current situation, we also feel very fortunate that our 14 day itinerary was mostly left intact. My heart goes out to those who have had major disruptions. 

 

We’re booked on the same cruise next October. It is good to read at least one reasonably favorable report. Hopefully there will be more water in the river next year. 

 

Our first cruise was Scenic Budapest to Nuremberg, which ended in Vilshofen due to low water in the Danube. We still enjoyed ourselves so we decided to cruise again with Scenic, choosing the Rhine in part because it suffers less from low water. We originally planned to cruise this year but due to medical issues we had to push it to next year. Thank god.