Scenic Basel to Amsterdam 9/13-20

[mapsd]

Started the 1st leg of our journey with a BIG hiccup. 1st leg of our flight was canceled on short notice!  
Now 2 layovers instead of 1 & last pick for seats, but only arrive 15 minutes later than original journey. 
 

Uploading your vaccine docs & the completed entry forms to the airline website definitely will make things go faster. 

[mapsd]

Made it to Zurich, things improved after getting lay-flat seats for the long flight over the Atlantic.

Swiss air collected our vaccine card info and Swiss Entry QR code before we boarded our flight, but passport control after we landed only verbally asked if we we vaccinated.

 

Scenic had a limo waiting at baggage claim, & were exploring Zurich by noon.

Now just visiting Lucerne & the Swiss Alps on our own until Scenic delivers us to Basel tomorrow afternoon!

 

Switzerland has been masks indoors only, but it seems like everything is open.

[travlr21]

Following, we should have been disembarking the Scenic Crystal in Basel tomorrow, Sept 13. We are rebooked for next September.

 

Glad your hiccup worked out OK, enjoy the rest of your trip. Looking forward to your posts.

[need2travel1]

Enjoy your trip!!  Looking forward to traveling along virtually......

[mapsd]

New update:  

Just got a message from Scenic that we are now being picked up in Breisach instead of Basel due to “technical issues.”

 

My guess is that it has something to do with not crossing the border into Switzerland

[Psoque]

Is your cruise arriving in Amsterdam on the last day, or is it arriving the day before disembarkation?  I’m interested in knowing how the Dutch authorities are enforcing their new quarantine rules to river cruise passengers from “very high risk” countries.  We are schedule to take a 7 night cruise on Crystal Debussy in November (things might be very different, for better or worse, by then) of this year, and Crystal is insisting that no passengers will be required to undergo quarantine or additional testing if the passenger enters the Netherlands from Germany.  I am not sure if that’s consistent with the rules I read from the Dutch website, but perhaps there is a loophole in enforcement of the new rules.

 

I would be very curious to know what passengers on your cruise who are/were planning to stay a few days in Amsterdam is doing in light of the new quarantine rules.

[mapsd]

18 hours ago, Psoque said:

Is your cruise arriving in Amsterdam on the last day, or is it arriving the day before disembarkation?  I’m interested in knowing how the Dutch authorities are enforcing their new quarantine rules to river cruise passengers from “very high risk” countries.  We are schedule to take a 7 night cruise on Crystal Debussy in November (things might be very different, for better or worse, by then) of this year, and Crystal is insisting that no passengers will be required to undergo quarantine or additional testing if the passenger enters the Netherlands from Germany.  I am not sure if that’s consistent with the rules I read from the Dutch website, but perhaps there is a loophole in enforcement of the new rules.

 

I would be very curious to know what passengers on your cruise who are/were planning to stay a few days in Amsterdam is doing in light of the new quarantine rules.

We are still arriving in Amsterdam on the final morning to disembark. 

 

We talked to a 4some who were originally doing 3 post-days, but are flying straight home. 

Another couple is still planning to stay in Amsterdam.  They will have a vaccine card & recent negative test, which will along them into museums, etc…

There still really is no system that can establish when you arrived in the Netherlands, unless you flew in.

 

We are still going directly to Belgium, then returning to fly home from AMS later.

[mapsd]

Our cruise is going pretty well so far. 

Masks require to move about the boat, but not while seated or on the top deck.

Still have self-serve buffets for breakfast & lunch.

About 2/3 capacity.  Many got room upgrades

 

The bad:  We are spending the final 36 hours of our trip onboard.

No excursions, & just killing time on the water so that we still arrive at the original time to disembark. No mention from Scenic about any compensation/refund.

[notamermaid]

Good to hear you are enjoying your trip.

 

36 hours seems a silly long time without being on land. Couldn't they get a few hours at Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Xanten, Wesel or Emmerich in? They are familiar with Xanten anyway. They need less than 24 hours to make it from the border to Amsterdam, I wonder what does not work in the logistics?

 

I would address the matter of getting a refund for missed excursions while you are idly sailing in Dutch waters.

 

notamermaid 

 

[Psoque]

3 hours ago, mapsd said:

Our cruise is going pretty well so far. 

Masks require to move about the boat, but not while seated or on the top deck.

Still have self-serve buffets for breakfast & lunch.

About 2/3 capacity.  Many got room upgrades

 

The bad:  We are spending the final 36 hours of our trip onboard.

No excursions, & just killing time on the water so that we still arrive at the original time to disembark. No mention from Scenic about any compensation/refund.

Does this mean you can only “look” at Amsterdam from your ship?

 

Sorry about that.

 

 

[mapsd]

13 hours ago, Psoque said:

Does this mean you can only “look” at Amsterdam from your ship?

 

Sorry about that.

 

 

Not as part of the official Scenic cruise. 
Many are remaining in Amsterdam after getting the boat though. 
Many have been out of the US for 10 already, some just aren’t reporting to the local govt & staying anyway 

If we docked on the 22nd or later, all we’d need is a vaccine card, so it will be better for the groups that follow us. 
 

Not always good to be first!

[mapsd]

Currently in the middle of our 36 straight hours on the boat since we were not given an alternative stop to replace the canceled time in Amsterdam.  

 

Not a lot to do on a small ship for this long.

I expected a little more from Scenic. 

Still no word on compensation 

 

[Canal archive]

mapsd look on the internet at the Scenic sight under compensation for prolonged disruption it looks like you could be compensate d £50 to £100 per person per day of disruption should they not be able to fulfil the sightseeing listed in the itinerary.