What is going on with Scenic Cruises

[Canal archive]

Basically the only time you need to open your wallet on a Scenic tour is  for hair, massage, nails etc and there not horrendously expensive. Okay the shop with jewellery a few clothing items and if your anywhere near Germany teddy bears Steiff  of course. I’ve got two from Scenic but then I collect teddy bears 🧸 

Edited June 8, 2022 by Canal archive

[Mrs Miggins]

Heard yesterday about our rail journey from London to Lyons on July 4th.  All sounds good apart from an early start from home.  Interestingly Scenic now include the transfer from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyons. in Paris.   Whilst I know it is not a long distance I understand there are often long lines for regular taxi's and the Scenic involvement does reduce stress levels.

This must be a fairly new addition as on our last Scenic cruise we dined with others from the UK who had had to arrange their own rather stressful transfer.  They managed to leave a small carry on case in the taxi and had to return to Paris from Bordeaux some days later to try to find it in Lost Property.  The case apparently contained very expensive jewellery.  

Quite why anyone would take expensive jewellery on a cruise, and then manage to leave it in a taxi, remains a mystery.

[Canal archive]

Mrs Miggins pity it’s not Eurostar all the way which is what we did although we then had to transfer to Chalone  Sur Soane where the cruise started from. The only drawback was on the return, no passport control at Avignon so at Lille, everyone off then everyone back on again. Technically then it would have been possible to board Eurostar in London  have lunch in Marseille and return all in one day p, I do so wish we had tried it.

Lucky to have actually found their case but agree with you expensive jewellery really a no! no!

[dkf11]

Scenic just cancelled their September Mekong cruises dues to "operational" issues.  At least they cancelled it right before final payment was due, so we just have to fight to get our deposit back. They want to hold our deposit for use on a future cruise.  Luckily we found a similar Uniworld cruise as a substitute (and on sale too 🙂) which works with our flights.  

[English Tim]

We’ve just received our final docs and scenic freebies, so I’ll start a new thread for those who might want to follow our experiences.

[Fouremco]

44 minutes ago, English Tim said:

We’ve just received our final docs and scenic freebies, so I’ll start a new thread for those who might want to follow our experiences.

Please do! Earlier this week, we booked our first river cruise - on Scenic - and I'm very interested in reading a first-hand travelog.

[English Tim]

15 hours ago, Fouremco said:

Please do! Earlier this week, we booked our first river cruise - on Scenic - and I'm very interested in reading a first-hand travelog.

You won’t be disappointed. In our experience, however challenging the shorebased offices are, once on board ship everything is fantastic.

[pete_coach]

When we went on our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise we had a book that had a map and lots of information about the stops and sites along the way. Great book.

I cannot remember, do you get that book mailed to you or is it in your suite on the ship?

The way things sound, it may be that nothing gets mailed to us for our 17 July cruise?

[Canal archive]

Pete it used to be mailed but has been in the suite for some time although I think it may be phased out as the Scenic app that we were the Guinea pigs for is superb.  You could borrow a phone from reception. 

[loriva]

3 hours ago, pete_coach said:

When we went on our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise we had a book that had a map and lots of information about the stops and sites along the way. Great book.

I cannot remember, do you get that book mailed to you or is it in your suite on the ship?

The way things sound, it may be that nothing gets mailed to us for our 17 July cruise?

 

There was no physical book in the things Scenic mailed to us (received yesterday:  backpacks, document wallet, luggage tags (two round plastic ones and four paper tags), plus two set of health forms to be filled out.)  Not sure if there is still such a book in the cabin--will report after we board in a couple of weeks.  There is a "Guide Book" section under the "My Cruise" area on the Scenic app, but they cannot be accessed as they require a download code.  (The City Guides also require an access code to download, but that is simply the first four letters of the city's name in English.)  If anyone with recent experience on Scenic knows the code to download the Guide Books, please advise.

[English Tim]

Yesterday, I composed a long post about my forthcoming Scenic cruise, I cannot see it to add to it. Maybe I forgot to press the post button, but did anyone see it? It was headed scenic Sapphire.

Edited June 11, 2022 by English Tim
Trying to delete

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, English Tim said:

Yesterday, I composed a long post about my forthcoming Scenic cruise, I cannot see it to add to it. Maybe I forgot to press the post button, but did anyone see it? It was headed scenic Sapphire.

 

[pete_coach]

21 hours ago, loriva said:

 

There was no physical book in the things Scenic mailed to us (received yesterday:  backpacks, document wallet, luggage tags (two round plastic ones and four paper tags), plus two set of health forms to be filled out.)  Not sure if there is still such a book in the cabin--will report after we board in a couple of weeks.  There is a "Guide Book" section under the "My Cruise" area on the Scenic app, but they cannot be accessed as they require a download code.  (The City Guides also require an access code to download, but that is simply the first four letters of the city's name in English.)  If anyone with recent experience on Scenic knows the code to download the Guide Books, please advise.

The app asks for a 4 digit code. Where do I get that?? 

I know that you need to put in your cruise code and that was done.

[jimmymac613]

6 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

The app asks for a 4 digit code. Where do I get that?? 

I know that you need to put in your cruise code and that was done.

Currently on the Scenic Pearl. Once you’re on the ship it will download all pertinent information for your cruise. 

[Fouremco]

16 minutes ago, jimmymac613 said:

Currently on the Scenic Pearl. Once you’re on the ship it will download all pertinent information for your cruise. 

The City Guides can be downloaded well in advance, as I've already done so for a cruise next August (2023), so I'm surprised that I'd have to wait until I'm aboard to download the Guide Book. Those of us who enjoy research and planning find getting it once onboard a tad bit late. 

[sbjornda]

Received backpacks and luggage tags today, 16 days in advance of flying to Portugal. Unlike previous Scenic river cruises, though, there was no paperwork. I presume that will come separately; email is fine by me. Makes sense from a production point of view - process the bulky, non-personal stuff as quickly as it comes into the warehouse, decouple it from shipping the personalized documents that need to be checked over more carefully. 

[loriva]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

The City Guides can be downloaded well in advance, as I've already done so for a cruise next August (2023), so I'm surprised that I'd have to wait until I'm aboard to download the Guide Book. Those of us who enjoy research and planning find getting it once onboard a tad bit late. 

Yes, we downloaded the City Guides several months ago using the first four letters of the city’s name in English as the code; I.e.,  Amsterdam is 2678.  But the guide book for our Rhine Cruise has defeated all attempts to work out the code.  As one who does do research and planning for our travel, it’s another missing piece of information from Scenic.  Maybe someone who’s onboard or traveled with Scenic recently will be able to solve the mystery for us—just as someone posted the trick for the city guides.

 

[pete_coach]

17 hours ago, jimmymac613 said:

Currently on the Scenic Pearl. Once you’re on the ship it will download all pertinent information for your cruise. 

Do you use this while on the tour?

I will not have data on my phone in Europe. It is very expensive form my provider to buy a foreign data plan.

I know there is wifi onboard but, to use it off the ship like I used the book, would be costly.

[Canal archive]

We were on two of the first cruises to use the system and reception had phones you could borrow. As far as I remember the intercom system used for when your with a tour guide can be used to go wondering on your own they are loaded with different towns walks and heritage information. I’m sorry but the tech stuff leaves me cold I just use it.

[CJANDH]

1 hour ago, pete_coach said:

Do you use this while on the tour?

I will not have data on my phone in Europe. It is very expensive form my provider to buy a foreign data plan.

I know there is wifi onboard but, to use it off the ship like I used the book, would be costly.

You can use it without any data charges. It is linked to the onboard WIFI and works pretty well to give you your daily activity guide, a map to track your cruise and the ability to tap into pre-recorded commentary for POI as you pass them. Download the programs before you leave home and then just log in while in the ship.

[sbjornda]

1 hour ago, pete_coach said:

I will not have data on my phone in Europe. It is very expensive form my provider to buy a foreign data plan.

We found it to be very much worth investing in European SIM cards, letting folks back home know the European number if they need to voice us. Voice mails on the "home" number can be retrieved by email or through an online portal. When one is spending "free time" in an unfamiliar city it's quite handy to google things including pointing the Translate app at a sign, or checking QR codes, or using Satellite View in Maps if one is on a footpath not marked on regular maps. A SIM card costs a bit but it's still one of the least expensive parts of the trip over all. We've used Orange Holiday Europe purchased through amazon.ca, but there are cheaper competitors; there have been a few discussions in the CC forum you might search for. 

[jimmymac613]

The Scenic Pearl spotted on the Meuse river near Maasbracht.

 

 

[Fouremco]

41 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

You can use it without any data charges. It is linked to the onboard WIFI and works pretty well to give you your daily activity guide, a map to track your cruise and the ability to tap into pre-recorded commentary for POI as you pass them. Download the programs before you leave home and then just log in while in the ship.

That's right, using the Scenic Tailormade app entails no data charges. For those who might have missed it, there's a good Q&A on the app here: https://www.scenic.ca/all-inclusive-luxury/tailormade

 

 

41 minutes ago, sbjornda said:

We found it to be very much worth investing in European SIM cards, letting folks back home know the European number if they need to voice us. Voice mails on the "home" number can be retrieved by email or through an online portal. When one is spending "free time" in an unfamiliar city it's quite handy to google things including pointing the Translate app at a sign, or checking QR codes, or using Satellite View in Maps if one is on a footpath not marked on regular maps. A SIM card costs a bit but it's still one of the least expensive parts of the trip over all. We've used Orange Holiday Europe purchased through amazon.ca, but there are cheaper competitors; there have been a few discussions in the CC forum you might search for. 

While not required for using the Tailormade app, I wouldn't travel in Europe without a European SIM card. There are simply too many situations where one would be useful and others where its use might be critical. There's a wide variety of cards with different phone, data and text allowances and varying restrictions on incoming vs outgoing communications. It takes a bit of sorting out to get the one best suited for your individual needs, but it's well worth the effort.

[Canal archive]

Now I know wonderful that’s sorted and I’ve worked out with my provider for little or no charge roaming mind you there’s a limit to the amount I can use. I’m well past the age of worrying about these things. And I’m of the generation that really started with computers. Oh well.

[Daisi]

2 hours ago, Fouremco said:

While not required for using the Tailormade app, I wouldn't travel in Europe without a European SIM card. There are simply too many situations where one would be useful and others where its use might be critical. There's a wide variety of cards with different phone, data and text allowances and varying restrictions on incoming vs outgoing communications. It takes a bit of sorting out to get the one best suited for your individual needs, but it's well worth the effort.

 

I agree @Fouremco & @sbjornda, having a SIM card for Europe is a must. I'll gladly spend the extra for the peace of mind when wandering on your own that you have it. We use e-mail, Facetime etc when on the boat to communicate with home, but when out wandering, it's so nice to have.