What is going on with Scenic Cruises

[CJANDH]

21 hours ago, Daisi said:

having a SIM card for Europe is a must.

Or you can switch to the Google Fi service provider and get 10 cents per minute phone calling in pretty much every country world wide. Doesn't work with I-phones but does on most Androids. And very cost effective.

[Daisi]

52 minutes ago, CJANDH said:

Or you can switch to the Google Fi service provider and get 10 cents per minute phone calling in pretty much every country world wide. Doesn't work with I-phones but does on most Androids. And very cost effective.

 

We are on iPhones...we use FaceTime over Wifi to call home, but if we need to call the ship or somewhere else in Europe, we need an European SIM.

[texasstar]

Just returned from the Scenic Gem on the Seine.  The onboard experience was wonderful.  The staff was top-notch and the food was delicious.  There were issues with some of the guides on the shore excursions.  They are still trying to get back in to the swing of things since not working for two years.   Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip.

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, texasstar said:

Just returned from the Scenic Gem on the Seine.  The onboard experience was wonderful.  The staff was top-notch and the food was delicious.  There were issues with some of the guides on the shore excursions.  They are still trying to get back in to the swing of things since not working for two years.   Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip.

Yes, in a few cases their English had gotten rusty – but nowhere near as bad as my French!!!

[Canal archive]

We were on the first Scenic Gem cruise and the tour guides  we’re learning as we went most were excellent and followed all along the route. Although we all had challenges with one gentleman! If you noticed the French in that area are very pro Brits, Aussies, Canadians, Americans & New Zealander’s well this guide wasn’t big time to the extent on the coach we certainly noticed it. Our solution raise the arm with two fingers extended and in unison say ‘remember Agincourt’ it worked like a dream, especially as there was no doubt about it his history knowledge  was excellent.

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 hours ago, texasstar said:

Just returned from the Scenic Gem on the Seine.  The onboard experience was wonderful.  The staff was top-notch and the food was delicious.  There were issues with some of the guides on the shore excursions.  They are still trying to get back in to the swing of things since not working for two years.   Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip.

Did you have Ben Baillie as Richard the Lionheart at Chateau Galliard , Rollo the Walker in Rouen, and Ben the Doughboy onboard?  He was terrific!

[Canal archive]

We didn’t so I can’t wait another new experience !

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

We didn’t so I can’t wait another new experience !

Not sure if they hire him for the shorter itinerary.  We had him on the 11-day "Normandy & Gems of the Seine."

[Canal archive]

We  don’t go for the short versions always the long. We learnt from our very first cruise we returned wishing it was longer.

[texasstar]

Jazzbeau, we did not have any of those.  I did not go to the Roman ruins, but those that did, said the guide was in full costume and was wonderful.   

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, texasstar said:

Jazzbeau, we did not have any of those.  I did not go to the Roman ruins, but those that did, said the guide was in full costume and was wonderful.   

Not Roman ruins on the Seine, but that sounds like Ben Baillie and he was indeed wonderful.

[CJANDH]

Just to get back to the title of this thread, "what is wrong with Scenic?" The answer is clearly: The head office.

 

We are on Pearl right now heading up the Moselle and there is "nothing wrong with Scenic" at the operational level. We have a great crew that is a joy to sail with. The food is good; not exceptional, but good. The ship is clean and tidy; and the beds as usual are the most comfortable on the rivers. So far a wonderful cruise.

 

Message to HQ: get your act together and start to communicate with your customers. Your people on board are doing things right. You need to staff up in the office and repair your tarnished reputation.

 

Picture is Cochem.

[loriva]

Well, not in all cases.  Scenic failed to meet us at the airport in Vienna yesterday despite having transfers.  Now I've been trying to track down the Tour Director at the hotel--the one used by Scenic--for an hour.  I'd hope things would improve once we arrived, but so far not.

[notamermaid]

22 minutes ago, loriva said:

Scenic failed to meet us at the airport in Vienna yesterday despite having transfers. 

Not good at all. Hope things improve from here. Are your tickets for Oberammergau in your hands yet or will they be given to you on the ship or at the box office?

 

Hope you have a great time, despite it being a bit hot now.

 

notamermaid

 

[setabt]

My wife and I are signed up for the Scenic "Delightful Duoro Cruise" leaving from Porto, Portugal on July 11, 2022. We have not received any final documents from Scenic. When we go on their Booking portal we get a message that our trip is being finalized and the portal is not accessible. When we call Scenic we get a recording saying that one of their travel assistants will be with us shortly. Have waited up to an hour with no one picking up. This is our first trip on Scenic. Is this usual???

[Canal archive]

Where in our wonderful world are you as in the U.K. your final documents don’t arrive until about two weeks or less before you depart and they may be emails rather than hard copies. I’m sure all will be okay, the Douro cruise is wonderful helped along by the lovely Portuguese.

[setabt]

Canal archive: Thank you for your response. I hope you are right. Something appears to me to be exceedingly wrong with Scenic's customer service. Don't know if this is a recent problem or just a continuation of past issues. If a client has to wait over an hour for Scenic to answer their phone and still not get a response then there is a problem that should be corrected quickly.

[CJANDH]

42 minutes ago, setabt said:

Canal archive: Thank you for your response. I hope you are right. Something appears to me to be exceedingly wrong with Scenic's customer service. Don't know if this is a recent problem or just a continuation of past issues. If a client has to wait over an hour for Scenic to answer their phone and still not get a response then there is a problem that should be corrected quickly.

This has been a problem for months. Scenic's HQ is very poor at communication and multi hour waits to talk to anyone are common. We have just returned from a Scenic cruise on the Rhine and Moselle. The cruise itself was lovely; the onboard staff exceptional. But the weeks prior to the cruise were very stressful with no information on the status of the cruise when it was clear that the ship we were supposed to be sailing on was out of commission with a dead engine for weeks before we sailed. Eventually, a few days before we left home for the trip, we were informed that a switch in ships had been made and our trip was still on. They could have assured us of the plan B weeks before and eliminated the worry. But no. No response to frantic emails and phone messages from us and our TA.

 

Despite a nice cruise experience, we will likely not book with Scenic again.

[sbjornda]

15 hours ago, setabt said:

July 11, 2022. We have not received any final documents from Scenic. 

Six  days prior to our departure (flights booked by Scenic) I emailed info@scenic.ca to ask where our documents were. We had received the backpacks, but they included none of the hotel and transfer information, meeting points, etc., that we used to get.. The next day a helpful customer service representative called me in response to my email to sort things out - apparently Scenic's "Documentation Department" had emailed the documents to me the day before -- but they never showed up in my email. Not in my junk mail, which I check every day. I didn't have any blocking for Scenic email. So they just disappeared! Fortunately the Scenic rep was able to get copies and forward them to me herself, while she was on the phone with me, and they arrived immediately.

 

So yes, there is cause to be concerned and stay on top of things, but as you're still more than two weeks out I wouldn't expect anything quite yet. Seems like 6 or 7 days is their current standard. 

 

BTW, we're booked on the sailing just before yours. We'll take good care of the ship for you. 🙂

 

This will be our 3rd Scenic cruise. Every single time, their back-office processes have stressed me out, while their front line staff have been wonderful. (If I were still in the work force I would try to go work for them to bring them into the 21st century regarding business processes. Heck, some of these business process standards have been around since the 1950's and they don't seem to know a thing about them. It's almost as though their management team is just making it up as they go along.)

[English Tim]

We’ve just returned from scenic Sapphire and we also had similar concerns prior to the cruise but once on board had a fantastic time. Our documents arrived  by email less than seven days from departure.

[Canal archive]

We’ve only ever traveled with Scenic so are used to our documents arriving during the 14/7 days prior to departure so must admit to wondering why people get concerned.

[English Tim]

Those of you in the UK taking advantage of the complimentary chauffeur pick up to the airport, have you always had a Mercedes and have they always been on time?

 

on Friday at Heathrow, several passengers stood around waiting for drivers. Ours claimed to have been there for one hour, yet when we phoned the company they told us he was 10 minutes away from the airport. I asked why we were not being picked up in the usual standard of car and you told me that the company was short of vehicles.

[Canal archive]

Something Scenic should look at as I think the company they have used for many years has been taken over.

[3Shelaghs]

Do you think some of their HQ/communication issues stem from previous lawsuit (chg in employee), or purely pandemic related issues(loss of staff)? Does anyone know if Vancouver office is reopening?

[Canal archive]

More likely the loss of staff that is being felt absolutely everywhere combined with the huge tech outage they suffered recently.