What is going on with Scenic Cruises

[gnome12]

9 hours ago, pete_coach said:

Not at all.

I do know though, that the UK is considered to be on the continent of Europe. UK is just not in the EU.

I asked "are European (and especially on the Sapphire) receptacles the 2 round pins or the 3 prong like in England? "

UK was never considered to be on the continent, because it isn’t. 

[pontac]

11 hours ago, pete_coach said:

I do know though, that the UK is considered to be on the continent of Europe.

 

Not by the English 😁

 

But apologies as my humous comment obviously offended.

 

The EU did want the UK to convert to the 2/3 pin European plug; it's one of their few demands that didn't happen.

 

I remember when the square 13 amp system came in; my parents had to convert their house from 15 amp round sockets and plugs* to the square system

 

The 15amp round sockets were just the right diameter for crawling babies and  toddlers to push their fingers in. They can't do it with the smaller square holes, plus the two live holes are closed until the earth socket is pushed open, which is why the earth pin is longer than the other two.

 

*still in use in South Africa

Edited July 12, 2022 by pontac

[Canal archive]

Some years ago we were going to South Africa on holiday so clever me thought ohh need some plug adapters, well I hunted and hunted until my lovely local DIY guys explained I didn’t need them as SA used the same system as us. Oh what a mistaka to maka!

[dcl999]

     Another major problem with Scenic is getting money back if you cancel a cruise. Yesterday we received our refund check for a cruise cancelled in December, 2021. I periodically emailed them asking for our money back. They kept replying it was taking time to process refunds. 
     We totally enjoyed the pre pandemic cruises we took. Our TA complained about the difficulty dealing with Scenic back in 2018 and 2019. 

[Canal archive]

Interesting our neighbours had their Scenic holiday two weeks ago utterly ruined by a flight company I wish I could name them. (Name & Shame) Scenic repaid their holiday in full two days later and apologised for the time it took as it was over a weekend.

[DougK]

18 hours ago, dcl999 said:

     Another major problem with Scenic is getting money back if you cancel a cruise. Yesterday we received our refund check for a cruise cancelled in December, 2021. I periodically emailed them asking for our money back. They kept replying it was taking time to process refunds. 
    

 

Hmm... wonder why it took so long for you. Scenic cancelled our cruise (just a week before sailing) at the end of April, and we got the refund check about 6 weeks later, in early June. Certainly not fast, but not unreasonable. The 7 months it took you is definitely in the unreasonable category!

[Canal archive]

Do you think this is a country thing? I know our regulations regarding holidays and touristy things is in some cases vastly different to other countries and in some cases reading between the lines maybe somewhat superior or is it simply that Scenic U.K. is getting their act together in a more timely manner. I’m not poh - poohing other countries here but maybe for once we’re on the ball!

[pete_coach]

There was a lot of aggravation and stress because of Scenics problems but, backpack and document wallet arrived by mail 2 weeks ago. Trip documents came by email 10 days ago. Checked in online last night for our flights and we are ready to go.

Long range forecast is for very hot weather in Southern France for the next 10 days but, a vacation was a long time coming and we will enjoy every minute.

[notamermaid]

Short notification. There has been a fire on the Scenic Amber in Passau. German news says that faulty air conditioning caused a fire in one of the cabins. The passengers in the cabin were alerted by the fire detectors and the crew extinguished it quickly. All passengers were evacuated and no one was harmed.

 

Alerted fire fighters and police on the scene praised the quick reaction of the crew.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Whoops maybe something to do with the weather. I’ve always said that the Scenic crews are excellent well done them.

[steamboats]

Here are some photos and a short video of the ship and the guests standing on the sun deck in their robes. The incident happened yesterday morning around 8 am. 115 guests, a total of 151 (pax and crew). Nobody was injured but the cabin can´t be used anymore.

 

steamboats

[Canal archive]

Luckily not full so there should be suites available. So some missed breakfasts.

[Fouremco]

2 hours ago, pete_coach said:

There was a lot of aggravation and stress because of Scenics problems but, backpack and document wallet arrived by mail 2 weeks ago. Trip documents came by email 10 days ago. Checked in online last night for our flights and we are ready to go.

Long range forecast is for very hot weather in Southern France for the next 10 days but, a vacation was a long time coming and we will enjoy every minute.

As our first Scenic cruise is next year, any and all details on your experience will be appreciated, including your flight arrangement departing from Ottawa. Have a great cruise!

[3Shelaghs]

Excellent time for Scenic to Shine!!!  Upgraded cabins, some type of cruise refund in cash. Come on Scenic pour on the customer service!!!!!!!

[3Shelaghs]

19 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

As our first Scenic cruise is next year, any and all details on your experience will be appreciated, including your flight arrangement departing from Ottawa. Have a great cruise!

Ditto that request!

The only bonus living this close to Toronto is the airport, although I would rather be in the Ottawa Valley!!! We have booked direct TO-Zurich 3 days pre cruise stay, then home 1 day post cruise from Frankfurt.

Have analyzed all routes to eliminate Frankfurt, but $$ and a dog, depicted we just stick with Frankfurt.

Our only river experience was AMA and they were outstanding. Scenic is slightly one step up?? The all inclusive was the deciding factor. I nickled and dimed the cruise lines on paper, and basically they all work out to the same just depending on how you like to consume beverages. Scenic was purported to be more luxury, so they will have to prove that to me!! I really liked the customer service with AMA.

[Wings55]

31 minutes ago, 3Shelaghs said:

Our only river experience was AMA and they were outstanding. Scenic is slightly one step up?? The all inclusive was the deciding factor. I nickled and dimed the cruise lines on paper, and basically they all work out to the same just depending on how you like to consume beverages. Scenic was purported to be more luxury, so they will have to prove that to me!! I really liked the customer service with AMA.

@3ShelaghsHaving sailed with both AMA and Scenic I believe you will be quite pleased with your cruise. AMA offers an excellent experience but Scenic does almost everything a bit better in my opinion. Have fun and enjoy your vacation.

Paul

[terry&mike]

18 hours ago, Wings55 said:

@3ShelaghsHaving sailed with both AMA and Scenic I believe you will be quite pleased with your cruise. AMA offers an excellent experience but Scenic does almost everything a bit better in my opinion. Have fun and enjoy your vacation.

Paul

Agree. We have sailed with both and that is also my take away. Both lovely experiences, but I'd give a slight edge to Scenic. I should correct that to say that I give the edge to Scenic on the actual sailing. As far as booking communication goes, pre-trip information, and that type of thing, AMA is by far the front runner. 

[pete_coach]

22 hours ago, Fouremco said:

As our first Scenic cruise is next year, any and all details on your experience will be appreciated, including your flight arrangement departing from Ottawa. Have a great cruise!

We chose not to use the Scenic flight offer. They gave us $500 (each) credit for that. We used Aeroplan points for business class flights to Nice and return from Lyon. If you intend on using points, book as early as you can to get the best available flights.

Our flights were great, on time and our baggage arrived in Nice. The world wide airport delay and baggage issues had us very concerned but all for naught as all was as it should have been.

This is our second Scenic cruise and we chose it again because even with low water ship changes on our first cruise, it was the best experience we have had. Service and conditions and extras were beyond our expectations. It is truly the only all inclusive vacation we ever had. We only took out our credit cards for souvenirs (and pre and post cruise activities) .

[pete_coach]

21 hours ago, 3Shelaghs said:

Ditto that request!

The only bonus living this close to Toronto is the airport, although I would rather be in the Ottawa Valley!!! We have booked direct TO-Zurich 3 days pre cruise stay, then home 1 day post cruise from Frankfurt.

Have analyzed all routes to eliminate Frankfurt, but $$ and a dog, depicted we just stick with Frankfurt.

Our only river experience was AMA and they were outstanding. Scenic is slightly one step up?? The all inclusive was the deciding factor. I nickled and dimed the cruise lines on paper, and basically they all work out to the same just depending on how you like to consume beverages. Scenic was purported to be more luxury, so they will have to prove that to me!! I really liked the customer service with AMA.

Getting from Ottawa to almost anywhere requires a lot of routing. From Toronto you can get there on 2 flights or less.

Ours was a Budapest to Amsterdam trip.

We departed from Frankfurt too. It is a traveller friendly airport. I suggest you stay near (at actually) the Frankfurt airport. The hotels all have shuttle to and from the airport and you can take a train from  the airport to downtown Frankfurt for a bit of sight seeing.

I cannot compare other river cruise lines but I can attest that Scenic has the service and extras that others do not seem to offer. As I said in a different post, we had several choices every day of excursions to go on (as well as an easy walkers choice for those with mobility issues). Great extras such as big dinners in a castle and a concert in Vienna Palace. They brought local entertainment on board almost every evening. The menus, on the right side were the same every day while the left side was the local cuisine. A mini bar in a cabin or hotel room are always a no no and stay away thing except on Scenic where they encourage you to have a drink or snack or chocolate bar 🙂

 

[Kenny Dewit]

On 7/17/2022 at 10:43 AM, Fouremco said:

As our first Scenic cruise is next year, any and all details on your experience will be appreciated, including your flight arrangement departing from Ottawa. Have a great cruise!

 

Congratulations, you will love the staff, crew and fellow passengers on your Scenic cruise ship and I can assure you that you will book again, just from that experience itself.

 

Our first cruise with Scenic was in August 2019 (Amsterdam to Budapest with a three-day Prague extension).  We are from an area in SDG just south-east of yourselves and booked our flights out of Montreal instead of Ottawa just so that our flights were direct.  We went with three couples from the St. Catharines region and they flew out of Toronto.  We all arrived within hours of each other.  To Amsterdam we all flew direct and from Prague they flew direct while we had a stop-over in Paris.  We are all off for another Scenic adventure in France in 28 days.  We are flying to Paris for three days then will take a high speed train (providing they are not on strike) to Bordeaux to board the Scenic Diamond.  All part of their package.  Again, we are flying direct out of Montreal to Paris and they are flying direct out of Toronto.  Going home we all have a flight from Bordeaux to Paris then onwards to home.  Anytime we have flown out of Ottawa, there is either a connecting flight in Toronto or Montreal.

 

Let your countdown begin....        

[Canal archive]

You’ll love the Bordeaux cruise my eldest daughters in-laws are going the first week in September. We went a couple of years ago. At the moment there are quite a few wildfires hopefully the weather is supposed to be cooling fingers crossed. When you go through the Napoleon Bridge make sure your in pole position up the front as you go through you really feel like breathing in it’s so tight.

[Fouremco]

45 minutes ago, Kenny Dewit said:

 

Congratulations, you will love the staff, crew and fellow passengers on your Scenic cruise ship and I can assure you that you will book again, just from that experience itself.

 

Our first cruise with Scenic was in August 2019 (Amsterdam to Budapest with a three-day Prague extension).  We are from an area in SDG just south-east of yourselves and booked our flights out of Montreal instead of Ottawa just so that our flights were direct.  We went with three couples from the St. Catharines region and they flew out of Toronto.  We all arrived within hours of each other.  To Amsterdam we all flew direct and from Prague they flew direct while we had a stop-over in Paris.  We are all off for another Scenic adventure in France in 28 days.  We are flying to Paris for three days then will take a high speed train (providing they are not on strike) to Bordeaux to board the Scenic Diamond.  All part of their package.  Again, we are flying direct out of Montreal to Paris and they are flying direct out of Toronto.  Going home we all have a flight from Bordeaux to Paris then onwards to home.  Anytime we have flown out of Ottawa, there is either a connecting flight in Toronto or Montreal.

 

Let your countdown begin....        

When flying to Europe for work (now retired) or for pleasure, I've almost always flown out of Montreal. Or Mirabel while it lasted. Depending on circumstances, DW and I will usually drive to Montreal, but VIA's train to Dorval with the shuttle to the airport is always an option. Our cruise next year starts in late August, so we are still a bit early to start looking at flight options.

 

Enjoy your cruise next month!

[Canal archive]

 

Not something you see every day an Airbus wing on its way to Toulouse 

[Daisi]

@Fouremco, we are in eastern Ont, and drive up to the rail station to pick up the bus from KLM to fly out of Montreal. It's all included in the cost of the ticket.

[Fouremco]

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

@Fouremco, we are in eastern Ont, and drive up to the rail station to pick up the bus from KLM to fly out of Montreal. It's all included in the cost of the ticket.

Thanks, @Daisi, I was aware of the bus, but have never taken it. IIRC, when we last flew KLM to Amsterdam, in 2019, it was more expensive to book a flight out of Ottawa, with the Ottawa-Montreal leg on the bus, than to book a flight out of Montreal and pay to park the car at the airport for a couple of weeks. But maybe I misunderstood? What booking do you make to include the bus?