Scenic -- Rhine with Alpine Highlights and Oberammergau -- Semi-live

[loriva]

 

 

Monday, 27 June — Cologne

 

The walking tour option was 1.5 hours, finishing in front of the cathedral.  As Scenic docks on the opposite side of the river, they had a bus to take us over the bridge and let us off by the Music Dome.  After the tour, we had free time (including coffee at Cafe Reichard thanks to @notamermaid) before walking over the bridge or catching the bus at 1230 or 1300 hours.

 

Back on board, we paid a short visit to the wheelhouse (which is open to visitors when the ship is not sailing) and Captain Lagos Szilagyi pointed out the various controls.  He has been the captain of the Jade since its launch in 2014.  He said the breakdown of the Jade in May was due to a failure of the batteries.  They had to wait in Duisburg until new ones were obtained and then were installed in Cologne.

 

The weather held out for corn hole on the sun deck after lunch and then there was trivia later; it had a decent attendance and was good spirited.  The winner received a small box of Celebrations chocolates, which is also what Scenic gives passengers celebrating a birthday on board.

 

The CD did a short presentation on Scenic, focusing on the Eclipse.  Then the Captain introduced his staff, then Hotel Manager Djordje Pereula introduced his, and then the Restaurant manager Catalin and Chef Ario introduced their staff.  Finally a toast and then off to the Gala dinner—a cold appetizer, then a hot one, sorbet, the main, dessert, and then petit fours.  Entertainment after dinner was a disco party by the enrichment director Armin.

[loriva]

Tuesday, 28 June — Amsterdam

 

Scenic Jade has reached the final stop of our cruise.  We are docked by the Chamber of Commerce a little ways from the Central Station.  We were initially rafted with the Scenic Jewel, but it left before we returned to the ship about 1630 hours.

 

Four tours are offered by Scenic here:  a one-hour canal cruise, a bike tour in the suburbs (central city too dangerous), a 1 1/2-hour walking tour, or a visit to Edam and Vollerdam by coach.  We opted for the walking tour that took us along Prinsengracht to Begijnhof and then back to the ship.  We tasted waffee cookies, licorice, and herring along the way. We opted out at the far point from the ship and missed the cheese tasting as we had booked tickets (all timed entry) to the Rijksmuseum for the afternoon.  Then walked the 3.1 km back to the ship.

[loriva]

 

Reflecting on the cruise so far, I think our new Canadian friends nailed it—inconsistent.  The CD Tadej Peric—who has been with Scenic since they launched river cruises in Europe in 2008–has been great.  It’s obvious, he is working hard to get the Jade up to Scenic’s standards.  His assistant, called the Enrichment Director, has also been cheerful and helpful.

 

Our cabin steward has been very good overall,

although there are some maintenance issues he should have reported for repair.  We have seen our butler mostly while he is supplementing the wait staff in the dining room or Portobello’s because we are pretty low maintenance and have only called him once.  But he went over and above setting up a small cocktail party in our traveling companions’ suite.  At dinner last night, however, our new table mates said they hadn’t seen their butler since he introduced himself the first day.

 

As noted previously, it’s the wait staff where the lack of staffing and training are most evident.  Some waiters have been wonderful and others are really struggling.  I hope they receive the training they need as they look miserable—I feel for them.

 

For a luxury line, there needs to be greater consistency.  Our experience on the Jade has been good overall, just not as good as our previous river cruise with Crystal.  I hope this is a temporary issue as the line comes back from COVID.

 

Off to fill out the cruise survey.  It is online and only available from dinner time yesterday to midnight today.

[Canal archive]

Thank you Loriva, very interesting Scenic get their staff from a German agency it certainly sounds like a huge challenge for them to to get sorted. The ‘enrichment director’ is a new position, I’m trying to imagine what the position entails.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Thank you Loriva, very interesting Scenic get their staff from a German agency it certainly sounds like a huge challenge for them to to get sorted. The ‘enrichment director’ is a new position, I’m trying to imagine what the position entails.

On Scenic Gem in April the 'enrichment director' was the assistant cruise director during the day and the chief entertainment in the evening, either as singer or DJ.  Sometimes he and the CD did duets – both are trained singers.  There were also local entertainers from time to time.  The net result was much more evening entertainment than we were used to from AMA (even pre-Covid).

[CJANDH]

4 hours ago, Canal archive said:

The ‘enrichment director’ is a new position, I’m trying to imagine what the position entails.

On the Pearl the enrichment director, Armin, was the assistant CD and was promoted to CD on the last day of our cruise. Not sure what ship he will be on but he is good and will do well in his new role. Look out for him . . . but don't call him "Tape Face"!!!

[Canal archive]

All these extra reasons to cruise again are adding up.

[loriva]

On 6/28/2022 at 5:13 PM, CJANDH said:

On the Pearl the enrichment director, Armin, was the assistant CD and was promoted to CD on the last day of our cruise. Not sure what ship he will be on but he is good and will do well in his new role. Look out for him . . . but don't call him "Tape Face"!!!

 

Armin moved from the Pearl to the Jade on 15 June to serve as the Enrichment Director to Tadej, who also moved from the Pearl as CD.  They were to get the Jade up and running after its season was interrupted by engine troubles (a battery issue per the captain) during its tulip and windmill sailing in the Netherlands.  Armin was very personable and ran one trivia game and some disco nights during our sailing on Jade 22-29 June.  He would also accompany some of the tours--a combination of helping to keep the groups together (some variances in how quickly we could move versus what the guides could do) and gauging how well the guides (many new to Scenic) were doing.

[CPT Trips]

On 6/28/2022 at 12:16 PM, loriva said:

Off to fill out the cruise survey.  It is online and only available from dinner time yesterday to midnight today.

Our experience with satisfaction surveys, not on Scenic, was a ship survey (paper) to be completed on the last day of the cruise. This focused on the shipboard experience.
It was supplemented with a much comprehensive on-line survey available the day after return home and the following two weeks. It covers the experience from initial contact about the cruise through disembarkation (or flight home if the cruise line made the air arrangements) - ship staff, Trip Leader, each excursion, special on board experiences, etc. Literally everything. It’s time consuming but, based on our experience over the years, the company pays attention to the comments.

[scottjeanne]

We are on a Uniworld river cruise and we got a mid cruise survey today so they could immediately respond to any issues and not hear about them after the cruise is over.

[Canal archive]

Clever!

[loriva]

5 hours ago, scottjeanne said:

We are on a Uniworld river cruise and we got a mid cruise survey today so they could immediately respond to any issues and not hear about them after the cruise is over.

 

Regent also does this for its ocean cruises.  It's something for Scenic to consider.

 

I need to finish up my thread with our disembarkation experience.  Will try to wrap up later today.

[Canal archive]

Scenic usually does an end of cruise resume and very occasionally you may be asked if you would do one after your cruise maybe a week or two after you return home. An interesting concept as you’ve had time to, as it where, digest.

[loriva]

A quick wrap-up on disembarkation.

 

The CD on Jade, Tadej, was really on top of this aspect of our cruise.  He sent out a preliminary schedule for cabins based on flights, hotel booked through Scenic, and independent arrangements two days prior to the end of the cruise.  Passengers were asked to visit him to confirm their arrangements by the next day.  He held a disembarkation briefing on our final night and then issued a final schedule.  The only bobble was that passengers with independent arrangements somehow did not receive their luggage tags.  We had to ask for ours twice as did our travel companions.  The tags were with Reception--somehow they had not been distributed to our stewards to bring to us.  An easily solved issue all around.

 

Breakfast started early on disembarkation day--0600 instead of 0730 hours.  I ran into some passengers with transfers before breakfast who noted Scenic had not provided a breakfast box for them--they said they had received one from Viking when they had similar early departures.  We did run into a couple at breakfast who had just been transferred from the airport in Amsterdam to the ship, so Scenic is flexible on boarding.  We saw them again while we were in the lounge and the crew came to advise them their cabin was ready about 0900 hours.

 

Everyone had to leave their cabins by 0830, but you could wait in the lounge until your transfer--you could even stay for lunch according to the CD.  Scenic arranged for taxis to those of us at local hotels not arranged through Scenic; the latter had a small bus.  Taxis appeared to be a flat rate 40 Euros for hotels in central Amsterdam.  Our travel companions were at a different hotel than us and the CD arranged a van for them and another couple--so they were able to split the 40-Euro fare.  Many (all?) taxis in Amsterdam appear to accept credit cards for payment of fares.

 

The CD came around the lounge to advise passengers when their taxis arrived.  He and the assistant CD accompanied passengers to the pier, had us identify our luggage, and then helped with getting the luggage to the taxi if needed.  Then they wished us a pleasant farewell.  Overall, a smooth and cordial experience.

 

[loriva]

Just filled out the post-cruise survey sent one week after disembarking by Scenic.  It consisted of one question:  "Based on your most recent cruise experience with us, on a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend Scenic to a friend or colleague?" plus a free-text box to explain the main reason you selected the rating you did.

 

I gave Scenic a "5," reflecting an average--perhaps a generous one--of the abysmal pre-cruise experience (a "0," up to and including not picking us up at the airport in Vienna as promised); the hard product (two wonderful hotels in our land package, two average, and one below average) plus the Jade itself; and the soft product of service during the land and cruise portions of our trip.

 

Overall, I think the two Canadian couples we met on the cruise--both of whom had traveled multiple times previously with Scenic--nailed our experience:  it was inconsistent.  And a company that bills itself as luxury should have consistently high standards and deliver its product to clients in a consistent manner.  As our Canadian friends said, Scenic was special before but now it's not.  Maybe it can be again once the world works through the current staffing and supply issues--who knows?

 

Part of me--the pathological optimist--wants to think this was just a blip.  A bad combination of the hack on Scenic's IT system (which, honestly, should be more resilient and not be out for almost two months), issues coming out of the pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine that took experienced staff out of the picture.  I kept thinking "it will all be wonderful" once we're traveling with Scenic, but it was so stressful and nerve-wracking getting there--we wondered if our trip would be cancelled up to the moment we met the Tour Director in Vienna (compounded when we couldn't reach him because the Scenic office gave me the wrong telephone number).  And once we were traveling with Scenic, some of it was wonderful--and some was not.  It was clear on boarding the Jade--seven days into resumed service--that they were woefully understaffed and many of the staff they had did not have the needed training.  Scenic brought on additional staff halfway through our cruise and wait times improved noticeably in both the lounge and dining room.  And everyone seemed to have been trying very hard--even our poor Belarusian waiter who looked like a deer caught in the headlights every time we asked for something, even as simple as sparkling instead of still water.

 

Would we sail with Scenic again?  Honestly, I don't know.  We had never traveled with them or any river cruise company prior to the pandemic, so we don't have that warm glow of nostalgia.  We were probably spoiled as our one and only river cruise was in October 2021--with the pandemic issues at play, but not yet the war in Ukraine--on Crystal and they were truly wonderful.  At every turn someone was asking if they could do something to help you.  The sommelier let us try all the wines the first night to find favorites and constantly sought out interesting pairings.  The suites were well equipped and designed.  And the ship had a self-service laundry room, which was very helpful on a longer trip as we had--no washing lingerie in the bathroom sink and trying to find a place to hang it to dry.  The luxury of choice and consistency (the butler always seemed to spot me while I was heading to the laundry room and insisted on carrying the laundry bag.)

 

Alas, Crystal is no more as a river cruise company thanks to the sins of its parent company.  We are next slated to sail with Viking in December for a Christmas markets cruise on the Elbe, so that will give us another point of comparison.  We may end up on river cruising the same that we are for ocean cruising--we pick a trip based on itinerary and other factors not loyalty to one line.  And we'll continue to try to help others on CC.com by providing information on current conditions--the good and the not-so-good.

[CJANDH]

Loriva. Well said. You captured my conclusions exactly. Thanks for your excellent reporting.

[CastleCritic]

interesting to read some of the differences between the cruise lines.

 

My familiarity (now 4 cruises in) is all with Amawaterways there;

There is only the cruise director, he/she does not have an assistant of any kind.

The cruise directory follows the cruise, not the ship.  they are there from the land extensions on the front through to the end and then takes time off (last one was going back to Le Havre for a few weeks before doing the next cruise on the same ship (Amadante).

The crew is largely Romanian..I think almost all the nautical crew on every ship has been.  All 4 Maitre-d have been Romanian. The wait and bar staff will be from a good number of places but again..largely Romanian.  I think Ive had 4 nationalities of head chef though.

The captain will be someone used to the river, (German, France, dutch and also rotates on and off the ship every few weeks).

 

I had some of the same experiences on my last cruise in late April to May where the crew was still jelling, and in fact the Maitre-D had been brought on new to my cruise to smooth out some "dropsies" as he said from the recent cruises.  The service was a bit inconsistent but generally good (and this was on a cruise with 25% capacity). IN fact they switched out our waiter 3 days in (first we were afraid it was covid related but she popped up in a different section the next day after a day off).

[panmalv]

Loriva--Thank you for a wonderful trip report--so well written and informative.  As an experienced ocean cruiser who is just planning and booking our first river cruise, your information has been so helpful!  I'm a planner, and compared to ocean cruising, there is relatively little information out there about river cruises, and Scenic in particular.  Thank you for taking your precious vacation time to share this information with others!

[Canal archive]

If you go to the Roll Calls section there is an extensive Scenic one with absolutely loads of info on it.

[panmalv]

9 hours ago, Canal archive said:

If you go to the Roll Calls section there is an extensive Scenic one with absolutely loads of info on it.

Thank you--I didn't realize that, and am headed there now!

[loriva]

8 hours ago, panmalv said:

Thank you--I didn't realize that, and am headed there now!

 

If you haven't already, you may also want to check out the reviews of the ship on which you'll be sailing on the main part (not Boards) of CruiseCritic.  You can also look at the other ships sailing your same itinerary (you can find that information on Scenic's website) to get a sense of the ports -- or check out the River Ports subtopic here.  The most-relevant information will be on the last few reviews or the last few pages of the Roll Call thread.  Lots of things have changed on cruise lines since they resumed sailing after the shut-down for the pandemic so information from even three or four years ago may no longer hold.  We've noticed changes large and small on the three ocean and two river cruises we've sailed since October 2021 on lines we'd sailed before the pandemic or heard of changes from experienced cruisers on lines new to us.  Things will likely continue to evolve until the war in the Ukraine, labor shortages, and supply-chain issues go away.

 

Thank you for your kind words.  I discovered CruiseCritic when DH and I started cruising 18 years ago and found it provided a wealth of information that made our cruises better.  I try to provide as factual information as possible on my experiences to pay back the help I've found here.  I also work to delineate direct observation, observations from others, and commentary to allow people to judge on their own what is what.  Enjoy your planning and your cruise.  If I can help with any questions, please ask.

[3Shelaghs]

Thanks 🙂 Your first hand knowledge has helped me with my concerns about Scenic's ability to get back up to scratch. I'm not totally comfortable with their current product and promises, but will be patient awaiting others reviews, then decide before final payment.

[lucky cal]

Great thread, Loriva! Thank you for sharing your experience with us. It will be helpful to both new and experienced river cruisers.