River Rhine, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

4teddie2 5:00 PM Dec 26, 2021

Christmas Markets
Finally managed to get a few days away and enjoy a cruise along the Rhine. We booked this cruise in March 2020 but naturally due to the pandemic we had to cancel and postpone our trip until this December. I have cruised around the Caribbean but this was my second River cruise. I have to say it was a pure delight.TUI’s Move to river cruising in my view is the right direction. From the flight to joining the ship enjoying the delights of the Rhine to disembarkation we had simply a great time. The ship was only at a little over 50% occupation which may have made it a more enjoyable experience A little bit more intimate and we are able to get to know more of our fellow passengers. If there is a criticism it is simply in so much as one it was a limited options for vegetarians/vegans although this may have been simply a language issue but it would’ve been nice to have seen more options readily available for those of us who do not eat meat.Breakfast was a good affair lunch light bites on offer and dinner in the grand affair amazingly enough we found out that both Alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were included at lunch and dinner and there was an amazing coffee station offering a variety of coffees or teas with cookies free of charge. The cabins also had tea and coffee facilities if you wished to stay in your cabin. My second complaint/comment is slippers would be nice in your cabin for wandering around the ship after a hard day walking and enjoying the sites would be nice if these are included rather than part of one of the extras that you can buy if you so wish. The third suggestion is that it would be nice if both passengers could complete independently they have to cruise questionnaire not everybody is a couple are able to Complete together. I was really glad that we booked a little extra package a treat given we had to wait over a year to take the holiday the backstage trip around the chef and an invite to view the wheelhouse made it extra special. We couldn’t fault the cruise director all the crew for all they did for us are slick operation from start to finish. It was a real shame because of Covid a number of the markets were closed we hope to return as having done more research we found out other sites that would be nice to see I’ll be included as some of the tours over and above the walking tours that came as part of our package. We found these to be really interesting and got to places I don’t think you would notice if you didn’t bother to book one. But it would be nice if perhaps the company could extend their offer of different excursions to satisfy even more peoples intrests

3m m 5:00 PM Oct 12, 2021

Scenic cruise have gone a bit downhill
Just got off the Scenic Opal 10/11/2021. Well Scenic is not all inclusive anymore this was our 4th cruise with them. No transfers were provided as a matter of fact we were told that a car was going to pick us up from our hotel and nobody showed up luckily the dock was not far and we were able to walk. The cruise director Szilvia told us that she could not provide a transfer to the Basel train station as well at the end of the cruise. Again be careful Scenic is NOT all inclusive. The other staff was very helpful and nice. We also felt that we were rushed in the completion of our cruise - our cruise was to end on monday yet on saturday they put the luggage protectors on the ends of our bed, they took the robes from the rooms on sunday early, the hot tub was only finally working on Sunday, the cruise director was all business rarely interacted with guests on a more personal level, we just felt as if we were given the bums rush near the end of our cruise. We also wish they would incorporate more local cuisine in their meal plans, one lunch they did a German day and it was a big hit, wish they would do more of that.