Scenic Reviews 

Lyon to Lyon on the Scenic Saphire May 2026. I am fortunate to have travelled the world on some luxury ships, hotels, trains etc. This was my 2nd Scenic River Cruise - the first one 10 years ago. My main reason for booking was to meet up with some Aussie friends who are big fans of Scenic. It is an Australian owned company. The first thing that really upset me, was them wanting the total cost of the holiday paid upfront over a year in advance. I point blank refused. Why should they have my money so far in advance. What would happen if they went into financial administration? That was the first hurdle. Next hurdle, missing out on pre-booked excursions months before departure. My Travel Agent was brilliant in negotiating with Scenic - which resulted in me being able to attend the excursions I wanted to go to that had to be pre-booked. The excursions were very good. Next was seeing that a free taxi transfer from home to airport and return advertised in the Sunday papers. This had not been offered to me. So again, my Travel Agent had to fight with Scenic to get this organised for me. Others from the UK knew nothing about the free transfers. The boat is tired. There are not enough seats in the lounge for the number of guests. The arm chairs and sofas are so low that most of the elderly clientele can hardly get out of them!!! Not enough waiting staff in the bars and restaurant. Catering well under what is expected for what was paid. Beef was tough on more than one occasion. Small portions no option for more. Lunches were terrible quite honestly. Beverages were good and plentiful - although finding a waiter could be challenging - especially at lunchtime.
I could go on, but I think you can see what I am getting at. The entertainment onboard was average. Overall disappointing. I would not travel with Scenic again. I have rated it 3 stars for the following: Great Cruise Director and deputy Cruise Director, Reception Team, the crew who manage all of the luggage, and the bar staff who were very obliging and helpful. My Butler was lovely but my friends never saw theirs. I really As I said earlier found the excursions were very good. I enjoy Ocean Cruising but would not travel with Scenic's offerings as I believe there a far better options on the market at the Scenic price point.

This was the best river cruise we have experienced. The ship was outstanding and the staff were excellent, particularly the Cruise Director Renata Lovrovic. Renata made the cruise with her welcoming manner and helpful attitude along with genuine friendliness. Other staff who also went out of their way to make the whole experience memorable were Vicky, Stefan and Ivan our Butler. Finally the standard of the food and wine was outstanding and went a long way towards making the cruise feel special.

Have used this company 4 times, which speaks for itself. Great staff, well trained and very friendly. Fantastic food, great chef. Comfortable cabins and lots of choice of visits and entertainment. Just looking at booking our next holiday.

Everything was perfect from the start to the end of our holiday.

Excellent service as always with scenic, wonderful food and impeccable service, will be doing more trips

The on board team were efficient and friendly. However the butlers were poor…..we had to remind them every day to restock the fridge.
The food was OK but not exceptional. Many dishes were overcooked, particularly fish and vegetables.
The cruise director was excellent.

Everything was excellent

Amazing cruise. The staff were just brilliant. Great food and drink. Can’t wait to do another. Transylvania experience was so good and our guide was wonderful.

We have had several Scenic River Cruises and have enjoyed all of them.
Lovely to wake up to new places and experiences most days. Fantastically "looked after" by all of the attentive staff.

Fantastic trip, our guide thuy was exceptional and would throughly recommend scenic as a company

The staff and cruise generally were excellent.

Last river cruise was disappointing and certainly not an ultra luxury river cruise. The food was again average and certainly not fine dining- the range, style and flavour fell far short of 'fine dining'.
The excursions were generally poor, with guides just touring the streets and taking us around the exteriors of historical buildings whilst giving brief explanations.
The service levels throughout the cruise were excellent, however, and the cruise enjoyable, although the evening entertainment struggle to succeed.

Staff were great. Food was delicious. Weather wasnt marvelous but our holiday was so relaxing on the ship it didnt really matter.

The whole experience was wonderful. The ship, the staff, the food and the attention to detail was all first class.

Germany to Budapest. It was truly wonderful. Beautiful ship and staff could not do enough for you. The food was fantastic

As usual Scenic provided first class service. We have travelled many times with Scenic and would always look to do so.

Overall it was good. The walking tours were not great. The guides rather overload you with facts and standing around was tiring for some of the group.
Dinner took ages. There did not appear to be enough staff to serve everyone. It might have been better not to have a set meal time. Just filling up our wine glasses didn't make up for the lack of food.
Entertainment really very poor apart from a classical music duo.

Excellent communication from the start to end of holiday. Very friendly and helpful staff on Scenic Jade River cruise. Good towns and locations. A great variety of meals each day.

We generally enjoy Scenic’s holidays. The beds on the ships are comfortable, the food is good (not always outstanding, but there’s nothing to dislike, and most dishes are quite tasty & nicely presented).
Paperwork arrives quite late, (via email to save them costs). Don’t expect luggage tags, bags etc - that’s gone in their cost cutting drive. Be prepared to discuss the flights with them and pick the ones that suit you (they seem to pick cheaper flights or don’t think about the best solutions).
The Pearl is very outdated. Very few sockets in the cabins, and not a lot of thought has gone in to where they should be. Not enough wall storage in the bathroom (I don’t want to bend down to a low cupboard, nor have everything out on the surface) and there is no storage near the plug where you’d expect to dry your hair, so you’ve either got to put it in the wardrobe, or leave it out. Insufficient drawers in the cabin for little things (like pills, chargers).
Decor throughout the fleet- seriously dated. Generally, grey and chrome. Most boats on European rivers don’t have a pool (although we’ve been on an Emerald ship, and it had a lovely pool area which was nicer than ANYTHING on Scenic’s ships in Europe).
ESPA toiletries, but no comb, toothbrush, razor provided.
The staff on board are excellent. Friendly, efficient and polite- they go a long way to make things great. Sometimes, ships are understaffed, and the the much vaunted “butler service” is almost non-existent (for example, I asked ours to bring us coffee every morning at a particular time. He said he couldn’t , and we’d have to put the breakfast order card out each night. As I have an atrocious memory- not remembering until 2 or 3am when it was too late to put the card out, and had told his this when I requested coffee, I felt it was a little unhelpful. Sometimes, service for drinks in the lounge was a little slow (due to it being busy and there being too few staff available) but this isn’t a a huge issue.
Evening entertainment lasts around 50 minutes. Over the week, there’s usually 1 or 2 evenings when invited guests come on board to perform after dinner (music or a dance performance), an “Enrich” event off the ship (think chateau/ church/ sound & light show) and there are usually 2 or 3 quiz evenings and either the enrichment manager or cruise director will perform once or twice. On sailing afternoons, there may be an activity (crafts or tastings) once or twice during the week. (FYI - similar amount of entertainment on the Eclipse, although the cruise directors do all the music, for around 50 mins and there may be a daily quiz in the afternoon.)
Trips are good, but short (we have to hurry back to eat). A few trips include tickets inside places, but many don’t. The enrich experiences are good (usually involve champagne on arrival, and maybe canapés, and music). There are e-bikes on board (small, folding ones) which can be borrowed at most mooring places.

The loyalty system is not very good. They’ve cut back on perks, and increased the points needed to achieve each level - and no “grandfathering” for established loyalty members. Essentially, it means guests have to stay an extra 30 to 40 (1 sig.fig) days before reaching the next level - often to get the same perks they used to get at the previous loyalty tier. Perks now include “invitations” to marketing events, or cruises (full price to be paid) with a senior member of Scenic’s staff (think owner, CEO) on board, possibly some additional laundry at Emerald tier, priority boarding of the ship - wow. (Underwhelming). I think they’ve cut the free chauffeur allowance. At platinum level, it was 75 miles free, then diamond 150 miles. As we reached diamond, they cut this to 75 miles as well.
I’m actively booking other cruise lines and luxury land tours now, but will take any offers Scenic advertise if the destination is one we want.

Great service comfort and scenery along beautiful waterways