Scenic Arvostelua 

Our Scenic Douro River Cruise was an enjoyable, luxurious experience overall, well worth four stars. The food was consistently excellent, with high-quality meals, good variety and thoughtful presentation. The generous all-inclusive offering—meals, beverages, excursions, gratuities and other luxury touches—made the journey easy and relaxing, while the Douro Valley scenery was truly beautiful.

However, there was a noticeable drop in some service standards compared with what we expected from Scenic. In particular, the butler service felt less attentive and personalised than the premium positioning suggests. While the crew were generally friendly and helpful, the butler experience did not consistently deliver the polished, proactive service associated with a luxury cruise.

The greatest disappointment was the docking arrangement. On several evenings, boats were double-stacked, which meant our balcony looked directly into another vessel rather than across the river. We also understood that Scenic had rented out some docks it owned, further limiting opportunities to moor with open, scenic views. As a result, we were able to sit on our balcony with an evening drink and enjoy the beautiful surroundings on only two of our seven nights. Given that the private balcony and exclusive views are a major part of the premium river-cruise experience, this was very disappointing.

Despite these concerns, the excellent food, comprehensive luxury inclusions, comfortable ship and spectacular Douro scenery made this a memorable holiday. We would still recommend the cruise, but Scenic should improve the consistency of its butler service and prioritise docking arrangements that let guests enjoy the balcony views they paid for.

Scenic offer a five star experience at a five star price. You get a five star experience with no corners cut. I have done noble Caledonia (also very good ), Wendy Wu, Titan, great rail and many others. Scenic are the best. This review is based on a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia

In March, we booked a Scenic river cruise, attracted by their promise of 5-star luxury, high levels of customer service, and a stress-free chauffeur service. Scenic’s advertising explicitly states: "airport transfers with our trusted partners at Blacklane offers you unparalleled service from the very start of your holiday." Our experience was the exact opposite.
We were due for a 5:00 AM pickup. At 4:30 AM, in pitch black, we received a garbled call from the chauffeur company stating they weren't coming. No assistance or explanation was offered. Living in a very rural area, taxis were unavailable. With low petrol and no knowledge of Birmingham Airport, we had to make a panicked, incredibly stressful drive.
Because nothing was pre-booked, we had to park away from the airport and haul suitcases over rough ground. We made the gate just 10 minutes before departure, having had no food or drink for six hours. This traumatic start impacted adversely on the first few days of our holiday. And of course we had to drive back at the end of the trip.
Scenic’s after-sales service has been extremely disappointing. They have offered to refund just cost of parking and petrol—roughly 3% of our total holiday cost. They refused to increase this during ABTA arbitration. They have now ignored our Letter Before Action, leaving us with no choice but to take legal action in the County Court for breach of contract.

Scenic are happy to take the money but unwilling to take responsibility when things go wrong. The true measure of a well-run, responsible company is not how they behave when things are going well, but how they deal with mistakes. On this front, Scenic has failed completely.

All aspects if the trip were fantastic - the ship, staff, food, excursions.

Great service and very helpful reservation staff. Trips are all planned out and nothing extra to pay. I have used Scenic on three different trips with the last one being on a safari to Kenya and Tanzania. The hotels they use are all five star quality. The tour guides made sure we saw as many animals as possible at all our locations we stayed. Other activities were also included from drinks at sunset to visiting giraffe and elephant orphanages. From the very start to the end on all my trips Scenic provided the best travel service and experiences that I could ever hope for.

Went on a 15 day Amsterdam to Basel river cruise in September. The Rhine was lacking in water, but the alterations to the itinerary made by Scenic meant we had a fabulous time. The staff on the ships (2 of them) were excellent, ensuring our cruise was everything we had hoped for, even if it was different from our original booking. Loved it and highly recommend Scenic.

Despite the problems with lack of water in the Rhine we had a very enjoyable cruise. The Cruise Director did an excellent job in the on the move reorganisation, to give us the cruise that we enjoyed.

We have travelled with scenic on 6 tours over 15 years. Nothing is too much trouble for them. Even when things do not go to plan, such as adverse weather conditions, Scenic always come up with an acceptable alternative plan b.

The crew, service and food were excellent

everything was first class .the dress code of the staff the service, the all in inclusive and i mean all inclusive not like the others ,the excursions, the food fantastic , THANKYOU FOR MAKING IT OUR FAVOURITE RIVER CRUISE EVER , Kind Regards Alan and Jackie

We had booked a Danube and Rhine cruise for Sept 2026, and given the low water levels, were notified in advance of the challenges and what our options were. We chose to sail, and were very glad we did. Scenic went above and beyond to optimise a difficult situation, and handled the unavoidable ship swaps expertly. The on-board Cruise Director communicated any changes to the original plan - and there were some - as soon as he became aware of them, and did everything he could to minimise the impact on his passengers. Given the serious challenges every river cruise company has faced this year, Scenic went the extra mile and then some to make the passenger experience as enjoyable as possible. On each of the ships we sailed on, the crews were as professional and efficient as always, with everything done with a smile. The food was as enjoyable as it always is on Scenic, as was the on-board entertainment.

Everything is included, drinks, excursions, can go on holiday without your wallet! Service and food extremely good.

Great cabins, great food, epic staff and a beautiful river.

The total deduction of all your staff, on board and in the office.
All your people are amazing, this is our fifth cruise and we hope many more to come. Next year already booked can't wait. Thanks Scenic.

6th holiday with Scenic, and astounded how the level has gone down on all aspects, particularly the idea of now having fun and games i; the lounges. If we wanted to go a holiday camp i would have gone to butlins. They used to have lectures and culture.

Excellent river cruise from Lyon to Lyon (02/08/2026 - (12/08/2026) - one of the European rivers with adequate water. Usual high standard of accommodation, food and trips out. And,as usual, wonderful staff, with particular mention of the Cruise Director and Entertainment Manager, the chef and our butler.

Had a great tour director,the best we’ve ever had he went above and beyond. Quirky little tour experiences you don’t normally get. Would highly recommend Scenic tours

Despite the initial disappointment of the change in the itinerary due to low water levels on the Rhine, it was an excellent opportunity for us to take advantage of this change and visit places that we would not normally have visited. Super staff & great hospitality once on board our ship: Scenic Ruby. All staff were friendly and welcoming. Must make a special mention of our wonderful special vegetarian food & special attention by chef, Abdul on daily menus. Ayu for daily morning stretches; Pande for excellent personal service; Thank you all the staff🙏

The cruise generally was great and the all inclusive side is good. Food was really good. There were a couple of areas though that impacted significantly on our enjoyment of the trip. Firstly when we arrived we had been signed up by our travel agent for the walking tours and we couldn’t change as everything was booked out. We spent a lot of time thinking about what type of cruise we wanted as the tours were important to us with me and my partner wanting active and my mum and dad wanting more of coach style trips without the waning. As a result we didn’t get the activity or the bike tours we wanted and there was no kayaking despite our travel agent saying there was. We were told quite brusquely that that was our travel agent who was at fault. For the next three days there wa panic anxiety and concern about getting into the tours we wanted a the boat was full to capacity because other rivers were too low. Whilst we understood that this was needed ie clients being transferred I think it’s pretty poor that additional capacity for tours Werner considers.
The other significant impact was that my mum and dad had flagged the hat they would require assistance when arriving and departing onto flights. Whilst understanding that scenic weren’t wholly responsible and British airways were great when they got to Heathrow- marseille was a disaster with mum pushing dads wheelchair into the airport despite her having had a recent broken hip and then when they were located into the airport special assistance area with a promise that they would be taken care of and that they would be wheeled to check in this didn’t occur and they subsequently missed their flight because no one checked them in and their tickets were given away, they then missed the connecting flight to Glasgow and the transport out of Glasgow to their home. They active 8 hours later in the middle of the night exhausted. This was a sad end to a pretty good trip all on all. Please consider through the fault excursions as it was stressful each day and sailing when we didn’t get one hat we actually picked a panic for. We wouldn’t do on scenic again for this reason

Sadly, not the cruise we expected due to low water levels. However we really enjoyed the trip. The staff were all tremendous, ensuring we had the best time possible. Will be using our welcome credit for a future cruise.