The Scenic Amber Six Star Danube River Cruises.

As part of my bucket list, I had a Eastern Danube cruise on my list, between Budapest and Bucharest. Officially the idea was to do the whole thing from Amsterdam to Constanza but apart from that it was hard to find a luxury cruise like that because there are only a few a year, My Lord and Master also found the 3 weeks away, without a self service laundry on board, too long. So we settled for only doing the missing part of the puzzle, as we had done the other stretches before in the grey mists of time.

We ended up with a seven day Scenic River Cruise. Scenic advertises in various Anglo Saxon markets hence you get a nicely mixed English speaking crowd on board. We ended up with Americans, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwi’s, Brits and me as the only Dutch man on board.

There is a small pool on board which was used to a certain extent but time was  limited as there was a tour everyday and some days were quite chilly as well.

Scenic cruises operates in the 6 star segment with an all included beverage & tour package and has recently also launched two “deep sea yachts” the Scenic I and Scenic II. One of my old HAL colleagues is now Captain there.

As is standard with the new river ships, there is a lounge and a dining room all very spacious and able to handle the full complement of guests. Although if everybody goes for cocktails at the same time it can be cramped. Dining room is full buffet – if you want to – or full table service – if you want to. Or combine it.

The ship, or in this case you can call it a boat as it does not carry any lifeboats and is thus not necessary a ship, was the Scenic Amber. This is a standard size river cruise ship with a length of 137 meters so it fits in all the locks on the Danube and the Mosel. If I recall it rightly she is too long for cruises on the Main. During the cruise I had a brief discussion with the captain and he said that this was the max. length that he could really handle as he had to dock on occasion in side rivers when the main river berths were full. Then turning around gave him less than 2 meters at the bow and less then 3 meters at the stern. There are currently a 1000 river boats in operation on the European Rivers with a lot more coming and that make the main rivers in Europe very crowded. It results in double or triple docking at the same berth as they all want to be in downtown.

The lounge as seen from the Bar Area (Courtesy Scenic cruises website).During our cruise the Piano had been removed and there was only a electronic organ, that was played on occasion in the evening as a sort of late night disco. The lady musician also helped with shore excursions in the morning.

We had this in Belgrade, where we had to go up to top deck, cross over to the “Viking Something” go down there to the main entrance, cross over another “Viking Something” and then make it to the shore. At the berth ahead of us were two more ships of the same size. Because our cruise ran from Friday to Friday, we luckily docked mostly by ourselves as we were in the ports in the scheduled gaps of the Saturday & Sunday ships. But on 11 Oct. we had to dock in a side river (to visit Kalosca), to have a berth.

A view of our cabin. the “infinity” balcony is quite cleverly done. Fully closed if you want to or half open by using the on/off buttons on the bulkhead. The bar in the middle remains of course but is not much different than a balcony railing.

The boat, although they call it a “space ship”, can carry 169 guests and we had 151 on board according to the Hotel Director. Quite a few cabins were occupied by single travellers so we were basically filled to capacity. For a river ship it is not possible to give a space ratio as the tonnage is not comparable to deep sea, due to low draft and the way the ship is laid out. But apart from cocktail time (even when the 151 were not all there) it was a bit cramped. We just made sure that we came in 10 minutes ahead of the crowd and found the two best bar seats. Bar tenders are always full of information about the ports and all related and that can be quite handy sometimes. (Plus you get your nibbles faster and replenished as otherwise would be the case)

For the various cabins sizes, please google the internet, as there are experts who can explain it much better than I can. We had booked a Balcony suite (cabin 223) with a square footage of 225 feet and an infinity balcony. E.G no open balcony but with a full, deck to deck, window of which the top half could slide down. We found it more than ample in size as on a seven day cruise you hardly spent time in the cabin as there is a (price included) tour every day. Total price £ 6650,– which gives a Per Diem of £ 950  for tow, including flights which you can take from your regional airport. Thus for us , we could avoid Heathrow and that is a big plus. All on board is inclusive, except if you want to go “overboard” with a very expensive wine. (We found the regular wines more than adequate and the cocktails do include premium brands such as Bombay Sapphire).

The all tours are included and normally there are 2 or 3 different ones offered for each port.  Space is limited but it did not seem to be a problem as everybody could be accommodated on the tour they wanted to take.

The seven day route from Budapest to Giurgiu (Which Scenic touts as being a day in Bucharest)

Day 1: 10 Oct. 2024 Amsterdam – Budapest.

So we had flights included and could fly from our little home airport of Norwich in England via Amsterdam to Budapest. As Hungary is in Schengen, there was no passport control, luggage delivery was very fast and when coming outside, a Scenic Rep was waiting. Six people in one people carrier. The Rep was supposed to escort us to the gangway but she left in the middle of town to catch the Metro home. Leaving us with a nice driver, who knew where he was going, but whose language seemed to be limited to “ thank you”. The drive took about 30 minutes and that gave me the chance to decide that I will never drive myself in down town Budapest. I saw a lot of very “creative” driving going on. The more expensive the cars, the more creativity.

As is now routine on the new deep sea cruise ships, the TV has all the information that you want to find. Daily program, Expenditure, tour departures etc.

Coming to the gangway, they was nobody there to receive us, we had been forgotten it seemed as we were the last ones joining by 17.40. But when I carried our two suitcases up the gangway ahead of the rest, the front desk got a collective heart attack and from nowhere attentive crew popped up to help the older and less ambulant people in our group. No apologies for that it happened. Next thing was that we had to turn in our passports. Problem for a Dutchman, (see the extensive write up in the Silver Sea review) as legally Dutchmen are only allowed to hand over a passport to an official authority. So I asked for a receipt. That was promised, and a note was made to type a letter, but the letter/receipt never came. Not nice to be lied to on the first day.  But these two things were really the only things to complain about during the cruise, until final day of the cruise.

Departure was at twilight, so we saw Budapest including the Parliament Building all lit up, which is one of the highlights of Danube cruising.

So we saw the river and city banks in all it glory. The Parliament building is a left over from the days to the Austrian Hungarian empire as they could build in those days, (Not my photo, I am not that good, but courtesy to an unknown but talented photographer on the internet)

11 Oct. 2024   Kalocsa, Hungary.

This morning we found ourselves docked in a side river of the Danube, near the town of Kalocsa. Main reason for this dock, others on the river were occupied but here the coaches could get very close to the ship. Most guests were ambulant but a  few had a (very) lightweight scooter with them or a wheel chair. If you pick a tour that is mostly Panoramic then that is not a problem but in the cities it was sometimes a challenge with the un-even pavements and the lack of ramps.

The farm is located on the Hongarian Plains so it is a very flat area but excellent for farming.

We had decided on a horse show at a horse farm called Bakod Puszta. We have been to the Lipizaners in Vienna and to a similar horse show in Cadiz but this turned out to be totally different. The performers could only be called cowboys and were basically farmhands who had trained themselves to a very high level of horsemen ship. Apart from breeding horses, the main activity of the farm is to give performances of the skills of yesterday year and preserve those skills for the future.

A traditional horse handler in the fore ground and one of the farm carts behind him. It was carefully pointed out that they are carry whips but never touch the horses, otherwise they loose their trust.  So it is only  the sound made is used to direct the horses.

They showed the various carts and carriages in use in the past, riding and whip handling (they claim there were 37 ways of handling a whip and let it make a sound). The whip was never needed for the horses as Horse and Rider formed such a symbiotic team that the horse just reacted to either a push by the knees or a tug by the halter. Highlight was a cowboy, who standing on the two last horses of a group of 10 white horses, headed them around the field. In order not to hurt the two horses he was standing on, he had sponges tied to his feet. He kept his balance throughout and the horses never left the perfect line of formation, whether in trot, gallop or standing. At the end there was the option to visit the stables and make a 10 minute ride with a share- a-bank around the farm.

 

Keeping 10 high spirited horses under control is not a mean feat and the comboy did it by just standing on the back of the horses only supported by two sponges under his feet.

We used the rest of the day to have a good look around the ship, unpack (there is a very large wardrobe, ample for 14 days if needed) and inspected the tea station, where you can serve yourself with various coffees or speciality teas. Note: there is always a waiter around to do it for you if needed. The Danube in this area is wide and the surrounding land very flat with few features so do not think you get the same scenery as when sailing on the Rhine or Mosel. Apart from the Iron Gates, everything of interest is away from the river.

In the evening we had a welcome on board with the Captain and his staff and then a very good dinner. Each evening the Sommelier and the Exe. Chef would step into the bar and explain what the highlights of dinner would be. The funny part, and it was funny, the Exe Chef hated this part of his job, and the Sommelier loved it, so there was a sort of Laurel and Hardy routine going every night which was most enjoyable.

12 Oct.  Osjik, Croatia.

This is a district town which is expanding slowly after the fall of communism and quite nice to have a good walk through but we opted for a boat tour in a wild life area followed by a lunch at a private home. The latter is always a gamble but in our case it turned out to be quite fascinating.

On the tree tops were the only birds we saw. Apart from an occasional (standard issue) duck all other wildlife was on vacation it seemed. In the background the second sightseeing boat from the ranger station.

The coach took us to Kopacki Rit one of the largest wetlands in Europe (238 hectares) and is located in Croatia. The park has two flat bottomed sightseeing boats with on board a ranger who explains everything about what “can be there….. to be seen”. But we were out of season and the Danube was at low water level so the whole experience was somewhat limited.

Our host at the end of the table. Very impressed how she handled the visitors and got them talking (and also knew how to stop them from cornering the conversation ……..politely)

The house visit for lunch was much more of interest, mainly because the lady (whose regular house it was and who did all the cooking) spoke excellent English (self taught) but was also an excellent host who managed to navigate the American and Canadians through what was for them quite an unusual cuisine.  She was Croatian, her husband Bosnian (With still a lot of political friction going on in the country) but her children grew up after the fall of the Sovjet block but still with limited means.  Hence her luncheons paid for the children’s college cost.

13 Oct. Belgrade.

Today we were in Belgrade on a sunny but not too warm day. It was a Sunday so the locals were out in force along the promenade and happily occupying the bars and terraces. The cruise pier doubles up as a Promenade although it is cordoned off in the same way as the cruise terminals since 9/11/2001. So you have to do a long zig zag walk and pass a passport check. They did not stop us but police was around and did stop some people who did not fit the profile of elderly well to do cruise passenger. (This included fishing a young man out of the water, who seemed to have thought that he could walk over the water but unfortunately failed. More training definitely needed)

The cruise dock at Belgrade. There were in total 5 river boats in, all of the same maximum length allowed on the river.

Again various tours were available and we had opted for the walking tour of Belgrade which included a visit to the local fort (very busy with local and large groups of Chinese) and some free time afterwards to march up and down the very nice main street.

It turned out that we had won the lottery ticket as our guide was a local professor / teacher who knew more about Belgrades history than the country would care to reveal. He had even written a book about it, (For sale in all the book shops in the main street with the English version proudly displayed).

But I liked the fact that he gave a very balanced story about the history of Belgrade. It was not all communism was bad and now we are wonderful. It was very balanced and Belgrade due to is proximity to the Danube and Hungary being on the other side of the river had its share of upheaval through the centuries.  Then it was a short visit to the home/palace of Tito the ruler of Yugoslavia and the falling apart of the country after his passing. It was interesting to see “how the other half lived” although Titos place was not so ostentatious as those of some of the other Communist rulers.

St Slava Chatedral from the main approach.

Highlight was an evening  choir visit at the St. Sava Temple (Which is the national chatedral)  the largest orthodox temple in the Balkans according to the tour guide. There were rightly very proud of it and were still building. If it was the largest one I do not know,  as the tour guide in Bucharest told us that they had the biggest one.  But it was an impressive place. The choir  performance was in the crypt, and although it was all newly build, the accountics were very good, so not much electronic wizardy was needed to make it sound impressive.

The Cathedral inside. I managed to take a photo without too many people in the pctcure, but even in the evening it was busy with many worshippers. All praying in front of the icon of their favourite saint. See the brown stand in the middle right of the photo and there were several of those.

The performance was by the St. Sava choir (St. Sava 1175 – 1236 , being the first archbishop of the Serbian church setup) The choir when in full attendance consists out of about a 100 people of all ages. All very well trained and talented. The performance was a mixture of religious music, classics (Verdi) and contemporary Serbian music. The performance was for our ship alone and it was very worthwhile.

This photo shows the choir lining up for the singing. The gents were not there yet. I did not take any photos during the performance as I consider that rude in relation to the other guests and the performance.

14 October “At sea”.

This was a sailing day on the river, between Belgrade and Svishtov; with as highlight passing through the “Iron Gates” of the Danube. Here we have Serbia to the south and Romania to the north. The Danube cuts itself a way through a Gorge where the Carpathian Mountains (to the south) meet the foot hills of the Balkan Mountains to the North. Called the Iron gate due to it being so treacherous to navigate (similar to the Lorelei on the Rhine) before canalisation made the river much deeper here and much safer.

Here we are approaching the Gorge itself. Quite dramatic to see but it looks narrower than it is.

In this area there are two hydro- electric power plants (Iron Gate 1 and Iron Gate 2) so basically you are sailing through a water reservoir that regulates the river with canal locks at the end.

The sculpted head of King Decebalus is on a mountain face on the northside where a small river ends up in the Danube. Around it are several hotels which seem to be very popular with German tourists. (At least according our bar tender)

The highlight is the enourmous face of the former Romanian King Decebalus (The last local king until defeated by the Romans in 100 AD or so) carved out in the rock on the north side of the river.  The Danube was of great importance to the Romans 2000 years ago as it formed an important water way in the middle of their empire. Roman Emperor Trajan was very active here with building and consolidating the “Pax Romana” against the Dacians. The latter being the locals in those days living in what is now Romania. Hence the face is thus carved on the Romanian side of the river. The sculpture is not very old. The project was started in 1994 and completed in 2004 but now it forms the focus point of sailing through the gorge.

A closeup of the sculpture. The inscription reads DECEBALUS REX – DRAGAN FECIT. “King Decebalus made by Dragan”.  Mr. Dragan was not the sculpter but a romanian businessman who paid for it all.

The whole stretch of what is considered to be part of the Iron Gates has a length of 134 km. and ends at the Iron Gate locks. These are very big so several river craft (and smaller deepsea coasters as well as the canalized river is deep enough) fit in at the same time.

This photo shows the Scenic Amber approaching the locks which ensure that the water in the gorge is always of a sufficient level.

Once past the locks the river widens again and apart from some shipyards and small mansions at the river side there is very little to see.

The Scenic Amber also has a small speciality restaurant in the bow, in front of the bar area, called the “The Portobello”. The idea is that everybody on board gets invited one evening  for an even better meal, with tables hosted by the hotel staff.  This was very nice, apart from the fact that we felt pressured to leave /rushed through tea & coffee (and it was not that late) as the hotelstaff wanted to go to bed.

15 October Svishtov.

Svishtov is located in Bulgaria on the nothern side of the river. This call gave great excitement to many crewmembers as they were going to get their family on board. The Ship is not doing the same cruise every week and as the crew works on board for the whole season of 7 months, it was a happy day for them. Not all crew is from this area. To my utter amazement there were several Indonesians on board, including one who had sailed with Holland America until the “Covid Diaspora” happened. He was quite happy as the 7 months were not much longer than a HAL contract, the food and accomodation was good, and he did not get seasick here.

The route from Svishtov to Rousse.

For this stop there were several options. Either leave here for a day tour or stay on board and go on tour in Rousse where the ship would arrive at lunch time. We opted to stay on board as getting ready for these early morning tours is somewhat wearing you out and does not help to enjoy a” relaxing cruise”. Half the ship thought the same way. So we enjoyed  an extended breakfast in the cabin and watch the world go by from the small balcony., Keeping one eye on the TV as it showed the position of the ship so we could relate to the outside.

The Rousse Opera House on the square in the middle of the city.

Rousse had my attention as it is a very old city where lots of things happened in the last 2000 years. It was a very important place in Roman times (hence we visited the local, museum). Then the Ottomans came which aided the local commerce considerably and when they left trade continued to develop so much, that the city became known as “Little Vienna”.  To give you and idea of what this city meant for Bulgaria, I copied the below from Wikipedia (thank you editors)

  • 1864 – the first printing office in Bulgaria;
  • 1867 – the first railway line (linking Ruse and Varna) was launched into operation;
  • 1879 – the first agronomical school “Obraztsov chiflik”, today – Agricultural scientific research institute, currently profiled in agriculture and seed science
  • 1881 – the first steel ship in Bulgaria was built
  • 1881 – the first privately owned Bulgarian bank was founded
  • 1881 – the first technical “Navy machine school” in Bulgaria.
  • 1883 – the first weather station
  • 1884 – the first Bulgarian pharmacy association
  • 1885 – the first Bulgarian technical association was instituted
  • 1890 – the first Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  • 1891 – the first private insurance company “Bulgaria”
  • 1896 – the first manually operated elevator
  • 1897 – the first movie projection. The second was a month later in the capital Sofia

To add to that, the local guide claimed that Rousse was also the first City that turned against the communist regime when the USSR started to wobble…………… and the first Casino in the country opened here in 1920.

One of the sections around the square. It looks very beautiful but when getting closer it is easy to see that a lot of TLC was needed to keep them nice. (photo unknown source on the internet)

A lot of the buildings from the Austria – Hungary Empire have survived the communist period and frantic work is going on to restore them but money is still tight and their is a long way to go. According to our Lady bartender: “what was needed was more western millionaires to marry a beautiful gril from Bulgaria – she was available- and  buy one of the big mansions (they are very cheap) and restore it”

Several couples entertained us with latin dancing. These two were the national champions.

We stayed here in the evening to enable a local “latin dancing performance”. It boggled my mind to understand what latin dancing had to do with the Balkan but it turned out that there was a local school for dancing and this one was considered to be the best in the country. The two dance teams shown here (16 and 18 years old) where already national champions.

17 October Silistre Bulgaria.

The screen display for the day. Please note: there was everyday “Morning stretch” with wellness coach Dasha. The ship also had a small gym and a massage salon with two beds, which was quite well attended by guests. (Not included in the fare)

The ship/boat arrived at 0700 in the morning and the tours were leaving at 0730 and 0900. We had been to Varna on the HAL ships when sailing in the Black Sea and the other tour was to a medieval village. We got plenty of those in England so we opted out of the tours and decided to walk into Silistre. This turned out to be a very nice village with lots of local shops, eateries and pubs and terraces. Bulgaria has a “land climate” which means cold winters and hot summers and during those summers everybody is out in the evening for a stroll, a drink and a dinner.

In the afternoon we had  a disembarkation briefing about leaving  the next day for Bucharest.  And this brings me to the only complaint about the cruise. The paperwork we received gave us to understand  that we would have some time in Giurgiu before taking the coach to Budapest. This was not to be. We were kicked off the ship by 0900 and bussed to Bucharest for a city tour, lunch and then to the hotel for an overnight. When I mentioned this to our Cruise director Marianna, she blamed this on the office and said she had told them the season before to change it. What was missing was, that she did not give an apology on behalf of Scenic for the ambiguity.  Some other guests were going to take this up with Scenic after getting home.  For the rest everything was well organised and on the TV was shown the time of departure and  the luggage labels. Basically there were three groups on board. Those who were going home on the 19th., those who were going on an overland tour and those who were doing to do their own thing.

Luggage labels and departure times.

This was also captains farewell  during the evening, where the staff said good bye. Our cruise director said the Captain could not attend as “he was working”.  That is understandable but I got quite annoyed, both with the cruise director and the captain, when I saw him in full uniform during the “Captains farewell” party standing at the reception, happily chatting up the receptionist there nd not bothering to come into the lounge. …………… And that is not acceptable ………….. If you do not want to do a farewell, then stay away but do not show that you do not “care” to do a farewell and basically say ” I do not give a sh…. about my guests”.  I wished that I had, had the time to sit the guy down and give his a crash course in cruise-captain behavior as this was certainly not six star.

18 October Going to Bucharest docking in Giurgiu.

The coach tour with lunch in Bucharest (after a 2 hour drive from the port)  was very nice and we ended up in a very good hotel, the Mariott Bucharest Grand Hotel.  With a glass of champagne offered during check in.  It gave the option to go into the city in the evening but I find it always fascinating to see what an hotel offers, especially when it calls itself a “Grand Hotel”. Lets say that is was not what an American would expect to be a “Grand Hotel” it was more 4 to 5 star for the regular restaurant and 3 star for the “Sports Cafe”. A sort of Hard Rock Cafe but then the Romanian way.

The Sports Cafe in the Mariott. Looking at the set -up of the place, it looked like it that this was a very pouplar venue in the weekends to follow sports, drink a lot with a buffet on the side to keep the alcohol from taking over the brain.

Here Scenic had organised a buffet for the evening with free drinks. So we decided to join in, instead of finding something in a city we did not know anything about. As you can see from the photo, most of the guests had decided to the same. The food was local but good, although the buffet setup left much to be desired. Being not logical for the courses and not easily to get on the plate. I think that the management was not ready to understand what a six star buffet entails. The beer was local and very good. Everybody had a great time, also with watching the waiters. it seemed that they had never been exposed to such a large and varied group of  English speaking guests; and they were also not used to the “all included”. Especially the ordering of wine resulted in long conversations at the bar to see if one or the other bottle was included or not.  But if you raised your empty beer glass then they understood that signal and were there very fast.

19th. October, Departure Bucharest.

Scenic had arranged small mini busses for transport, which took each time 6 guests to the airport depending on your flight time. Less ambulant guests were offered limousines. (Easier to get in and out of) We flew  from Bucharest to Amsterdam and from there to our local airport Norwich in England.

Verdict:

Is the product 6 star ???  Most of the time yes. Service, cabin, food, drinks, staff are all on six star level. We had breakfast in the cabin every morning, which was delivered exactly on time, either by our butler (Mr. Arief) or by one of his collegues. We ordered the same every morning but everyday there was one small thing missing or something extra. Either a roll, or a piece of toast, two jugs of milk and one pot of tea or two pots of tea  and one jug of milk. So it became a sort of game to try to guess what variation we would get each time.

What marred the experience a little bit was the in-correct information received during the cruise; and the very ambigious description of the last day. As mentioned, the Cruise Director blamed it on the office, as she had reported it before and she advised that the office would change it for next season. What was missing in the whole affair was an announcement with an apology to all.

Challenge, at least for us, what that most of the tours started each morning at 0900, so you had to get up at 0700 to get ready and get breakfast or room service. One tour was scheduled to go in the afternoon, HURRAH by all…… but because the Captain had made good time on the river, that was brought forward to the morning as well. Moans and Groans from quite a few guests. What beat me totally was, as with making good time, you could still run the tour at the same scheduled time in the afternoon. But the cruise director said it was better for US this way. Translation, it was probably better for the ships operation. So being toured out we cancelled that tour on day 6 and walked into town.

So in all:,  6 Star with a dip to 4 star as Scenic did not deliver completely what was indicated on the paperwork and thus expected on the last ship/port day for Bucharest.

Will we take a Scenic cruise again? Yes, if they have a rivership going where we want to go. We would like to do the River Elbe, Hamburg – Berlin and/or Berlin to Prague but they have no ship there yet.