Scenic Europe River Cruising by Kylie Amos
I flew to Budapest with Etihad Airlines in economy class but paid the fare upgrade to have 30kg luggage allowance and to select my seats (the extra luggage allowance was needed for the journey home with all my purchases!). The food on Etihad was lovely and plentiful with 3 meals on the way to Abu Dhabi. I was able to experience the Etihad Lounge in Abu Dhabi, which has multiple restaurants, a spa, cocktail bar sprawled over 3 levels. The lounge has bathrooms if you wish to shower and freshen up before tyour next flight legs. I would highly recommend Etihad (although their movie choice was lacking a little).
Arriving in Budapest, we were transferred and taken to the Mercure City Centre Hotel which is in a fantastic location. The rooms were quite a good size, and I booked the comfort room which includes drinks and hors d’oeuvres from 3pm to 6pm each day. Wine, champagne & beer were restocked with an array of nibbles.
We enjoyed 3 full days in Budapest and definitely could have stayed longer. Absolutely loved this city, from the baths, to the ruin bars, the shopping and the cobbled streets. It is such a diverse and fascinating city, and lovely to see it so vibrant after so much sadness and demise in World War II.
A great way to see this magnificent city is by hop on hop off bus. The bus covers both Buda and Pest side of the city, we used this over a period of 2 days.
SCENIC CRYSTAL
After 3 days in Budapest we boarded the Scenic Crystal, we did not stay at the Scenic pre-cruise accommodation so took a short walk down some cobbled stone streets to the Marriott where we were able to catch the Scenic bus to the ship which was docked over the Pest side of the River.
Embarking on the ship was very welcoming with hot towels and a glass of champagne. Our luggage had been taken to our room before arriving. We had a balcony cabin which was lovely, it was located mid ship on the 2nd level and included in your fare is butler service, fully stocked mini bar each day, room service, laundry, Wi-Fi, umbrella, water bottle, slippers and robes. I loved the laundry, butler service and the mini bar!
Scenic Crystal is one of the older ships with the main dining room on the bottom level and the main entertainment, bar area on level 2. The ship also had a small gym and a salt therapy room.
On level 2 at the back of the main lounge area is the Portobello’s restaurant. Portobellos is an Italian or French themed restaurant and each passenger will have a turn being invited to experience this. In the day time the restaurant offers brunch and afternoon tea options and also lighter options for lunch if you did not want to go down to the main restaurant area. The food on the ship was amazing and I loved the fact the produce was brought locally. The wine was also a highlight, each night from a different local vineyard but all very delicious.
We had 3 choices for our Freedom of Choice and I was happy with all 3:
Gellhert Thermal baths in Budapest
Bratislava
Cesky Kromlov from Vienna
The tours were split into groups from slow paced to fast pace and the cruise director made sure that everyone was happy.
When you first book your Scenic Cruise they only ask you to choose two excursions as the rest are done on board. Most afternoons there is a briefing in the lounge about what would happen the next day, and on the 14 day river cruise two afternoons you have briefings of the weeks cruising and that is when you choose the remainder of your shore excursions.
Not all Scenic River ships have a pool so if you are cruising during the summer months and want a pool onboard you need to be on the more modern ships, in the winter months you do not need this as it is too cold to sit up the top anyway.
I would definitely recommend a Scenic River Cruise to anyone who loves the all-inclusive element and for those that just want everything taken care of, as Scenic do it all for you. There was quite a mix of passengers on board our cruise some multi generation groups, couples and some singles.
Travelling on a river cruise in December is something quite magical, although we were a week out from the official Christmas markets, Scenic had the ship decorated and most places we visited were in the Christmas Spirit. Vienna was stunning. I came home feeling very Christmassy and dreaming of what a white Christmas would be like in these sweet little towns. The whole experience was wonderful and cannot wait to do it again one day.