Scenic Luxury Cruises and Tours - UK
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5-star cruise promised, 1-star delivered
What is Scenic doing? They used to provide a 5-star experience, but our latest 'Beautiful Bordeaux' cruise was anything but. Trying to contact anyone at Scenic by phone or email before, during or after travel was difficult to say the least. Tickets only arrived days before our holiday and, from the minute we left home, our journey to Bordeaux was a nightmare. By the time we arrived on board we were already severely stressed. Although many of the crew were friendly and helpful, the ship appeared to be understaffed. Enjoying the free drinks in the bar was virtually impossible when there were often long queues due to staff shortages. Some didn't even know how to mix well known cocktails. Our cabin balcony flooded regularly and required pumping out or mopping regularly. The ship's engineer was unable to seal the leak and no change of cabin was offered. Later, spending 5 days of Covid isolation with a balcony requiring us to mop up continually with towels, was horrendous. When we finally received a response to our complaints Scenic acknowledged many of the shortcomings, finding excuses rather than apologies for most. They did eventually offer us each £500 in travel vouchers rather than the cash refund we considered appropriate. These are unlikely to be used as there is no way we would be willing to pay Scenic for another overpriced and badly run cruise. What is equally galling is the continuing bombardment of marketing material, still promising a 5-star experience. We would not recommend Scenic to anyone.