Emerald Cruises UK Reviews

We have booked a cruise holiday with Emerald and simply cannot get to speak with anyone at Emerald regarding any details we wish to discuss with them, specifically in regard to our flights. They do not answer the telephone, ever. In fact their answerphone states that "there are no consultants available to take your call" at any time of the day on any day of the week. This is not what I expect from a company who, currently, has over £9,000 of my money!

We are currently booked on a cruise departing November 2022. Have been trying to get through to speak to someone for over two weeks without success. We want to change our flights and cannot do so.This is wholly unacceptable. Calls are never answered and emails ignored. Shambles.

Just back from a cruise with Emerald good and bad.Started badly by not receiving paperwork on time but a helpful young man at the Manchester office helped us (good job I live locally) Flew easy jet not the best! Disaster when met at the airport by the transport Co they told us they only take the luggage to the hotel! Same problem on our return journey ended up paying for a taxi!! Staff on board superb friendly and professional. Cruise itself poor value for money paid.Had a balcony cabin balcony was in the room behind the window!!! Tours were disappointing not the guide’s fault just uninteresting. Would I use Emerald again sadly no.

We booked a 5 day Christmas Market river cruise on the Rhine with Emerald. We have booked our flight and after finding that our account was blocked with our agent and myself we found out our itinerary has been cancelled with no reasoning or refund. They have refused to reply to any of my attempts for an update. The worst Customer Service ever. Stay away from Emerald!

This river cruise line is dishonest, unable to keep their word. Our 2020 river cruise through Provence was canceled by Emerald due to Covid 19. They offered a credit for a future cruise in 2021/2022 but we decided to cancel any future trip with them. We agreed to accept a $1000 loss of our deposit and Emerald agreed to refund the remaining $7,790 balance. They stated it takes 90 to 120 days for the refund. This was on August 27, 2020. It is now January 7, 2021(way past 120 days) and still no refund. Repeated emails to their cancellation personnel either go unanswered or respond with "refund is in progress". Their Customer Service people are useless in providing any information. Do not book with these crooks if there is any chance you may need to cancel or reschedule.

I was booked on a Croatia cruise ending 4 July as part of a group which Emerald cancelled.initially they obfuscated saying that the boat for the cruise was chartered by them and thus had different TandCs.My colleague acted on our group behalf and eventually got or money back through the credit card used to pay. RESULT NONE OF OUR GROUP WII EVEN CONSIDER USING EMERALD EVER AGAIN AS THEY ARE A BUNCH OF AUSSIE COWBOYS

Like most people I was frustrated when my August river cruise was cancelled. However thanks to Lucy Dawe I have booked another one for next May. She was extremely helpful and nothing was to much trouble.

The CAA have just confirmed to the BBC that the ATOL scheme does not protect Vouchers and etc. Please confirm this news to your Lords and Masters, There is no ATOL scheme for Vouchers/Future Travel credits/whatever the Trade are calling them. The DfT would need to change the law, says the CAA, who run the ATOL scheme. Now that Scenic/Emerald know this, to communicate otherwise would involve each and every employee in conspiracy to defraud.

Not a good start. They cancelled my holiday and sent me an email setting out their preferred options as to how I could spend their Future Travel Credit. I declined their kind offer and asked for a full refund to which I am entitled to according to their own Booking Conditions and to The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018. Had a reply today telling me what a good offer their FTC was and making no mention of any refund. Replied that I wanted my refund within 14 days of the cancellation of my holiday. Copy to the CMA and to my MP. Will not hesitate to go to the small claims court.Incidentaly,there is no mention of FTC in their Booking Conditions which form a contract.

They have cancelled our cruise and are not answering their phone. I guess it is time for a Section 75 call to the credit card company who are answering calls. Update. After a number of calls when they refused to answer the phone I spoke to one of their team following a long wait. The lady was not empowered to give a refund. She said it would be at least 11 days before someone would be in touch about the cancellation. I told her this was unacceptable, and that I expected a full refund within14 days. Formal complaint now being written.

Emerald waterways are the most untrustworthy company I have had to deal with .They cancelled our River Cruise the c night before departure no emergency help ,no personnel to talk to over the weekend , They lied about the reason for cancellation Offered a refund but no compensation then offered 100£ off if I booked for 2020 The Md very offhand couldn’t care less . NOW I FOUND OUT THAT EMERALD CANCELLED Another French river cruise without notice . Cruisers arrived at the airport to be told flights have been cancelled as well as River Cruise South France October 2019

The week on the Rhone was brilliant and the Liberte a lovely ship. The morning sightseeing, sometimes by coach but often on foot was excellent as were all our guides, whose knowledge of their areas was second to none and the provision of a 'gentle walking group' was really appreciated by my husband. And it was great to be able to walk directly from the ship. Our cabin had all we needed for our stay and a very comfortable bed (We had a panorama balcony suite) the en-suite was fairly small (although we've had smaller!) but was well supplied with Molton Brown toiletries and the maid did a great job every day & evening. With everything supplied for the weeks cruise plus some unexpected extras we really appreciated the 'all inclusive' aspect of the cruise. The food was excellent and the ships staff and crew were very good, most with a great sense of humour making the trip a lot of fun. We were really starting to get into the 'onboard' life when sadly it was time to go home. All in all - a great holiday! This wasn't our first River cruise but it was our first with Emerald Waterways - and it won't be the last. Well done Emerald!

Excellent holiday, activities, experiences, food, drink, accommodation, friendly staff and wonderful weather what more can you ask for!

Danube Delights August 2018 after a presentation the cruise was booked our second cruise with Emerald. I can certainly say that the booking service and assistance received was first class. Three weeks before departure our travel plans etc. arrived all aspects were covered resulting in a a smooth journey ending in a courteous welcome on arrival at our ship. Shown to our cabin by a friendly steward cases already to be unpacked we were delighted with all aspects of our accommodation.Clean Spacious and ample Storage. The cruise was excellent the itinerary was superb each port of call we had either a walking or walking and coach tour with very knowlegable tour guides using the provided listening equipment one could hear the guide at all times. Now to my favourite subject food all I can say is it was like dining in a five star restaurant three times a day. The menus were out of this world well done catering staff. On board entertainment was also of a good standard and really put everybody in a good mood at the end of the day. Highlights for myself were, the concert in Vienna,the visit to a Slovakian family home, Melk Abbey and Durnstein,the cruise along the Wachau valley scenery that will live in my memory for years to come. Emerald well done good value for money all round.

Excellent service, food and organisation. Very comfortable cabins. Would improve it a little by having some board games available, a few more on-board activities and more books in the "library" Waiter service was very good but sometimes a little too swift and plates removed whilst we were still chewing.

Another great cruise and in spite of very low water levels our Captain got us through. The crew on the Emerald Sun were excellent our only disappointment was the standard of dress allowed in Reflections Restaurant for Dinner, Emerald states smart casual but there were men wearing tatty shorts and also sleeveless vests which is not appropriate dress for a 5 star cruise in our opinion.

Overall the trip was excellent. Staff very attentive and helpful, boat in first class order, very clean, and the food generally was well prepared and of very high standard. The itinerary also was very good. There were only three things that I could possibly take issue with: 1 My case took several hours to arrive in our cabin, in spite of being correctly labelled. 2 The 'port talk' in the evenings tended to be too long, and there was a lot of prompted clapping and cheering of the crew, most of whom we'ed never met at the beginning! 3 The disembarkation arrangements could have been better. Our paperwork said we had to leave our cabin by 9am on the last day, but the crew told us it had to be 8.30am. Cases also had to be packed and ready for transport at the same time, Our airport transfer wasn't until 2.30pm but at least we had use of the boat until departure time. However, as we soon saw, all that happened to the cases was that they were taken up and left on the quayside in the open until departure. I don't know what would have happened in the event of rain.There was a lot of cases, possibly a 100? and although there was a man apparently dealing with them, I was concerned about security. Anyone could have walked up and taken one, and would easily be presumed to be the owner. The cases were stacked vertically, with the first row well under a metre from the edge of the harbour wall. This was unnecessary as they could easily have been placed further back. A really strong wind could, in my opinion (and I'm a sailor) have tipped the taller ones over into the water a long way below. I appreciate that cabins needed to be cleaned and room was needed aboard to cope with new arrivals, but there must be a better way. Possibly the cases could have been stacked on deck under the awnings? Having said all that, we have recommended the trip to others, and I would have given it 5 stars had it not been for the above points. Robert Tompkins

Wonderful care from booking to return to airport at end of holiday. Lovely welcome, cabin, staff friendly and helpful, food, variety of expeditions Particularly helpful Dayna our cabin steward, Balaz the cruise director, the reception staff and Igor in the dining room.

A wonderful experience, with a friendly, professional, helpful crew. Great food and drink, amazing scenery and interesting excursions. We will definitely be making another booking as soon as we can fit it in!

Our best holiday ever, despite last nights evening meal fiasco. Cannot fault anything except your chef had a bad day on the last night of our cruise, table of 6 - had to chase up our 1st course appetiser after an hour of waiting, then 5 of our party ordered steaks, medium cooked for mains, all came out cool and steaks were cooked rare, these were sent back and returned 10 minutes later exactly the same - rare steaks, sent back again and to our astonishment were brought back after 7 or 8 minutes still the same, why was the chef sending steaks that were ordered medium out without checking them !. As I have already stated this was the only problem we encountered on our weeks cruise.