European River Cruising with Scenic Luxury Cruises

I just returned from my first European river cruise. Scenic Luxury Cruises has spoiled me. Nothing compares.

We boarded the Scenic Jasper in Budapest and were shown to our cabin by our butler. Yes, you read that correctly: a butler. Everyone gets a butler on Scenic Luxury Cruises. Your butler will unpack for you, get your clothes pressed for you, even fetch you a drink and snack. But you already have snacks and drinks in your cabin. We found delicious wafer cookie snacks and chips waiting for us, along with a stocked mini-bar holding cola, juices, wine and spirits. These snacks and drinks were replenished twice a day. And every evening when we returned to our cabin, there were chocolates on the pillows.

Let's talk about the food. Oh, my goodness! Absolutely delicious food and so many choices. A buffet of salads, soup, breads, omelettes, sandwiches, pasta, desserts and more. Once you sat down at a table, the server came by with a menu from which you could choose from other salads, entrees, and desserts. The French toast is to die for. It was all so, so good.

Did we mention everything is included? Yes, everything. You can have champagne for breakfast, wine for lunch, cocktails in the afternoon, and more wine at dinner.  You can have any of it, anytime. It's all included. And it is not the wine the airlines give you. This is the good stuff. They bring around a red and a white at mealtimes, but you can also choose from their wine list. I never bothered because the wine they carried over to your table the minute you sat down was really, really good wine.

On a Scenic "space-ship," you won't get lost trying to find your cabin after dinner. The Scenic ships are intimate. One central corridor with one cabin between the corridor and the edge of the ship. Every cabin is an outside cabin. The cabins themselves are quite spacious, hence the name "space-ships." We had a deluxe balcony suite with a glass wall that could be lowered to turn our entire cabin into an open-air balcony.

The amazing experience does not end on-board. Shore excursions, or as Scenic calls them, Scenic Enrich events and Scenic Freechoice touring, are also included. We were able to choose from guided walking tours, guided e-bike tours, museums, and castle visits. In Vienna, we attended a private performance of Strauss and Mozart music at Palais Liechtenstein, one of Vienna's grandest venues. In Dürnstein, we could hike up to the castle where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned. In Melk, we toured Melk Abbey, a Benedictine abbey dating back to the 18th century.

All in all, it was so wonderful, I want everyone to experience Europe the Scenic way.