Scenic's private transfer rules are illogical

[DougK]

This is not a big deal at all, but still a little disappointing:

 

I'm going on a Scenic cruise next month, starting in Basel. I'm fortunate enough to be in a suite that qualifies for private transfers. The problem is that I'm not flying in the day of the cruise; instead, I'm going to be in Switzerland, travelling around and doing some other sightseeing for the week before the cruise, ending up at a hotel in Basel the night before the cruise. From a pure standpoint of logic, one would think that Scenic would be willing to provide a transfer from the hotel to the ship. After all, sending a private car 3 or 4 miles is a lot less expensive than sending one over 50 miles to the Zurich airport. But Scenic doesn't see it that way. I inquired (through my travel agent) and was told that the transfer only applies to the airport--if we want to go back to the Zurich airport that morning, then they'll provide a transfer. I completely understand the logic if it was a general (not private) transfer, where they're accumulating passengers from multiple flights before transferring, but here it's a private car, so it's literally Scenic choosing to send a car 50 miles, but refusing to send it 4 miles.

 

As I said, not a big deal at all--we can easily get a cab. And it's more or less what I expected, since I didn't really think Scenic would pay attention to logic. But still a little disappointing, and a poor choice on Scenic's part considering the goodwill they would have garnered by providing a transfer at not much cost to themselves.

[Canal archive]

Email the ship a little closer to the time and I expect you will get a different answer, full contact details should be with your travel details, or the list at the top of the River Cruising that this chat is on. The personal touch will also help I think. Although I do agree that some of the companies ideas over the time since Covid do seem to be just a little weird and not up to their standard pre Covid.

Good luck.

[Host Jazzbeau]

When we sailed Scenic on the Seine in 2022 they sent a private car to pick us up at the train station [we did have to pay for the taxi to the hotel at the end of the cruise].  When we sailed Scenic on the Douro in 2023 we had our own transfer from Lisbon, but they used a private car to take us to our Porto hotel (100 yds away!).

[Canal archive]

When we arrived for our Seine cruise on the Eurostar last year we had been put on the earlier train the Scenic greeter was at the station and phoned for the car so that we didn’t have to wait. Due to the traffic after dropping us off he had to do an immediate about turn to meet the next train. I don’t mind the Paris traffic if I’m sat in a very comfy Merc.

[prisage]

On 4/3/2024 at 9:16 PM, DougK said:

This is not a big deal at all, but still a little disappointing:

 

I'm going on a Scenic cruise next month, starting in Basel. I'm fortunate enough to be in a suite that qualifies for private transfers. The problem is that I'm not flying in the day of the cruise; instead, I'm going to be in Switzerland, travelling around and doing some other sightseeing for the week before the cruise, ending up at a hotel in Basel the night before the cruise. From a pure standpoint of logic, one would think that Scenic would be willing to provide a transfer from the hotel to the ship. After all, sending a private car 3 or 4 miles is a lot less expensive than sending one over 50 miles to the Zurich airport. But Scenic doesn't see it that way. I inquired (through my travel agent) and was told that the transfer only applies to the airport--if we want to go back to the Zurich airport that morning, then they'll provide a transfer. I completely understand the logic if it was a general (not private) transfer, where they're accumulating passengers from multiple flights before transferring, but here it's a private car, so it's literally Scenic choosing to send a car 50 miles, but refusing to send it 4 miles.

 

As I said, not a big deal at all--we can easily get a cab. And it's more or less what I expected, since I didn't really think Scenic would pay attention to logic. But still a little disappointing, and a poor choice on Scenic's part considering the goodwill they would have garnered by providing a transfer at not much cost to themselves.

I need to book a Basel hotel, do you have one you would recommend?

[Canal archive]

As I’ve said before email or phone the ship nearer the time. I bet the crew will be far more accommodating.

Edited April 15 by Canal archive

[DougK]

6 hours ago, prisage said:

I need to book a Basel hotel, do you have one you would recommend?

I'm no expert on Basel at all. I've stayed there once before, at the Hotel Victoria. I chose it that time for its location right by the train station, as I was leaving on the train the next morning. The hotel was fine, but nothing memorable at all, with no particular charm. This time I looked for something a little closer to the Old Town, and based strictly on online reviews, booked the Steinenschanze Stadthotel. I'll find out next month whether that was a good, bad, or indifferent choice...

[DougK]

On 4/4/2024 at 9:41 AM, Canal archive said:

Email the ship a little closer to the time and I expect you will get a different answer, full contact details should be with your travel details, or the list at the top of the River Cruising that this chat is on. The personal touch will also help I think. Although I do agree that some of the companies ideas over the time since Covid do seem to be just a little weird and not up to their standard pre Covid.

Good luck.

 

No luck with the ship. Admittedly, the situation has gotten a little more complicated. Due to high water, the ship is now boarding in Breisach, not Basel. We were informed that we had to report either to the Zurich airport or the Basel airport at a set time for a group transfer to Breisach. I inquired as to whether we would get a private transfer, and the answer was a resounding no--since this was due to weather, no private transfers were being done. Although if we had originally signed up to arrive at the Basel airport, we would have had a private transfer to the ship, and that would have simply switched to a private transfer to Breisach. I emailed the ship directly, and was informed that they had nothing to do with the transfers, but they would pass my request on to headquarters. I then got another email from headquarters, essentially saying "we already told you no." But they did confirm a private transfer to the airport in Amsterdam at the end of the cruise, as if that answered everything.

 

Now, obviously, this is no big deal, and we'll still end up at the ship today. If Scenic hadn't listed private transfers as a suite perk, I wouldn't have given this a second thought. But given that they did list it as a benefit, but then effectively denied the ability to use it, it leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Not what I would have expected based on my last (pre-covid) Scenic experience...

[Canal archive]

Absolutely agree you may feel better firing off an email to the main man, he’s still supposed to be in charge but I’m sorry to say standards do seem to be slipping. It does tend to leave a sour taste after so many years of superb service. I hope you enjoy your cruise and I suspect the onboard crew are fighting a loosing battle with the high water levels.

[DougK]

20 hours ago, Canal archive said:

I suspect the onboard crew are fighting a loosing battle with the high water levels.

 

I have to say, I'm confused and disappointed by this as well. Supposedly the ship I'm on, the Scenic Opal, was unable to make it to Basel because of high water levels. So it was a little weird to get to the Basel airport for the transfer, and run into a little chaos as Scenic was sorting out passengers for the Opal to send to Breisach from passengers for the Pearl, which was in Basel. In other words, although the Opal was supposedly unable to reach Basel because of high water, it's virtual sister ship, the Pearl, didn't have the same problem. And looking around the city in the morning, a variety of other river ships were there as well. It would appear that only the Scenic Opal found it too difficult. Seems like the whole hassle with the transfer to Breisach could have been avoided...

[Canal archive]

I’m pretty sure you’re overthinking this, I agree that your transfer situation is not of the best but you can be absolutely certain that the crews know exactly what they’re doing. I’d rather they erred on the safety side and had to put passengers out than ‘carried on regardless’. Please relax you’ll enjoy your cruise. 

[gnome12]

7 hours ago, DougK said:

 

I have to say, I'm confused and disappointed by this as well. Supposedly the ship I'm on, the Scenic Opal, was unable to make it to Basel because of high water levels. So it was a little weird to get to the Basel airport for the transfer, and run into a little chaos as Scenic was sorting out passengers for the Opal to send to Breisach from passengers for the Pearl, which was in Basel. In other words, although the Opal was supposedly unable to reach Basel because of high water, it's virtual sister ship, the Pearl, didn't have the same problem. And looking around the city in the morning, a variety of other river ships were there as well. It would appear that only the Scenic Opal found it too difficult. Seems like the whole hassle with the transfer to Breisach could have been avoided...

High water can come up very suddenly. The other ships might be stuck there at the moment. Because your ship was on the other side of the high water, you will be able to sail downstream.

Edited yesterday at 11:04 AM by gnome12

[DougK]

4 hours ago, gnome12 said:

High water can come up very suddenly. The other ships might be stuck there at the moment. Because your ship was on the other side of the high water, you will be able to sail downstream.

 

We're rafted with the Pearl right now in Breisach. It seems strange to me that both the Opal and Pearl were scheduled to sail into Basel yesterday morning and depart for Breisach yesterday night, but they made different decisions for the two ships. The Pearl did exactly what was scheduled, but the Opal instead sat in Breisach. I guess the captains made different calls, but it seems strange for virtually identical ships run by the same company.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Ultimately it is the Captain who makes the call.