I was very lucky to attend the CLIA 2025 river cruise conference in Budapest.
We saw five river cruise ships and I am writing about my time on Scenic luxury river cruises’ ship the “Scenic Opal.”
The ship has recently been renovated to align with Scenic's fleet of five-star luxury river cruise ships, and it certainly felt luxurious as well as modern and contemporary. It had a lovely modern fresh feel and can take up to one hundred and sixty-three guests. This is the beauty of river cruising: it’s small and intimate. The staff were lovely, helpful and friendly, which made a real difference. Scenic has river cruise ships on all of Europe's main rivers, so there are plenty of choices for where to take a river cruise down.
Scenic is all inclusive so all food, drinks, excursions, flights and transfers are included in the cost of your trip, even the contents of the mini bar are included. They have an amazing range of excursions which you can choose before you go with their freechoice programme. The two that stood out for me were riding the e-bikes and cooking with the chef. You can go to a local market with the chef to buy fresh local ingredients to use in your meal back on board! Wow! You can be as laid back and relaxed or as busy as you wish with their amazing excursion and wellness programme. Also, you can attend amazing concerts they offer, as well as other ports of call, that are included as well.
The dining onboard was a delicious five-star a la carte, with a great choice of meals, inspired by the local culture’s cuisine. The breakfast buffet was one of the best I have had: it was a menu of special breakfast dishes, so I chose eggs benedict for me! I loved that the main dining restaurant has a big glass panel where you can watch the chefs and team members prepare your meal in the kitchen! I have not seen that on any ocean or river cruise ships before.
The cabins are beautifully appointed, lovely comfy bed, coffee machine, dressing gown, slippers - well everything you need. I loved staying in a middle deck cabin as I had the French balcony, and with the touch of a button, the window comes half way down, letting in so much fresh air and daylight, amazing. Also, the bathroom was spacious and had a big walk-in luxury shower, and they have lovely ESPA products to use. The wellness centre was beautiful, they have a salt therapy room, a gym, and a relaxation area.
The biggest bonus of choosing a river cruise is that they stop in the heart of the city so you can stroll around the city at your leisure as it will be very close.
Budapest is split by the Danube - the number one choice of rivers for first-time river cruisers. One of the main reasons being that you can visit three cities in a week; Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava, as well as some smaller towns and villages along with stunning scenery.
I would highly recommend a river cruise on Scenic, come and see me in MMT’s Taunton shop as I would love to tell you all about it.
