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If you are dreaming of experiencing a river cruise, be prepared to fall in love with one of the greatest joys in the world. As your 5-star floating hotel cruises through some of the most iconic waterways of Europe, not only will you witness Mother Nature at her best, but also human engineering at its finest.

Locked Rivers

Europe’s waterways are distinctive with varying water levels. To make traversing these waters seamless, water locks were invented. A lock is essentially an elevator with which ships can be raised or lowered to overcome the water level disparities. Europe’s waterways are filled with locks and the Main-Danube Canal has 16 locks, some as high as 82 feet.

The invention of the water locks is a true engineering marvel with Italian scientist and artist, Leonardo da Vinci, pitching in to perfect the process. Watching your Captain expertly maneuver your Scenic Space-Ship through the narrow canals is a special treat that awaits you on board.

Constant State of Flux

As with any other element of Mother Nature, rivers have personalities of their own. Our state-of-the-art Scenic Space-Ships are designed to convert easily to slide under all kinds of bridges. While we make every effort to plan our trips to the last degree, some days the water levels simply don’t co-operate. This leads to lock closures or difficulties passing under historic and often low-slung bridges when water levels are either too high or too low. 

Our local offices throughout Europe monitor levels closely to handle all navigation issues in a timely and efficient manner to minimize disruptions.

Your Included River Cruise Cover*

Staying true to our commitment of being truly all-inclusive, your Scenic river cruise automatically includes peace of mind River Cruise Cover. This may be enacted in the event of a deviation to compensate you for any changes to your itinerary.  

Scenic is committed to open and transparent communication. Should information about potential issues be available prior to your departure we will notify you and allow you to make an informed decision about your travel plans. 

Should the impact happen during your cruise, you will be notified by your Cruise Director on board that River Cruise Cover has been enacted. Once your cruise is complete, we will review the total number of days that were disrupted and provide you with a letter upon your return home with the amounts that can be claimed and details of the claims process. 

We appreciate that you’ve invested a lot of time and funds for your holiday with us, so we want to ensure that we provide you with peace of mind when traveling with Scenic. 

*Not valid for Russia

The River Cruise Cover

If Your Scenic Tour is delayed or cancelled after You have commenced Your Scenic Tour and before you have disembarked and completed Your Scenic Tour due to:
 
1. mechanical breakdown;
2. riots;
3. strikes;
4. civil commotion;
5. river or canal lock damage or closure;
6. adverse weather conditions; or
7. natural disasters;

What does an itinerary deviation look like? How could it impact my trip and how might I be compensated? 

A deviation can be a quick, insignificant inconvenience, a prolonged change or an extended disruption depending on the circumstances.

A minor disruption may include:  
In the event that a ship can’t pass through a section of the river (due to water levels, a closed lock or river obstruction, for example), we use coaches to transfer you from your original Scenic Space-Ship to a new Space-Ship on the other side of the obstruction. These “ship swaps” are performed with the least impact possible with your Cruise Director accompanying you onto the new ship with your belongings to ensure the remainder of the cruise is as enjoyable as possible. You will be accommodated in a suite of the same type and value; should this not be possible you will be compensated the difference in the value of the suites.  

A prolonged disruption may include: 
Using coach transfers to the included sightseeing locations, while continuing to be accommodated on your Scenic Space-Ship. A prolonged disruption may also require us to continuously cruise without stopping for touring. Under Scenic’s River Cruise Cover you will be compensated between $100-$200 per person per day of the disruption should we not be able to fulfill the sightseeing listed in the itinerary.   

An extended disruption or major impact to your itinerary:
In the event of an extended disruption, accommodation off ship will be in local hotels with all meals provided. To the best of our ability we will ensure the hotels are of similar standard to your Scenic Space-Ship. Meals will be included, however, alcoholic drinks and amenities such as butler service, may or may not be included. Touring will be undertaken by coach. As we understand this experience will not be same as being on board the Scenic Space-Ship, under Scenic’s River Cruise Cover you will be compensated based on the suite category booked, between $300-$800 per person per day for up to seven days. Alternatively, a full refund for the remainder of the cruise should you choose to disembark and end/finish your journey.

Exclusions

River Cruise Cover will not pay for claims arising directly or indirectly from:
1. Consequential loss of any kind including loss of enjoyment or any financial loss not specifically covered in the Policy;
2. Pandemic, war, invasion, act of foreign enemy, hostilities (whether war be declared or not), Civil War, rebellion, revolution, insurrection or military or usurped power;
3. any loss or expense with respect to Cuba or a specially designated person, entity, group or company on the Specially Designated List or which if reimbursed or paid by Us would result in Us being in breach of trade or economic sanctions or other such similar laws or regulations;
4. any nuclear reaction or contamination, ionising rays or radioactivity;
5. any Goods and Services Tax (GST) liability or any fine, charge or penalty You are liable for because of a failure to fully disclose to Us Your input tax credit entitlement for the premium;

 

Examples of what is classed as an insignificant disruption and is therefore not covered:
  • If high water levels prohibit the sailing of the ship for an afternoon but we are able to make it under the bridge that evening and deliver you to your scheduled disembarkation place the following day.
  • If we swap ships due to high/low water and the ship swap takes less than 6 hours to complete
  • If we embark/disembark the ship less than 100 kilometres from your scheduled point of embarkation
  • If we have to make alternate arrangement for any itinerary activities. For example, if due to prevailing conditions we are not able to attend Marksburg Castle and we select a replacement of similar quality, this will not constitute an event of delay.
The terms of this River Cruise Cover policy should be read in conjunction with the rights and obligations set out in the applicable booking conditions for your chosen river cruise. Neither these nor your statutory rights are affected. Any sums paid to you under the River Cruise Cover may be offset against any further or additional liability to you under our booking conditions or as otherwise required by law.
Please note that Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours are not liable for COVID-19 and other pandemic related issues such as quarantines, delays, lockdowns, repatriation expenses, loss of touring, loss of inclusions, border closings or location entry requirements or restrictions, etc. We strongly recommend guests obtain travel insurance to cover such costs and risks as well as any others resulting from Force Majeure Events.

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