Sep 29 - Transition Day

Today is a transition day where we move from being self-directed travelers to being guests of Scenic Cruises, so there won’t be a lot of content for this blog.

It’s another day of warm temperatures and clear blue skies. After another long, leisurely breakfast, we set out for the city centre again. Not surprisingly, we needed (no, make that “wanted”) to stock up on chocolate at Läderach again. With the precious cargo on board, we explored more streets around the cathedral. The further from the cathedral you go, the less expensive (and that is a very loose term) the prices become.

Check out was at noon (we put our luggage in the secure lock up) and pick up by Scenic was scheduled for 2:00 p.m., so to fill in the time, we followed the Wien River canal up towards the Donaukanal, an inland canal that runs parallel to the Danube River. We hadn’t yet gone that direction. The embankments along the Donaukanal are covered in graffiti, but we suspect that the graffiti is strictly controlled, because each one was a work of art, and not lewd or suggestive. Vienna’s attitude seems to be, “If you can’t ban it outright, then accept it and control it.”

We strolled back in the bright sunshine, and then popped into a lovely little café to have a lunch of chocolate croissants. Yes, they are a bad habit, but when in Vienna….

Just before 2:00 p.m., a lady came through the lobby scooping up Scenic passengers. We hopped aboard a big bus, and were on our way to the ship at 2:01 p.m. Precision timing, we have come to know, is a hallmark of each Scenic trip. By the way, this is our 4th Scenic cruise. We were smitten by the first one in 2015 and have been loyal customers since then.

We were welcomed on board with cool towels and cold champagne. Check in was speedy and our luggage arrived in our room promptly. We have now met our butler, Jeff, and our cabin attendant,

The upload speed for photos is awfully slow. This is going to be an on-going challenge!

At 6:15 p.m., we all gathered in the lounge for introductions and announcements. Our cruise director is JJ, and our captain is Dimitri – both from Bulgaria. The hospitality manager is from Montenegro and the head chef is from the Philippines. We had dinner with a couple from Australia and another from England – a mini meeting of the Commonwealth countries. Doug had schnitzel and I had trout for dinner. The service and the food were superb.

After dinner, we went for a walk along the cruise ship pier. We saw ships from many of the major lines – Avalon, Emerald (owned by Scenic), AMA, Croisi Europe, Viking, UniWorld, and others we can’t remember. It was a lovely, warm evening with a bright moon in the sky, but oddly enough, not one star. Today’s step count – 17,000 steps. We have signed up to do a bicycle tour of Danube Island tomorrow – it leaves at 9:15 a.m. A bike tour will give our tired feet a much-needed rest.Read more