Emerald Cruises UK Reviews 

The staff were excellent: welcoming and very accommodating The ship was well appointed
The food was delicious with the right amount of choice
The majority of tours were very good and cycling in the Wachau valley was one of the highlights
Sadly the only down side was the failure to organise our two and a half days in Budapest well The extra time in this city was one of the reasons for choosing this cruise Last minute changes to the planned timetable were annoying in the extreme The tour by night was very disappointing and the so called traditional evening was dreadful

On arrival at Schipol airport, it would've been beneficial to have had someone greet us at arrivals, as it's a big airport.
We missed the welcome drinks on board trying to locate the meeting point.
Also, the food in the evening was 'luke warm' at best, and this carried onto breakfast and lunch tbe following day.
I mentioned this to the manager who apologised, and this did improve, but sadly this was not what I had been accustomed to on previous Emerald cruises.
The excursions were rushed, for example the trip to the palace involved 3 hour return trip, yet only 2 hours to the visit the palace.
Hardly worth the price.
The evening entertainment was very amateurish, perhaps having a pianist on board would help?
This was the 5th Emerald cruise we have been on, and I'm sad to say it was not up to your usual standard.

Emerald needs to cater more for the majority not just the minority bike riders and trekkers. There were missed opportunities to see more of Vienna and Budapest, because of the mooring location, away from the centre. Food generally good but could be a bit samey at lunch time ( not helped by the Chinese who seemed to prefer taking handfuls of salad rather than using the tongs ). Must learn how to make tea properly - it should always be boiling water, not luke warm! Staff all exemplary .

The staff who were excellent!
Vessels are always kept in tip top condition which is
essential.

Great service, great tours, great food.

We could not fault this Danube cruise. The staff on the Emerald Star were amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. Excellent food, port talks, entertainment, cabin attendance and tour guides. My husband is on a low sodium diet and Dilip the restaurant manager and Ibrahim the executive chef met with him the first evening and every morning he was given the lunch and dinner menus from which he chose meals which were adjusted to his needs. Good 0% beers and 0% wines were also available. All in all a very relaxing and enjoyable cruise.

I enjoyed the glassier express, but I thought we didn’t have enough time on the trips that was arranged, but it seemed like we needed to get back in the afternoon for the trips that people paid extra for, the experience could’ve been a lot better.

Our first Emerald cruise and we couldn't fault it! It was excellent from start to finish. The guides and cruise director were very knowledgeable and made every excursion interesting. The staff on the Emerald Harmony were wonderful. We visited many organisations that had been set up to support the local people. Meeting these people was very special. We saw, experienced and learnt about so many new things. What more could you want of a holiday? We'd be more than happy to do the same holiday again.

The crew were outstanding in their service to us to give us the best possible experience. The local tour guides were fantastic. Three of the tours I did were with young professional women who were outstanding, and spoken English so good that it was hard to believe it wasn’t their mother tongue. The guide in Buda was terrific, a mum with a wonderful sense of humour.

On board the food and wine were delicious served by the most attentive, friendly and fun team. Our cabins really comfortable, plenty of room for lots of clothes, and the housekeeping team were also excellent. The reception team always super friendly and ready to help with anything. The information given by the Cruise Director every evening, who was wonderful was really interesting and helpful, also very amusing too! This is my 3rd cruise with Emerald, I would not consider any other organisation. Its’ work and sustainable ethics are excellent.

Standard of service ,standard of hospitality,quality of food. Selection of food. Daily trips and activities

Facilities were excellent

Interesting excursions Good Food Gratuity’s included Pleasant staff Clean rooms

Generally very good.
Food was excellent with a good choice of well prepared dishes.
Staff were very friendly and attentive

We love Emerald, this latest cruise down the Rhone was our 5th. We give them 5 stars for their wonderful crew, food and fabulous hospitality. Our only slightly negative comment this time was there was not enough sailing during the day.

The boat was fine as always and we had no problems with this or any of the staff who were all fine.
What we didn't like was where the boat docked.It was always out of town and mostly at industrial sitrs. We are now elderly and less mobile than we used to be. Excursions always by coach and time limited don't aleays suit us anymore. This we knew before we went but we expecred to get off the boat whereever it docked and be able toaccess some local facilities without having to get on a coach. This we have always done on previous trips without any problems. We are now into double figures in our number of cruises and never had a problem before. We can onlt assume you are booking the cheapest docking points available which certainly detracted from our experience

We've been loyal Emerald & Scenic clients for 10 years and quite honestly feel we've been shafted by the new "loyalty" programme. Despite all our trips, our sticking with them during the COVID years, we've been dumped into the lowest level. Not good at all.

Staff were amazing...in all areas...despite a change in itinerary ( not Emeralds fault) they did their very best to give us a fantastic experience....and the food was exquisite!!

They managed to do everything right!!
The ship was very comfortable, the house care was wonderful, the food and drink were superb with a perfect Butler service looking after anything else you desired.

The staff are exceptional the Food is superb both quantity and quality and choice, we have done 4 Emerald Cruises and it would have been 5 iif Putin had not attacked Ukraine

Everything…….transfers to and from the airport were well executed. The ship was fantastic. The crew were second to none. The ports we stopped at were really interesting and picturesque and the guides were knowledgeable, informative and friendly.

Our experience during the excursion lunch organized by Emerald Cruises was extremely disappointing and far below the standard expected from a luxury cruise company.

When our group arrived at the scheduled lunch location, there was nobody there to receive or assist us. We remained inside the bus for quite some time without any information or explanation about what was happening. The entire situation was disorganized and uncomfortable.

Afterwards, we were taken to the same location where 14 members of our group had previously been dropped off. Food was eventually offered, but we noticed there was clearly not enough structure or preparation for the number of guests present. The experience felt chaotic, poorly coordinated, and disrespectful to passengers who trusted the company to provide a properly organized excursion.

What disappointed us even more was the lack of communication and support from the staff during the incident. No clear explanations, apologies, or immediate solutions were provided at the time.

This experience significantly affected our perception of the cruise and does not reflect the level of service promoted by Emerald Cruises.