"Disappointing River cruise"

Let me start by saying we have cruised on a Viking river cruise last year and actually didn’t have a great experience due to river flooding but the food and entertainment on the first week was excellent, we and felt like we were on a coach tour at times but we feel we can compare and honestly review A Rosa Clea on the Mosel .
As the only English speaking couple on board we were saved by kind friendly,excellent service staff willing to chat , each meal is in the dining room with unassigned seating buffet style with limited table service only for 2 courses at dinner time and I can honestly say that the food is very average at best ( I compare it to nursing home food but my husband thinks I’m been a bit harsh !) Strangely the cohort of all Germans onboard only a few ( 4 ) were willing to speak to us ! We weren’t sure if maybe they just didn’t speak English well ( we don’t speak German but have managed to have many delightful conversations with other Germans in our 6 weeks travel in Germany ) so each meal time we could see the dread on other diners faces as we entered the room hoping we wouldn’t sit next to them ! We actually would eat out if we happened to be in a port . Premium alcohol package isn’t top end , the white wine is like a house white and my husband couldn’t drink the red , but the beer and spirits are fine .
The friendly cruise directors tried to offer English brochures for self guided walks in town which we really appreciated , finally the so called music director was a joke , he basically played a few Spotify covers at night by pressing play and played the Piano and guitar a couple of times ( poorly ) , he didn’t deserve to be paid in our opinion, we would never recommend A-Rosa river cruises to anyone .

"Devious..."

We were on the A-Rosa Donna from Aug 18 - 25th. Looks like we dodged a bullet. The Cruise went very well until the 2nd to last day on the way to Engelshartzell. Around 11pm, an announcement was made that we were diverting to Linz due to a 'propulsion' problem. Next morning, no info available at all as the crew were waiting to hear from head office (in Europe, unlikely on a weekend). We were offered a free taxi ride to and from Linz for the day, which we took, only to find that the city closes at 1pm on a Saturday. That evening, the 'Hotel Manager' - Kevin, told us that there were people from the shipyard coming in and out all day trying to fix the problem. I was on the sun deck most of the afternoon, and no one came or went except fellow guests walking about. We were also told at the meeting that he was confident that the boat would resume sailing the next day. Incredible, on a Sunday, in Europe!!!. Didn't happen. My Mother in Law, who'd flown from NZ to have one last Europe trip and to celebrate her 80th on the cruise was left absolutely distraught, sobbing in her cabin, on her Birthday. Hard to watch, let alone accept.
We were bussed to Vienna on the final day and that was it. Incredibly, a few days later, an email arrived asking us to fill in a satisfaction survey, which we haven't filled in.
Now, of course, there'll be the generic 'really sorry we didn't meet your expectations' etc, but they have our money, what do they care.
Ball is in your court A-Rosa, what are you going to do? Remember, this is a very well subscribed forum.

"Not good enough!"

We are on A Rosa Donna. From the beginning, this cruise has been a disappointment. There were technical problems before we even boarded and had to endure a three hour coach trip to join the ship at Linz, not Passau, as planned. We made it to Vienna on Sunday, where the ship experienced more problems and we were stranded in Vienna for four days. During this time, we had very little in the way of updates. As a result, the ship could not proceed to Budapest. We finally reached Bratislava on Thursday. We have not had the experience we paid a lot of money for.
This was our first river cruise. It may be our last! We have been offered 50% off a cruise only, next year. Not good enough. Overall, a very poor result.

"Treibstoffkosten…"

Arosa-Flusskreuzfahrten sind nicht die günstigsten.
5,-€/ pro Tag und pro Person für einen festen Platz zum Essen ist schon ungewöhnlich.
Jetzt kommen noch 7,-€ für Treibstoffkosten pro Person und Tag dazu. Diese 12,-€ /Tag sollte jeder bei einer Buchung beachten. Die Preise für Treibstoff sind so niedrig wie schon lange nicht mehr.
Hat man das der Geschäftsführung von Arosa nicht mitgeteilt?
Ein Schelm wer jetzt denkt, bei Arosa wird man abgezockt.
Können die Mitbewerber von anderen Reedereien nicht mal Kontakt mit Arosa aufnehmen und denen verraten, wo sie den günstigsten Treibstoff herbekommen? bekommen?

"We are currently on the Arosa-Donna"

We are currently on the Arosa-Donna. We arrived in Vienna 4 days ago and the ship has broken down.
We were told that we were hoping to sail today at 14:30, it is now 17:50 and we have had no further updates.
The management on board do not seem to care. Our holiday has been ruined.
The 1 star is for the food.

"Absolute Katastrophe! Kundenservice nicht existent!"

Absolute Katastrophe! Kundenservice nicht existent, schlechte Prozesse
Absolut schlechter Onlinebuchungsprozess mit lauter Fehlermeldung, Kundenservice nicht existent: Bei der Hotline wird man IMMER nach 16 Minuten aus der Warteschleife geschmissen (an verschiedenen Tagen und zu verschiedenen Zeiten), E-Mails werden grundsätzlich nicht beantwortet. Da hilft es nichts wenn am Ende (vielleicht?) eine Kreuzfahrt angeboten wird. (Onlinebuchungssystem sagte ganz am Ende: Ihre Reise wurde nicht gebucht, wenden Sie sich an den Kundenservice, eine E-Mail beglückwünschte zur Buchung, Geld wurde mittlerweile auch abgebucht ... was jetzt stimmt, weiß man nicht, es antwortet ja niemand). Jedenfalls haben wir rund um die Reise nun auch andere Buchungen vorgenommen und Kosten gehabt und werden notfalls einen Anwalt einschalten. Und noch etwas: Die Antwort hier bei Trustpilot liebes arosa-Team nach nur zwei Tagen (Sie erhalten in jedem Fall eine Antwort) könnt Ihr Euch sparen. Seit 15.08. warte ich auf eine solche - die Reise ist weniger als 2 Wochen in der Zukunft. Wir werden nie wieder bei arosa buchen und können auch nur allen anderen dringend davon abraten!

"7 nights on A-Rosa Luna"

We booked a Premium service level "Rhône Route Classique" on A-rosa's website for €726 per person for a lower deck cabin with porthole windows.

There were about 175 passengers on board. We were the only two non-German speakers.

The positives:
- The staff were all very friendly and most had reasonable English skills.

- Good selection of drinks included in the Premium package (G&T, Piña colada, sex on the beach, mojito etc.). They had a pilsner and a wheat beer on tap.

- I enjoyed the pool, sauna, and steam room.

- We loved the ports of call. The main attractions being Arles, Avignon, and Lyon.

The negatives:
- The A/C was unable to cool our room sufficiently at night. We were having to fall asleep in what felt like 22-23C temperatures. Oddly enough, the room was plenty cool during daytime hours.

- The entertainment on board and guided shore excursions were in German only. We didn't mind much since we weren't planning to join the excursions anyway.

- The dining room:
Lines: Waiters will bring drinks to your table, but the food is served in a buffet usually from 19.00 to 20.30. The lines were very long, and I would usually have to wait till 19.40 before it made sense to attempt to get food.

As for seating, there is enough seats everyone, but you don't have an assigned table. This meant that there was always a bit of anxietey related to finding a table for meals. It usually worked out, but one night, our regular dining room was reserved for a special event, meaning that we had to find seats in the other dining room. This was a real headache.

The food itself was hit-and-miss. Certainly nothing to write home about.

To sum it up: As a non-German-speaker, you are not getting as much value on an A-Rosa cruise as a German-speaker since they mostly cater to Germans. However, at the €726 price point, we felt that we still got our money's worth.

"Arosa STELLA"

Arosa STELLA
Wie auch schon von anderen brichtet ist die Klima Anlage eine reine Kathastroph! Komplett unzureichend bei Heißem Wetter ! Leider war die Route auch völlig daneben! 3 halte und der Rest auf dem Wasser oder im Hafen ! ODER man hat einen Ausgflug gebucht! Ja so kann man auch Geld machen ! Da Personal aber echt SUPER FREUNDLICH ! Das Essen 4 von 5 STernen nur eben leider nicht Regional! Das liegt aber daran das eben eine Firma dahinter steckt und eben alles immer wieder das selbe ist um Geld zu sparen und zu gewährleisten das immer alles da ist und günstig. Wir hatten die komplette AL IN also keine Probleme mit getränken oder sonnstigem aber das normele zzgl Getränke Packet tuts auch ;) Leider war den Start Hafen nicht der Ankunft Hafen so wie eigentlich geplant so das man auf erhögten Kosten für Taxi und Parkhaus sitzen bleibt ! Wassser Temperatzr stark wechslend ! Kalt war normal, Tür der Dusche verzogen und undicht. Brötchen und Baguett eine Kathastrophe ! Tisch reservieren muste sein für 5€ am tag aber das war ok! Alles in allem Gerne nocm mal wenn di Klima Taugt die Route gut ist mit genug ausstiegsmöglichkeiten und die Zimmer in Ordnung sind !

"A terrible bad cruise in a very cheap ship. Never again even fo free"

A terrible bad cruise in a very cheap line. Cruising in the Moselle you expect German wines not super cheap south African wines, incredible long lines for the meals, meals that resembles a Coffe shop not a restaurante, even if we were previous informed that we can choose between buffet or table service. Bathrooms in the rooms without maintenance, two days in a row a bathroom of one of our cabins was overflowed from the toilette, not to mention to push the flush is a battle or to close the faucet in the sink, it goes for the cheapest docking place, to pay little without regards to the customers service. The itinerary was really bad, spend a lot of time, days , in places with little interest that can be visited in a few hours. People in reception are very aggressive, rude (it was a man with a beard M something his name) or quite incompetent. They cancel excursions continuously. Other ships anchor besides so you have no view from your balcony (this may not be a compnay fault), coffee machine broken at the middle of the trip. The only good thing was the room attendant and the waitress at the restaurante.

"The worst cruise we been."

The worst cruise we been.

Paid Premium, to find that only one walking transfer and our laundry was included, by email they told us that meals were hybrid, between buffet and table service, but no it was only buffet, our allocated table for the cheap buffets was inside a small room, not the main dining, finally we manage to have a proper table with tablecloth, but the lines for serving buffets was terrible, the ship is old and cannot cope with full capacity, 2 days the coffee machine was out of order!!

Cabin assistance Nelly was terrific.
Receptionist were grumpy without knowledge of the itinerary, arrogant.
For not paying prime position, the ship was dock far away from the towns, unpleasant to walk long distances, besides nobody knows the address in Koln for the A-Rosa Silva dock, a very expensive taxi.

Itinerary bad design, 1.5 days at a couple of little towns that can be visited in 3 hrs. and most of excursions change last minute.
Preference to smokers at roof top, terrible smoke.

Never again A-Rosa cruises