Be cautious on MS Amadeus Elegant
 

Use caution when booking your cabin. We were with a travel group and did not get to select our cabin. We were given Cabin #234, which was in a higher price category and the last room on the floor. The cabin was located against the engine room. The sound was deafening and the vibration was immense. We traveled upstream from Amsterdam to Basil and the boat was at full throttle many nights. My husband and I could barely hear each other talk and we could never hear the captain's announcements, even when the boat was at normal speed. The room vibrated so badly that items fell off the counters and the bed shook badly throughout the night. We were sleepless each night and stressed to the point of becoming ill. We managed to sleep from exhaustion when the ship arrived at the docks, thus missing breakfasts and many excursions. The ship was full, with no alternative rooms to move to. One day, we returned to the ship to find that our room was full of the smell of fuel oil. We were dismayed to be told by the captain, hotel manager, housekeeper and bartender that they knew there were problems with this room! Why book it??? Especially at this higher category price?? The bartender told us that they moved people from that room every trip. This was very unacceptable and greatly affected our trip.

Did you send a letter to the company? You should get a refund if they knowingly book a room that has been problematic.

Definitely you should ask for some compensation and persist until you get some measure of satisfaction. We sometimes hear highly critical comments from cruisers over what appear to be relatively minor complaints, but it does appear that your concerns are more than minor, particularly as the problems persisted throughout your trip.

Thanks for posting this. We are considering a river cruise and never even considered the possibility of being next to the engine room. Now we know to avoid it.

Lots of times, I think complaints are minor and people are too picky, but in your case, that was a real problem. You should never have had to deal with either the noise or the smell. The oil smell would definitely make me feel sick. IMHO, you deserve a huge compensation for that trip. It is almost too bad you did not leave and demand your money back. I hope you pursue it and get something back.