TUI Isla passengers describe coach-heavy Danube cruises and seek refunds

TUI Isla passengers on Danube cruises that began on 14 and 21 September say revised itineraries replaced much of their expected river sailing with coach journeys. In a BBC report published on 7 October, passengers described seeking refunds after the changes. TUI said low water levels forced alterations and apologised that some customers did not get the river-cruise experience they expected.

The complaints concern both people who travelled on the amended trips and a group who chose not to go. Their accounts differ in detail, but each centres on the gap between the river cruise they booked and the amount of travel offered by coach. The BBC report records TUI’s explanation; it does not establish whether any individual refund complaint has since been resolved.

What happened on the 21 September TUI Isla cruise

Richard Pearson, from Lincolnshire, told the BBC that his week-long holiday began on 21 September. When passengers arrived in Budapest, he said, they were told Isla was in Vienna and could not reach them. They spent the night in a hotel before taking a four-hour coach journey to the ship the next day.

Pearson said the vessel then sailed overnight to Krems, where it stayed for several days while passengers were taken on coach trips to destinations 45 minutes to two hours away. The return sailing to Vienna was also in darkness. He estimated that he spent 14 to 15 hours on coaches during the holiday, excluding time waiting for them.

Why other passengers challenged the changed itinerary

Sue Crosby said her cruise began on 14 September, her 70th birthday. A revised itinerary sent a few days before departure set out multiple coach trips because of low water on the Danube, she told the BBC. She and her husband asked for a refund, were told none was available and travelled reluctantly.

Crosby said further changes followed during the trip and that there were only two half-days of sailing in which passengers could experience a river cruise. Like Pearson, she spoke positively about the food and staff. Her complaint was about the scale and handling of the itinerary change, the lack of a full refund and the continued advertising of the holidays.

David Mallon and five others took a different course after receiving a revised itinerary for their planned 21 September departure. Mallon told the BBC that the group decided against travelling, partly because one member needed to avoid long periods of sitting. They booked a last-minute holiday to Kos instead, and Mallon said he had submitted a complaint to TUI. He said he might pursue a refund through the small claims court; that was a stated intention, not a report of filed proceedings.

TUI’s explanation and the wider Danube disruption

TUI told the BBC that extreme heat in Europe had lowered Danube water levels and affected cruise operators. It said it assessed each sailing with nautical partners and sent revised itineraries to customers booked on the 14 and 21 September Isla departures before travel. Where the vessel could not sail, TUI said it arranged coach transfers, hotel stays and other adjustments so customers could still visit destinations including Budapest, Vienna and Bratislava.

The company said customers continued their holidays under its standard booking conditions. It apologised that some did not receive the river-cruise experience they expected. The accounts published by the BBC leave a specific question open for each traveller: what remedy, if any, will follow the altered itinerary? The report does not establish the outcome of those individual complaints.

Low water had already restricted Danube shipping before the September sailings. Austria’s transport ministry and waterway operator viadonau said on 4 August that levels in free-flowing sections were about 60 centimetres below the long-term low-water level. They reported navigable depths of 2.0 metres in the Wachau and 1.8 metres east of Vienna, and said cruise shipping was significantly restricted. Those August measurements describe the wider river situation, not the water depth at every point on Isla’s September route.

The Austrian authorities compared the 2026 low-water period with 2003 and 2018 and said many cruises could operate only in restricted form or not at all. Separately, the European Commission’s drought observatory described drought conditions across much of Europe in mid-September. That regional assessment provides context for the disruption, but it does not determine the conditions on each sailing or settle the passengers’ refund claims.