david05

My apologies if you thought my comment was directed at you. It was a general comment that it is always easier to say what should be done after the event.

Whatever the in and outs of the decision making, you can expect that, whilst the Captain is ultimately responsible, the decision to proceed would have been agreed with HQ. Feel very sorry for the passengers and crew but it was a very difficult call to make. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

If you search for cruises you should see them. An email went out to Britannia members today which says they will go on general sale tomorrow.

Our go to cabin is a standard cabin for 2 people on C deck. Out interest I looked at the discounts on such a cabin for the 2025 cruises - 5 still have a 35% discount and 4 have a 30% discount. Cabins on E and D deck have no better or lower discount (and in at least one case an E deck cabin is currently more expensive than C deck). If you want an E or D deck cabin it certainly pays to pre-register and the earlier the better but you may not lose out on the higher deck standard cabins if you haven't pre-registered (or register late), although how quickly the discounts fall once the cruises are available generally is another matter.

You also need to check with your insurers, if you have not already done so. When my wife broke her wrist shortly before a holiday the insurers wanted confirmation from a doctor that she was OK to fly and they said the insurance would no longer cover her for anything that happened involving her broken wrist. (We did go and everything was fine.)

So true. On the upside at least you don't have the lengthy walk we often seem to get at Southampton and the last couple of times the lift was out of action as well. Really enjoyed reading the blog and looking forward to getting back on board.

As suggested in an earlier post, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for Fred under the new CEO to introduce a sensible pricing policy which might encourage people to book earlier again, secure in the knowledge that they are not going to be badly disadvantaged by fire sales nearer the sail date.

They are now towards the end of September so should be on general sale shortly.

As has been said above by Bod23 the ferry is wheelchair accessible. I don't think any cruise line operates a shuttle as most get the ferry at least one-way and, time permitting, the other way on the local bus to see some of the scenery. Only smaller ships can dock in Hamilton itself but I don't know what counts as small!

Hamilton Bermuda: Do you know where you will be docking? I suspect you might dock at one of the terminals in the Royal Naval Dockyard (eg Kings Wharf). This is a 20 minute ferry or taxi ride to Hamilton. However, the dockyard and surrounding buildings are very interesting and from what I recall reasonably easy to walk around and pretty flat!

Puerto Rico: been a couple of times and felt perfectly safe wandering around on our own. The walk along the front usually has plenty of stalls selling a variety of stuff - some quite interesting. Antigua: highly recommend taking the local taxi tour available when you leave the port which includes Shirley Heights and Nelson's Dockyard. Tortola: One of the ports where there is now a big cruise terminal. The town is nothing to shout about. To see the best of the island you really need to do an excursion. Lots of private mini-buses but no idea where they go to or how accessible they are.

5 January SOA Canary Island Hopping 15 nights 6 January SOD Caribbean and Central America Discovery 49 nights 20 January SOA Legends of the Eastern Mediterranean 24 nights 13 February SOA Casablanca and the Canaries 15 nights 24 February SOD Norway and the Northern Lights 16 nights 28 February SOA Croatia and the Treasures of the Adriatic 22 nights 12 March SOD Springtime in the Canaries 14 nights 22 March SOA Portugal and the Tropical Azores 14 nights 26 March SOD The Western Mediterranean and Italian Riviera 18 nights There was no easy way to copy directly across from the Saga website so any errors are mine but I accept no responsibility for them!

Eastern Med, Western Med, Croatia/Adriatic, Portugal/Azores, Northern Lights and 3 Canary Islands cruises. The 49 night Caribbean cruise also takes in Central America, Mexico and USA so very different from the usual one.

Saga is also responsible for arranging your transport to marry up with your departure from the ship and they are responsible for any unforseen delays. We have had problems in the past when arranging our own transport when embarking did not go as scheduled so I'm happy not to have that worry.

Perhaps someone is hogging all the bandwidth 😀😀. Great blog and pics though!

As someone who lives within 75 miles of Southampton/Portsmouth I hope not!

The lower the deck the cheaper the cabins when cruises go on sale but this can change as the discounts fall. So E deck always starts off the cheapest and, in addition, the forward cabins on E deck are cheaper than than the rest because the superstructure means you have a slightly obscured view from the cabin. I have never had an E deck cabin so I don't know if there is any difference in size but I suspect it is marginal if at all. I've never heard of any complaints about E deck cabins and I've met people who always book E deck. No doubt someone who has been on E deck can tell you more.

I don't think there is anything specific to car share but the general conditions state: "Price: All cruise packages advertised on our website and in our brochures are subject to availability and the advertised prices may have changed by the time you book your cruise. We will notify you of the current price prior to any booking. We reserve the right to alter the price of any cruise, introduce supplements or correct pricing errors at any time. Once booked, the cost of your cruise package cannot be increased unless you amend your booking. " The car share is part of the package so should not have been increased unless you amended your booking. The current Saga conditions can be downloaded from https://travel.saga.co.uk/booking-conditions.aspx .

This is a shame. Whilst Fred was never our first choice (P&O until 2016) we had a number of enjoyable cruises with them over the years. After 2016 we looked at both Fred and Saga and we preferred the Saga itineraries for what we wanted to do at that time, although we didn't think there was much between the 2 companies when looking at ships and what they offered. So we didn't rule out Fred at that stage but then Saga introduced their new ship, followed after covid with the sister ship. The availability of new ships with a balcony every time, together with Saga's more understandable pricing policy, and Fred's recent choice of replacement ships for its fleet means that we are unlikely to consider Fred in the future. It really is difficult to understand Fred's strategy and who they are trying to attract to their cruises.

As it happens we don't normally share and the shopping we do is quicker than having a cup of coffee.

If returning from Dover or Tilbury we like to stop to pick up some food for when we get home 😀.

We don't use Whatsapp but we have certainly had problems with not being able to update an app. On a cruise we couldn't use the NHS app because it refused to open until it was updated but the ship wifi would not allow the update. Fortunately we had downloaded our covid passes to the phones but it meant we couldn't use the app to re-order our prescriptions whilst we were away.

Except that for a number of Saga passengers these are essential for the enjoyment of their cruise. There are pros and cons to any arrangements but one of the pros is the amount of indoor seating which the current library helps to provide and it is popular during the day especially when the weather outside is not too good.

Bridge players would not agree with you 😀. When a bridge instructor is on board, sea days the card room is used for around 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours plus in the afternoon.

I've always found the staff in the buffet quite happy to let you choose a different table if you don't wish to go to where they direct you. Sometimes they just tell you to sit where you like rather than send you to a specific table.