david05

It might also be worth mentioning that the inclusive excursions can get fully booked up so don't leave it too long to book any you might want to do.

Yes you do need to book them and they are available to book when all the excursions (paid and unpaid) are released some weeks before the cruise. (I don't know how far in advance of a cruise Saga are currently making the excursions available to book.)

Yes it is the follow on cruise, not the price that counts. It doesn't matter whether the first cruise is longer or shorter. We once booked a 4 or 5 day cruise followed by a 30 plus day cruise and received the additional 10% off the longer cruise - which effectively made the shorter cruise the best value we have ever had.

Ours arrived on Tuesday and, out of interest, I looked in the afternoon at the discount for the cruise we booked (at 35%) following our advance registration and at 2 others we considered. The discounts for the grade of cabin we booked were by then were 25%, 25% and 30% so we certainly gained by not waiting until we received the brochure after the cabins had gone on general sale.

It was bad at Christmas and it is worrying that it doesn't look much better now. If you took clothes with soot marks to reception they did arrange for free of charge cleaning.

Looking at MySaga for a forthcoming cruise the option under which one could do this seems to have disappeared. Mind you the excursion option is no longer visible until the excursions are available to book so perhaps the option to request things such as bathrobe size will appear nearer the sailing date.

A good few years ago on one of Saga Ruby's longer cruises, seats at the Captain's table one evening were auctioned off for charity. It wasn't a formal night and an indian dinner was served with the waiters dressed in Indian outfits but they were not the usual waiters rather Jo Bose (cruise director), Horst Pint and Jan Novack (hotel manager and ?deputy) and the Chief Engineer (whose name unfortunately I don't remember). It was a noisy table and the last to leave the restaurant! In addition, because it was a long cruise and a small ship, everyone was invited to the Captain's table once during the cruise.

Even though we always have a private transfer we let Saga know the number of bags but it doesn't always work out. Our last trip to Southampton the driver had to perch one bag on the front seat and I was a little concerned that if he had to turn abruptly for any reason it might land up on him. Fortunately all was well. For shared transport it does rely on those you are sharing with to let Saga know if they are taking extra bags, otherwise if you are last to be picked up you may find that there is insufficient room. I did hear that this happened to one couple and Saga had to hurriedly arrange another car.

We have only once had a Saga/Titan vehicle, all the rest have been private hire vehicles usually from Southampton or London. However, many of our cruises have been from Southampton which is quite local so it probably doesn't make much sense to use their vehicles for these journeys. Having said that we have never had one of their vehicles to or from Dover and the only occasion was a return trip from Tilbury. We have a cruise later this year to and from Tilbury so we will see what is provided this time.

I would second this. We complained about a terrible driver - over the speed limit, driving right behind the car in front, changing lane right in front of another car at speed (you get the idea!). We weren't looking for any compensation but said we would not step into the car if he turned up again. Anyway they said that he wouldn't be used again and gave us some on board credit for our next cruise.

Having heard stories, including from a relative, of people being picked up last having great difficulty fitting their luggage into the vehicle and having an uncomfortable journey, we always upgrade to a private vehicle.

Yes they can but I think they are often put into unsold cabins whilst it would seem that some cabins on E are deliberately kept back, perhaps for entertainers like the classical quartet who are on board for a number of consecutive cruises, and only sold late on if no longer needed. There are also some cabins at the front of some decks which do not appear on the deck plans which are reserved for senior officers etc.

What counts as a better location can be different for other people. Some like high, some like low, some like forward, some like middle, some like us prefer aft. Generally middle and low is the most stable but we haven't found aft on C or D deck to be particularly unstable. E deck standard cabins generally sell out relatively quickly, or at least the discount falls rapidly as they are the cheapest cabins available so you are unlikely to have to be low down in the ship unless for price or other reasons you want to be. As someone has pointed out on another thread, the aft E deck cabins are not on sale early on as they are reserved for entertainers etc.

If you ask in the restaurants the wine waiter will bring the wine list of the paid for alternatives to you. He might have to disappear to a bar to collect it though!

This, along with some earlier bookers opting for the cheapest cabins, helps explain why the discount on E deck cabins falls so quickly - basically there are less of them available at the beginning.

There is only one single suite and I wonder if this is ever on sale with a 35% discount?

If anyone is interested they have now reached those of us who pre-registered in May last year.

They will usually leave you a message asking you to ring them back but I don't know what happens if your phone doesn't allow messages to be left (presumably they will try again sometime).

We also choose C deck, port, aft. Convenient for going both up and down to venues (we only use the stairs when on board but would not fancy walking up from E deck everyday to get to the Lido deck 😀) and handy to get out on the open deck at the back. No idea why we choose port over starboard but we do!

A friend of ours has reached gold on her cruise in autumn last year and she has only received her gold coloured lapel pin in the last week or so. So don't hold your breath!

https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/ocean/the-saga-experience/britannia-club.aspx see Terms and Conditions at bottom of page.

As from 1st March 2023 cruises booked through a travel agent no longer count towards Britannia Club membership. Don't know why the change but it is perhaps another reason to book direct, rather than via a travel agent.

I have experienced leaving the ship at Portsmouth and found it difficult as an able bodied person so I have every sympathy for those with any form of disability. I found the gangway leaving the ship very difficult to negotiate, the tent was too small, and there were insufficient trolleys and porters. Problems were further exacerbated by a small number of people who left the ship before their number was called and were then getting in the way because their luggage had not arrived. Unfortunately I suspect that there will continue to be difficulties until the new cruise terminal opens, hopefully, later this year.

I suspect they do and that you can but as we cannot use feather pillows we have never tried.

You can also ask for a larger one before your cruise via MySaga (assuming you booked direct with Saga) and it should be awaiting you in the cabin (it worked for us anyway!).