Windsurfboy

Officially the NHS will only supply you with 3 months medication. If you are out of the country for longer the NHS regards you as non resident and not their responsibility. GPs are not allowed to prescribe any more than 3 months. At odds with HMRC who regard you as resident and tax you unless you are out of country for nine months. NHS doesnt care that you are paying tax you are still non resident. GP practices have to be inventive to get round this. Some are some aren't. I know my GP and oncologist changed my hormone therapy for Prostate cancer from normal 3 monthly injection to a different one that lasts 6 months so I could be away for 5 months. What I've also found helpful order medicine every month a bit early, our GP online system let's you order 3 weeks after last prescription, build up a stock, to add to 3 months you are allowed if you are away for longer.

We still fly long haul, but not for cruises. Cruises have the benefit of in the same time it would take us to get to airport we are getting on ship. It's a great pity Viking don't cruise out of UK, good high quality competition always helps. Even if you like Saga like we do, you will benefit from good competition. Cunard , P&O , FredO, Ambassador aren't in same market as Saga so Saga has no direct competitors which is a pity.

Perhaps it can spend a month in Lisbon

It is fair to compare Saga and P&O if you compare £ for £. So for a Saga std cabin compare what £250 per person per night can get you on P&O For Saga suite compare what £500 pppn can get you on P&O. The P&O spend should include extras like travel , drink and speciality restaurants you need to get similiar offering. You then take into account the ambience, which is a personal choice

I've had two Queens grill cruises total 28 days and one Saga 30 days this year . As I said I had to send 3 QG meals back as inedible, and often had to resort to the la carte , sole or lamb quite often. Cavair not the best and a bit of a gimmick and Chateaubriand doesn't turn me on. I ordered off menu a couple of times, one a simple risotto Milanese, flavourless, same for a simple Mac cheese, asked for osso bucco but didn't have ingredients, but Cunard do an excellent curry. My only dissappointment on Saga was liver, which last year was melt in mouth, this year more like pub food. Had lobster as often as needed in coast to coast. A suite on Saga is roughly same price as QG Saga a bit dearer but you get more. Remember whether you approve or not, suites are not rationed to use of Speciality restaurants. Of course non suites don't have as much access to speciality restaurants, but then you must compare Saga food to Brittania in Cunard with no off menu ordering and a smaller menu. That's a clear win for Saga.

Firstly I've looked at the P&O board and threads, general they have gone down , certainly cut out a few extras , e.g. turndowns , fruit in cabin , etc, unles you pay Saga prices and get a suite .There have been complaints that MDR food has gone down , but also many complements for some of the speciality and alternative restaurants. However haven't seen anything reported like said about them here. Sticking to Saga On the otherhand I've said before on this forum, Saga food is better than Cunard Queens grill, more variety without effort of going off menu. I only had one dissappointing meal in 30 days , 3 meals returned on last Cunard, Sagas % satisfaction , is better than even top 5 star hotels. Service is very good and a lovely ambience across Saga ships. No other ship has anything to match Brittania lounge. Just friendliest ship on water, staff and pasengers . Things have not deteriorated. There are pros and cons of Saga all inclusive. Not big drinkers, but very particular about wine. Normally on cruise we'd have one bottle of very good wine or bubbly a day and not much else. Given that included premium spirits far better than included wine, tended not to drink wine with meals, but pre dinner cocktail and after dinner malt. We've had very bad experience with Saga included panoramic tours, two hours of boredom on a coach.. I don't understand worry about Saga finance, pay by credit card. My two issues about future Saga cruises, is limited intinerarys out of UK. Personally I believe if they think two days in port with broken engine is something they csn brush under carpet, then this does not bode well for future service

Must of been a nightmare cruise to have witnessed all this on P&O

I certainly played table tennis quite a lot , a really nice crowd. Gareth

6 mains , of which 3 meat/fish, 3 vegetarian which change every day 3 always available which do not change, even on our 30 day cruise One Simple fare which changes every day, which is nice for an occasional meal, if you want simple food but do not like buffet (aka grill). A good idea more should copy it. There is nothing to complain about always available concept or simple fare concept. It's the fact that 95% of guests are fish/meat eaters (who may like the occasional vegetarian dish) , so for them the 6 mains is a bit of a con , it's only really 3 mains every night.

I had 30 days with only one disappointing meal, the rest good, or very good. Although I must confess over half of these were in speciality restaurants. The drink has improved with decent malt whiskey and armangnac included, but if you want more than a drinkable everyday wine it's extra. Service round ship is good. I have one other Saga cruise booked , but am reserving judgement on booking any more until they respond to complaint about Carribean cruise. See what the do about 2 extra days stuck in Lisbon with broken engine

Well done, you must know what you're entitled to. What is the suite waiting area like now , have they reinstated tea/coffee etc.

Agreed

They won't win in long term if limited menu means people choose other cruise lines

Yep if you make 3 dishes for 5% of passengers, bound to be waste. Sensible have just one on menu for people who like occasional veggy meal but offer vegetarians more bit to be ordered day before, their own menu. More work less wate

Saga are not alone in adding too many vegetarian or vegan dishes same on Cunard even in Queens Grill. Why half of mains are vegetarian whilst only 5 % of over 55s are vegetarian is beyond me. Could be that vegetables are cheaper. Thankfully in speciality restaurants at least 80% of dishes are fish or meat based.

Has anyone written to Saga about Carribean cruise, more importantly has anyone heard anything back

Snap, very much worth joining. Anyone tried asking for discount after booked but before final payment

If you are a good sailor and don't have to be midships, then there are no bad cabins on Saga, they are all very good. So last minute guarantee bookings can be reasonable

Following this logic then , we should have no suites , no cabins with windows which aren't fair to insiders and one restaurant based on a works canteen

Perhaps the only tweak is not free speciality restaurants for suites , but guarantee of a place, so open them up to suites a week before rest

Agree about inside cabin and school holidays. But how about outside school holidays, a corner suite with extra large balcony with sun beds plus table and chairs, breakfast in Epicurean, priority boarding/embarkation , dining in different speciality restaurants every night so no queues, with vintage champagne or very good wine, P&O entertainment. All for Saga standard cabin money, certainly huge saving on Saga suite. I love Saga and have booked another 30 day cruise , but bored if every cruise I took was Saga, similiarly if every holiday was a cruise. Room for everybody taste.

I do believe them that they didn't know about it before we sailed. It was a new Captain from previous cruise (surprise surprise ), to sail with a known defect could cost his licence. However that doesn't change the fact that reliability and maintenance is Saga's responsibility . I just want them to acknowledge that we didn't get the cruise we looked forward too, and it was not all due to external factors weather etc. Not to pretend 3 days in Lisbon is normal. Neither can a Portsmouth Christmas market be deemed part of a Carribean Islands cruise. It's more about not being taken as a fool than compensation, fortunately this was just one of 3 cruises and two long haul holidays this year (Greta will hate me), but for some it could be a special holiday of a lifetime.

The biggest problem with this cruise was the 3 days fixing the "engine/propulsion /stabilisation" not weather related issues. Maintenance of the engine is a definite Saga responsibility, it cannot be thought of as the same weather, which is out of anyone's control.

I was talking about way out, why did we choose to stop at Lisbon, rather than Canaries or Maderia. We were told ship was fine as it left Portsmouth, the descision for Lisbon was made before then so at that time no reason not to go further south. If we had then 3 days in sun may have been a bit better than Lisbon.

The other question I have is why was our first port of call Lisbon. Given that this was a winter sun cruise. Once we could not go to Azores , why did we not aim for Maderia or one of the many Canaries ports where we would have more chance I'd sun. Rather than Lisbon.