LondonLad60

8 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 Do you mean in addition to the included gratuities which are already part of the cruise price?

I know what you mean, but on every Saga cruise we have been on, there have always been at least a couple of crew members that have deserved a little extra. How much extra to add is a personal thing...

Not being funny, I've never been in the fortunate position to be able to tip a butler! It's an obvious thing to say, but we tip various crew ( steward, bar crew, waiters) depending how far beyond  the extra mile they have gone. Only you can decide how far beyond they have gone.

If you like cocktails, bar staff may be happy to mix you something that's not on the list. On our last cruise we got to know one particular barman, and my wife would ask him to mix her one of his 'specials'. She was never disappointed.

31 minutes ago, Norfolksaver said:

Thank you for the reply

this will be our first ever cruise and I have found this forum has answered so many of our questions.

Hope you enjoy it. Please let us know your thoughts when you return!

1 hour ago, Norfolksaver said:

We are going on our first Saga cruise in a few weeks, can someone tell me if short sleeved shirts are acceptable in the MDR in the evenings.

Yes, definitely - apart from formal nights I always wear short sleeved shirts in the evening. 

On a Transatlantic cruise some years ago (with P&O) I was playing bridge with a couple who were on their first ever cruise. A 24 night cruise, as their first ever? That's brave, I thought, but that's for another day. On the way home, about three days out from Southampton I jokingly asked if they had starting packing yet. The lady replied, yes, after all, we have seven cases to pack. Seven, I replied incredulously? Yes, she said.- as it's our first cruise, we didn't know what to pack, so we packed just about everything, including a full size suitcase with just her shoes...

29 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

We're very sure that SAGA has protocols in place to deal with people who are unable to respect the fact that everyone on board has paid to have a relaxing, enjoyable holiday.

I'm sure you are correct. When we docked in Tilbury last month after our last cruise, as we were on the landbridge heading for the terminal we saw two rather large police officers striding purposefully towards the ship. I wondered, had someone been naughty in the last few days? Once we had left Gibraltar any miscreants couldn't be put off the ship, so possibly they would have been kept confined to cabin with a couple of security crew stationed outside. This could well be pure speculation on my part, but it looked to me like the officers clearly had some business on the ship.

3 minutes ago, WaltzAndTango said:

Thanks for the replies. We are on the Flavours of the Mediterranean cruise in March so there's plenty of time to let them know. I guess phoning them is best way?

Yes, I would have thought so They are usually very helpful over the phone.

11 hours ago, WaltzAndTango said:

Hello everyone,

 

We have just booked our first cruise. We are on the Spirit of Adventure in 2024.

 

It seems the standard cabins can be either twin beds or pushed together to form a double. How is that set up? Is it random? Could we turn up to find that our cabin has twin beds and then must wait for everything to be changed? Do they ask? If not, what is the best way for us to state our preference? Do any experienced Saga cruisers have a view on this? Thanks.

If you booked directly with Saga you should have been asked which bed configuration you prefer. As twotravellersLondon says though, you have plenty of time to sort it out.

If you don't mind me asking, which cruise have you booked?

3 minutes ago, nosapphire said:

As FatBoy20 says, the buffet is open for lunch from 13:00 to 15:30 on embarkation day, after this everybody has to prepare for muster drill which commences about 16:15-16:30, so I imagine even the snacks in the Living Room will be closed.

Dinner starts at 18:30, so if (as we did) you arrive on ship too late for lunch, it  gives a better appetite for dinner.

 

I find two or three pre-dinner gin & tonics give me an even better appetite...

2 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

 

We've been on both the Discovery and the the Adventure in the last few months and in both cases we've had a pre-booked table for two.

 

These pre-booked tables are available on the first night.

 

It is the case that the window of opportunity to take up the table is between 7.00 and 7.30 pm but there is no need to vacate the table by any particular time so tat it can be "turned."

 

The system is now so sophisticated and efficient that, if a booking has been made with a speciality restaurant, the main dining room will see this on their table allocation screens and will release the table... but I understand that they won't normally do so until diners have been checked into the speciality restaurant.

 

Of course we'd let the station waiter know as a matter if we were dining elsewhere the following day.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

On 6/27/2023 at 5:31 PM, JoJo1947 said:

 "However you have to eat early and vacate it before 7. 30pm on a full cruise so if you like to eat early do that."

I may be wrong, but that's not how I understand it. On a previous cruise we were talking to a couple who had pre-booked a table. They said they had to be seated by 7:30pm, not that they had to vacate it by then. If not seated by that time, the table could be offered to other diners. Also, they said if they had booked a speciality restaurant, they would tell the maitre'd as a matter of courtesy so their table could be offered to other diners from 6:30pm.

The main dining room operates a single open sitting, from 18:30 to 21:00. Just turn up whenever you like.  You are asked if you would like to share, but my wife and I always ask for a table for two, and in 6 Saga cruises we have only had to wait for a table for two once, and even then it was only for about ten minutes. Be aware, some of the tables for two are so close together they may as well be tables for four! We have occasionally been shown to tables like this in the past, so we have politely asked for another table, and this request has never been refused.

When you book the speciality restaurants, just say you want a table for two. We always do this, and have never been asked if we wish to share.

Hope this helps.

Got off SoD in Tilbury yesterday. It was smoother than getting off at Portsmouth back in January - at least we didn't have to get shuttle buses from the ship to the baggage hall. 

22 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

I like dressing up.

I don't mind dressing up per se, but there are some nights when I just can't be bothered. On a P&O Caribbean cruise (I think it was in 2019) there were three formal nights in the space of five nights - that was too many. At least on Saga, The Grill offers the same menu as the Grand Dining Room on formal nights; in fact, one of the best meals we had on our last cruise was in The Grill on a formal night.

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

We didn't  have officer hosted tables last year , I  think I may go for speciality dining on formal nights.

I'll go for The Grill - saves getting dressed up...

9 minutes ago, SaraSailing said:

Oh goodness. We were the only cruise ship, apart from an old Aida? one that is apparently being sold and is docked there for now. I think it was going to get busier later on in the day, but not to the level of all those ships avoiding the summit.

That Aida ship was there when we were in Tallinn last June. One of the crew told us that it was abandoned there at the start of the pandemic in 2020.

I've been to Tallinn three times, and I've never seen it as quiet as it looks in your photos. On one occasion there were eight (yes, EIGHT!) cruise ships in, and the city was absolutely heaving. The reason was, in 2018 Trump and Putin held a summit in Helsinki. We were supposed to stop in Helsinki but that clashed with the summit, so ships that should have gone to Helsinki went to Tallinn instead.

To me, the sail out from Stockholm is one of the highlights of any Baltic cruise.

10 minutes ago, Yorkypete said:

'I know what I am going to get.' Apparently not from the points made on Cruise Critic recently.

The two new ships are very noisy so this is not true.

'Designed for British tastes'. Only if you like your drinks and overpriced food.

Absolutely NOT if you take note of them ignoring the majority of complaints. They will 'investigate' at a later date which is no good when it is actually happening and they refuse to act.

One could be forgiven for thinking that P&O's customer service policy could be something like, 'We are attracting a new, younger cruising demographic, so why worry if we lose a few older and established customers? There are plenty of potential younger  and family cruisers out there'.

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I was put off Fred because last time I asked (admittedly some years ago) as they still allowed smoking on balconies. I presume that’s not the case now? As with Ambassador, my perception is that they offer a product that is no better than P&O, on older ships, but at much higher prices. Am I missing something by not looking at them seriously?

Just looked as Fred's website and it seems that smoking is still allowed on balconies. That's what has put me off cruising with Fred.

1 hour ago, molecrochip said:

It was announced about 6 weeks ago. No major details yet as far as I’m aware.

 

This is underpinned by Josh W’s comments that there is currently no major new ship building plan beyond 2026. Fleet she will get older.

 

I think it’s fair to say that 2025-2030 will be light on new ships. This supports debt pay-down as they are not paying off more new ships.

 

Obvious caveat: this is as off now. They may refurbish a ship then get an offer that’s too good to be true and sell it. Always a risk.

That's what the cynic in me is thinking - they might be sprucing them up to make them more attractive to potential buyers.

37 minutes ago, Orianababes said:

I have spent much time over the last two days trying to order a birthday cake for a forthcoming cruise. I cannot order it on board as the chefs require more notice than we can provide when we board - needed for about 12 hours after we board.

 

P&O have installed an artificial intelligence answering system which does not recognise Cake or Celebration Cake or Birthday Cake. The system has been in place a little while I understand so I would have expected it to already know the products advertised on the website.

 

Eventually AI puts you through to someone who can help you - but despite holding on for ages no one answers

 

An American system which is not up to the purpose or it has not been set up in conjunction with P&O or its website. 
 

Bottom line is that too few staff are employed. Well another sale missed, however small!

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity...

22 minutes ago, Vivaldi said:

We've just paid the balance on a forthcoming cruise on the SofA and have been told that Covid passes are still required. 

 

As a separate point, we only have one smart phone between us and it is a lot smarter than we are, so we have no clue about how to use it beyond the very basics. Consequently we downloaded our Covid passes from the internet on to our PC and can print them out from there. Since we've now had six jabs and each has a separate page of Covid pass, that means that there are six pages for each of us to print out. We asked Saga  if they really needed to see all six pages but they didn't know the answer, so we'll bring the lot. I bet they don't even look at them when we are boarding. It was all so much simpler when I was young, and the only technology I had to grapple with was crystal sets with cat's whiskers. Anyone remember those?

 

Install the NHS app on your phone - you can get it here: https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-app/

Create login id's for yourself and the other person.

When these are created, login and select Get Covid pass

Select Travel

This will bring up a screen with your name, date of birth, a 2d barcode, the expiry date, which vaccine, which dose and date of vaccine.

You may need to scroll the display a little so that all this info is visible. Take a screenshot, which will be saved to your photo gallery (this is on an Android phone - an iPhone may  possibly be different).

Repeat for 2nd person.

Hope this helps (it's not as difficult as it sounds!).

10 minutes ago, Denarius said:

The latter. I sailed on her in February and the hole in the Grand  Dining Room ceiling was still there.

Thanks Denarius.