Vivaldi

It is understandable that people would want to counteract the sensationalist reporting of some of the media, with their "if it bleeds it leads" approach to the news. However it would be a pity if that leads to the opposite position and the simple view that "we take the risk travelling on the Bay at this time of year" and "too many scaremongers won't help". Dermotsgirl, I think you have hit the nail on the head saying that "anyone who was on the ship will tell you ". It seems highly significant to me that there appear to be no reports from anyone on the SofD on that journey to the effect that the storms were "not that bad" or "nothing to worry about". If anyone knows of such reports, it would help if they could quote them or include a link to them. All the reports express fear and alarm, and it would be quite wrong to attempt to play this down in any way.

How do you know?

My thoughts are very much with the passengers who had to endure these awful conditions, and I hope that those with injuries recover quickly and without lasting consequences. "Cruise passengers 'scared for their lives' in storm" is the most-read item on the BBC website currently, and the story also features on the Sky News website. General booking has opened for the Jan-March 2025 period, and since my 80th birthday falls in that period I had been very interested in celebrating it on a Saga cruise. However, until I am convinced that Saga does indeed put the comfort and safety of its passengers first, before any commercial considerations, I'm not going to proceed with any booking. I doubt I'm the only one with such concerns.

In an early post, NorbertsNiece did say that there were 949 passengers on board. The maximum capacity is 987. It's been a brilliant blog NorbertsNiece. Very many thanks for it -but after you get home what will I have to look forward to each morning when I put the computer on?

Greatly enjoying your blog, for which many thanks. Two questions if I may: You seem to have dinner more in the Grill than the main dining room - what advantages (if any) does the former have for you? You haven't mentioned Afternoon Tea. Is this because there is no GF version available? Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

I'm sure you're absolutely right about the car-to-flight-car-to-port bit. I'm not so confident about the "changing drivers on the way" bit, though. We had one "interesting" trip to the port a few years ago where we were the second couple to be picked up. The driver (and I think the other couple) started from Liverpool and came across to us in Lincolnshire - quite why it was organised like that, I haven't a clue. The driver told us that he couldn't take us all the way to Dover since he would exceed the hours he was allowed to drive, so we stopped at a motorway service area en route and another car and driver picked us up there for the last stage of the journey. Perhaps there had been a last minute glitch which meant that this was the only way Saga could get us all to the ship on time. Not ideal, but we still had an absolutely splendid cruise.

Even from places like Wick? I imagine the chauffeur service will be restricted to the mainland, but some places are so distant from the ports Saga uses that it would necessitate more than one driver to manage the journey, if there are limits on how many hours a driver can work. A car journey from Aberdeen or Wick to Dover would be gruelling. The small print will be interesting!

On embarkation day the Grill is open from 1 to 3.45pm. I'm not sure how rigid they are about shutting it all down at precisely 3.45, though, or whether any latecomers could still find something to keep them going until dinner.

To avoid any disappointment, I'd just add that the doors to the theatre are closed at 9.30pm (or 9.45pm for later shows) and admittance is not allowed after that. So if you arrive there at 9.31pm you won't be able to get in (I speak from experience!). Hope you have a really great cruise, and, like others here, I'd be very interested to hear what you think of the SofA.

I am on a Saga cruise at the moment, and there have been no dancing lessons at all offered to date. Just some line dancing, which is not what you want. Whether the lack of lessons is unique to this cruise, or a general (non)feature of Saga cruises at present, perhaps others can say.

I have never given an additional tip on a Saga cruise, but have made sure to show my gratitude by personally thanking those who have been helpful, and by praising their efforts on the end-of-cruise survey. As will be clear, I am not a fan of the tipping culture and would much prefer people to be paid a decent and fair amount for their services. Expressing how much someone's work has added to one's enjoyment of the cruise can be done verbally and, in my experience, has been much appreciated. No doubt mine is a minority view and I'll be regarded as a terrible miser.

Just to add a little to that: there is some variation in the price difference between Saga's Premium list and UK retail prices. For example: Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc is £10 at Tesco and £14 on Saga. The Hedonist is £14.99 at Waitrose Cellar and £17 on Saga. Don Cristobel Malbec is £11.60 at Tanners Wines and £12 on Saga. Taittinger Brut is £43 at Tesco (£36 for Clubcard holders) and £43.99 at Waitrose (down to £31.99 until the end of the month) but just £34 on Saga. Even allowing for the fact that someone buying a premium bottle is unlikely also to be downing glasses of included wines at the same meal (!), the Saga prices range from fair to bargain. As Windsurfboy rightly says, excellent value.

Please correct me if I am mistaken, but I get the impression from your posts that you have not yet been on a Saga ship and wonder whether your view that Oceania's cuisine is far superior might carry more weight if you had actually sampled Saga's offerings. If you are basing your view on the appearance of a single supposedly down-market dish on Saga's menu on one occasion then that doesn't strike me as conclusive evidence of Oceania's superiority.

The Saga dress code used to be over-complex, with three different designated days: casual, smart casual, and formal, and different requirements for each. To me, the current arrangements are spot-on, and this does seem to be the general view. I particularly like the formal evenings and feel that formal dinners become special occasions, rather than just another meal. Perhaps younger generations will demand that Saga changes its views, but I hope that that will happen only after my cruising days have come to an end.

If you want to celebrate your wedding anniversary in one of the speciality restaurants, have you thought of ringing the after-sales team now on 0800 504 505 and mentioning this request? They could refuse, or they might say that they will try to do something without being able to guarantee success, but it is (in my view!) well worth a shot.

I'm in complete agreement with lincslady on this: this is something fairly new and Saga will get feedback from guests which could result in changes to the sort of included excursions which are offered. I'm happy to wait and see. The SofA is visiting the Isles of Scilly in August and, perhaps surprisingly given that landing is by tender and St Mary's is not vast, an included excursion is available. It is to the Tresco Gardens and is described as of a "Moderate" activity level, with walking of a mile or more. It might be a rare non-panoramic included excursion, but it shows that they are not totally absent. Whether the weather is sufficiently benign to allow any tenders to operate, to Tresco or to St Mary's, is another matter though!

It would appear that Saga is trying to deter people from booking a private car, because that increase in cost, from £2.50 per mile to £3.70 per mile, is astonishing. A taxi firm near me is quoting £270 for a 4 seat car to Dover docks, a trip of 200 miles. Saga would charge me over £460 to upgrade that one-way trip to a private car. I can't quite believe this.

If you go on to the Saga Spirit of Discovery website (link below), you will find a section dealing with cabins. For each grade of cabin you can click on a 360 degree view, so you can look round the whole cabin and should (just about!) be able to see what sockets are available and where. Spirit Of Discovery Cabin Information Guide For Guests (saga.co.uk)

We certainly will do so. It does represent additional choice for lunch on sea days and that's very welcome. Did you have to book your lunch at the East to West, or could one just turn up and hope it wasn't already full? Sorry to hear about the noisy cabin. Looking at the deck plans it would appear that about four cabins on D Deck are directly above public lavatories on E Deck, the only such configuration on the ship. It's very helpful to know that there could be a noise issue with these - it would never have occurred to me. Despite that, I hope that you are having an agreeable cruise; and thanks for your splendid reports.

Are the speciality restaurants now being opened for lunch on sea days? That would be a real bonus - they used to be open only in the evening. Or was this just a one-off offering?

The actual extra cost is £2.50 per mile, but Saga takes into account the fact that a private car service is offered up to 75 miles, so you need to pay £2.50 per mile for all miles in excess of 75 to get the private car service.

Thanks LondonLad60 - I might give that a try if I can summon up sufficient courage. Saga seem to be happy with paper versions of the passes and I've already printed them out, so might stick to those if I can't overcome my terror of modern technology. It's very good of you to help, and I do appreciate that.

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?

Is Saga still requiring guests and crew to be fully up to date with vaccinations, and it's just that we no longer have to give evidence of this? If this is a sign that the threat of Covid on Saga ships has significantly reduced, then that in itself is good news.

I hadn't spotted this - I just assumed that both ships were the same, so apologies if anyone gets misled by my last post. Many thanks for pointing it out. The online deck plans are very basic, and the printed ones are much better, both for showing the shower/bath arrangements and for indicating which cabins have interconnecting doors to the adjacent cabin: there are a few of these, and some people might prefer to have a cabin which doesn't have a door to their neighbour's cabin. Or the opposite, of course. If any of these points is a matter of concern to anyone, then I would suggest they contact Saga and get them to send a copy of the printed deck plan.