Vivaldi

My speculation about the reasons for cruises disappearing from the online calendar might not be quite right - the SofA has a trip called "Scandinavian Explorer" (renamed from "Baltic Capitals") on June 5 2023, and the SofD has "Contrasts of Scandinavia" on May 21, and both of these are still shown on the calendar. They both visit Helsinki, Kotka and Tallinn, as did the cruises which have been removed from the online calendars. If there were deemed to be problems with cruises visiting the Baltic, these would also have been subject to change, I would think. Ivycottage, if you could let us know which cruise has been cancelled, it would be very helpful. And if Saga ever gives you a reason for the cancellation, that would be even more helpful to know! I just hope it's nothing to do with debts, inflation, rising interest rates and falling share price ...

On the SofD the "Baltic Capitals" cruise leaving on July 16 2023 has also disappeared from the online calendar. I wonder if recent gas pipeline events and general nervousness about the region would explain it?

Looking at the SofA calendar online, there is a gap between a 7 night sailing leaving on August 21 2023 and the next listed cruise which leaves on September 11. The cruise which has disappeared is the August 28 "Great Cities of the Baltic", so I assume that this is the one which has been cancelled. Does anyone have a clue why this has gone? It is rather far in advance to cancel a cruise if it is because of poor sales.

Although premium spirits will be included in 2023, I believe the wines which are included will be the same sort as in previous years, which, while generally drinkable, could not be called "premium".

I was tempted to make the same point! Some years ago there was an academic music journal called "Die Reihe". If you got your "ie" and your "ei" in a muddle, the title of the journal became a bit unsavoury!

The biggest problem is that, having experienced a de-luxe cabin, you might be a bit less satisfied with a standard cabin in the future! While I would be delighted to be offered an upgrade like that, I would stress the "offered" here. I do think that Saga should have contacted you and proposed the upgrade, rather than just doing it and informing you. People can have reasons for booking a specific cabin, whether that is to be near friends, to be on a certain deck, or on a particular side of the ship or whatever. I've just seen nosapphire's latest post (#9), and am glad to note that Saga would normally ring someone first to see if they were happy with the change. Anyway, I'm sure you will be delighted with your new cabin.

We were on that trip as well - that was our third visit to Bordeaux, a city I love. If you are interested in wine tasting, Medeba and LondonLad60, Le Bar à Vin, which is run by the Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins de Bordeaux, is very much worth visiting. It is closed on Sundays, but open on the Monday from 11am, so you could manage it before your departure from Bordeaux. It's at 3, cours du XXX Juillet, near the tourist office and is very walkable (staggerable!) from where the ship docked in 2019. Have a great cruise!

Many thanks for your very informative and entertaining reports, TTS, and it's good to hear that you enjoyed your cruise. Leaving aside considerations of VFM, might I ask you in what respects you prefer Silversea . It would be interesting to know if these were things which Saga could improve in its own offerings, or simply things which reflect the different styles of cruising between the two companies - for example, visits to more distant places necessitating 'plane journeys, or a more international clientele, or a greater age-range in one's fellow guests. And lincslady is quite right: with increasing age I find the door-to-door service an absolute boon!

Apologies again for being off-topic (won't do it again!). My last post spoke of £77 pppn but an advertisement in today's paper for a cruise on Ambience this September to Canada, Greenland and Iceland says that cabins are available from £44 pppn. High quality food can't be a priority.

Sorry for being a bit off-topic with this, but Ambience is doing a Round-the-World cruise in 2024 and has been quoting a price which works out at £77 pppn for the cheapest inside cabin. Given the costs of running a ship, including fuel costs, crew, repairs and upkeep, admin costs, port charges, to say nothing of advertising, and depreciation of the vessels, at this price I can't see that there is a huge amount left for food! The food cost allowance per head for all the passengers must be fairly modest and it would be a challenge to provide outstanding meals. It is sometimes true that you gets wot you pays for!

I'm greatly enjoying your informative and entertaining reports. Thank you! As far as cheese is concerned, could I ask how the offerings from Saga and Silversea compare?

Norbertsniece did put a photo of the laundry price list on her blog, at an entry dated January 24 on page 4 of that blog. I reproduce it here, although it is a wee bit blurred! From my recollection of prices pre-Covid, they do seem to be charging somewhat more than they did pre-Covid.

We found the hanging space in the wardrobe on the SofD for a B2B to be adequate, with no shortage of hangers provided. Drawer accommodation was just about OK, but there was a distinct lack of space for shoes (I blame my wife for that!). If you look at the very informative blog in this Saga forum by Norbertsniece entitled "A Bit of a Blog" you will see that she had an excellent solution for this problem, with a shoe rack-type bag which seemed to hook over a door. Thank you, Kohima, for the suggestion about moving the life jackets to underneath the bed - that would certainly help. Overall, we managed to find a space for everything, although I did like the look of the walk-in wardrobes in the Deluxe cabins ...

I should have added that this is what we were quoted when we asked about it in 2021 - when it was not known that private transport would in fact be used at the start of 2022.

We live over 200 miles from the ports, and were quoted an extra £409.50 to have a private car to and from Southampton in March 2022. If one is concerned about the driver or other passengers testing positive on the journey to the port, but less worried about that happening on the homeward journey, it might be possible to ask for a private car for the outward journey only, thus halving the expense. I'd just add that, on two occasions when we have had Saga cruises we had a car to ourselves on the homeward leg, even though we had not requested it - just the way it worked out logistically, apparently. But that has never happened on the outward journey. I hope that you have a great cruise, arlowood!

Thanks for clearing that up! I imagine that if one were that bad, paying for the injection would be money very well spent. One my one trip on the Spirit of Discovery I got the impression that it was more stable than the Sapphire, but it is not really possible to compare ships on the basis of a single cruise when sea conditions vary so much. Perhaps someone with more experience of the two ships is in a better position to say if the SofD is noticeably better.

I greatly sympathise. I'd never had any problems with sea sickness in the past even on very small boats in choppy seas, but was surprised to find I was suffering on one cruise on the Saga Sapphire - I put it down to my increasing age or my problematic ears. Fortunately the reception desk had very effective pills which were given out free of charge - within an hour or two I was back to normal. For those who might be unable to keep a pill down the doctor can give an injection instead as david05 mentioned (and I think that was also free of charge). If you feel that you are simply unable to cruise again then it would seem that you have good grounds for asking for a refund on the cruise you have booked. It might be that for medical reasons you are unable to take the treatment offered (pills or jab) and I can't see that Saga would refuse a refund in those circumstances. It might be better to ask for a refund and then to book a Saga hotel stay, rather than trying to transfer your payment, as that would mean involving staff in different bits of the organisation and might prove to be a bit complicated. Good luck - and let us know the outcome!