SaraSailing

Someone explained it to me last time I wrote a blog. There is a "right" way and a "wrong" way up to take photos on a phone. Most systems are clever enough to correct the "wrong". BUT CC does not. The challenge is that it's very hard to know which ones are "wrong", as they look "right" until I post them. I know I could go through all the photos, edit and save a copy, which would probably work - I just can't bring myself to spend that much time when I could be doing nothing! I wish WISH that CC could implement whatever is needed to sort this one out.

LA SEYNE SUR MERE for TOULON French strikes meant we docked in La Seyne. Most tour coaches came here too, except one that required a ferry. Saga had organised a private ferry service from one of the tour company boats. I think it was about 20 minutes across to Toulon. Breakfast naan with avocado and chilli. At lunch time the assistant maitre d' found me to talk about the dining room - things are definitely improving. We stayed here, and explored La Seyne. There is an art gallery on the hill that was showing an exhibition of the photos of Laurent Ballesta - under sea photography and photos of under sea photography. Saw a lovely floofy back cat with lots of attitude, who made me miss my little gang more. Another curry night with a bit more spice.

I think we're in a difficult zone - the wine waiters all have two areas, and ours has two areas that aren't next to each other, so he has a much harder job. I think the senior dining room staff have just been in their heads with logistics. But I noticed already they are doing more in terms of checking on people - as I'd expect for their role. This will make their job easier, because they will have a feel for issues before we even notice!

On Silversea we've usually had to ask for "European" service as oppose to "American", in order to get things slowed down! The service speed here on Saga is largely good - sometimes quicker, sometimes slower, but all fine. I just notice things when they don't fall in that range - and one important thing is getting drinks to people within a few minutes of them sitting down, and then checking in to see if anything extra is needed on a timely basis.

Honestly, I suspect Saga are probably doing better than most equivalent cruise lines. I like to draw attention to problems, because that's how things get resolved. I have to say, the seniors have been much more visibly checking on guests and helping with little things: this helps the sense of caring service, and actually gives them a clearer idea of what is going on - which makes their job easier. And if Saga wanted to engage on a blog, they could. I suspect most cruise lines choose not to. If Diego is the guest services director on SoA (2 months in every 4), he is always open to hear and deal with ANYTHING. He's the one who told off the lecherous old man last year, in no uncertain terms. After the mid cruise survey, I had an assistant maître d' find me and ask lots of good questions. My parents were visited by head of house keeping - I still don't think their aircon is working right in their cabin, but she went through everything they'd said, good and bad. And I have a letter from the chef (a generic 'come for a meeting' one) that I need to act on. You will find the grill buffet bizarre post-covid - it's very hard to talk to the staff who plate the food, when they are behind complex screens. But I think they are working REALLY hard to get things right. The most important thing you can do is tell them when things miss. After all, if (like us) you've been cruising for 15 years, and observing the patterns, you are an expert of sorts. I am just a people watcher and pattern spotter. I like to see what can be done to keep raising the bar - especially when it's low cost and makes life easier for the crew too. There was a (very milld) curry at lunchtime, in meat and veggie options. I did have a taste (it was good), but knew there were a few puy lentils in the meat one - my payment was sleeping all afternoon, but I didn't get any sicker than that. I'll try and write up yesterday and maybe today later. My parents have already booked for July (third time this year) and have been browsing the onboard 2024 lists. For a couple, Saga is good value. Solo, probably average for the market - there isn't a single supplement, but the single cabins have a different pricing scale. In terms of food, the starters are brilliant - small, elegant, tasty. The main courses range from top notch to good, with the occasional miss. The desserts aren't my thing, but a lot of people love them. And the petit four are usually reliable. The Khukuri is excellent, and I could live there. They made my last curry extra spicy, and it really lifted the flavour for me. Formal tonight, so hoping for great things. And we're going to the Almalfi on Monday for a change. Don't let me put you off - just take in the whole picture and see how it fits with what you want. I love Silversea, but I have a lot of debates with them too!

BARCELONA We docked at cruise terminal A, on the new(ish) extension, There was a shuttle bus round as far as the World Trade Centre. But we wanted to get to the Picasso Museum, so we hopped in a taxi right by the cruise building. Even with the port surplus, it was only 15Euro. The museum staff were brilliantly organising the queues, and we were in quickly. It does get busy, so it is worth booking in advance. I love the building, and the history of Picasso. My parents bought me a little bag, Then we headed straight down to the main road, snagged another taxi and were back at the ship for lunch, It was mid-cruise questionnaire day. I heard at least one person say he doesn't like to complain, for fear of upsetting people. I do like giving constructive feedback, because there are often small, simple, cheap things that would really raise the actual rating people share with their friends, rather than the one they write on the form.

I think I just love people watching. I like a 7ish dinner, but I appreciate being able to watch everyone arrive, and getting to know your waiters is always a good thing.

Interesting that their best solution to patchy service was to get you to change. We actually already go early, fixed table, first into the section. Some days things flow, other days are choppy, and then there is the occasional disaster. For me, dinner service is such an important part of cruising, and I want it to feel in flow - and for them to look at different policies to help overcome difficulties.

Yes, those are the times to step in. Certainly, making it flow!

To a certain extent, it's their job to be superfluous. The better they run the dining room, the less they are seen to being doing anything. But, being charming and present is a big part of it, and I think that had slipped. If a senior notices empty wine glasses, for example, I'd expect them to glide over, ask how everything in, say, "Ooh, empty glass, can I get you something?" and call a wine waiter. If they are pouring wine, it usually means something is going wrong. I had a chat with the assistant maitre d' at lunch time (he accosted me while I queued for cheese). I just said that maybe sometimes the senior dining room staff got a bit in their heads with logistics, and forgot their role was to make everything look good. Small things make a big difference - especially in such a big and complex dining room.

I want to be fair, and Saga do a lot for the money. But they are a cruise line that prides itself in the customer service. And the current average client age on Saga cruises is around 76. At 52, I probably represent a new generation of cruisers for the company. So, I have a different voice, and one that might be more about how Saga can keep evolving and bringing in people across their whole age range. And I do share the same comments with the customer service director, and on feedback forms. There are small things they can do which would make a big difference, not cost anything, and have a big impact. You want to be able to come back to ship from a day out and feel like it's "home".

Agree - it's usually something in the kitchen. But when that happens, I'd expect senior staff to be doing more to help customer service, not less. I saw them standing, surveying, not speaking, and not appearing to notice all kinds of things they could be stepping in to move along. They could have circled the tables, poured some wine, and made things much better for everyone. One extra example: I ate less than half my main course, then moved the plate away from me (which is rare for me). I've never been on a cruise where someone senior hasn't noticed something like this, and come to ask if it's okay, within seconds. On one memorable occasion, the restaurant manager on a ship chucked a chef off the grill and cooked my steak himself - and it was the best steak I've had cooked for me on a ship, if not ever.

DAY SEVEN - PALMA In summary, I walked too much in Palma, and I'm paying for it today with a rather swollen ankle (old stress fracture that I REALLY don't want to damage). But it was a lovely day out. We'd booked a wine tasting tour which was cancelled due to lack of interest, which was a shame. But a friend from my village happened to be here, so we met up with her and got a different view of the city. The port is couple of miles from the Cathedral, which is where the shuttle buses go. My usual gripe that the coaches aren't wheelchair friendly, and one shuttle every 30 minutes isn't really enough. Being grumpy, I walked, and probably went too far given the injuries I'm rehabbing. There is A LOT of work being done in the marina area, and I think eventually the nice paseo will reach the ships. We met my friend at the rather glamourous Hotel Cappuccino, and sat watching the world go by. The croissants were huge and fluffy, and the coffee was good. I missed breakfast, so I had lovely light crepes with cheese and ham. Then we strolled around, somehow finding all the bits and bobs I was looking for, including coffee beans and a very specific USB adapter for the laptop. The centre is a mixture of breezy squares and tiny lanes - I could have spent much longer there. Then down the the front for ice cream (I'm told the best on the island) - the hazelnut sorbet was so creamy it was amazing. My friend took us to see their apartment here, which had a wonderful view of the rooftops all the way across to the cruise ships. And then a long walk back. By the time we got to the ship we were tired, hungry (room service burger was good) and a bit sore. The dining room was much more tinkly, and our waiter was going out of his way to be extra nice (or so it seemed). After a LONG 20 minutes, our wine waiter arrived, and from there on was super attentive. It does surprise me that the senior staff can stand and survey the room, but not notice four tables sitting with no wine, or notice and not do anything. I'm kind of used to seeing the seniors leap in and do things (and speak to missing staff later). We left late, and one of the port staff brough his dog to help.

Ooh, that is interesting. Yes, the "buffet" is still a lip reading challenge round posts and barriers, with the staff doing all the actual food on plates. There haven't been too many queues, despite ship being 90% capacity.

You make a fair point. There are people on board who need more help, but they choose to do things that naturally have less help available. The strange thing is that as I often travel with a wheelchair user, we can be treated like we'd be the problem - but so long as coaches are accessible we can pretty much do anything. I think it's great that there are cruises from/to the UK that enable people to get lovely holidays that might otherwise be too difficult. But people need to be honest about what help they need, so that the right support is there. Even using the coach example, the wonderfully accessible city buses would be so much better than coaches - you only have to watch a few wobbly walkers trying to haul themselves up three steep steps (or worse, descend safely) to see the problems. My ankle (from an older injury) was pretty puffy today, so we just hopped in a taxi at the port, and got dropped by the door of the Picasso museum. Then we fairly easily hailed another taxi from the main road and got ourselves back to the ship.

Yes, the guys in the grill work extra hard trying to get lost people to tables and plates safely to the right place, which all takes time. But mostly we've been lucky up there. Fortunately, dinner last night got better - our wine waiter took some time to arrive, but was attentive after that, and our waiter was much happier. The main course food was better, too.

DAY ?: AT SEA The med was a mill pond, we had a peaceful day at sea. There were a lot of activities I didn't attend. We saw dolphins tumbling and diving around the ship. Then dinner time. You might be one of those people who just chat, eat and leave. But we're those people who somehow feel the energy of the dining room, like a bee hive. There's something in the noise of the cutlery at the waiters' stations. On a good night it tinkles musically. On a bad night it clashes discordantly. And this was a bad night. One of our waiters seems to be called onto other things repeatedly, so we saw him when he offered bread, and then when we were standing up to leave. Our wine waiter got drafted in handing out dessert menus, but somehow very little wine was served, after dinner drinks were missed. And the senior staff who kept coming to oversee seemed to miss all of it. The only highlights were some nice cheese, and our lovely waiter realising he'd been sent cold espresso and going to warm it up for us. Then the room service waiter arrived with "here's your hot milk... but it's cold". I did notice when I went to do laundry that there were two cabins in quarantine (balcony table in front of cabin door for food delivery and collection).

Most lessons in everything is beginner: art, dance, ukulele...

I remember you trying to work out who would give you the best dancing. And I have heard people say that Saga make more space for ballroom than most cruise lines. Tonight was one of those nights where something was off. Not sure what yet, but the dining room wasn't happy. Our normal junior waiter was disappearing for huge chunks of time, our wine waiter was doing food service and missing drinks orders, our main waiter was distracted (but trying not to show it), and generally the normal "hum" was discordant. I'm sure we'll find out over the next day or two what's caused the upset.

I think there's at least one cruise line to suit most people's tastes, it's just a matter of finding it! Post-covid things seem to be settling down, though I noticed two quarantined cabins when I went down to the laundry today. (Something I'd forgotten about was the routine treks to the laundry, having reached free laundry on my normal cruise line!) The big bonus is leaving from and returning to the UK, not having to think about flying is great. Of course, that makes for longer cruises with fewer ports of call. I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on smaller ships yet, and I'm still happy to fly to get to some of the places I like best. But, overall Saga does a lot of things well, it is a good compromise for travelling with my parents, and we're being well looked after.

I think I'd have felt a lot safer if we'd had those self-inflating ones that people get in zodiacs, and could wear them the whole time? But yes, I think 'light' activity level really doesn't take into account the distances to walk and the steps involved. Hopefully over the next few years newer vehicles and boats will make it much better. After all, the majority of the trip could be done sitting, so I'd like to see it be more accessible - at the same time appreciating I had the luxury of being able to move around easily and get to a nice spot to sit and watch. Dinner was definitely worth it, and I hope we can go again. Not least because the soft furnishings absorb background sound, so conversation is much easier than in the bigger spaces. And, of course, I woke up this morning to find the dinner menu was in the post by the front door - so the dining room hadn't forgotten me.

DAY 5 - GIBRALTAR What an interesting place. Both more British than Britain, and very not British at the same time. There is the only Morrison's outside of the UK (apparently a beacon for ex-pats still living in Spain), and a number of chain stores that I thought had gone bust long ago - but no one told the Gibraltar branch. M&S appear to be selling clothes from the 90s. Mothers Day today, and I managed to get their steward to sneak a gift into my parents' cabin. The ship also gave us chocolates, with a card that said, "Celebrating all Mum's". Whilst I can be a bit loose with grammar, that apostrophe certainly grated! The highlight of the day was the dolphin watching trip. I mean, the dolphins were the highlight, but many aspects of the trip were not. Let's deal with them first: 1. We had to meet in the theatre on deck 6. Gangway is deck 4. Buses have to park in a little car park a couple of hundred metres from the port building. So it takes quite a lot of time to gather everyone at the buses. We had several people who were distinctly wobbly on their feet, and lots of walking sticks. 2. The Gibraltar tour buses are not nice. They are tiny, so even our smallish group had to travel in two buses. The steps into the buses were big, which many people found tough, and one impossible. The driver did try to help by bringing out one of those tiny folding stools, but that seemed to make the process more dangerous. Getting out was equally challenging, with such a huge step down I don't think I was the only one to hit my head on the ceiling. The seats were small, and two of them had wheel arches completely blocking the foot space. Given the one way system, the short distance to the marina took a while. 3. Again, a couple of hundred yards walk from the carpark to the tour boat. The boat staff worked hard to not lose anyone, but at least one person missed being given the ticket getting off the bus to hand in at the jetty. And, again, it took the wobblers a while to make the short distance. 4. The tour boat was also not easy to get on and off for anyone with mobility problems. The mobile steps and big drop into the boat were not walking stick friendly, though everyone made it. It is disappointing not to see an accessible offering, especially after amazing whale watching trips in an accessible boat for over 15 years in Juneau, Alaska. 5. The bench seats in the boat were slippery, totally unsupportive, and crowded. Some people had to sit in the middle facing each other with their knees touching. And then everyone on the outside had their back to the water. There were also quite a few other non-Saga tourists on the boat, including several children - that definitely detracts from the Saga 'boutique' offering. 6. We were lucky that the water was flat as a pancake, and there were very few other boats in the bay. As it was, walking sticks kept falling over, and most people had quite a restricted view of the water. The boat did, of course, have life jackets and life rafts, but I can't imagine the evacuation process going well with that many people - plus all the life jackets were inside the middle benches, which meant to get them everyone on that bench had to stand for the lid to be lifted. That said, the boat crew were great. The captain did a lovely job of turning and making steady progress, which the dolphins appreciate. And the others were informative, if you were in earshot. I found a space sitting on the floor on the raised front, and stayed put, just waiting for the dolphins to come by. Unlike seeing them out at sea, these dolphins are in no rush. They seem to have a lot of fun playing with the boats, sticking their noses up, laughing at us, rolling and generally dancing around. The trip was short (too short after all the delays), and it seemed like no time before we had to head back to the marina. I'd have happily paid twice the price for fewer people, a more accessible trip, and a little longer actually out on the water. (Dolphin photos on big camera, will add once I can get them off, need a usb adapter.) I opted out of the coach ride to the ship, and instead took the long-ish (for me, still being careful with an old stress fracture) walk to the cable car. Maybe 25 minutes or so the get there? The cable car is £18 return, or £34 if you want to go into the nature reserve. I think I queued for about another 20 minutes to get on the small cable car. The ride up is less than 6 minutes, including a stop at the middle station (not in summer). I knew I was starting to get a bit short on time, and definitely didn't want another queue, so I asked just to stay on for the ride back down. I'd heard the barbary macaques come to see the cable car at the top, and I wasn't disappointed. Thought I was briefly very close to a set of monkey balls being displayed at the open window - reflex reaction moved me back very fast, I really didn't want to lose glasses to this cheeky monkey. I got a front space for the ride down and was able to film the fast descent. It's nice to get up high, if only briefly. The cable car is not wheelchair accessible. After a few great rides in SE Alaska and Norway, this is very disappointing. Having checked a few reviews, even the local taxis (one company, strong union) can't handle a non-folding chair in the back, as they are full of seats. They do have two slightly more accessible vehicles, which need to be booked in advance - but I'm told it's hit and miss whether you actually get them. However, back down in the main square the drinking water fountain had a wheelchair level tap as well as a standing height one, and there were quite a few accessible parking bays. Maybe eventually things will improve here, but currently the accessibility for tourists is poor. Another long-ish walk back to the ship, and I was tired and hungry. Then I remembered I'd not eaten breakfast, and I'd missed lunch! Dinner at the Khukuri, which was lovely. Always good to get a well-made curry. Somehow my request for San Pellegrino now goes ahead of me, and a bottle arrived in the restaurant when we sat down. Obviously with curry I do have to be careful about legumes - but everything was taken care of and I had a lovely meal. Room service somehow interpreted my request for hot milk as cold milk, but with a bit of boiling water from the kettle I still made a decent mug of cocoa before bed.

That sounds like fun. Jo is our cruise director this time, and I feel Jan might have been the hotel director last year. I do love a good curry night on a ship. We've just been to the Khukuri last night, and everything was delicious.

I love reading the room and seeing where the energy goes. Fascinating to sense the relaxation after the captain's table have received their main courses.

OMG. That is funny, to PAY. Officers are spread thin and wide here, the captain and staff captain less so. We're perfectly happy doing our own thing, especially as I seem to have gained a private chef! But two more formals to go, so we'll see what happens. I think it's great to see long term friendships develop, or even transitory ones.