Host Sharon

42 minutes ago, Poole Boy said:

So far Cunards focus appears to be all about the naming ceremony, the maiden voyage appear to be an afterthought.

 

This seems to be the norm now for Carnival UK brands. I was booked on the Iona and Arvia maidens, both of which had date changes so I had to cancel but, given the naming cruises were the ones that had all the events, was not upset. Sun Princess is also having both a maiden and a naming cruise.

39 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

How are you keeping these days Sharon?

Hopefully pain free now  🙂

Not much pain thanks but the compression fracture of the  femur has left me with one leg shorter than the other and it’s giving me back ache. Still hoping to cruise in May even if I don’t get ashore much.

Please keep politics off the agenda.

That’s fine, as long as they are cruise-related and not agents.

Try asking this in the Ports of Call section. You may get more replies.  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-baltic-sea/

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

It would be March/April, so I'm guessing very cold.  Hmmm.

I did a northern lights cruise to Norway in March. Thick snow north of Bergen and yes, very cold. May to September would be warmer and no snow.

I suggest you also post on the Azamara board.

I wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas. After another month in hospital with pneumonia, Christmas and cruising are cancelled for the time being. Just appreciate everything one has and take nothing for granted.

Best to check out the Ports of Call thread on CC.

You also need to take into account, re accessability, that as the Saga ships are new, the whole ship is easily accessible, with automatic deck doors, unlike Aurora. There is also more space in the dining rooms to manoever a wheelchair or walker. 

Personally I prefer small ships for the larger choice of ports they can visit. I also like a more intimate and social atmosphere. I want to feel as if I am on a ship, not at a resort hotel on land.

This thread about booking in the MDR has been completely hijacked. This is contrary to CC Guidelines. If it continues I will lock the thread. 

Since this is not related to P&O I am locking it down.

15 hours ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

That's definitely wider choice and better quality

 

Was the Captain's welcome aboard dinner a special menu ?

First formal night

Once again this thread is going nowhere. 

Phew! Finally home and back on here, although I need some gentle breaking in. Thank goodness I didn’t know back on 29 May that I would still be in hospital 8 weeks later, 6 of them on complete bed rest. All followed by the NHS shipping me off to a nursing home for another month. Now home but hobbling very gingerly with zimmer frame. Still a ways to go I fear.

1 minute ago, Megabear2 said:

Welcome back Sharon. Good to see you.

After 8 weeks in hospital and 4 in a nursing home, I’m not going to complain about any cruise food 😀

On 8/25/2023 at 4:08 PM, Dermotsgirl said:

Part 4

 

It's all been plain sailing so far, but I'm afraid the next bit isn't so good.

 

Dining Arrangements.

 

By way of explanation, my husband and myself are confirmed introverts, and prefer to have a table for 2.  We don't seek out the company of others, and in fact, find constant conversations with others to be quite tiring.  So all we want is a table for two where we can observe what is going on and chat quietly to each other.

 

The dining options are as follows

 

The Dining Room (MDR), The Grill (buffet, but most evenings reverts to waiter service with same menu as the MDR), Khurkuri (Nepalese speciality restaurant) Amalfi (Italian speciality restaurant) The Supper Club (steakhouse speciality restaurant, with music as you dine, Limelight Club Lite)

 

On the first night you are allocated a time and a place for your dinner (we were given the Grill at 7.15pm)  but after that, you can dine 'at any time you want, and with whoever you want'.  Although it is freedom dining, it is possible to book a table in the MDR before you travel, for the duration of the cruise.  This is quite limited ( I think about 125 tables), and we didn't do this as we prefer freedom.

 

The problem with the tables for two is that they are VERY close together.  You know the banquette seating tables on P&O, about 18 inches apart? That's actually some of the tables that are furthest apart in the Saga MDR.  On our first visit to the MDR there wasn't a single table for two left.  It was the first formal night, and we'd been to the 'welcome aboard' reception. We left before the captain finished speaking to avoid the rush, but we fairly surprised to be told that there were already no tables left. I understand now that nearly all the tables for 2 are pre-reserved.  The offered a 'sharing table' which I wasn't in the mood for, and I asked if we could come back later. The lady on the podium said we could, but she couldn't give a time or reserve anything for us.  A P&O pager would have been very useful at this point!  So we decided to go off to the Grill instead.

 

We did try again a few times in the evening in the MDR, going along  when the restaurant opened at 6.15pm, and we did secure a table for two, but most times is was an inch away from the next table and was more like a 4 top.  We did have conversations with people on the next table, because it seemed rude not to (I'm quiet, not rude), but it wasn't always enjoyable, and wasn't how we wanted to have our dinner.  It made me not look forward to dinner.  However, on our last visit, we had a PROPER table for two - it was right next to the kitchen, but I would have loved that table for the whole cruise.

 

So, if the MDR doesn't work, then move to the buffet.......  but that was more of the same, to be honest

 

As I said earlier, the buffet reverts to a table service restaurant in the evening, with the same menu as the MDR. There were two special evening buffets during the cruise (Irish Night and British Night) but the other nights there was no access to a buffet.  I thought that was slightly problematic for me, as I like a buffet meal from time to time in the evening as a rest from eating full meals. Indeed, it did turn out to be a problem, as, at the end of the cruise when I started feeling ill, I would have done anything to sit out on the open deck in a quiet corner away from everyone, just pecking at a few bits that I fancied as my appetite had all but disappeared.

 

But I digress.  The tables in the buffet are also very close together, so you end up sitting right next to someone as if it was a table for 4. We found we were eating our dinners faster that we wanted to, just so that we could move on.

 

During the day, the seating was also a problem, as the waiters actually show you to your seat at a   table.  One of the key features of a buffet, for me, is choice, and that includes where I sit, so I was quite fed up that the choice had been taken away from me, even at breakfast and lunch.  In the end, we had to get assertive and say 'we'll sit here' when we saw a decent table, rather than go where the waiter wanted to put us.

 

Regarding speciality restaurants, these are booked on board.  As this was a shorter cruise, we  were only allowed to book one to start off with, and went on the waitlist for the other two.  We eventually got into all three, and really enjoyed all of our meals.  Although, the tables aren't very far apart in either  Khukuri or Amalfi, certainly not like Sindhu or Epicurian. The Supper Club was great though, with a proper table for two.

 

So that's dining arrangements.   I know that a lot of people would love to opportunities to mix with others, but it's not something we really seek out. I always felt that we could have our own space on P&O when we wanted it, but it seemed be an issue for us this Saga cruise, and unfortunately had some impact on the overall enjoyment of the cruise. 

 

 

Another alternative, when you were feeling ill, is that you can choose from the mdr menu and have it served in your cabin for no extra cost.

Ok, this discussion has more than run its course " 

Hi everyone.  Still stuck in hospital pending rehab. Hope you are behaving for my stand ins. Completely sick of this and so ready for a cruise. 

Just in case anyone is wondering why I am not around,  I had a knee replacement on 24 April.  One week later I collapsed at home and broke my femur around the new joint. So currently on week 3 of bedrest in hospital while they work out why I passed out and what to do with the bone 

I rarely if ever go to the theatre at home because I find I can't sit that long and need to fidget or get up. However, I do often watch the shows on board as 45 mins is just right. They do have to interst me though - no ventriloquists or magicians please  and the comics must be funny. One thing I like about Saga is that the shows are also live-streamed to your cabin TV so the best of both worlds. Otherwise I like the syndicate quiz.

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Where have you moved the posts Sharon? I appreciate that we had drifted off topic (as most threads do) but I don’t believe that there was anything contentious and it was an interesting debate, but I can’t find them?

As I said, I was not able to move individual threads so have hidden them to bring this thread back on track. There wasn't anything contentious but you will need to repost on the correct thread please. I appreciate there is thread drift on most but this one was created purely to help everyone with the new dining arrangements and it isn't helpful if they come here and only see bargain offers.

27 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I did try to stop the posts being here. My posts were actually about fares and I was going to suggest they were moved to the good deals available thread, it was however 3.30am so thought I'd do it today.

 

I've now notified Sharon accordingly.

Unfortunately the technology won't allow individual posts to be merged to a thread, only two threads can be merged so you will have to repost bargain offers in the correct place please.  

This is a food and drink thread folks. Please start a new one for entertainment if you wish.