sleepingcat

On 8/20/2022 at 1:56 PM, jdkbrim said:

My husband and I are hoping to finally go on a Mediterranean Cruise.  I am looking for recommendations on Mediterranean cruise reviews to read (from any cruise line).  We are primarily Carnival cruisers, but have also sailed on Royal Caribbean, MSC, and Costa.  I went to Europe years ago while I studied abroad in college and love the idea of going back without all the overnight train rides and constant switching of overnight accommodations.

Hi, a bit of input from the UK, where we brits are lucky enough to be a lot closer to the Med.  the great joy of most European cruise ports is that ships dock really close to the centre of the town/city, so just walking off the ship and wandering is a great thing to do.  And Europe is mostly pretty safe. (watch your handbag in Barcelona, though). 

I was surprised that no one commented on thinking about where you will fly in to and how good the connection is to the port.  Rome and Barca are the obvious ones.  But if you want to relive your rail travel on Europe's now wonderful high speed network, fly into Paris and travel on from there . (my sister and her family have just been to Italy for 3 weeks by train from the UK, they totally loved it and avoided all the airport horror of this summer). 

and who would you like as fellow passengers? the lines you mention will be a nice mix of Europeans and Americans I think. for a completely different experience, sail from Southampton (fly in to LHR), maybe on a British ship and get that old fashioned cruise experience.  it ll take longer, but you ll get some lovely ports including Lisbon which I think is the best sail in in the world, and a fabulous city with lots to see and do. (and a smaller ship can get in to dock at lesser visited ports, too)

I think there should be plenty of port reviews to check.   have a look at some of the less visited ports, eg Cartagena (wonderful roman remains), Almeria, Malta is gorgeous, La Palma de Mallorca, Amalfi. We didn't like Gibraltar, but going up the Rock is a must for naval and military history enthusiasts.  as you can tell , we love travel and I could go on and on. whatever you do I am sure it will be  a great trip.  

On 8/19/2022 at 3:43 AM, cruiser3775 said:

'm new to cruising, and thinking of a long cruise next northern hemisphere summer. I like the look of some of the world cruises,  but would like to only do a segment of maybe 30 days. Can I do that? Can I choose an embarkation port and a disembarkation port, and just buy that section of a very long cruise? 

hello cruiser 3775, I see you are in Australia: so might be interesting to check out European (  actually UK based) cruise lines and think about boarding in Australia.  when we cruised back to UK from NZ a few years ago there were 400 plus Aussies on board coming over to Europe for the summer.  that was on P and O Arcadia which I think is scheduled for world cruises in January 2023 and 2024. Boarding in Fremantle on that cruise would have been about 30 days to the UK.  Fred Olsen is also offering world cruises at same time.   Hope you find what you want. 

On 7/18/2022 at 11:29 AM, BestGuessed said:

We will be disembarking Spirit of Adventure tomorrow morning after experiencing our first Saga cruise so I thought I would write a review of how we personally, have found things on board.
This is our personal opinion so please bear that in mind … other opinions may differ !!

 

thanks for posting.  Just a suggestion, there is a section of CC where you can post your review of a Ship/cruise and I think more people will see it than here on the boards, as one can access the reviews without being a member.  The Saga boards are mostly populated by a dedicated band of enthusiasts, some of whom we met on board (hi all!). whereas your review is ideal for saga newbies or people wondering whether to try. You ll see our review of S of A/Canaries from January there, which mainly agrees with all that you say.  it was great and at the time a welcome relief from winter and post covid blues. 

(cannot understand why there are still no books in the 'library' though). 

On 6/12/2022 at 10:15 AM, jh1809 said:

I'm another Saga newbie, and will be cruising on Spirit of Discovery to Greenland next month. A couple of things that I haven't been able to find out and would welcome enlightenment on:

 

1. Is there a laundry service on board? I don't mean a self-service laundrette - that's not how I want to spend my holiday! If so, is it included in the cost of the cruise or does it incur an extra charge? (I suspect it will be chargeable, but that's fine so long as it's not too exorbitant.)

 

2. Is it possible to purchase foreign currency on board? Though I don't suppose there will be that much opportunity to spend any in Greenland.

saga newbies with questions.  Back in January2022  @norbert's niece posted a blog (title B2B2B...) with more photos than you could imagine of every aspect of their cabin and SoA.  She even included a picture of the laundry bag and the price list as far as I can recall.  So have a look through that and see if it helps with your queries. In my review of the 20 January departure, I listed all the stuff you get free in the cabin, as I had also had difficulties finding info. 

41 minutes ago, mickey1959 said:

Yes left Southampton yesterday, down in torbay now.

giving them a treat in Torquay but not visible from my window boo hoo. The Hope's Nose headland is in the way! thanks for all the updates team Arcadia support. 

Hi, SoD and SoA are almost identical.  If you track down my review of SoA 20 January 22 departure to canaries, you ll see that I listed a lot of info about the cabin because I hadn't been  able to find the sort of info you are  asking about before we sailed. 

your specific questions: yes, you can put cases under the beds.  the side of the wardrobe where the safe is has a combination of shelves and drawers.  we found we had plenty of storage. also there are some open shelves in the 'corridor' by the bathroom where we kept stuff to grab as we went out (masks, at the time). And there are coat hooks opposite the bathroom door. 

we were new to Saga for that January cruise and we were impressed.  I think we are converts (though I still hanker after another trip on Arcadia). Have a great  cruise. 

Hi everyone, when we got up this morning Arcadia was gone and is now alongside in Southampton, having arrived 07.40 today.  Left Lyme Bay during last night. Not sure what's happening next as she's not listed under port of Southampton movements for  any departure as far as I can see, but others may know more?

Test company used last weekend

In case it helps anyone with this issue, last weekend we had a visit from  members of our Rotary twinned club in France. Two of them needed test results to get back into France. We used this company who have facilities at several places (we went to Exeter airport, parking was free and it was quick and easy). Be sure to specify which test you want both when booking and when you turn up. LFT results within the hour, PCR next day text and email.  Very knowledgeable people at their call centre also, know all the rules. But not cheap,  from memory, LFT is £39.00 and PCR is £99.00.

https://www.gpdq.co.uk/covid-19-booking/exeter-airport/

Good evening Arcadia fans, the ship dropped anchor in Lyme Bay at approx 9.10 this morning - and clearly on view from our house!  (Teignmouth) welcome back, she was here through much of the covid lockdowns. I can even see our cabin. Will post when we spot any movement. 

we ve done canaries cruises several times in January. I dont think you ll get any rough seas. the main risk might be wind/weather coming in from south east which means a thick yellow mist full of sand from the Sahara, which happened to us this January.  wind direction also meant that Madeira call had to be dropped. It was still nice and warm, though, and much nicer than the UK at the time, so imho worth the risk. 

we've been to all these ports except la spezia. so in order , yes la coruna pleasant walk to town and or beach. friend recommends the maritime museum. Cadiz even closer to historic centre and nice cafes.  Palma de Mallorca  , its a bit further to town but my husband walked it okay. have a lovely time. nb another bit of homework is to investigate roaming charges for yr phone - some providers now charging a lot for use outside uk. 

I m not sure if this is still relevant information but worth checking with Saga direct.  We were on Spirit of Adventure on the 20 th January cruise and during that cruise Ship Reception filled and printed all the necessary passenger locator forms for all Pax and delivered them to our cabins the day before each port where they were necessary.  I would check with Saga if they are still doing that as it saved a lot of bother.   

Were also told to take all the paperwork with us each time we disembarked for a day visit but in our case no one ever checked anything at any port. 

1 hour ago, jaydee6969 said:

Iona will not be going to Flam due to pax capacity exceeding the ports limit.  However, I have seen that Britannia will be doing the odd trip to Flam and even Bergen in 2024.

not much point in doing Norway cruise if you don't get to Flam and go on the railway as it is one of the most spectacular parts of the trip. I would recommend  our US cruisers to look at other British cruise companies with smaller ships which can go to all the ports mentioned above and some others too.  

Someone has posted the following link to a Spanish Government document on the P and O cruises UK section of the boards.  Looks like information those on board Adventure and Discovery would find useful.

https://www.sanidad.gob.es/en/profesionales/saludPublica/sanidadExterior/docs/Health_Measures_for_the_restoration_of_Cruise_Ship_Activities_in_Spain.pdf

and here is an extract they also posted: QUOTE:

"If, upon arrival at a Spanish port, 3.5% or more of those on board (crew and passengers) are reported as Covid-19 cases, only those cases and passengers who end the cruise at that port will be allowed to disembark; under no circumstances shall passengers be allowed to disembark for tourism or other reasons. Crew members may only disembark for essential reasons. Authority may be given for patients' close family members to be allowed off the boat. Passengers joining a cruise may also be given authority to board." and...

"Allocated areas to isolate cases that do not require medical attention. As part of this, at least 5% of the maximum capacity must be reserved for possible isolation."

best to everyone on board, hope you're managing to enjoy the ships despite restrictions. 

Hello @wowzz,, thanks for starting this thread.  We have a lot of affection for Arcadia as we spent 51 days on board in 2014 coming back to UK from Auckland and loved the whole thing.  Arcadia was moored, visible from our bedroom, in Lyme Bay for long periods during 2020/21,  (and btw some gorgeous photos available ) so I ve been thinking we would love to get back on board some time soon. But your reports are not encouraging so I will be following to see how it all works out.  Hope you can enjoy the ports even if time on board is less than ideal. 

1 hour ago, Denarius said:

had a lft I had saved for a special occasion and used it this afternoon; negative (relief!) I assume that my driver will have done the same, but I have read on this site and elsewhere of people testing negative at home but positive at the port. If either I or my driver test positive I will be denied boarding.

Good luck Denarius I hope you make it on board and enjoy glorious canaries as much as we did back in January.  It is stressful going through the testing at port .  You may find as we did in January that Saga asks for both LFT and PCR tests so it takes (even) longer. From memory, we got to the dock at about 2 pm and were not on board in the cabin until 4.15 and very much in need of a cup of tea.  Remember not to eat or drink during the last 30 minutes of the journey so you are ready for the tests (and ditto for your driver). All the best.

Hi Linda and everyone

I think you said you would keep posting until Tuesday when you would have been disembarking?  so this to thank you and everyone who  has contributed - its been fun and interesting following, and also recently useful for us to pass info to our friends who are embarking on S of A on Tuesday.  Best to everyone and see you again on a deck somewhere.  

5 hours ago, Lady Meer said:

Thanks Linda and Kohima for the name of the toiletries!

 

Brenda

Hi Linda and Brenda, yes. we liked the toiletries so much that we brought the used bar of soap home with us! a nice reminder of the Canaries cruise every time we use it.  I see from net search that one can only buy Prija wholesale, so the only way to get more will be to book another cruise.......

our experience of finding free wifi ashore is to follow the crew - they always know where the nearest wifi is. And as others have said, its often in the Terminal (eg in Lisbon). 

We were on a cruise down to Canaries last month, but not with P and O so I won't mention the ship name as this is the P and O strand. WE took 2 smart  phones with us, one on O2 contract and one Three.  Neither of us paid any roaming charges, though I think three is introducing charges next month. I had the same  included data allocation as at home, which I did use a lot of to find street maps and tourist info, and to follow along the map when out on tours. 

The ship we were on is brand new and has free wifi which works in the cabins (check it out!). so on the ship we received all email and could use internet.  the phones could not make calls on the ship, but logged in to the local network in each port. 

(and btw, regarding other points in this strand, we did not have to use the phones on board to book anything, so if you don't want to have to do this, check out other cruise lines ). 

On S o A we were docked adjacent to P and O Iona in Cadiz in January.  Several SoA passengers on board said 'we are going on Iona with our grandchildren this summer'.

I think people can choose what suits them at different times, and I suspect the Saga  cruises age restriction is an attraction for some people, and if it is flexible to allow companions and carers then it is fine. 

11 hours ago, Lady Meer said:

just wanted to say thank you for taking the time and trouble to write a very interesting and informative blog. I imagine you are very disappointed that your trip is being cut short but you have remained up-beat, positive and non-judgemental.

hear hear! add my wishes to Brenda's message.💖

Second, because you've told us Saga are monitoring your blog, it will be good if Saga can give information as soon as available as to what preps are planned for SoA 29 March departure; friends booked on that cruise came round yesterday to collect deck plan folder and daily news sheets we had saved for them. they don't do social media and are obviously concerned to learn of covid cases among crew recently on the ship.

best wishes and safe return to everyone.  🌻

oh! I am so sorry for you and everyone on board that you will not be getting to Caribbean after all.  Agree that maybe it was always going to be a risk.  At least the ship is still lovely and the temperatures a lot more pleasant than here in the UK at present.  

Increasingly we feel how lucky we were to have chosen the 20th January canaries cruise , as almost everything went so well at that stage. Best to everyone on board...

4 hours ago, Peter Lanky said:

At some stage then I will have to decide whether to opt for an inside cabin on the grounds that I won't spend much non sleep time in it, or whether I desire something with windows or balcony. Such is the choice that us newbies face.

Hello PL, we haven't been on the ship you are looking at but have cruised 3 times with Fred, twice on Balmoral (and have posted reviews, have a look). An option that has worked well for us on several ships is to have an outside cabin on the deck immediately above prom deck and near stairs. that way you use the prom deck and its seating as your balcony; carry cups of tea or drinks from the cabin when you want.  Having said that, we are recently back from a Canaries cruise with Saga on an all balcony ship, and in the covid situation, having a private sitting out space was a bonus and much used. Be aware also that Covid protocols mean recent passengers have been required at times to isolate for some days in their cabin, in which case at least a window is a must. 

And having a window tells you when to rush out with your camera, I'll never forget the thrill of our first port in the Caribbean on our first cruise.  have a good time whatever you decide. 

4 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

Today's live isolation broadcast here

The notes I couldn't read while broadcasting.

 

SW Eng channel heading into open Atlantic 

 

3 low pressure systems being tracked.... avoid heavy swell Bay of Biscay... slight detour around 1600 to Azores.... 6-8 metres swell 

 

Covid most ports have protocols.... some require less than 1% = 12.... all LFT neg yesterday PCR results awaited 

 

6 days isolation if anyone tests positive 2 neg tests days 5 and 6.

 

A few positive in crew 

 

Mask wearing except when eating and drinking

 

80 B2B isolating room service stretched

 

 

Hi @ Norbert's niece, just to add, there are now a couple of reviews of the 20 Jan departure, including ours just posted.  At the time we were so impressed with Saga that there were no cases during that cruise, but now it looks like it might have been more to do with luck than best practice.  

thanks for all the detail, we've enjoyed following and good luck with the 3rd b2b - one day we will be back in Caribbean, and hope it is as lovely as ever.

Hi @sarasailing, thanks for all the review, discussion and photos.  Ive yesterday posted our review of the 20 January departure cruise to Canaries. I notice that our assessments are very similar to those of another reviewer who has just posted (let's hope Saga takes notice).  Still not really sure if we would book Saga again, it probably has more to do with itineraries than anything else. 

Good you are safely back home, happy sailing next time.