twotravellersLondon

Really? "All the new reports?" We've seen a report in the FT and we know that you passed on details of a report in the Telegraph but we weren't aware of any others. From what we understand the real issue is with the underwriting part of the SAGA operation which the company hoped to get rid of some time ago and then sell insurance as a broker as it used to do in the past... that deal on the underwriting fell through. Bit more complex that just a couple of ships.

Given inflation and the rise in incomes... SAGA passengers are are paying less now than they did last year. We've had 8 SAGA transfers injuries the last year... not a single one was by Uber.

In the last year SAGA's have increased by 4.7%. That's less than the UK inflation rate... significantly less that the pension increased awarded to UK citizens and very significantly less that the UK retail price index. When inflation and incomes are taken into account... SAGAs prices are less in real terms now than they were this time last year. So many comments on numerous sites by people who have never travelled on SAGA but are happy to trawl cyberspace and cobble together anything that amuses them when the reality is that... SAGAs ships are increasing full, SAGA is carrying more passengers than ever before and those passengers are willing to pay more per diem than they have ever done before. Add the increasingly eager wait for cruises to be released and compare SAGA with FOCLs which cost more for a entry level balcony cabin on a like for like basis... and that's why thousands of people, more than ever before, are sailing with SAGA and a third new ship is being discussed.

That would be a wonderful idea but we're not holding out breath!

Owen Owen in Coventry is most probably the shop that we still miss most. That was the place of a young couples' dreams in the 1970s... the latest and most modern china, stoneware and all sorts of stuff for setting up home... sometimes affordable and other times only aspirational but it was exciting, engaging and exhilarating. It was there that we chose Denby Romany as our main dining set... only dining set to begin with... and we're still laying the table in grand style with the same plates and such-like that we bought piece by piece 50 years ago. Each bit was all that we could afford at the time and so we had lots and lots of visits! Little did we realise that half a century later... it would become every so fashionable again with the "Cotswold set."

What lies behind that is that both ships were built and fitted on he basis of a mortgage. If someone owns house that they've paid for with a mortgage in reality they have a pile of debt and will have that debt for 25 or 30 years. A house is perhaps not as good a comparison as a van... buy a van on finance... you have a big debt... by the time the van is at the end of it's economic life it will be paid off but you have nothing to show for the "investment" except the scrap value... or do you?... that van may well been a key asset in conducting a business and making a living and enabled you to bring in an income far in excess of the original cost of the van. Ships are the same.

In November of this year, a FOCL's press release intimated that the company was in the running for five prizes at the Wave Awards 2023 – Best Ocean Cruise Line, Best Specialist Cruise Line, Best for Solo Travellers, Best for Excursions and Best for Cuisine. But in these really crucial indicators of the success or failure of a cruise-line FOCLs lost in every case... the company lost out to; Royal Caribbean International which was voted the Best Family Cruise Line; to Unforgettable Croatia which was voted the Best Specialist Cruise Line; to Riviera which was voted the Best For solo travellers; to Regent Seven Seas Cruises which was voted Best For excursions and again to Regent Seven Seas Cruises which was voted the Best for cuisine. So what on earth has happened to the popular much-loved "Fred" that so many of us still remember with such respect? A clue just might be in one of the awards that FOCLs did win... the Engage Award 2023 for the Best Business Transformation Strategy... Engage Media, in its own words, works " with thousands of business leaders to improve their customer and employee experience. All so they can be more successful." Very clearly FOCLs "best business transformation strategy" has been far from successful... and left the company with huge debts and now seen the managing director replaced by a `'trouble-shooting" CEO.

SAGA seems to be being rather well compared with the competition.... According to the last interim report for the six months to September 2023... SAGA Ocean cruise loading has increased from 66% to 83%, per diem from £318 to £333. The number of Travel Passengers has increased from 20.6 k to 25.7k. Revenue has increased from £44 million to £70 million. The parent company has £3.2 billion in investments. The Insurance sector has £1.6 million policies in force, Travel Insurance revenue has increased from £7.3 million to £8.7 million and the PMI Revenue has increased from £13.6 million to £15.3 million. Figures that Ambassador, FOCLs, and the Carnival brands can only dream of.

Many people realise that SAGA is a little unusual in the fact that, unlike your own as you seem to have travelled with SAGA in the past, many of the comments and criticisms in posts on all manner of sites are made by many people who have never travelled on SAGA and will never travel on SAGA... but are quite willing for reasons of their own to repeat second hand or third hand criticisms. Ten years ago we more likely to cruise in a balcony cabin with FOCLs rather than spend twice as much for a similar cruise with SAGA... but now FOCLs is as, if not more, expensive than SAGA but SAGA offers far better accommodation, entertainment, food and service. We've had fourteen transfers in the last year. Eight of those have been by SAGA. We've had no problems to or from the ship/airport when we've used SAGA and SAGA has seemed to a bit better than the other companies that we've used. We're not easy to insure due to age, infirmity and unusual medical conditions and one of us can't get annual insurance unless we go through a specialist health support agency but SAGA cover us for cruises and holidays one by one... the even provide the travel insurance when we travel with other companies... there is no additional premium... we just talk to the underwriters and provide them with the information that they need. We suppose that we could get cheaper insurance from some comparison site but... in our opinion it's probably cheaper because they are far more reluctant to settle claims. Even on a month's voyage with SAGA we've never seen the same menu twice in the Grand Dining Room... although the speciality restaurants do have the same menu each evening. The choice of included drinks in not ""house wines and spirits - branded drinks have to be paid for" premium drinks and spirits are now part of the all-inclusive deal. The problem is that "They say you get included excursions, but these often are only panoramic ones." but thy may never have travelled with SAGA nor experienced a included excursion with SAGA we have experienced many on four different cruises in the course of the last year and can speak from recent personal experience. We've been to the North Cape in Winter at great expense with two other cruise lines, SAGA took us for free. It was an exciting and exhilarating experience that could be enjoyed by all. Other included excursions can also be used as a free transfer service... unlike with other cruise lines. The off-voiced criticism that SAGA's range "of cruise itineraries have become very limited and repetitive." is exactly what is being said of most cruise lines... but gone from any cruise-line itinerary these days is St Petersburg, the red Sea and Beirut... and bits of North Africa and the `middle East are looking pretty iffy for everybody... different if someone wants to do a fly cruise... most people on SAGA probably don't want to do that. Next year apart from Norway, the Baltic, France, Iberia, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, Northern Africa, Iceland, Greenland, the Caribbean, the Canaries, the British Isles and Ireland SAGA will be offering the USA, Canada... we know... we've been booked on some of these cruises for months! So our basic question is... for anyone who thinks that these itineraries are too limiting, too staid, too restrictive and too repetitive... where would you like to go and which company have you chosen to cruise with for a comparable price? We think that your absolutely right in posting, "I think before you make the "leap" from P&O (or indeed any other line) to Saga, you need to compare prices on a like-for-like basis (meaning similar standard of cabin and similar itinerary." We have done to the nth˚ with detailed spreadsheets and all of the mainstream companies offering no-fly cruises out of the UK. The result is that again and again and again... we end up choosing SAGA because we believe, from our own personal experience that it offers the best value for money. SAGA is not perfect... but compared with the opposition... it's as good as it gets ... a high quality product! At least in our experienced opinion! And by the look of ship averaging well over 80% occupancy and strong bookings... tens of thousands of other people seen to agree.

10, 9, 8.....

There is a lot more to this story than whether or not the cabins will be ready. The founder & CEO of Villa Vie is Mikael Petterson. Before he left the company in May 2023, Mikael Petterson was previously the Managing Director "Life at Sea Cruises" which was very recently in the international press when it cancelled a three year cruise due originally to begin at Istanbul on 1 November 2023. The company had promised 1,095 days of travel, to seven continents, visiting 140 countries. Passengers would spend roughly 300 days at sea, 795 days at port and have 413 overnight port stays. The cruise was to cost anything from about $40,000 to $100,000 per person per year. "Life at Sea" originally planned to use the Gemini, the Braemar's sister ship... the two were originally virtually identical when they were built in 1992/1993 (Gemini = Twins). That deal fell through. It's been reported that Gemini is at the heart of a defamation lawsuit by the owners, Miray, against former managing director of Life at Sea Cruises, Mikael Petterson. The lawsuit states that Petterson called the ship “unseaworthy” – a claim that Miray vehemently denied. For anyone interested there is a picture of the Gemini @ https://www.gbnews.com/travel/cruise-life-at-sea-cruises-cancelled "Life at Sea" then planned to buy the AIDAaura. That deal also fell through when on November 16, Celestyal Cruises, announced that it had bought the AIDAaura. "While the cruise was originally due to depart Istanbul, on November 1, shortly before that date, departure was changed to Amsterdam and postponed firstly to 11 November and then to 30 November but on 17 November... passengers... some already in Istanbul ready for the 1 November departure... were told that the cruise was off. One report is that only 100 cabins had been sold. One big question is how is the purchase of the Braemar and the "multi-million" refurbishment to be financed? Will it depend on the sale of cabins? Will the running costs be dependent on the monthly fees? One of Mikael Petterson's mantras is, "Moving on to the next project Villa Vie Residences. 'For the Residents, By the Residents'." So will the residents... as seems to be suggested... be the legal owners... will they be responsible for the business? An interesting story to look out for as it develops... and will FOCLs ever get its money from the sale?

There is a financial motive... according to a chef that we know... the cruise-line's bean-counters calculate that a vegetarian meal costs less than a normal meal. A few years ago we used to occasionally sample the one vegetarian dish that was offered on the menu if we didn't fancy the other offerings that evening and usually had an interesting and enjoyable meal. As the number of vegetarian/vegan options have increased and the number of more expensive meat, poultry and fish options have declined... we now never chose a vegetarian option because we want to ensure that cruise-lines continue to offer the choice of food that are based around ingredients that we would chose to eat at home or in a land-based restaurant. It may be that the cost of the ingredients on a vegetarian dish on a menu is less than other dishes... but we've paid for our cruise and we expect to get value for money and good food that we enjoy.

It's 3˚C, raining and there is the prospect that the rain will become less cold during the day. Off to hospital to see a new consultant today. Main medication proscribed by one consultant is producing some stratospherically outrageous side-effects and so this second consultant's roll is to mitigate the effects of the medication without reducing it's efficacy. A third consultant is booked for early in the new year to deal with the results of the side-effects. And the moral of the story... tick the "I'm happy to help with research" box and there is never any chance of getting bored, not having somewhere to visit or finding it difficult to meet new people!🤣😷

Absolutely true... but we just can't be bothered lugging bottles of booze back home for a saving of £15 quid.

Our pile is significantly smaller this year... but we have happy memories and very warm thoughts of so many people who have had such a positive impact on our lives and the lives of others around us.... their stories, their laughter, their warmth and their generosity of spirit... sometimes even their generosity with "spirits!" It leaves us with the feeling of responsibility to pass on some of the care, consideration, love and sacrifices that others have made for us over the years to folk around us. And still we get the reward of sharing in happiness. An old aunt gave us a wonderful crystal vase... it's always used for fresh flowers at Christmas... it always adds to the delight of remembering her.

We use Apple systems,,, If we press the options key before we type... qwertyuiop[] asdfghjkl;'\ zxcvbnm,./ will become... œ∑´®†¥¨^øπ“‘ åß∂ƒ˙∆˚æ« Ω≈ç√∫~µ≤≥÷ If we press a key, such as "e" and hold we have a choice of.. èéêëēėęèé If we really get stuck we Google the term and the copy and paste... "maître de l'hôtel" If you use a PC it's different. Help is on hand at ... https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-ascii-or-unicode-latin-based-symbols-and-characters-d13f58d3-7bcb-44a7-a4d5-972ee12e50e0

Bought a whole farmed salmon for about £17. Filleted it and skinned it ourselves into 12 generous 120g portions... used 2 @£1.40 each. Used half a pack of puff-pastry @ £0.70. Added 1/3 can of asparagus @ £1.00. Add frozen and fresh peas... @ £0.80. Volia!... a generous helping of healthy salmon wellington @ £4.90 for two people... less than £2.50 a head. That's the way to do it!

We used the option a couple of times.... once when we hadn't been able to book in advance and get the 35% discount and once when we just wanted to get away for an additional break at very short notice. In both cases the cabins were fine... there are no bad cabins on SAGA these days and we made a really worthwhile saving.

It's worth-while looking at the Cruise Critic awards... In the 2019 and the 2020 Cruise Critic Awards FOCLs' Balmoral was judged the "Best mid-size ship overall". This year the award for the best UK mid-size cruise-lines overall have been awarded to Oceana cruises, with Holland America second and Ambassador third. FOCLs is unplaced. In the 2019 and the 2020 Cruise Critic Awards FOCLs' Balmoral was judged the "Best mid-size ship for dining". This year the award for the best UK mid-size cruises overall have been awarded to Oceana cruises, with Holland America second and Disney third. Again FOCLs is unplaced. So the first full year that Fred Jun. has gone and the FOCLs crystal cabinet seems to be a bit lacking in new bits of mainstream crystal. It's now 10 years ago that berkshireboy, tigertom, heywood and Parsman were congratulating Fred Olsen Cruise Lines on the fact that in the Cruise International Awards the company have been voted Best Affordable Cruise Line and runner up in the Best Cruise Line category. All a distant memory now? We can only hope the "Under New Management" approach will turn the company around.

Sometimes we've found that the children of today are far more mature and socially aware than their Gen Z parents! Recently care across a "child" very gently berating a "parent" for being inconsiderate towards others and an embarrassment to the family! Hope springs eternal!

Remember to buy pressies for the folks at home when you're on holiday. Just remember our suggestion for those with a sweet tooth! More rock... Oh! 😅🤣

Anything outside the realms of the chattering classes in the more exclusive parts of Islington ceases to be of interest to the media! We're in the far South-West. We had a major incident less than half a mile down the road that closed rail lines, roads, stopped busses... for two days... lots of police... some still her three days later... not a murmur in the mainstream "media" that's content to rehash old stories about "snow-bombs" or anything else that the "media" imagine will scare folk so witless that they with jump at the "click-bait."

All our notifications from the GP, clinics and hospitals now come by text, email or from and out-patients portal. When the RM gave up delivering during the last "industrial action" it seems that all of our medical contacts took steps to circumvent the RM to such an extent that, as far as our health is concerned, it now seems that the RM is irrelevant. We feel sorry for the stamp collectors!

We're not up on that one I'm afraid... be interested to see what you discover. However the comments about how well SAGA is doing are all in their Financial report. Very interesting reading but bound to upset a certain coterie.

Not sure what the "contractually" refers to. It was reported ages ago that SAGA offered a 100% refund. By the way, that 'limited market" resulted in and increase in occupancy from 66% to 83% in the last half year, an increase in passenger spend from £318 per diem to £333 per diem and discussion about adding a third ship to the existing fleet. Cruise and travel have moved from an £11 million loss to an £11 million profit. Revenues have increased from £162 million in the half year to 25 Sep 2022 to £206 million in this last half year. SAGA still seems to be experiencing strong demand for cruises. Many SAGA passengers are very experienced travellers, can tell many traveller tales of their adventures good and bad and have weighed up the pros and cons of traveling with different cruise-lines. SAGA after all is not unique in having problems... passengers on another ship in the same area about the same time reported that it was... "a very traumatising experience we thought we would sink and feared for our lives." Quite starkly another witness wrote, "We thought we were going to die!" The owners of that ship only offered 50% off a future cruise if taken in 12 months! We think that SAGA passengers will take a wide range of factors into account when they are booking. We certainly do. We have two SAGA cruises booked for 2024 and are looking out with eager anticipation for one or two more.