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arlowood

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    Loughborough, UK

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  1. arlowood

    2025

    Pretty much the system used by P&O. Guarantee is basic and just gets you a grade of cabin with no ability to specify where. Also with "Guarantee" there are no bells and whistles - you pretty much pay for every other feature/service like shuttle buses in ports. "Select" allows you to choose you cabin grade and location. You may also get additional OBC and the option to choose parking or coach transfers to and from the ship. Shuttles in port are free with this category. However you do pay a chunk more over and above the Guarantee price. P&O does operate a sort of pre-registration system whereby you are notified ahead of a new brochure launch and are given dates when you can access the booking system depending on your loyalty club status. So your loyalty status can be a benefit in accessing new launches, but I don't believe they have the rolling discount system that Saga uses.
  2. arlowood

    2025

    Just got the call. Again Murphy's Law kicked in and, as with last year, the call came to my mobile while we're on holiday in Cyprus. Was better prepared this year and had all relevant information to hand. Got our preferred cruise and cabin selection with 35% discount. FYI we pre-registered on 17th March 2023
  3. arlowood

    2025

    Seem to have found a workaround that allows me to see all the itineraries. In the Saga email you can select to view online via your browser. Firstly I cleared cache and cookies from my Chrome browser and then selected the browser online option from the Saga email. I can now see the full itineraries on some of those that were unavailable previously. Haven't checked them all but I don't need to as there are only a few that we won't be interested in.
  4. arlowood

    2025

    From what I can gather, you won't know the prices of the various cabin grades until you get the preregistration call. The Saga rep will then ask if you have a preferred cruise or cruises and will then quote you the prices for the cabin grades and the locations where they are on the ship. She may also be able to indicate if there are any still available at the maximum 35% discount and where they are located. For rough comparisons just look at any current 2024 cruises of the same duration and that should provide a general guide to the likely prices.
  5. arlowood

    2025

    It seems to be a bit of a dogs breakfast. Like others, I have struggled to see the full itineraries of several cruises I'm interested in. Many of the listed cruises only took me back to the 2024 general website. (On holiday ATM so all done on android tablet) Some helpful soul posted a link on another platform that I used and Hey Presto - all the cruise itineraries were there and I was able to scribble down a few interesting options. Later I couldn't find the link in my browser history so went back to the source I had used only to find that a group moderator had removed the link because of a concern that non-preregistered folks would be calling Saga to try and "jump the queue". Can't see how that would be possible myself but anyway the working link has now gone. Maybe Saga will wake up to this ans and sort it PDQ
  6. A lot will depend on your mobility and the need for the rollator. Although there are always staff there to assist, boarding and exiting a tender can mean stepping over a gap while both the ship and the tender are moving to some extent. Also the tender embarkation point on the ship is usually down at a lower deck level and involves descending stairs for access. On some cruise ships I've sailed on, they have conducted a "step-test" for those going on tender excursions. This involves stepping over a notional gap on the floor marked by two strips of tape set maybe 2ft apart. In theory you must be able to complete this step-test unaided. Maybe some others who have direct experience can comment
  7. Definitely no shorts for men if it's a Greek Orthodox monastery. We visited one in Cyprus and several men were turned away because they were wearing shorts. Not sure if long shorts covering the knee would be accepted but maybe best not to risk it. Having said that in some of the more popular tourist religious sites, I have seen shawls offered to cover shoulders and also fabric wraps to cover knees and legs where required
  8. Not sure what the description of the "included" excursion shows but if it involves just the trip on the Flam railway from Flam to Myrdal and back then you can easily do it on your own. We did that trip with P&O some years ago and discovered that the "Scenic" railway is in fact a commercial service that links Flam to Myrdal where passengers can pick up a connecting service to Oslo or Bergen, whichever you prefer. Consequently our tour group were initially coralled in a holding area while other paying passengers were allowed to populate several of the rear carriages. We were then led forward to occupy a couple of the forward carriages. The journey to Myrdal is scenic with points where the train slows for photos and also a stop at a scenic waterfall. You then have about 30mins wait at Myrdal before boarding the return train which does not stop on the way back. I think with P&O we were charged maybe £30 or £40 per head for the trip whereas you could just buy a return ticket at the station in Flam for a fraction of the cost. I'm guessing if it's a Saga included tour then you're not being charged so in that case there may not be much benefit in doing it on your own, other than being more flexible in your timetable if that is feasible
  9. arlowood

    2025

    Yes we had a UK registered mobile phone on the O2 service. They called us on that number. I'm not sure but they may also have initially tried our home phone as we had a number of missed calls on that when we got back. I think we have both home and mobile numbers registered with Saga. If you are likely to be overseas then if you give Saga the contact number there, I'm sure they will call that if your name pops up to the head of the queue
  10. arlowood

    2025

    Well from a personal standpoint I hope it's maybe delayed a little until the last week in February or the first week in March. Let me explain to all those whose indignation has been piqued by my comment. Last year the 2024 summer itineraries were released around mid-February to those on the pre-registration list. Calls started almost immediately for those at the top of the list (earliest registered) and worked their way through chronologically. Unfortunately for us, by the time we reached the head of the queue, we were on holiday in Cyprus. Phone call was received just as we were enjoying a postprandial libation at our hotel. Cue a frantic scurry to our room to retrieve the relevant information and credit card details whilst still being on call to Saga (praying we would not lose signal in the lift as we made our way to the room). Eventually secured a booking on our preferred cruise at the maximum discount but all the while being nervous about relaying credit card details over the phone from Cyprus. We are off to Cyprus again shortly and I'm just worried that Murphy's Law will rear its ugly head once more and the emailed itineraries will appear shortly and our call will again come while overseas. I know others have suggested that you can request Saga to call back later if the call comes at an inconvenient time but I'm afraid that the dreaded FOMO would kick in at that point and we would be agonising about losing out on a preferred cabin at the best discount
  11. arlowood

    2025

    I beg to differ. We booked the Scandinavian Gems cruise on Discovery sailing 4th August this year. We were pre-registered and received the call back in February 2023. Ours is an E-Deck cabin and we received the 35% early booking discount. I don't think we were early in the pre-registration queue but maybe our chosen cruise was less popular and there were still maximum discounts available on E-Deck by the time they got round to us.
  12. But were your offered "anything for the weekend, sir?" 😍
  13. Reminiscent of the fabled Blackpool B&B signs of the 50's and 60's. Where the price was advertised but with the added phrase:- "Use of cruet 6d extra"
  14. I think @Selbourne's first port of call is Port Canaveral, not New Orleans, so he not have to suffer the immigration woes you refer to with that port.
  15. That was our experience also in August 2017 on Aurora. Our first port of call was Boston and we had heard many scare stories about spending hours queueing to clear immigration. However the day before docking we were told that the immigration staff would come aboard and set up their desks in the Glasshouse if I remember correctly. We were then given colour coded tickets and time slots to go and have our documents checked. I think there were about 5 or 6 Immigration Agents and the process was quite slick and relatively painless. From memory it took only about 15 or 20 minutes including queueing time. Hopefully you'll have a similar experience in Port Canaveral
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