arlowood

We normally drive down from the Midlands and stop over near Newbury. Our stay of choice is the Donnington Grove Hotel on the outskirts of Newbury with easy access off the A34. It's a hotel set on a golf club and has a very quiet location. Room rates are reasonable and the food is good. https://www.donnington-grove.com/ After the overnight stay it's an easy 1hr - ish drive to the cruise port via the A34/M3 and M27 West. Convenient services on the M27 West at Rownhams if you need a loo stop or a coffee before you join the ship. Might be a tad far out for some folks but we love the quiet location and the reasonable room rates.

Looking on Google maps it seems like a journey of around 4hrs 30mins depending on which route your driver chooses (A303, M3, M25, M20) or (A35, A31, M27, M3, M25 etc). As for toilet stops just let your driver know how long you want to travel before you have a break. Predictable toilet stops may be a bit more difficult on the A-roads, but once you reach the motorways there will be several service areas to choose from.

I'm guessing this aberration is uniquely linked to river cruises where you opt for Eurostar services into Europe rather than taking a flight option. Most if not all ocean cruises depart from Dover or Portsmouth with the sail away being around 5-6pm. Pick up times for those are usually more sensible - certainly not 2.30am

I logged on this morning about 10ish and I could see all the Summer 2025 cruises and was able to compare the current price being charged for our cabin grade against what we secured through pre-registration Looked like we had saved around £1200 based on the prices on show. We are not Britannia members so I reckon Saga have dropped the ball once gain. I guess we could have taken advantage but don't know if the booking would have gone through. As has been said the Summer 2025 cruises are now no longer visible to us mere mortals.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

But were your offered "anything for the weekend, sir?" 😍

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"

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.

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

Just to add to the initial reply I posted above. My info came from a passenger travelling on a P&O cruise where ports in the Caribbean demand a yellow fever vaccination (or exemption) if the ship has called at certain Central or South American destinations. There was a lot of back and forth contact between the passenger involved and P&O to establish exactly what documentation was needed (P&O were asking for a GP letter even though their FAQ's stated that the exemption certificate I posted the pic of was acceptable). The passenger involved actually obtained a GP letter (at a cost) but was not asked to produce it at boarding as the exemption certificate was accepted. There was some suggestion that some passengers were denied boarding due to not having the correct documentation and had to fly out later to join the ship in Madeira. For those reasons I would strongly suggest that you get written confirmation from Saga exactly what they require. Or more importantly it is what the immigration authorities in the Caribbean islands require as they will be the final arbiters of who can or cannot be cleared to land.

Culled from another post on this specific matter. The explanatory comment from the poster is also included below in parentheses "The little yellow certificate booklet that they give you when you have the jab also has a specific page for those who have had a medical exemption, so the booklet has been completed and stamped on that page". However if you have lost the booklet you may be able to contact your GP and get them to issue a replacement as they should have your vaccination on record. Alternatively they may be willing to provide a letter sating that you are exempt. Maybe best to call Saga direct for their advice

Loads of options I guess for safari stays around Port Elizabeth but if you're interested in a personal recommendation I would suggest the Amakhala Game Reserve which is about 70km north east of Port Elizabeth. About 10 years ago we did a 3 week driving holiday in South Africa (Rorke's Drift, Isandlwana battle fields first) then flew to Cape Town and did the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth before heading back west to Cape Town. We had 3 nights in the Woodbury Lodge in Amakhala and it was fantastic. Small group game tours and well organised. We saw all the major species and too many birds to recall. I've included a link below FYI. https://www.amakhala.co.za/

Off topic, @Cublet, but I experienced the self same attitude in my career, when our UK company was trying to get approval for a new industrial antibacterial chemical through the EPA( Environmental Protection Agency). At one meeting with an agency reviewer, he stated outright - "Why should we approve this material from overseas, when I'm sure we have scientists expert enough to develop it over here"

We cruised for many years with P&O and were happy with the experience up until a couple of years ago when there was a distinct change from the "full service" experience to the pared back, nickel and diming approach that really put us off. We have sailed on 5 Viking river and 4 ocean cruises in recent years and would thoroughly recommend them to anyone who is happy to fly, either short or long haul, to join the ships. The food and service are exceptional in our opinion. However on our last cruise we had the stress of flight delays and a very long return journey from Athens back to Birmingham. For that reason we have decided to give Saga our business for the foreseeable future. Many UK based Viking customers have petitioned them to consider sailing round trips out of a UK port but so far that does not look likely. However they have several new ocean ships already planned - so we live in hope. My opinion is that if you are prepared to accept the hassle of fling in the current uncertain times then I would recommend giving Viking a go. I don't think you will be disappointed.

If you like a particular itinerary then Saga often introduce a Guarantee Cabin option nearer to the sailing date. This means that you will not be able to select a specific deck level or cabin number but will be guaranteed that your cabin will be of a minimum grade (Standard Twin, De-Luxe Twin etc). The cabins are then allocated shortly before you cruise or on the day of embarkation. These Guaranteed cabins are usually offered at a good discount on the normal price but there is no flexibility. You must accept where they put you and if you refuse the cabin allocated then that will be treated as a cancellation on your part. I have no direct experience of this arrangement but I have seen several posts where people have been very pleased with the cabins they received.