Windsurfboy

It's your beer you should worry about. Anyway on Saga a very nice 18 year old malt so why drink beer.

For a Norway cruise absolutely saga, perhaps for Mediterranean cruise, the private balcony might swing me a bit. But all in all, even then ,would need the difference to be at least £100 per cabin per night in favour of P&O, to pay for speciality restaurants and wine. I think Saga premium is worth it, so much better experience, not what Wowwz asked , but don't think Cunard premium is worth it,.

Must never forget gratuities are voluntary, pay as much or little as you see fit

I saw a program on TV about air pollution on ships , how even if not visible you get fine particles aft of funnels. If funnels are in middle it's aft 3rd of ship by time they come down to deck height ship is moving.

're soot , is your cabin forward or aft of the funnels. If aft then balcony out of bounds

We will never agree on tipping. There is such a cultural divide between North America, for whom circa 20% tip is normal, but waiters basic is a pittance and rely on plenty of turnover to get a living wage. Compared to countries e.g Japan where no tips are expected, seen almost as an insult.. With Europe in UK in the middle but slowly becoming more American Auto gratuities on ship follow the fixed fee model not the % of fare (excluding the slight upgrade for grills). However the point of this thread was about the unannounced increase and whether you should be told before you board. Or it should be fixed like the price when you book. I would like it to be fixed when you book , but failing this should at least be told before you board

Shares up , but still well under water c.f. pre covid

There will still be some cruises with enhanced requirements.

Here here

Firstly My understanding and I can't remember where I read it so it could be classed as hearsay, is gratuities are shared amongst all the hotel staff but excluding bar staff who get the % on drinks and also not officers . The engineering staff are not included. Secondly I would expect to be told of increase before I board. Lastly It's a completely personal choice of how much to pay or whether to pay at all. Same applies to tipping individuals. No one else's bussiness. More generally There are pluses and minuses to including gratuities in fare. I think if the crew are from countries where service is part of culture it will work well, this applies to most of the crew on most cruise ships I've been on. However if they come from countries that have become habituated to tipping, then there may be issues until the culture changes.

If you want a rear suite you must book at launch. If nothing changes we like many will have exhausted summer Southampton cruises.

Will it be the hush heath balfour ?

In Feb and May/June last year ship was relatively new, money on a maintenance issue that's built up. Interesting to hear what they tell you on board. How fast are you travelling. We only very occasionally hit the 18 to 20 knot maximum, mostly pootling along at 13 to 14 knots

Strange we were on same ship for a month last year and no soot for the 32 days.. Either it's a maintenance issue that's built up , or fuel quality.

Good no testing for June Mediterranean cruise

Our April 7th cruise didn't appear on enhanced list until the mid Feb update, so if that's anything to go by October cruise details may not appear sometime in August.

We always ask for break between courses. One benefit of same table after day 2 our waiter knew this and would wait for ten minutes and ask are you ready for me to put in order for next course. Even in speciality restaurants they got to know us. OK it was a 32 day cruise.

I emailed customer service at cruisepostsales@saga.co.uk they sorted out my request in a day

Don't worry. I know I commented about senior restaurant being a bit superfluous, however generally the food and service was very good. Occasionally it was just good service and nice food , most often both very good, sometimes exceptional . There is always something that can be done better. However we never had poor service or food on Saga, good was as low as it got, and wouldn't be booking a second time for a month if overall it hadn't been very enjoyable.

All I can say is my only cruise so far on a gratuities included ship , Saga , it was an extremely friendly and happy ship, so much so we are going again for a month . I know there's more to a happy crew than gratuities, for example the fact that Saga , supported it's crew through Covid , rather than making them redundant must have played a big part. Haven't been on P&O for years and not since they went gratuities included, but reading CC it's not all plain sailing for them staff wise , so you can't make broad assumptions.

I complely agree, on proviso that it all goes to staff.

We like a fixed table but 7 to 7.30, it's nice to get to know the waiters.

I agree in principle, but for example on our cruise, wine waiter had to go to amalfi to get bottle of Barolo. Seemed to take quite a while, meanwhile no one was being topped up. I did suggest they ensured they had bottles of all premium wine in MDR. But failing this the senior staff should step in .

I see these increase don't apply for QM2 until it gets back to UK on 23 April. So that must be why it wasn't mentioned in my boarding information email for April 7th. See if they tell me before June cruise.

I agree the senior staff in dining room, seemed to be a bit superfluous. They don't spend much time talking to passengers, more time talking to each other. I never in our 4 weeks saw one chipping in , carrying a plate to help out or getting some wine. Lovely people but you wondered what their purpose was when everyone else was so busy. It doesn't detract from the generally god and friendly service on Saga. One place were Saga could up it's game