LondonLad60

Sorry to read this wowzz. I wonder what Saga considers to be the lowest number of passengers for a cruise to be viable? My wife and I are on SoA's Scandinavian Capitals cruise (formerly known as An Exhibition of the Baltic) departing June 22nd. There are currently 152 suites/twin cabins available which equates to 304 passengers (assuming none of the cabins will be booked by solo travellers). 

Apologies for bringing politics into this, but what with Finland and Sweden having formally applied to join NATO (although Putin has now softened his rhetoric on this), and with Estonia looking nervously over its shoulder I wonder if this cruise will go ahead, especially if it will only be at roughly 70% capacity, although SoD sailed in March with 726 passengers. If it does go ahead, looking on the bright side it shouldn't be a problem getting a seat in the bars or booking the select restaurants.

1 hour ago, majortom10 said:

They have under ABTA rules to respond to your complaint in 28 days so there is time yet.

Or does "Thank you for taking the time to contact us, your comments have been sent to the ship to investigate further." count as a response within 28 days? They may have RESPONDED to the complaint, but they certainly haven't addressed it.

4 minutes ago, Denarius said:

Was going to reply but then read LondonLad60s response. I have read his review (suggest that you do the same if you have not already done so) and agree with it all, so there is nothing I would wish to add. Saga are more expensive, but on virtually every front beat P&O hands down. And I say that as a veteran of 33 P&O cruises! As they say, you gets what you pays for.

Thanks Denarius - apologies if I stole your thunder!

Hi lincslady

Apologies for butting in here. On the Saga cruisecritic forum, in response to someone who was considering a first Saga cruise I posted a review of my first Saga cruise, which was the last Saga cruise to sail in 2020 before the pandemic hit. You may fine it useful - it's on page 3 from the main page, and under the thread First Saga Cruise it's on page 2.

Hope this helps.

Bob

45 minutes ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

With Iona and Arvia coming on line and really only Aurora left as in recent years as  Oceana, Oriana, Artemis and Adonia have all departed will P&O carry on with their march towards ships carrying 5,000 plus or will they bring any smaller vessels of between 700 and 2000 passengers back into their fleet ?

In my humble opinion (for what that may be worth) I can't see P&O  bringing smaller ships back. I agree with you; it seems P&O policy now is to build them bigger and keep the prices low in order to attract a new, younger demographic. I wouldn't be surprised to see them unload either Arcadia or Aurora in the not too distant future.

8 hours ago, Holcha said:

The staff try very hard to enforce correct mask wearing however we see many who do not cover their noses all the time.  It is very frustrating as 3 positive cases today so you would think people would be extra careful.  Also clear that many do not understand social distancing, and queue far too close.  So yes, nosapphire I also get wound up.  There are some lovely people on this cruise but there are also some who don’t think the restrictions apply to them.

I couldn't agree more with you Holcha. On SoD's March Med cruise it was surprising (or maybe it wasn't) to see how many people weren't aware of social distancing, and even more surprising how many didn't seem to know their left from their right - either that, of they simply ignored the signs on every staircase and every corridor telling passengers to KEEP LEFT LEAVE SPACE AND KEEP SAFE.

6 minutes ago, pete14 said:

When we went to Dubrovnik several years ago, we had to tender ashore. It may have changed since then. However, the tenders landed just outside the entrance gate to the walled city so you could have a leisurely stroll through the city, which is likely to be very busy with tourists, and back to the tender in less than an hour, dependent on shopping and refreshments of course. 

Been to Dubrovnik twice, in 2016 and (I think) 2018. The ship berthed both times, so tenders weren't required, but it was a shuttle bus ride from the berth to the city. First time the city  was busy, but not overly so. The second time it was absolutely heaving with tourists.

"... but my I always found their onboard CS attitude was that their job would be far better if it was not for the passengers"

In the same way that Basil Fawlty said he could run a perfectly good hotel if it wasn't for the guests...

3 hours ago, LondonLad60 said:

On the SoD cruise, cases peaked at 147 on March 29th. The ship was only refused entry into one port, which was Cadiz - the last port on the itinerary. We were allowed to explore independently at all other ports, except (I think) the port in Tunisia - I forget its name.

My apologies. I was referring to the SoD Med cruise prior to the one Denarius mentioned. Doh!

9 hours ago, Denarius said:

I was on the recent SofA Canary Island cruise. We had less than a dozen cases of covid identified during the cruise. The SofD cruise to the Med which sailed at the same time however, had several times as many, resulting in the ship being refused entry to most of the ports on her itinerary. Yet both ships operated exactly the same protocols including no indepenent shore trips.

On the SoD cruise, cases peaked at 147 on March 29th. The ship was only refused entry into one port, which was Cadiz - the last port on the itinerary. We were allowed to explore independently at all other ports, except (I think) the port in Tunisia - I forget its name.

29 minutes ago, Vivaldi said:

Ighten did say in his excellent blog that the ship was at 70 - 75% capacity, so that could have a fair impact on the number of people testing positive. It would be interesting to know how many guests were on the ship in earlier cruises. 

On SoD's March 13th to 31st Med cruise I was told that there were 720-726 passengers - the number varied as entertainers got on and off. The first covid cases were reported on March 21st - nine days into the cruise. The captain said that one or two cases had probably slipped through the testing net at Southampton - if that was the case, I'd have thought the first cases would have been picked up sooner. We had visited four ports by the 21st, so I'm more inclined to think that it was brought on by someone who had been ashore in one of the ports.

Bob

Please don't ask me why the forum software rotated the pics from portrait to landscape mode...

Hi Windsurfboy,

Here's a couple you may enjoy...

Bob

I may be wrong, but as far as I'm aware, the premium wines were only available by the bottle. It may be possible to keep half a bottle for the next day, but I wouldn't want to get your hopes up by saying a definite yes. A word with the Maitre d'/sommelier on the ship might make things clearer.

Bob

On the SoD cruise before the current one, the Maitre d' in the Club restaurant would ask what we were planning to eat - he would then recommend suitable wines from the premium list, and his recommendations were always spot on. 

Bob

The lockdowns are also to allow them to complete the track and trace procedures following any new cases. On the cruise on SoD before this one we were given daily updates on the number of new cases by the Captain. The first case was confirmed on March 21st, and by the 29th there were over 140 confirmed cases, Thankfully my wife and I avoided it.

7 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Does this mean they are also disembarking passengers who are positive but not that ill or they wouldn't be walking off

 

Do they give you any explanation of why they are locking you down for an hour. Do they say how a short one hour lockdown can impact spread of covid. All looks a bit ad hoc.

I'm disappointed that the cruise won't be going to Salerno in particular, but being upgraded to the premium drinks package will go some way towards easing the pain.

Bob 

Short answer - no. There are plenty of cruise lines catering for younger passengers. 

21 minutes ago, Sarah1974 said:

hooray it's nearly weekend o'clock and I have four days off!

Six pm on Friday in this house is better known as gin o'clock

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

At 5Ft tall I get that ---- my mum used to say that if anyone picked on me  I was to say that "Good things come in small packages"  as well and that "The bigger they are the harder they fall " ! 😉

Unfortunately, as someone of short stature myself, I soon discovered that the smaller they (we) are, the further they (we)  bounce...

Bob

Just had a phone call from Saga to say that this cruise will no longer be visiting St Petersburg - no surprise there. Instead, the ship will be stopping at an additional Finnish port and an additional Swedish one - unfortunately I can't remember which ones. There will also be an overnight stop in Copenhagen. All this assumes of course that the current situation in Europe doesn't deteriorate to the extent where cancelling the cruise becomes inevitable. I was told that written confirmation of these details will follow in due course.

Bob

15 hours ago, pennib said:

Azura has had a refit and we were on the first cruise out of Barbados after it. Lots of new carpets, and furniture in the buffet. Not sure about the carpets in cabins whether they had been replaced but they were OK but TVs in cabins are very small and out of the ark.

I seem to recall the TV's on Oriana were also rather small. I assumed that was why the binoculars were provided in the cabin...

Bob

42 minutes ago, Wacktle said:

Ask for 3 or 4 large glasses? They may bring a bottle?

Good idea Wacktle - thanks for that. If we have room service one night I'll give that a go. 

Thanks LandC