JMMKUK

Was the Pimms good? Surf 'n Turf would've been my main choice. Not impressed with the drink prices. Would really makes our end of cruise bill painful.

SiL's husband got seasick on the Thames Clipper on the way back from Greenwich. Went on a canal barge holiday & someone said she'd been seasick the first night. I think it was more likely the amount of booze we'd had in the pub. Think it's possible if around an estuary but unlikely further up river. Our Bordeaux cruise on Scenic Diamond wasn't rough even near the sea.

Probably only counts the Main ones like me. I think it's called Simple Fare rather than light choce. The pie & chips is certainly not light. Even on the old ships that was cheap pub grub.

I know at some ports they go to the fish market to make that day's menu interesting & local. They kept giving me more veg than I wanted & it was usually overcooked (20 mins boiled & more grey than green). They also managed to cook sea bass so that it was dry & tough. I really miss the old ships' food delights. Those ice carvings were something to behold.

Raj told us that we could choose any of the 'Always available' not just the ones on that night's menu. We've sat next to a couple who had lasagne every night & another couple who had chicken with double mash every night. Unfortunately for me Surf & Turf isn't on the always available list. If all the lines are doing it where can we go?

Have a fabulous cruise. That is far too long on a plane though.

Lots of food waste if they've made up all those fancy dishes & no one orders them though. I did have a veggie main when it was mushroom risotto because it's a favourite of mine.

In April I commented on the mid cruise survey about the lack of mains choice & we were invited to meet with Raj. He explained that a survey done earlier in the year had said that Saga guests now wanted more veggie & vegan food. I begged to differ as we had met only one couple who were vegetarian & one woman who was pescatarian. I couldn't eat the rack of lamb on the October cruise but the chateaubriand was delicious. (The steaks on the inaugral cruise were mainly inedible). In October I got as far as trying to submit the final questionnaire & up popped the error message I had been getting for the last week of the cruise. The iPad was very nearly thrown across the cabin but I decided to have a beer instead & forget about the stupid thing.

Oh, I wish someone had told me that before.

The lady we shared the car with had booked a cabin last minute for single occupancy for under £5000, going to the Caribbean for 34 nights, on Saga Sapphire. We thought that was amazing value. She was on the lowest passenger deck but she joined in so many activities it didn't matter. We had booked the Qwner's suite at the last minute with 35% off. We guessed that someone had booked early & then had to cancel. Felt guilty about their misfortune though.

Only time we sailed P&O was out of school hols but loads of kids with awful parents who had taken then out of school. We often joke that the kids were OK it was the parents that weren't. You make them sound interesting though. Enjoy your next cruise. We have nothing booked atm. Keeping options open but it won't be P&O because their ships are much too big.

Absolutely

We've managed to land in the Azores twice. Neither time did we see the sun. At least the 2nd time when it was a replacement for Funchal we saw on the included excursion the blue & green lake that we had paiid to see previously. We had sun in Funchal on Sapphire Dec 2015. It was truly amazing. We left ahead of the named storm. That was the lady overboard cruise. We had to turn back into the storm we were infront of but we learnt a lot about the rules of the sea. Only remember a few guest moaning, most of us were upset for her friend.

I think we've only been on 2 cruises that haven't missed at least one port. They were in 1997 on Oriana & 2003 on Saga Rose. April this year may have been a 3rd time because I can't remember which port we missed.

Weather?

Thank you. It's flowery perfume that is the problem. Both my SiL & MiL have made me ill because they refused to believe the problem existed. MiL when she was very old & couldn't smell it kept spraying. I ran into bedroom & grabbed inhaler. Stayed there until the air had cleared while she moaned that we should be going out. We couldn't until I'd stopped wheezing. After that I used to hide her perfume as soon as we arrived. If she didn't see it she forgot about it. I believe Saga are very good with people who have food allergies & are willing to list all ingredients not just known allergens.

OH somestimes says his dress shirts aren't perfect, then I tell him they are better than either of us would manage. I noticed in October that smell of fabric conditioner was more pronounced than before. That wouldn't bother most people but I'm allergic to perfume.

My guess would be that it took that long to analyse the data from the incident in Biscay & code & test the fix. My imagination is now running riot as to how one would set up the test environment.

I saw how close you were on cruise mapper & hoped someone would post that they'd seen the sister ship. Not been to Gunwharf Quays but the Naval Dockyard is well worth a visit or 2.

I'm so sorry you were in that terrible storm. Thank you for your insight & such positivity about Saga after such an event. Although I'm a #Gold I'm not sure how I would feel about another cruise after that storm.

It really annoys me when people are awful to the crew. They work so hard. They are away from home for 3 to 9 months at a time. We always treat them with respect & as a result we get exceptional service from them. (Actually they give exceptional service to everyone).

I did succumb to a snack in the Living Room when I had had an early continental breakfast for an early tour. Ice cream can always be forgiven.

It's when they start queueing for lunch at 11:30 I get surprised. We only eat breakfast & dinner so dine early because we are starving by 6:30.

Seems a really nice guy. He came to chat to us, when he was in the Entertainment team, on a foimal night. Then he was ACD on our last cruise.

Would that be the ACD that reminds me of the Go Compare adverts?