shoreham01

Does anyone know if Saga provide courtesy buses from ship to town centres?

I was thinking the same.  The roll calls are extremely quiet too.  

8 hours ago, hermioneb said:

In case anyone is interested, there is a new 7 day cruise announced for 19th May 2020 on the Spirit of Discovery.  https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/ocean/where-we-go/norway-cruises/norwegian-trilogy.aspx. It is in place of the one which was called Scenes of Dunkirk, which didn’t seem to very popular.  

Not a bad price, but only three ports.....other cruise lines offer at least four ports on short cruises

Interesting, wonder what has happened

Thanks for the information. Looks like suit will have to come for outing.

Has anyone been on a short break?  We are booked on a four night one next year and wonder if there is a formal night for short cruises. My dh does have a very lightweight dinner suit bought for next to nothing in M&S in an after Christmas sale.  It weighs hardly anything as it is only a cheap fabric, serves the purpose though.

Agree with you. I would not have my address on my home keys so would not expect it on a cabin key.  

I phoned 0800 373 034 to add a medical condition today.  Tried first Friday afternoon but recorded message saying 'due to unforseen circumstances we are unable to take your call, please try again later' or similar wording.  Tried again later in afternoon but still same message.  Tried Saturday, recorded message to say that they are closed until Monday.  This morning after hanging on for a very long time I got through.  Was told that they are only open for incoming calls between 09.00 and 13.00.  The afternoons are just for administration and outgoing calls.  When I stated that I thought this was extraordinary and no other company I have ever dealt with only accepted calls in the morning I was informed that they needed the afternoons for admin and outgoing calls.  

Having amended our details I then asked about the cancellation we have read about on this thread.  It would seem that we are completely covered for cancellation but if we phone to add a condition that they don't like then the policy can be cancelled at any time.  If we are unable to find alternative insurance then they will pay full cancellation and we would get full refund.  

Thankfully we are still insured with them, but quite honestly it has made me nervous as the policy is black and white and they are unable to amend it in any way so you cannot even pay extra for a condition they don't liike.  

I really do find it unbelievable that in these modern times an insurance company makes it so difficult to get hold of them.  You really do have to be on the ball and make sure you don't forget to phone them at the precise time they will accept your call.  I think they need reminding that it is 2019.  If I have misunderstood then I apologise.

I will add that the guy I spoke to was lovely, after all it is not his fault or any other member of staff, just a ridiculous policy by a very understaffed or old fashioned organisation.

17 hours ago, kentchris said:

They appear to be fine with conditions declared when taking out the policy, but my wife had a GP appointment to discuss some scans on the Friday before we sailed. She couldn’t reach Saga that afternoon so on Monday she called to tell them amongst other things that her scans had shown a probably benign condition unrelated to the reason for the scans, and that her GP was going to refer that to a specialist in the unlikely event that it needed a followup.

 

Even though her GP had not advised against travel (and was aware of our cruise), Saga’s insurance cancelled all cover for my wife on the basis of the undiagnosed condition. They were unable to explain this over the phone in any detail, even when escalated to a manager, so we’re expecting to find a written response when we get home. 

 

Fortunately we had alternative cover in place, but we were shocked by Saga’s inability to alter their policy to work around a condition declared after the cover started, eg by excluding any condition related to that particular organ, or by charging extra for cover, either of which are what one would normally expect from a travel policy. 

My goodness, this is just dreadful to read.  Now I am really worried as our cruise is so far ahead and anything could come up between now and April.  This news really renders the insurance good for nothing.  Never heard anything liike it before.

Google Fine dining on Spirit of Discovery and each restaurant has sample menu.  To my fussy taste menus are rather limited in choice compared to other cruise lines. I also find it odd that the buffet offers exactly the same menu as MDR.  Hours are very restrictive too but the room service menu looks better. The problem is that who wants to spend all that money and then eat in your room. We will find out next year when we have first Saga cruise booked

The main reasons for booking our first Saga cruise is the included insurance and the included door to door transfers. My OH had prostate cancer which hopefully has been zapped by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.  He is a very young 80 years old. We phoned the screening department and both gave full details of our medical histories as we do with all travel insurance companies. You could have knocked me down with a feather when they agreed to include the insurance for no extra charge. 

Good to know that you can at least order room service during the day if you miss the short lunch time.  That menu looks rather good for room service although we would far prefer the buffet selection they have on the American ships such as Princess and Celebrity.  Presume room service menu is included in price.  

Thank you for the updates, so interesting and informative.

Thank you so much for your blog we are really enjoying it. Looking forward to our little trip so much. 

Following along

Have a lovely holiday, looking forward to reading your review

Please remember that if there are road works or accidents the journey by car can take very much longer.  Over here if there is an accident the road can close for hours, fine if you can get off the road and take an alternative route but if you are stuck stationary then you have no option but to sit it out and miss your flight.  Sorry to be pessimistic but road closures happen far too often.  If possible then you are always best to book in to a hotel at the airport and stay the night before flying out.  We always stay in Southampton the night before a cruise and we only live a couple of hours along the coast.  

We thought the same, would have thought the price would have been more reasonable.  Different if all included like Saga are offering on their new ships. Cost £1,632 total for both of us on a 4 night Saga cruise which includes balcony, gratuities, wifi, drinks, travel insurance and car to Dover.  We did get a small reduction for early booking.

For those of you going to Stavanger you can walk around there quite easily. We did not go to Pulpit Rock as we are not that fit to get up there.  One place that we found to be incredibly interesting was the Sardine Canning Museum. Really good value and very friendly.  

Bergen is also easily walkable especially around the old town. You can make your way to the funicular easily from there.  Be aware Norway is the most expensive place we have visited but also the most lovely especially if the weather is kind.  If they offer a bus ride inland it is spectacular.  

Good news, she has arrived at Dover.  Quite a big story on Sky News today.

3 hours ago, DreamflightPat said:

I have just booked this cruise.  Am really looking forward to it.   Have cruised with many lines including Cunard, P& O, Celebrity, Princess, Regent, Seabourn and Pullmantur.  Have heard a lot about Saga and can't wait to experience it.

 

I have started a roll call for this cruise over on the roll call board.  Saga now have their own roll call section.  Look forward to seeing you over there.

 

Excellent choice

Great that Saga Cruises now has dedicated forum.  Looking forward to our April 2020 cruise

We used to have free insurance included in our bank account but as my husband is now over 80 they will no longer insure him.  There are many travel insurance companies in the UK who will not insure people who have reached the age of 80.    

For anyone still interested in insurance.  My husband has prostate cancer and was offered insurance by Freedom, although we did not take it as we have gone with Saga Cruises which include the insurance for free and were happy to cover us both.  If using another insurance company you must state you need it for a cruise.  It is also really important to tell them all your medical problems otherwise they will wriggle out of paying if you need to claim. 

Good news, Saga have agreed to insure us so now we just have the long wait for our cruise on Spirit of Discovery 19th April 2020

Hello everyone, we have just booked our first Saga cruise having previously cruised with Celebrity, Princess and P&O.  We have a long wait for our cruise on Spirit of Discovery 19th April 2020.  We do have to wait for the insurance people to phone us to confirm they will accept our health conditions but the Saga agent seemed very hopeful that all would be OK.  If they don't accept us we will cancel as it is too expensive to get insurance elsewhere.  We have never been to Great Yarmouth or Amsterdam so this taster cruise sounds perfect.  The only other taster cruise we have taken was with P&O a few years ago which was awful and ensured we would not travel with them again so hope we have made good decision with this one.  It is a shame there is no dedicated roll call for Saga as we really enjoyed the build up to our other cruises and made contact with lovely people before we travelled.