Denarius

It has. I am on that cruise as a solo traveller. A few weeks ago Saga sent me a flyer including that cruise and I noticed that all single grades were sold out!

I remember that well! Not the Canberra, she had just been retired when I first sailed with P&O, but the comments. My first P&O ship was the Oriana and I thought that she was marvelous but she was, as I was told, "not like the Canberra". The problem as I understood it was not her size - the "great white whale" was herself a big ship and carried nearly as many passengers - but the absence of particular features which P&O stalwarts had come to expect. In particular, the absence of a ballroom.

I have read this thread with interest. I first sailed with P&O in 1997 having previously sailed with Cunard and Costa. They were not cheap but represented fair value for money. Whilst I continued to sail with other lines P&O became my first port of call. Over the next 20+ years I sailed with them around 40 times and at times attained the Baltic tier of the Peninsular Club. Over the years however, I have noticed a steady deterioration in the cruise experience; mainly little things which taken in isolation are of no great consequence but which taken together and cumulatively represent a gradual slide from up market luxury to cheap and cheerful. P&O undoubtedly now provide excellent value for money, but the overall cruise experience is no longer what it was. But to get the latter, you need to be able and prepared to pay significantly more. In real terms, similar to what P&O charged 30 years ago and what Saga, Viking etc charge now!

Never sailed on her but sailed on her sister ship Saga Ruby when she was the Vistafjord. A fine traditional ship which took the weather well.

I have never seen the logic of why cabins on a higher deck cost more than identical cabins on a lower one. I suspect that it goes back to the days when cabins were in the hull and public rooms in the superstructure, so canins on a higher deck were closer to the latter; also cabins on the lower decks were close to the waterline where bad weather was more apparent. Old habits die hard. Personally I prefer a cabin closer to the public rooms - but not so close that unwanted noise could be a problem - and on Saga D deck is my deck of choice. I cannot see the point of paying considerably more for a an identical cabin on a higher deck, although others may differ. Perhaps this is why cabins on the lower decks sell faster, and those on higher decks have larger discounts for longer. If so, Saga's pricing policy is surely wrong.

I have taken several river cruises with Riviera travel. They are of a similar standard to Saga's river cruises. Riviera do not own any of their ships. All are leased from other owners, principally the Swiss family owned company Scylla which builds some ships specifically for long term lease to Riviera. Scylla operate the ships and employ all the staff apart from the cruise director and his/her assistant, who are the only Riviera employees onboard. Other cruise companies may have similar but less transparent arrangements.

I am from the UK, and Riviera are a UK company. https://www.rivieratravel.co.uk/ I have taken river cruises with them, Saga and Emerald and all are of a similar standard. Although Emerald are not particularly solo friendly - they have a couple of single cabins on the lower deck, otherwise a 100% supplement applies - Saga have dedicated single cabins on all decks of their ships.

Riviera river cruises also charge no single supplements for cabins on the lower deck; the single supplement for cabins on higher decks is 50%.

The latter happened to me a couple of years ago, when booking by phone outside of the advanced registration sales period. The Saga rep suggested that she gave me a quote for a higher cabin grade as well as the one I requested as they had not been selling as well so still had higher discounts. In the event the higher grade cabin was cheaper so I took it!

Indeed. When originally introduced on Azura, The Glass House was most definately a drinking establishment first and foremost. A wine bar, a more upmarket alternative to Brodies pub. Its selling point was that it featured wines specially chosen by Olly Smith which were not available elsewhere onboard and that all were available by the glass as well as by the bottle; hence Glass House. Light meals and snacks were available but dining was not its prime role, unlike nowadays when it appears to be prioritised.

Whilst slightly off topic as this is a Saga board, if European river cruises are your interest and it would be convenient for you to fly from London you might also consider another UK company Riviera. I have taken river cruises with both them and Saga and they are of a similar standard. Their website is https://www.rivieratravel.co.uk/

Very true, I fear. Ring people up when they have an interest in a cruise but no idea of the price (why cannot these be included in the advance brochure?) and bounce them into a spot decision in the knowledge that they cannot sleep on it and ring you back later, and that if they do not bite then they will have to wait until the general launch by which time prices will probably have risen.

Belated comment on highlighted section. I agree. I have sailed many times with Star Clippers, who operate a similar system. There is no advanced registration, but an early booking discount - a level 20% or 10% depending on itinerary - applies from the time the brochure is launched until a specified date, after which it is withdrawn. So there is an encouragement to book early without feeling bounced into doing so, although obviously the earlier you book the more likely you are to get your cabin of choice. It works.

Have done a couple of Croatian coastal cruises with UK provider Saga. Small motor yachts carrying 30 to 40 passengers. Onboard public areas limited, usually just bar/restaurant, outdoor terrace and sun deck. Ships cruise during the day and spend evenings and overnight in port. Atmosphere onboard very casual. No formality, tee shirts and jeans or shorts acceptable at all times although most men wear longs in the evening. Breakfast and lunch are usually buffet meals, dinner waiter (set menu) waiter served if provided; may not be on some or all evenings when reasonable choice of dining available ashore. Very enjoyable provided that you are gregarious - you will be like family after a day - as little opportunity to be alone except in your cabin. Highly recommended.

Reason for bigger % increase in my case is possibly that next year's cruise has greater distance sailed and thus fuel consumption. Month of year and cabin grade are same. Or it may be a commercial decision to increase the prices of some cruises more than others reflecting relative popularity.

Just for information and further to the above, I was in the shower when they rang and did not hear the phone ring. I would not have been able to answer it anyway! But I had missed calls on both my landline and my mobile, with an answering machine message on the former and a voicemail on the latter. I also received an email. All explained the reason for the call and gave me a number to ring back asap, which I did. Hopefully this will reassure others who may be concerned that they may not be in a position to receive the call when it comes.

Got the call this morning and booked. Price with 35% discount £5221 which is considerably lower than estimated above, compared with £4636 this year. That works out at a 12.6% increase year on year, which is not unreasonable.

They certainly appear to have. I am looking at one of those cruises as well, as a single passenger. As a rough estimate of 50% effective single supplement that works out at about £5700 for a 14 night cruise even after a 35% discount. This summer I am going on a similar cruise to the Baltic - different ports - on SofA which cost me £4700 after a 35% discount. Thats works out at about a 20% increase.

The whole thing is a mess. More examples; Norway's Highlights is offered in May, but it is only when you click on the link that you find that the same cruise takes place in September. And for Coastal delights of France etc the map is at odds with the published itinerary. Must do better!!!!

Have done and it worked. Thanks for the tip.

Interesting. I use Firefox as my browser of choice. After reading your post I opened the cruise schedule in Edge instead and both the missing links worked; but they still do not work in Firefox. Looks as though they work in some browsers (Chromium based ones?) but not others. It was much better when they sent you a pdf attachment which you could save and browse offline!

Maybe they are working their way down the page and correcting the inoperative links one at a time. Unfortunately the three I am most interested in are down towards the end and two of the links don't work.

Glad I am not the only one having that problem. Clicked on two links, the first put me through to details of the cruise - as it should. The second just put me through to current offers. Not impressed.

When you get your final documentation which includes the time your car will (or should) arrive it should include a number to ring if it does not.

A bit of both I suspect. At 58K tonnes SofD is significantly smaller than the Queens at 90K, and smaller ships feel the weather more than larger ones. Doubt if pod propulsion is the issue as both QE and QV use it. But it is also true imo that Saga is somewhat risk adverse compared with many other lines and this has probably increased since the unfortunate incident with SofD in Biscay which resulted in many passengers being injured.