Denarius

My experience as well.

Agree that Sant Cruz in Tenerife is not the most attractive of ports. Nothing really wrong with it, just a pretty anonymous place without anything which would encourage you to return. The exception is on Sundays when there is a large street market around the Market of Our Lady of Africa - aimed at locals rather than at tourists and well worth a visit.

Like this? 🙂

This yoyoing does not do anyone any favours. Passengers do not (and cannot be expected to) constantly check the website to see what this week's - or should it be today's? - interpetation of the dress code is. Not a great problem if the code has been relaxed but a potential source of embarrasment if it has been tightened unbeknown to some passengers.

I can confirm that Saga still have formal nights, three in a two week cruise. This surprised me as the lines which I regard as their direct competitors - Viking, Oceania and Azamara - only have smart casual.

The Glasshouse was designed to be a "pub", or more precisely a wine bar. The idea was that it would serve different wines (and beers) than those available elsewhere. These were chosen by Olly Smith and all were to be available by the glass as well as by the bottle; hence Glasshouse.

I usually head for the local tourist office as well, as their maps are invariably better than those provided onboard. But sometimes I download a map from https://ontheworldmap.com/ which have free maps for most major ports.

Looks like an absolutely stupid penny pinching idea to me. Firstly, it assumes that everyone onboard has a mobile phone with a built in camera; many older people may not. Then it assumes that everyone will be comfortable with getting out their phone in public places ashore to access a map; whilst most ports I would be, there are some in which I would not - especially if lost. And then it assumes that the map can be displayed on the phone in sufficient detail to be useful; ok if you have a phone the size of a small tablet computer, not so if it is of more modest size. Bad idea!!

My favourite hate are "yappers". People who seem unable to keep their mouths shut during an announcement and keep on talking, preventing other people from hearing the announcement as well. Then they complain that no one told them. Yes they did, but you did not stop yapping to listen.

I agree with most of what you write, except for the final sentence. I believe that the market for traditional cruises such as those on Arcadia and Aurora has probably not changed much this century, and will not do so. There will always be a market for voyages to interesting ports on smaller ships offering a more intimate experience. What has changed is that the overall cruise market has grown much larger, expanded by people who would not previously have considered a cruise. The expectations of the new cruisers are different than the more traditional ones, with more emphais on onboard facilities and entertainment. A floating resort hotel which is as important a destination as the ports visited, pehaps more so. P&O obviously see the later market as their main one. Whether and for how long they will also compete in the more traditional market in competition with the likes of Viking, Saga, Oceania and Azamara remains to be seen.

I would seriously consider Viking ocean cruises if they were solo friendly, but regretably they are not. They have no single cabins and charge a 100% single supplement for sole occupacy of a twin, ie double fare. Saga meanwhile have 100 single cabins on each of their ships with an effective single supplement (vis a vis a twin) of 40% to 50%.

It used to be described as "evening in port", which is more accurate.

Exactly. When tipping was expected I used to do so at the recommended rate. When tips were automatically added I left them in situ. After it was stated that tips were no longer required or expected I ceased to tip on the basis that the staff would be rewarded appropriately by P&O and that continuing to tip would ammount to paying twice, and that it may become the new norm. From this thread it appears that the latter fears have been realised.

To me "overnight" means "for the period between sunset and sunrise". Departing at 1:30am is not overnight. As regards manning the gangway, on all the cruises I have taken with an overnight stay the gangway has been manned throughout the ships stay in port. Indeed, in my experience the people most likely to arrive back in the early hours have been off duty crew members taking advantage of the local nightlife, as I would heve done at their age!

It does. I recently flew from Manchester to Amsterdam and back on scheduled flights with a reputable national carrier. The outward flight was excellent and the plane had good sized seats and plenty of legroom. Not so the return flight. We were advised that a chartered aircraft was being used and that all wheeled cabin cases should be stored in the hold at no extra charge as storage in the cabin was extremely limited; a harbinger of things to come. The plane, owned by an airline I had never heard of before and whose name I have since forgotten, was the worst I have ever encountered in over 50 years of flying. The seats were so narrow that I felt cramped, and I am only 5 foot 5 inches and weigh about 9 stone 9 pounds. And my knees were only about 3 or 4 inches from the back of the seat in front of me. So if this can happen on a scheduled flight, what hope for charters?

Or be tarred and feathered!

I took my first Saga ocean cruise 2 years ago after sailing with other lines since the 1990s. One thing which surprised me was how early Saga passengers dined. On other lines my preferred time for dinner had been around 8pm which was usually a fairly busy time, but when I went down to the MDR at that time it was obvious that virtually everyone else was already seated. Indeed, I overheard someone comment in a shocked voice "he has only just come in"! So I went with the flow and dined earlier, but one upside was that bookings in the speciality restaurants appeared to much more freelly available if you were prepared to eat at 8pm or later. Saga passengers obviousy keep early hours. 🙂 PS It appears that this also applies to Saga river cruises. I took my first one a few weeks ago. Dinner was from 7pm but virtually all the ship was seated by 7:15. A "late night" snack was served in the lounge at 10:30!!!

Too late for me. My plan was to book a Saga cruise of 14 nights or more in the Summer as my "sheet anchor" and then work around it, but by March early booking discounts on my alternatives (river cruises) may well have dissappeared. So they may well have to be my first port of call if I see something that attracts my attention, with Saga as my second string.

Have sailed on both. The deck plans are the same apart from The Club. On SofD it has an open middle section looking down into the MDR below, which effectively resticts musical performances until after diners in tha latter have left. On SofA there is no open section, making The Club much bigger and allowing music at any time. As regards decor, it is a matter of personal taste; SofD is more resrained, SofA more vibrant. The main difference is as regards the speciality restaurants.

Video played fine on my laptop, and they were! May depend on your browser; I am using Firefox.

Whilst I have only been on 3 Saga cruises so far I have found that the average age of passengers varies substantially depending on the time of year and the itinerary. Passengers on my Winter cruise to the Canaries (retirees like me after a bit of Winter warmth?) were noticably older than on my Summer cruise to the Baltic.

Could be that your browser is loading the page from its cache rather than reloading it. Try refreshing it.

I first visited the USA in 1982, well before the visa waiver programme was introduced. In those days you needed a non resident visa for which you applied by post, sending your passport which was duly returned with a visa stamped in it. I was granted an indefinate visa valid for multiple entries even if the passport in which it was stamped had expired; all I needed to do was present the old passport with the current one. Then came the attack on the twin towers and all such visas were revoked.....

Whilst I am a recent convert to Saga and have only been on 3 cruises - two on SofD and one on SofA - I have never noticed a problem despite eating on the Verranda many times. Perhaps I have been lucky. But my hunch is that it largely depends on the relative speeds and directions of the wind and the ship; whether the soot is carried clear of the ship or deposited back on it.

I have never occupied one of the cabins you name, but on my first Star Clippers cruise occupied an equivalent cabin on the deck below. It was Hobson's choice; it was the only one still available, but I got it at a bargain price. The bed was a fixed double right up against the hull. It was raised a metre or so above the floor - the reason for this being the curvature of the hull - and was accessed by a small fixed ladder. I was sailing alone, but if two people occupied the bed the one nearest the hull would not have been able to get in or out without disturbing the other. I found the cabin very noisy when the ship was sailing under power and would not occupy such a cabin again, even if it was the only one left. Others may feel differently.