Truro001

Hi. As with most things we all have our own preferences in life and this certainly applies to what we want with regard to cabins on cruise ships. It has been our experience that all the standard cabins on both Saga ships are exactly the same size so it comes down to your personal choice as to whether you prefer a cabin on a higher deck, a lower deck, a forward cabin or an aft cabin. You might have a preference as to whether you want to be close to the theatre, dining rooms or swimming pool. To date we have stayed in standard cabins on B deck, C deck, D deck and E deck. We have not noticed any difference in the size of the cabins. Our personal choice is for those cabins aft of the library on E deck. The reason for our choice? Those cabins offer easy access to the library (coffee machine), the main dining room, the speciality restaurants, the promenade deck and the outside seating area on deck 7. We have never been aware of any noise from the restaurants on the deck below E deck. The added bonus of course is that when the cruises are first released the prices of the cabins on E deck are considerably cheaper than identical cabins on higher decks. (On a 30 night cruise the increase appears to be in the region of £1,000 per deck). This pricing difference obviously changes because the discounts are reduced as more cabins are sold. Personally, I would always opt for a good deal on deck E (35% or 30% discount ) and then put the savings towards our next cruise booking. On our our next cruise we are on D deck simply because the discounts available on this occasion meant that the cabins on D deck were cheaper than the cabins on E deck. Hope the above helps in making your decision.

Hi again. I think you will find people are very divided on what to do with regarding giving the driver a tip. It is obviously very much up to the individual. We have always been very impressed with our drivers and they have all provided an excellent service. To date we have never had to share a ride and in view of the fact that our journey to Portsmouth is well over 200 miles and takes approximately 5 hours we would normally tip the driver £20 as a token of appreciation. However, as I said, it is entirely up to the individual and we have never felt that that a tip was expected.

Hi Cynthia. You will not necessarily get a call from a local taxi firm. We have been on 3 cruises with Saga in the last 2 years and we have never had a call from a driver confirming a pick up time. Mind you, on all 3 occasions the driver arrived precisely in the middle of the half hour time slot specified in the travel notes.

We have been on E deck above the Club and was not aware of any noise from below. In fact we have just booked another cruise and didn’t hesitate to select a similar cabin on E deck.

We were once allocated an L grade cabin on E deck when we booked a “Guaranteed” cabin for a cruise on the Spirit of Adventure. We were delighted with the cabin because it was in a quiet area but close to the library (coffee machines) and had easy access to the open area at the back of deck 7. There appeared to be no difference whatsoever to the cabins we had on B deck and C deck during previous cruises. When we next booked a cruise I particularly asked for the same cabin but was told that it was not available because the L grade cabins on E deck are held back in case they are needed for guest entertainers of members of crew. In fact we seem to remember that at least 6 cabins further aft than our own were occupied by shop’s officers or members of the piano quartet.

It would appear to me that as far as the standard cabins are concerned the cabins on each deck are initially offered at a 35% discount. Cabins in E deck are the cheapest and as a “rule of thumb” the price of a cabin on a 30 night cruise will increase by approximately £1,000 for each deck above that. Obviously the 35% discounts for the cheaper cabins on E deck are quickly snapped up. It therefore follows that a more expensive cabin on D deck still offering a 30% discount can prove to be a better deal than the cheaper cabin on E deck offering only 15%. Timing is everything. In our opinion there is no appreciable difference in any of the standard cabins so we always look out for the best price offered. That means we can go on more cruises!

FYI. I received my call last night. (Registered in June 2022). For the Christmas cruise on the Spirit of Adventure I was offered a 35% discount for the standard cabins on A deck, B deck, C Deck and D deck. The discount for a standard cabin on E deck was 30%.

Many thanks for the feedback. Some months ago I was told by Saga that "Selected" cruises in 2022 would have the Premium package but at that time they couldn't say which cruises had been "Selected". Good to hear from you Windsurf boy. All is well with us. We thoroughly enjoyed the Eastern Med cruise (plus Premium drinks) and are about to sail on the Discovery for the Christmas cruise as too is JoJo1947. Enjoy the Caribbean in November.

When we were on Spirit of Adventure for the Eastern Mediterranean cruise in May/June 2022 Saga included the premium drinks package on this and some other selected cruises. We understand that the Premium drinks package is included in all 2023 sailings but we wondered if Saga are including the Premium drinks package on their Christmas cruises with the Spirit of Adventure and Spirit of Discovery. Does anybody happen to know whether these particular cruises are amongst the ”selected” cruises?