No independent exploring

[ighten]

Currently in a nice big merc suv about to get on m4. Good journey so far been going since 9.45am. 

 

Fingers crossed.

 

 

 

[lincslady]

ighten - I have just looked up your itinerary for the first time.  It is a lovely one;  overnight for Santiago de Compostela (worth the long drive, especially if they include a visit to the lovely hotel for lunch or snacks)  Bilbao for the Guggenheim (lovely? or maybe not), overnight in Bordeaux, etc.  It really is a great itinerary.

 

Glad to read all is going well so far.

 

 

[Kenmure]

41 minutes ago, lincslady said:

That is bad luck - any explanation as to why?

No just Covid protocols. But they are giving us a full refund plus 10% off future cruise which we organised whilst still on board.

[lincslady]

Glad to hear of the future cruise money off, some slight compensation.  It is a great itinerary, having just looked it up.

[ighten]

Made it.. actually quite well organised and not as bad as I feared. Will add anything else to a new thread unless it becomes relevant to this.

[ighten]

Made it.. actually quite well organised and not as bad as I feared. Will add anything else to a new thread unless it becomes relevant to this.

[krrgolf]

4 hours ago, Kenmure said:

We have just arrived home today after disembarking from SoA. We were looking forward to the Footsteps of St James cruise but Saga asked us to disembark. We hope someone can let us know how it goes.

Kenmure - I don’t understand your post re being asked to disembark- your post last Friday said you had a letter from Saga saying you and 40 others had their cruises cancelled and refunds given plus extra 10% FCC - so why the surprise when asked to disembark?

[lincslady]

Your cabin - better than a cabin - looks great, and glad you must have been on board not too late.  Do start a thread about your trip, without taking too much time off enjoying yourself of course.

 

I think I would enjoy being able to make my own morning tea, rather than ordering room service.  And assuming they are open, the specialist restaurants sound terrific.  I have only been on the old Pearl and Sapphire so far, but hope to try this or Discovery sometime.  The only thing I like less is the greater number on board; so far my maximum has been 700 on Sapphire, and I really liked the tiny Seabourn ships years ago, with about280.

[Banjo an]

2 hours ago, ighten said:

Made it.. actually quite well organised and not as bad as I feared. Will add anything else to a new thread unless it becomes relevant to this.

 

2 hours ago, ighten said:

Made it.. actually quite well organised and not as bad as I feared. Will add anything else to a new thread unless it becomes relevant to this.

Thank you for this information Ighten.

we hope you have a lovely cruise. Please keep us posted.

[ighten]

On SoA last night we had a letter to say the first 5 days (all the Spanish days) we will be daily tested. Still feels like Saga are looking for the problem unless of course this is being forced on them. 

 

We shall  see how it goes.. but so far all good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lincslady]

15 minutes ago, ighten said:

On SoA last night we had a letter to say the first 5 days (all the Spanish days) we will be daily tested. Still feels like Saga are looking for the problem unless of course this is being forced on them. 

 

We shall  see how it goes.. but so far all good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's hope you are all negative!  I did wonder if some 40 people who were going to stay on had been dumped because they  feared needing more quarantine cabins, or maybe they just want to keep the overall numbers down at present.  And if anyone is positive that they do not get put off the ship!

[Windsurfboy]

2 hours ago, ighten said:

On SoA last night we had a letter to say the first 5 days (all the Spanish days) we will be daily tested. Still feels like Saga are looking for the problem unless of course this is being forced on them. 

 

We shall  see how it goes.. but so far all good.

 

 

It's not being forced on them.  Look at the earlier post with link to Spanish protocols.  Need to test as people board , then if symtomatic. 

[ighten]

So first day of testing.. seems to be going smoothly. Assigned time to Brittania lounge then go to cabin await phone call for result.

 

I forgot to mention a few of the paid excursions have been turned into free excursions. What's a little confusing is because saga do the same excursions several times a day but for some unknown reason don't put the time on your tkt it's a little  confusing trying to squeeze the free new ones around your already booked plans.. this did cause a bit of chaos yesterday at the excursions and guest service desk which tends to result in the opposite to social distancing that saga are trying for.  Simple solution put the time on the tkt.

[Windsurfboy]

Glad to see Ighten is enjoying their footsteps of saint James cruise. See his blog.

 

His first tour was a walking tour of city. Afternoon tour is a coastal tour with stops for walks. These sound much more enjoyable than being stuck in a coach.  However this is certainly not the BUBBLE that was described as the reason for no independent excursions at ports. 

 

Leaves me mystified as to logic

 

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Windsurfboy

[paulatsea]

Are saga still organising testing at the port prior to embarkation ?

 

if you have no excursions booked in advance  is it easy to get on one so you can get off ? Assuming it’s still not allowed to get off independently ?

 

thanks

[nosapphire]

43 minutes ago, paulatsea said:

Are saga still organising testing at the port prior to embarkation ?

 

if you have no excursions booked in advance  is it easy to get on one so you can get off ? Assuming it’s still not allowed to get off independently ?

 

thanks

As far as tours go, if there is one that you really want to do, then book in advance to make sure you are on it.

Saga have a very reasonable cancellation policy (or they did last time I was on 2019-2020 pre-pandemic) - cancel a tour without penalty any time up until  bookings for that tour closes (closing times for each tour will be in the daily "Today" programme).

Booking on board is normally easy, and again Saga do not (or previously did not) charge a different price between pre booking or on board booking. The tours desk should have booking lists which will tell you what is still open, and if a tour is very popular they will try and put on extra whenever possible. If a our is sold out, ask the tours desk to put your name down for either a cancellation or if an extra tour is put on.

Testing - ask Saga directly.  Fairly sure they will be, probably for quite some time.

[paulatsea]

1 minute ago, nosapphire said:

As far as tours go, if there is one that you really want to do, then book in advance to make sure you are on it.

Saga have a very reasonable cancellation policy (or they did last time I was on 2019-2020 pre-pandemic) - cancel a tour without penalty any time up until  bookings for that tour closes (closing times for each tour will be in the daily "Today" programme).

Booking on board is normally easy, and again Saga do not (or previously did not) charge a different price between pre booking or on board booking. The tours desk should have booking lists which will tell you what is still open, and if a tour is very popular they will try and put on extra whenever possible. If a our is sold out, ask the tours desk to put your name down for either a cancellation or if an extra tour is put on.

Testing - ask Saga directly.  Fairly sure they will be, probably for quite some time.

Thanks nosapphire

[Kohima]

We found the procedures for booking tours still the same as pre pandemic.  Always book in advance to be sure of your choices and timings. Doing it through MySaga avoids the phone queues. There is always the possibility to make changes later if needed.

Back in October we weren’t able to go ashore independently but really enjoyed the tours we did as there was plenty of time off the coaches in various locations but nowhere busy with other tourists. We weren’t allowed in cafes or shops.

[paulatsea]

1 hour ago, Kohima said:

We found the procedures for booking tours still the same as pre pandemic.  Always book in advance to be sure of your choices and timings. Doing it through MySaga avoids the phone queues. There is always the possibility to make changes later if needed.

Back in October we weren’t able to go ashore independently but really enjoyed the tours we did as there was plenty of time off the coaches in various locations but nowhere busy with other tourists. We weren’t allowed in cafes or shops.

Thanks Kohima - I usually book excursions in advance to make sure we get the ones we prefer but given that no independent journeys ashore are allowed, have the number of included trips been increased ? On your October cruise did you have an included one at each stop ?

 

We are going at the end of august(first saga one) and I think we have 2 included excursions at the moment.

 

[Kohima]

No there were only about 4 included in 14 days. We actually paid for most of our excursions as they were the most interesting/better ones. Everything went well so the cost was worth it.Obviously times have changed, as in October we were concerned about being in contact with anyone outside the Saga bubble…….no Covid on board then.
In February, with independent exploration allowed, we only called at 4 ports in 17 days due to various factors. By then we were more fearful of our fellow passengers than the natives so glad to get off the ship when we could! In one of the ports we were in isolation so couldn’t leave the ship and missed the trip we had most looked forward to. In another our excursion was cancelled at the last minute. In a third we were treated to a complimentary excursion all crowded onto a catamaran, which may well have been a superspreader event!

Hopefully there has been some learning since then about what works best for all concerted as circumstances continue to evolve. 

[paulatsea]

9 minutes ago, Kohima said:

No there were only about 4 included in 14 days. We actually paid for most of our excursions as they were the most interesting/better ones. Everything went well so the cost was worth it.Obviously times have changed, as in October we were concerned about being in contact with anyone outside the Saga bubble…….no Covid on board then.
In February, with independent exploration allowed, we only called at 4 ports in 17 days due to various factors. By then we were more fearful of our fellow passengers than the natives so glad to get off the ship when we could! In one of the ports we were in isolation so couldn’t leave the ship and missed the trip we had most looked forward to. In another our excursion was cancelled at the last minute. In a third we were treated to a complimentary excursion all crowded onto a catamaran, which may well have been a superspreader event!

Hopefully there has been some learning since then about what works best for all concerted as circumstances continue to evolve. 

Thanks very much Kohima.

[ighten]

Just to add on the current SoA cruise now they have added more and more excursions after departure. And also made some of the pay ones free.. its actually reached a point where we are off the ship more than we normally would be. Last 2 days have been full days .. Today's tbh didn't feel much different than normal times as we were allowed to wander shops, markets, bars on our own anyway..  the irony though is they canceled a cpl of our trips and replaced them with an alternative because they couldn't guarantee the covid policy's of the venue. Yet then they are giving you free time and directing you to the bars to try the Austurian cider. Granted at 11.00am your likely to be the only person in a Spanish bar but it does seem odd.

Edited April 16, 2022 by ighten

[Windsurfboy]

16 minutes ago, ighten said:

Just to add on the current SoA cruise now they have added more and more excursions after departure. And also made some of the pay ones free.. its actually reached a point where we are off the ship more than we normally would be. Last 2 days have been full days .. Today's tbh didn't feel much different than normal times as we were allowed to wander shops, markets, bars on our own anyway..  the irony though is they canceled a cpl of our trips and replaced them with an alternative because they couldn't guarantee the covid policy's of the venue. Yet then they are giving you free time and directing you to the bars to try the Austurian cider. Granted at 11.00am your likely to be the only person in a Spanish bar but it does seem odd.

 

The good news is that the trips feel free and easy and people are enjoying themselves. 

 

But the logic of allowing all this and no independent excursions at ports doesn't exist. 

 

As for the good advice to book excursions in advance, 5 weeks to go and none announced for our black sea cruise.  Most probably still not certain what's happening. 

[paulatsea]

Thanks for the updates ighten and windsurfboy   - good that free ones have been added - even if it’s just to be dropped off somewhere - but as you both said it doesn’t make much sense if it’s not a proper bubble ! But glad you are having a good trip - that’s great to hear.

[Windsurfboy]

It's very interesting,  this thread started 18 days ago, at the start of cruises on which covid became almost rampant with lockdowns and lots of people in quarantine and being marched of to hotel quarantine. Jump forward 2 and1/2 weeks and ighten reports only 2 positive cases and 2 days of no cases. 

 

Great news , but  Saga's covid protocols were exactly same for both sets of cruises. So you can't argue it's the strict rules that have resulted in lower covid in latest cruises because the same rules didn't work in earlier cruises.

 

 if Saga uses this drop as evidence that the rules and especially no independent excursions at ports work and  are thus being extended into May , they have it wrong

Edited April 17, 2022 by Windsurfboy