The platinum Jubilee on board

[Windsurfboy]

We just had a timetable for 3 days of Jubilee celebrations in our village.  Which led me to speculate what Saga will be doing.

 

I know dining is freedom, but given numbers are being kept low, and on our Eastern Mediterranean Oddyssey replacement for Black sea they are especially low. For once it might be nice if everyone sat down together, to celebrate and toast her Majesty at the same time. 

 

Just a thought

 

 

[Glenndale]

We will be on Discovery from June 2nd so I had wondered whether or not Saga would do anything special. Maybe we’ll have a firework send off from Dover and maybe a special jubilee menu. Spam perhaps 😁😁😁

[WeLuv2Holiday]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

We just had a timetable for 3 days of Jubilee celebrations in our village.  Which led me to speculate what Saga will be doing.

 

I know dining is freedom, but given numbers are being kept low, and on our Eastern Mediterranean Oddyssey replacement for Black sea they are especially low. For once it might be nice if everyone sat down together, to celebrate and toast her Majesty at the same time. 

 

Just a thought

 

 

Agreed, I would like to think that there will be some kind of celebration event to mark the occasion especially as we will all be away from home.

[tiggertom]

9 hours ago, Glenndale said:

We will be on Discovery from June 2nd so I had wondered whether or not Saga would do anything special. Maybe we’ll have a firework send off from Dover and maybe a special jubilee menu. Spam perhaps 😁😁😁

The tiggers will meet! We’re on the Spirit of Discovery as well. It will be our first Saga cruise. When we were arranging our transport I asked Saga if they would be doing anything special for the Jubilee but she wasn’t sure.

[Glenndale]

Good grief ! I seem to recall us meeting many years ago on an Azamara cruise. We will have to arrange to see each other, first sea day is favourite What deck are you on? We are on E deck. 😁😁

[tiggertom]

Yes, it was Azamara. I think we were on the winning team for cumulative trivia! I wonder if they do trivia on Saga? We are also on deck E. See you on board.

[lincslady]

Yes, at least they did on the older ships, and it was pretty competitive.

[nosapphire]

Going back to the question, I will be amazed if nothing is put on for the Jubilee - ship registered in UK, flying Red Ensign and with a British head office.

My experience with the old Saga ships was that anything that was a special event on shore was also made into a special event on the ship, whether Remembrance Sunday, McMillan Coffee mornings, Valentines day, etc.

It seems that these events are not pre-arranged by Head Office, the ships are given a great deal of autonomy to decide what they are going to do and how they are going to do it (even the menus are entirely ship arranged, depending on which Chef is in charge; there is no fixed menu set up by Head Office).

Much will depend on the Cruise Director on board, and their enthusiasm and imagination.

My 2 cruises on the new SoD were both rather damp squibs, but with hindsight there were two problems.

One - the main one - is that all the senior staff were either new to Saga and/or new to their position, so they are probably not as confident in saying, "let' have a...." (Saga have always excelled in the "let's have a..." - the Bavarian lunch buffet with Oompah band one sea day was a long time ago, but totally unforgettable)(left me hooked on schnapps).

This should be better now, more of the existing staff and crew transferred over when the Saga Pearl 2 left, and the new crew should be gaining confidence.

The other is that the layout of the new ships does not lend itself to whole-of-ship events in the same way as the old ships; on the old ones, there was always an area that could take every single passenger at once for a party/barbecue/special meal/Christmas singalong,  usually announced only a day or so beforehand and were always great fun.

The new ships are a different layout, with no single area that can take everybody at once (although the reduced capacity at the minute should solve that problem) which does create a different feel to anyone used to the old Saga ships. The layout is in many ways superior to the old ships, but a lot of us "old Saga" are finding the ambience a bit hard to adjust to.

So in answer to the question - Head Office may not be sure, but I'd be willing to bet there will be Jubilee celebrations going on around the ship.

 

 

 

[Windsurfboy]

On the Eastern Mediterranean,  ex black sea,  there are  approximately 190 double and 30 single cabins still on sale , 410 passengers. I dont know if there are also cabins put aside for quarantine. Saga now gives passengers max at 987 on web site , dont know why its down from 999.

 

But all this means there may be as few as 500 on board.  Touch and go If grand dining room with capacity of 492 can take everyone.  But it could take everyone who opted to go to a altogether jubilee dinner , with a toast by captain.  as I'm sure some will still want to go to grill or speciality rrestaurants. 

 

Given you say it's a ship decision.  Might have a word with hotel director. He will then need to canvas opinion amongst passengers as to what they want .  Has 12 days before jubilee  

 

 

[david05]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

On the Eastern Mediterranean,  ex black sea,  there are  approximately 190 double and 30 single cabins still on sale , 410 passengers. I dont know if there are also cabins put aside for quarantine. Saga now gives passengers max at 987 on web site , dont know why its down from 999.

The rear of deck D is, or at least was, closed off for quarantine passengers. As for numbers it certainly looks as if there will be plenty of room, even if occupancy rises a little as there may be some on the guarantee basis who have yet to be allocated a cabin. Let's hope we all test negative at the port so we can get on board!

Interesting the reduction on maximum passenger numbers and I don't know why either.

[Glenndale]

We have our pick up time for our June 2nd cruise. 9:15 for a 4 hour journey. Unfortunately this is a bank holiday and the traffic will probably be horrendous. 

 

[tiggertom]

On 5/20/2022 at 11:40 AM, Glenndale said:

We have our pick up time for our June 2nd cruise. 9:15 for a 4 hour journey. Unfortunately this is a bank holiday and the traffic will probably be horrendous. 

 

How do you get this information? Is it via MySaga or do they post it to you? We have had no information or tickets for this cruise.

[david05]

49 minutes ago, tiggertom said:

How do you get this information? Is it via MySaga or do they post it to you? We have had no information or tickets for this cruise.

You don't get any tickets. Car details are usually received by post along with luggage labels a week before departure but you can usually find the provisional pick up time a bit before then in MySaga.

[Glenndale]

1 hour ago, tiggertom said:

How do you get this information? Is it via MySaga or do they post it to you? We have had no information or tickets for this cruise.

It should be showing on MySaga  (Under UK Travel Service). We received our luggage tags yesterday and the pickup time showed as between 9am and 9:30am in a private car. It was showing as a shared car on MySaga.

How are you getting down from Scotland?

Edited May 22, 2022 by Glenndale

[tiggertom]

2 hours ago, Glenndale said:

It should be showing on MySaga  (Under UK Travel Service). We received our luggage tags yesterday and the pickup time showed as between 9am and 9:30am in a private car. It was showing as a shared car on MySaga.

How are you getting down from Scotland?

We are travelling down using the car service the day before and staying in Dover overnight.

[lincslady]

I had thought that if you lived in Scotland Saga gave you the choice (not ideal for most people) of train tickets or a flight.  Presumably you have to pay quite a lot of extra mileage charge for a car?

[tiggertom]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I had thought that if you lived in Scotland Saga gave you the choice (not ideal for most people) of train tickets or a flight.  Presumably you have to pay quite a lot of extra mileage charge for a car?

We would need 4 trains from our home to Dover and a transfer between stations in London and we couldn’t find a company that could take our luggage ahead so that was a problem. We live 80 miles from an airport which doesn’t help so we took the offer of a private car. 

[lincslady]

Understandable - but I would imagine you had to pay for a lot of extra miles?  I live less than250 miles away, so qualify for a shared car, but others I have spoken  to, who for instance live in North Lancashire or Yorkshire were pretty upset at being asked to pay quite a lot more.  And one Scottish gentleman who had flown said Saga would not offer him a car, even at extra cost.   This is why I mentioned it.  I am referring to several years ago; no doubt things have changed over the recent problematic years.

[Glenndale]

On 5/22/2022 at 5:42 PM, tiggertom said:

We would need 4 trains from our home to Dover and a transfer between stations in London and we couldn’t find a company that could take our luggage ahead so that was a problem. We live 80 miles from an airport which doesn’t help so we took the offer of a private car. 

Safe journey down and hopefully see you on board, Glenn & Michael

[Windsurfboy]

Underwhelmed by Jubilee celebrations on Adventure. Renamed what would have happened anyway. 

[Charlie Ocean]

I’m currently on board SOA and I think ,in fairness, they have made a wonderful effort to celebrate the Jubilee. The ship is adorned with bunting, 3 evenings of gourmet menus, champagne at breakfast, British celebratory afternoon tea , special theatre  shows and an amazing sailaway led by Julie and her team. They even included the Platinum Jubilee pudding on the dinner menu , as well as giving us a gift of a box of chocolates. There was a ships salute at noon with a Kir Royale toast. Even the bed time chocolates have 70 years written on them. I think it’s been incredible and I’m so thankful to have been a part of it. 

[JoJo1947]

2 hours ago, Charlie Ocean said:

I’m currently on board SOA and I think ,in fairness, they have made a wonderful effort to celebrate the Jubilee. The ship is adorned with bunting, 3 evenings of gourmet menus, champagne at breakfast, British celebratory afternoon tea , special theatre  shows and an amazing sailaway led by Julie and her team. They even included the Platinum Jubilee pudding on the dinner menu , as well as giving us a gift of a box of chocolates. There was a ships salute at noon with a Kir Royale toast. Even the bed time chocolates have 70 years written on them. I think it’s been incredible and I’m so thankful to have been a part of it. 

What a great celebration. Well done to the  crew 

[Charlie Ocean]

Yes it’s been amazing. Tracy Clegg is the Cruise Director and she has worked tirelessly on this , along with her team - not forgetting the Captain and all the wonderful crew !