Booking excursions

[FannyLiz]

Go online to Google and look for printable tourist maps of the towns and cities you have booked to visit. These are usually clear, of good quality and in colour.  Many Tourist Information Bureau are willing to post their maps and guide books to you, free of charge, as well. 
 

We did this a lot in our motorhoming days and it meant we could plan routes and mark off what we wanted to do well in advance.

 

I used to use the library as well to photocopy and then print maps and bits from their guide books.

Edited June 7 by FannyLiz
To add

[Glenndale]

3 hours ago, Denarius said:

Further to the above post, the BBC ran a story on Breakfast today about the dangers of using mobile phones on the street. Apparently there has been an outbreak of thefts in which phones have been snatched from users by thieves on motorcycles, who can then get access to confidential information thereon because the user was logged in when the phone was stolen. Do Saga really want to put their customers at risk as a result of their failure to provide paper maps? They should reverse this stupid penny pinching decision without delay.

So much personal information as well as banking apps. literally up for grabs.  🤦‍♀️

[LandC]

We commented on the lack of paper maps on our recent cruise on SoD, both on the mid-cruise and end of cruise questionnaires.  Never heard back from the Explore Ashore team or Saga HQ. 

[Windsurfboy]

Completely agree need paper maps, but last year people were handing them out at most terminals. Can't read phone map in sun.

 

Yep , many people have had bank accounts raided after phone stolen.  I don't bank on phone for that reason.  Banks put ease of use over security.  If your banking app had three stage security,  facial recognition , then voice recognition then a password may just be enough. The idea of two factors verification with text sent to the phone , which is in hands of thief is mad. I  read about some idiot who stored his password in plain text on phone, and bank compensated him.

Edited June 7 by Windsurfboy

[Kohima]

Many contributors to this forum agree that Saga cruises are very enjoyable but that there could be some improvements which would make things even better. Saga purports to be customer focussed and seeks feedback through questionnaires but does it act on this feedback? 
Why not provide maps for those who want them? Would it be that difficult? It’s a customer service after all. If customers want and need them they should be provided.
 

[cowandbucket]

A bank security man told me fingerprint recognition on your phone is the safest. Facial recognition is not that safe or codes. I use fingerprint now particulary for credit card use. Samsung pay is the method I use.  Far safer than using an actual card which can be cloned or stolen and then they tap and go with your money. We had a card cloned by a hotel some years ago so I never use it unless absolutely necessary. Yes maps are vital when you get off the ship. We did SOD in APL/May and maps were nit  always available in the ports. Had to find a tourist board in Porto to get a map to find our way back to the pickup shuttle. Another common topic/ criticism  we found was that coaches had some extremely tough steps to negotiate, and friends who got off on the next cruise made the same point. Hard for Saga to do much about this I guess. I’m 6ft and bending double to get up some stairs without banging my head was difficult. In general this year we found the included tours to be boring. The paid trip to Quimper from Brest was poor as the coach guide’s English was worse than my French. Hope not to go to Brest again (substitute port) . St Malo was pretty but packed and we couldn’t get a lunch unless pre booked. 

[Glenndale]

Instead of included excursions a flat rate allowance against all bookable excursions would be better surely? 

 

[Kohima]

Better for the customers but not for the company. Many passengers do not use the included excursions for a variety of reasons so Saga is seen to be offering a benefit which, in reality, costs it relatively little.

 

[Spence55]

No longer providing paper maps is probably part of a greenwashing project. It’s bizarre to see companies such as Saga and Fred O link up with ORCA while running their ships on bunker fuel, the dirtiest fuel there is. So I believe not providing maps is not penny pinching, but part of someone’s Key Performance Indicator to make Saga seem more eco friendly. 

[Denarius]

17 hours ago, Spence55 said:

No longer providing paper maps is probably part of a greenwashing project. It’s bizarre to see companies such as Saga and Fred O link up with ORCA while running their ships on bunker fuel, the dirtiest fuel there is. So I believe not providing maps is not penny pinching, but part of someone’s Key Performance Indicator to make Saga seem more eco friendly. 

You could be right. But then, why do they still provide them on their river cruise ships? Surely the effect on the enviroment is the same?

[Kohima]

If greenwashing were the issue, surely the place to start would be the mountain of plastic water bottles handed out at every port. It was disappointing on a recent cruise to see several of these very bottles, barely used, discarded near to the coach excursion meeting point. If folk must have water on a 2 hour trip in temperate weather, they could use their own refillable bottles. Interesting, too, that paper crosswords, news sheets and puzzles are freely available every day.

I would pose the question, has the tours and travel operation been outsourced, as entertainment definitely has, and the decision to stop providing maps is not therefore Saga’s. 

[Denarius]

2 hours ago, Kohima said:

If greenwashing were the issue, surely the place to start would be the mountain of plastic water bottles handed out at every port. It was disappointing on a recent cruise to see several of these very bottles, barely used, discarded near to the coach excursion meeting point. If folk must have water on a 2 hour trip in temperate weather, they could use their own refillable bottles. Interesting, too, that paper crosswords, news sheets and puzzles are freely available every day.

I would pose the question, has the tours and travel operation been outsourced, as entertainment definitely has, and the decision to stop providing maps is not therefore Saga’s. 

I have taken several river cruises with Riviera. They supply a complementary refillable water bottle for every passenger, yours for use throughout the cruise and to take home afterwards if you so wish. As well as being an ecological solution to the problem of plastic waste it is also an advertising medium as the bottles carry the cruise line's logo.

Edited June 9 by Denarius