Saga Rose Greenland Voyager August 2007

[CGTNORMANDIE]

DI SHEEP IS LEEVING!!!...I remember it well. I have had some hilarious departures...with the ribbons and Champagne etc. The Italians had the cocktails down to a science for their departures. The French had the best naval song...bar none...and they had the best system. You could take your Champagne to any of the lounges and they would serve it to you. You would stay in the lounge in cold weather or stand on deck in good weather...until you passed the Statue of Liberty. I will never forget being on the Queen Elizabeth and looking down to the deck below me. Here was this man with his family...obviously going on the big European tour for the summer. He was leaning out over the rail...with a brand new (expensive) camera. He had forgotten to put on his shoulder strap and the camera dropped into the water...you should have heard him. I could not believe it...I just stood there in a daze. When we were sailing on the LEONARDO I discovered that I had forgotten my camera. I had plenty of film but had left the camera on the kitchen table...LOL. My wife got so mad at me that we were having this huge debate while going aboard the ship...LOL. The crew must have thought we were out of our minds...LOL!!! My wife wasn't speaking to me by the time the ship was backing out into NY Harbor...LOL. Luckily one of the stewards came along and plied her with a cocktail and then another...by the time we were passing the Statue of Liberty all was well with the world...LOL!!! How many remember the pipe organs onboard ship??? The Queens had them...and the Germans had the Pine Room onboard the Bremen where Willy would play as the ship sailed along. You could buy a 1 litre clay stein with the Nord Deutcher Lloyd insignia and a pewter top on it and they would fill it with Lowenbrau for 25 cents!!! The stein is still on my dresser today.

[dougnewmanatsea]

To others who have sailed on the Italia Line, why did they use that phrase "la nave in partenza", the "sheep is sailing"? I find it fascinating.

Sorry, I misread your post! I thought you were translating the Italian phrase "the ship is sailing" as "the sheep is sailing".

 

Now I realize that they quite literally said "the sheep is sailing" in English. As to that, try saying "ship" with a thick Italian accent... It sounds just like "sheep". The "i" sound in "ship" doesn't really exist in Italian so it is very difficult for Italians to pronounce.

 

I remember people used to make jokes about Costa having a ship called the COSTA LOT. That was until they came out with the COSTA FORTUNA! Eet-a cost-a fortune-a... ;)

 

I have always thought that just about anything sounds good in Italian! I don't know how to say "cesspool" in Italian but it probably sounds lovely...

 

Thanks for your bon voyage wishes!

[Saga Ruby]

I don't know that one. Do tell.

 

Ah, the irony of the camera magilla. One loses his camera at sailaway, one has lots o' film and no camera - the joys of travel.

 

To Druke - my father spoke pure Castilian Spanish. From that source, I evidently speak a more educated Spanish than the norm because Spanish speakers constantly ask me where I learned my language. When I was in Barcelona and struggling to adjust to the Catalan language, I was mentally thinking, "Oy vey!"

 

I learned 15 whole words in Istanbul last November. The only one I now remember is "palamut" which is the most delicious Gypsy bonito fish you've ever eaten. Which means I'll never starve to death in Turkey. Pardon the pun.

 

Ruby

[Conte Di Savoia]

Thanks to all who explained the "sheep" reference to Ruby. It was part of a much longer announcement, which like the announcement for meals, I remember in its entirety. I won't bore you with the details. I don't remember anyone going around ringing bells through the lounges but I do remember the bellboys on board who in 1961 still operated the lifts even though they were totally self-service. By 1963 they were gone. Was this the beginning of the end?

 

Did anybody sail into Liverpool in days gone by?

No. Never did sail into Liverpool. It must have been grand. My question to the group is what ports do you think are the most spectacular to sail into our out of? Some of my favorites have been:

New York (what else could I say as a native New Yorker?)

Naples (Not too many ports with a volcano in the background)

Rio

Hong Kong

Sydney

Venice

Quebec City (love the Chateau Frontenac)

[Druke I]

I do believe you left out one magnificent port in your listing: San Francisco.

 

A beautiful harbor, and sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge is truly a thrill.

 

Some Captains give a mighty blast of the ship's whistle (horn) just before going under the Bridge in salute to the pedestrians waving goodbye. Brings a tear to my eye every time, and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up!

 

When QM2 made her maiden call to San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, not only was she sounding her mighty whistle, but the Bridge was blowing its foghorn in return salute!

[Saga Ruby]

Conte, what an excellent idea! Below are my favorites:

 

La Guaira, Venezuela which is the port of Caracas. Tiny multi-coloured houses dotted the green hillsides of this small port and, at twilight, lights coming on at random, making this small town look like a Christmas tree alive with twinky lights. Rio was a larger-scale version of La Guaira and how can you beat Rio’s harbour?

 

Singapore in 1992. We sailed into the port at dawn. The sky was grey, the sea was grey with the huge orange ball of the sun barely clearing the horizon which provided the only spot of color. A perfect rendition of a Monet painting. There were tiny boats scurrying around importantly, large cargo ships resting at anchor, busyness everywhere. Last December, I visited Singapore again. The port is entirely different, antiseptic. There is no local colour, no flavour to make it unique. If it weren’t for the Mer-Lion proudly standing guard on its stone base, I would not have recognized Singapore.

 

Muscat, Oman has a good port with the Sultan’s Royal Dhow tied up at a pier. As one sails out of the harbour at night, the centuries-old forts on the hillsides are alight with large, multi-colored spotlights which change colours constantly.

 

My family sailed out of Venezia to the Greek Islands and the "Holy Land." When we arrived back in Venezia two weeks later, my father arranged for us to enjoy dinner on the rooftop restaurant of our hotel (the Danieli). We were able to enjoy a postcard view of that white ship, the Acropolis, sailing silently out to sea at night with her logo lights and deco lights flaring in the darkness.

 

Every time I am in Sydney, I enjoy that entire harbour. It is top on my list of favorite ports. Visiting and enjoying the area around Circular Quay and the actual port is like being presented with the keys to a most magnificent city.

 

About sheep and departures, I plead temporary insanity. Ba-a-a-a-a-h!

 

Ruby

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Conte, what an excellent idea! Below are my favorites:

 

La Guaira, Venezuela which is the port of Caracas. Tiny multi-coloured houses dotted the green hillsides of this small port and, at twilight, lights coming on at random...Just don't go walking around by yourself!!! LOL!!!

Singapore in 1992. We sailed into the port at dawn. The sky was grey, the sea was grey with the huge orange ball of the sun barely clearing the horizon which provided the only spot of color..."AND THE DAWN COMES UP LIKE THUNDER"...

About sheep and departures, I plead temporary insanity. Ba-a-a-a-a-h!

And we plead permanent insanity...WE ARE SHIP DAFT!!!

 

LOL!!! "THE SHEEP IS LEEVING"...LOL!!!:D

Ruby

 

I especially loved those giant birds that flew over us at La Guaira...what do you call them? I also loved sailing along the coast of Venezuala...simply gorgeous.

 

There is something about the harbor at Grenada...the old sheds, the big sail boats, the quiet hillside...I like it.

[Conte Di Savoia]

I do believe you left out one magnificent port in your listing: San Francisco.

 

I knew I would forget some. You're quite right about San Francisco. I remember one year flying from New York to San Francisco to take an Alaska cruise on Fairsky. We left JFK and as I looked out the window I spotted the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge at the entrance to New York Harbor. Later the same afternoon we sailed under the Golden Gate. From sea to shining sea in a few hours. I'm still in awe of that experience. Life can be very good.

The other port I forgot is Gibraltar. What can one say about the most famous of rocks?

[Druke I]

You mentioned Naples with the volcano as pretty.

 

9-00, we went on last voyage of Sky Princess as a Princess ship, San Francisco to Sydney. It was billed as a WW2 Battlefields cruise, and one of the scheduled ports was Rabual, Papua New Guinea (formerly New Britain).

 

Rabaul was a major Japanese Imperial Navy Base during WW2.

 

When we pulled in, one of two volcanoes at the harbor mouth was belching smoke and ash. It was heavy enough that surgical masks were passed out to passengers, and special filters were put up on the funnel's air intakes.

 

It is really a quite pretty harbor.

 

Another that we found beautiful, and reminded us of a cross between San Francisco and Seattle is Nagasaki Japan. We were there on an earlier cruise on Sky Princess (4-97).

[Saga Ruby]

I like -

Teak, civility, quality afternoon tea with musical accompaniment, good service at meal-times with a preference for single-seating, sufficient deck chairs (teak, of course) to sit in and pretend to read a book as I stare hypnotically at the seas rushing by, the locks of the Panama Canal, Tasmania, fjords, trivia, informative lecturers that can teach me something new, a hotel staff which returns my greetings, acquiring next year’s calendar in a favoured locale to enjoy at home the following year, history and geography, learning a few words of a country’s language while I am a guest there, appreciating a cruise line's sense of style and class on my next cruise.

 

I do not like -

plasticized, rubberized surfaces, alcohol-induced occurrences of "man overboard," ships that are larger than the island they visit, the sixth foreign currency in a single cruise, most Caribbean islands (after awhile I was remembering them by the brand of taxi at the piers), multiple announcements during the day, feverish activities all day long, bingo, gluttony, monotone lecturers who are "preaching to the choir," chronically complaining passengers who seem to be assigned to every cruise, lifeboat drills in four languages, crowds, a continuing puzzlement about the need for "specialty restaurants," discussions about smuggling liquor onboard.

 

Ruby

[JDRMYS]

I can't believe that I haven't discovered this thread earlier. It's wonderful and, for me, quite nostalgic. I took my first ocean voyages 30 years ago when my late father took me to France. We took the Queen Elizabeth (the 1st, and IMHO, the only real one) over and the France back. On the QE we were in A75, the bedroom of a suite. It was a magnificent, wood-panelled cabin. In the dining room (black tie every night, of course) we were at a table next to Leopold Stowkowski and his 2 sons by Gloria Vanderbilt. I had loved ships since I had visited my grandparents when they sailed from New York to Naples on the Independence in 1959 and had spent many afternoons, after school, visiting ocean liners at the old west side piers, but with this first trip I was really and truely addicted.

 

Our westbound crossing was on the ss France in cabin U53 (it's amazing that I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I remeber every stateroom that I have ever occupied) which was the bedroom of the Poitou suite, decorated by Madame Klotz who was responsible for many of the 1st class cabins on the Normandie. BTW, there is a wonderful photograph of U53 on page 150 of Armelle Bouchet Mazas' new book "Le Paquebot France, Le Style Francais".

 

After that, I crossed the Atlantic eastbound and westbound every year that the France was still in service. I also took the France's last Christmas/New Year's cruise from Le Havre to West Africa, and, later in the year, I took the last New York - Le Havre - New York round trip, arriving home on September 5, 1974: The France's last visit to NYC. There were many old friends, both among the passengers and the crew, on that trip. It was quite bittersweet. Our favotite deck steward said that he was in mourning, and we all concurred. At the last breakfast, M. Pellegran, the great & famous Maitre d'Hotel of the Chambord dining room, asked to be remembered to my parents and to my aunt and uncle, none of whom had been on board for several years.

 

Since then I have crossed the Atlantic on the QE2 (5 times), the Gripsholm, the Kungsholm, the Royal Viking Sea, the Royal Viking Sun and the Seven Seas Voyager (twice). I've crossed the Pacific on the Seabourn Pride and on the Seven Seas Mariner. I've also taken many cruises on the Mermoz (Paquet Cruises), the Vistafjord (in 1975 when she was new), all of the Seabourn triplets, the Silver Whisper, and all of the Regent Seven Seas ships. I'm sure that I have left a few out. Currently, we are booked for 19 days in November-December in South America on the Seven Seas Mariner and 19 days on the Europa from Barcelona to Rio in January-February.

 

I also have an extensive collection of ocean liner memorabilia that I started more than 40 years ago. Although I collect items from many companies, my concentration is on French ships. I am particularly interested in photgraphs of cabins and in deck plans. I am lucky enough to have some real gems such as many Byron (and other) photographs of 1st class cabins on the Normandie, company photos of cabins on the L'Atlantique and the Pasteur, deck plans of the L'Atlantique and the Pasteur, and (perhaps rarest of all) a brochure with photo interiors of Messageries Maritimes' Georges Phillipar which sank on her maiden voyage.

 

Boy, am I running on! I could go on with ocean liner memories all night, but I need to be up in the morning, and I haven't yet even broached your original topic of Saga cruises.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Nice to hear from you JDRMYS!!!

 

I have an extensive French Line collection with many menus etc. My best collection is my NORMANDIE memorabilia. I would love to see some real color pictures of the NORMANDIE interiors. I am still waiting for someone to find a color slide collection that was hidden away for the past 70 years. I can dream can't I???

 

We look forward to more discussions together.

 

ROSS

[Conte Di Savoia]

JDRMYS, welcome aboard our nostalgia cruise. I'd love to hear your recollections of the France. I was in U156 on the August 3, 1963 westbound crossing (I know what you mean about remembering the small details). Do you recall the "bowling alley"? It was actually miniaturized game costing a quarter to play. My friend and I discovered that 10 lire coins, which were worth, well practically nothing, were a good substitute. What a strange thing to remember after all these years.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

SS FRANCE: How about the First Class swimming pool down below...I think it was on C deck. That had to be one of the most beautiful pool areas I ever saw. The SS FRANCE was in superb condition when she retired. I remember how nice the ship was kept. The CGT had a way of making the voyage exciting. By the third day you did not want to leave the ship. The CGT called it L'atmosphere Transat...the whole crew would work together to elevate the atmosphere onboard. It is hard to believe what they did to keep the pax entertained in the age before casinos and Broadway shows. The quality of the Cabaret was superb and the party just seemed to go on into the night...until the wee hours. The Croissants and Brioche were fantastic at breakfast. The simple things were so nice...like the bread and the Normandy butter. Tourist Class was a great deal of fun on the FRANCE. I met so many interesting people and we had so many nice evenings...just socializing. I have a great little picture of a few hearty souls out on deck in their deck chairs with their steamer rugs and blankets with the deck steward in attendance. The picture just sums up all that was good about the Atlantic run. I will send it to SAGA RUBY and see if she can set it up on a URL...brings back a lot of good memories.:D

 

ROSS

[Saga Ruby]

To the Conte - thanks for our cruise name. We can hide under cover of "Saga Rose Greenland" and let The Others go about their business.

 

JDRMYS - a warm Welcome Aboard the Nostalgia Cruise. If you have any personal Saga cruise information, come sit down here beside me. One of the highlights on my past Saga Ruby cruise was the Anglican church service on Sundays. The Captain led the service, then the crew choir came into the ballroom and sang some lovely old hymns a capella. The service ended with us passengers accompanying the choir by using hymnals placed at our seats.

 

Sad to say, I have failed in my duties to CGTNORMANDIE to establish an attachment for his lovely photo. Anyone else? Hands in the air?

 

Speaking of church services, I was intrigued about the pipe organs onboard a grand old liner. Details, please.

 

Ruby

[Conte Di Savoia]

I can post pictures but I don't know how to receive e-mails from y'all. Can anyone help with that?

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI CONTE!!!

 

Just email me at BIOCLEAN@RCN.COM and I will send you the photo. I have it on a format that will magnify...maybe you can blow it up a bit and then post it. Let us know how you make out.

 

THANKS,

 

ROSS

[JDRMYS]

CGTNormandie, Thanks for your reminisences about the France. For me, It didn't take until the 3rd day for me to want to stay on the ship forever. 365 days a year I dreamed that I could live on the France. Actually, I still feel that way. The brioches and croissants were of a quality that is almost never obtainable anymore, even in France. Almost no one is willing to put in enough good Normandy butter to make really authentic versions anymore. For breakfast on the France, I had only brioches, raspberry jam and cafe au lait. Naturally, these were served to me in bed by extraordinary cabin stewards who were the French equivalents of Jeeves.

 

The quality of lucnch and dinner in the first class (Chambord) dining room has never been equaled, in my experience, and I have eaten at almost all of the most famous 3 star restaurants in France. If you remember, the late Craig Claiborn called this extraordinay dining room "the best restaurant in the world." IMHO, it has never yet been equalled. This was not only for the food, but also for the service. For years after the France went out of service, I ran into former France dining room staff into some of the best restaurants in Paris and elsewhere in France. In the later 1970s I even took a special trip to Le Havre to stay at the hotel and reataurant owned by ss France table captain, Max.

 

As to night life, again there has been no ship since the France to equal the quality. There was always a couple of dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet, as well as other top quality performers. There were none of the tacky production shows that plague almost all contemporary cruise ships. After the shows, dancing and "Parlor" games that were played on the dance floor after everyone was a little high on Champagne, many of us went to the Caberet de l'Atlantique where there was a quiet jazz combo and a late night bar menu that included Beluga caviar, shrimp, foie gras, and hot dogs. People who made it to 4AM (I think that it was 4AM) 4 nights in a row, were inducted into the "Club des Noctambules". Many of my friends made it, but, I am ashamed to say that I never quite did.

 

Another high point of a transatlantic crossing on the France, was sitting on deck in bracing weather in a "chaise de pont" beautifully wrapped up by expert deck stewards in French Line plaid blankets.

 

After the France died (for me, of course, that was in September, 1974) I took transatlantic segments of cruises on the Gripsholm and Kungsholm. I was sort of a jinx on Swedish American, however, having been on board each ship when it was sold and it was announced that it would go out of service. I also crossed on the QE2 5 times in the late 70s, but she really felt much more like a cruise ship than a traditional ocean liner (to me, it's ironic that the QE2 is now considered to be the quintessential ocean liner).

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI JDRMYS!!! LOL...I loved your comments!!! We made 2 crossings on the SS FRANCE in 1973. You just cannot forget those fabulous brioche...I like mine slightly warm slathered with more butter...AHHHH...what a way to go!!! You were so right when you said that nobody makes them the same way anymore...so true. Even the bread and rolls were fantastic!!! The SS FRANCE was a French showcase of all that was good. I was just a young man with a young wife and we had to scrape our money together to make the voyage in Tourist Class...as I was still completing my college education. But I can tell you...everything was "de trop"!!! YES!!!...I still have the Playboy article that cited Craig Claiborn's comments. (I respected his talents as much as you.) I keep the article in my SS FRANCE memorabilia...I also have scads of First Class menus from the FRANCE...they are all works of art by Chef Henri L'Huede'.

 

Did you know there was a secret staircase beside one of the boutiques in Tourist Class that led to the Club Atlantique above in First Class...and they would allow several pax who were Class Touriste to ascend the stairs after 11:00 PM and enjoy the Cabaret L'Atlantique??? AHHHH...Champagne and Le Hot Dog!!! LOL!!!

 

We had some very interesting pax in Tourist Class...struggling actors, musicians, assorted refugees. We even got together with royalty from India and a husband and wife dance team from Romania!!! We became friends with a lot of interesting people...you could literally sit at a bar before lunch and strike up a conversation with the most interesting people. I met a man named Bob Mandel who had been the musical director for the Broadway show "Cabaret" during the early 70s in NY. We helped him get onboard with some of his furnishings that he was lugging back to London...LOL. I met an old man who was Parisian and he actually knew Edith Piaf...he could play "La Vie En Rose" on the piano beautifully...and he had some wonderful stories.

 

The food in Tourist Class was truly exceptional. A bit more cuisine bourgeois but always perfect in execution...and let's face it...most of our favorite French dishes are cuisine bourgeois!!! Some of the Alsatian dishes, Ahhhhh...the Bouillibaise (Le Soup de Pecheurs Marsaillaise!!!) (Please pardon my French...and my spelling...it has been a long time...lol.) Every meal was a Triumphe Francais. There were not a lot of choices but if they were serving lamb...it would be the best you ever had. If they were serving fish...it would be the best you ever had...and so on and so on!!!

 

My favorite time was after dinner...and going to a quiet Lounge for a Cuban cigar and a wonderful "Une Balloone de Cognac"...AHHHHHHHHH!!!! The entertainment in the Class Touriste was also exceptional. The Main Lounge was full of action and dancing until dawn!!! On gala evenings we would drink Champagne and dunk the little pom poms into the Champagne and throw them out at the people who were dancing...Un Bomabardier!!! LOL!!! There was romance in the air...there were passengers who came aboard in isolation and left the ship in jubilation...LOL!!! The Tourist Class Pool was also a load of fun...especially if the ship was in rough seas. The bars were always packed with interesting people who were, like myself, outgoing and socially inclined...so many afternoons over Alsatian draft beer and green olives and salted nuts...LOL. We had many wonderful musicians who would play the piano and sit in with the band at night...I can remember one hellacious sax player...a kid from NY named Bobby...WOW...he wailed on into the night...just fantastic. The SS FRANCE was magical and much loved by everyone who traveled on her and worked onboard. Although her interiors never reached the incredible heights of the ILE DE FRANCE or the NORMANDIE...the FRANCE will always be remembered for her Atmosphere Transat...a style and grace that have disappeared.

 

I was able to cruise on her again in 1993 as the NORWAY. Of course the whole CGT thing had vanished but she still had that style and grace and you could catch pieces of it as you walked through her. We had one of the newer Sky Suites...with floor to ceiling glass and direct access to the old First Class outdoor pool. I shot skeet off that fantastic low fantail that seemed just a few feet from the water. I sat in the old First Class Library with all the FRANCE memorabilia. I spent many evenings in the Club International...and I have to say...it was actually decorated better than it had been as the SS FRANCE. The cabin we had on B Deck was still there...just as it had been 20 years before. It was great to reminisce...I was glad I made the return trip to see her off...one final time. How lucky we were to have had the experience of the last great liner.

 

I had to laugh...JDRMYS...when you brought up the QE II...as I feel the same way you do. The QE II is not even close to the tradition of SS FRANCE. The SS FRANCE was the last of the breed and is now as extinct as the dinosaur. Ships like the SS FRANCE were truly...the dinosaurs of the machine age.

[JDRMYS]

CGTNormandie, I love your recollections. The "secret" staircase was secret only to tourist class passengers since it was always in plain sight in the Cabaret de l'Atlantique. Originally, the C de L'A was supposed to be divided in 2, with the staircase coming up into the tourist class section. It proved so popular with 1st class passengers, however, that the movable wall between the 2 sections was permanently opened and the door to tourist class at the bottom of the stairs was closed.

 

Nevertheless, there was a great deal of mingling between 1st and tourist passengers. French Line expected younger 1st class passengers to go down from Verandah Deck to Promenade Deck at some point during the evening. We were all encouraged (almost surreptticiously, of course) to take the service staircases. Conversely, young (and well dressed) tourist class passengers who wandered into first class were not ejected -- in fact, I think that they were rather welcomed (quietly).

 

The gathering place was the tourist class smoking room. I remember at least one crossing when at least half of the people in the smoking room were young 1st class passengers in tuxedos and evening gowns. One night on that crossing I realized that many of the well dressed 20 and 30 somethings at the bar in the tourist smoking room were from the richest and most powerful families in America and France.

 

Thanks for letting me ramble on and relive my fabulous, and lost, youth.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI JD!!! Isn't it wonderful to dredge up those long lost exotic memories??? Every once in a while I get a flash of some fantastic experience I have had onboard ship or in some tropical paradise. Thanks for reminding me about the staircase and the mixing of classes. I distincltly remember some of the First Class pax coming into the night club for some dancing etc. I should pull out a deck plan and reaqauaint myself with the layout...LOL. What great memories!!!:D

[shesgoneagain]

I was fortunate enough to locate this thread on google-can't find it on CC. I am a solo traveler-friends don't always have time,money, interest. I also found Saga on google and am intrigued :) . Are there many solo female passengers on the cruises?I also haven't been able to find any prices on the websites. Any suggestions on which ship might be better for a solo? Thanks for any feedback.

Elizabeth

[Saga Ruby]

I was fortunate enough to locate this thread on google-can't find it on CC. I am a solo traveler-friends don't always have time,money, interest. I also found Saga on google and am intrigued :) . Are there many solo female passengers on the cruises?I also haven't been able to find any prices on the websites. Any suggestions on which ship might be better for a solo? Thanks for any feedback.

Elizabeth

 

You have me smiling. What phrase did you type in Google to find this thread? I have been a solo traveler over the many decades. My friends gave up about 20 years ago and stopped asking me if I felt safe traveling alone.

 

Keeping in mind that all pax must be over 50 years old on Saga, both Saga Rose and Saga Ruby have many single passengers. I have talked to several single women who are retired lawyers, golfers, professionals, some widows and some widowers. One of the lawyers is in her 70s and went on all the strenuous hikes in Norway and Svalbard. In Bergen, we arrived in a torrential rainstorm. Being a Texan, I asked a Brit if she were going out in that mess on the "Norway in a Nutshell" all-day excursion that I was booked on. She was startled and replied, "If we didn't go out in the rain, we would never get out!" I went on the tour, the clouds parted, and I had a memorable day, thanks to her British attitude.

 

Onboard I was exquisitely treated as an individual woman because so many singles are onboard. I'm confident that both ships offer the same equal treatment and service to all pax. I never ever felt like "odd man out."

 

To answer your question, I'm paying right at $10,000 for a large inside cabin for 17 days to Greenland. This does not include airfare but does include all tips. Partly due to the Pound Sterling, Saga Cruises are not a bargain for an American but you definitely get what you pay for. Having said that, you need to book soon if you see a cruise on www.sagacruises.com because they sell out their cruises quickly. Small ships, big fan base.

 

Come join us!

Ruby

[Conte Di Savoia]

As a US citizen you will not be able to book a Saga cruise on the Internet. We found it easiest to deal with their US representative outside of Boston. They can be reached at 800-343-0273. Ask for Lisa. She too has discovered our thread.

[Konarina]

You're right that those in the US have to book the Saga Rose by telephone, but you can look at availability and prices on line. The exchange rate is rather beastly!

 

Anyone going to be on the North Africa cruise in October? What are the chances that the cruise will actually go to Libya? I'm thinking that it will either go to another port or have an extra day at sea. Any reason to try to get a Libyan visa?