twotravellersLondon

We had an email this morning. This is a bit of it... WELCOME TO THE LATEST EDITION OFINSPIRE BY SAGA TRAVEL Hot off the press – we are excited to reveal we’re launching a brand-new river cruise ship for 20‍25, Spirit of the Moselle. She’ll be the third purpose-built ship to join our river cruise fleet after Spirit of the Rhine and Spirit of the Danube. You can register your interest for our 20‍25 season now.

Brand new SAGA river ship just announced... Spirit of the Moselle... due to be launched in 2025! River cruises are in profit! Bodes well for the ocean cruise sector.

Spirit of Discover, Contrasts of Scandinavia, 14 days, leaving 21 May 2023, standard twin midships on C deck @ 22% below the full fare, a total saving of almost £2k. (£1,948 to be more precise.) Not as much as the 35% pre-registered discount but we couldn't book that one in advance because of some personal uncertainties... so we were more than happy with 22% at the last minute. And the cruise was great. Even had Jools Holland on board.

Absolutely not. We had a brilliant Baltic cruise last year at a huge discount... booked the week before the departure! Missed out on one excursion that was fully booked but... that's life.

You could indeed. It is quite a fundamental aspect of common law that a contract is not legally binding unless all parties have an understanding of the contractual terms and conditions. Very frequently matters are settled with a DIY "notice before action" letter that can be drafted out with some easily obtainable legal advice to members from a very well known consumers' organisation. However that approach tends to rely on the fact that the client has a case and the vendor of goods or services just doesn't want to get into the hassle and expense of the small claims court... or whatever route the courts decide (and it is the courts who decide) the case will follow. A letter is really is just a shot across the bows. If it works... it works. If it doesn't... it's often best to leave the matter there and move on. Legal history is littered with lives destroyed when arguments about little or nothing got out of hand and left people wrecked emotionally, spiritually and financially.

A very latish morning after a late return last night from a live screening of Mannon from the Royal Opera House... amazing performances... but "the wee sma oours" before we were in bed. Today is a medical appointment... one of five this week... just for one of us. Recently, a friend commented that with so much medical attention we must be in a poor state... it must be a "curse"... but... No... it's so much medical attending that keeps us both fit and well enough to enjoy life, look forward to the next holiday, plan the next cruise, the next trip to the theatre or the cinema and that not even to mention Valentine's! We've been exceptionally busy over the last week or so finalising our 240 pages of on-line photo diary of over 1,000 of our best pics from 2023. The memories just flood back... the Northern Lights, the meals out, the trips to Chester, Durham and Cornwall, our garden in spring, summer, autumn and winter, our wanders over the local heath, birdwatching... our high-days and holidays... and lots of other little joys that we've shared. When they were our current age, old aunties would alway advise us to "count the blessings." We now realise that they were so right. So on a cool day, with grey skies, a distinctive drizzle and a yellow weather warning, a dip into this thread is just so warming and. comforting. Hope all are doing well, looking forward to better weather and the joys of spring. In the short term... there's always lunch... or in our case this morning...."Brunch."

£8,000 is the 35% discount.

By preregistering, booking ahead on board and comparing the price we paid then for an identical grade cabin on the same deck in virtually the same position.

We agree... but have saves £8k on our next ocean cruise by preregistering... so can't complain!

FOCL seems to be looking to beef up shore-based management at Ipswich HQ with the aim to providing a better consistent restaurant, bar and retail experience for customers within budget... to ensure profitability. The company is looking for a Head of Culinary Operations with overall responsibility for the development and execution of food onboard ships and making sure that it's of a consistent standard... as well as being in budget with minimal food waste. The Hotel Operations team in the head offices in Ipswich will also be strengthened with a Restaurant and Bar Operations Manager with overall responsibility for the development and running the restaurant and bar operation on board the ships and making sure that these are on target and within budget. Ipswich is also looking to add a Retail Delivery Operations Manager to the team at Ipswich. This new role will have overall responsibility for optimising commercial revenues through the product and services offered on board and support the transition and delivery of a range of existing services to customers. It looks as if someone at FOCL is determined to deliver and develop the food, drinks and retail side of the business on board the remaining ships in a way that will ensure client satisfaction while keeping within budget... and, with the aim of making a profit. Is this, "Fresh Eye Thinking?" Perhaps just a subtle hint of... "Under New Management?" Will clients like it... and will it dig FOCL out of a mountain of debt? Will customers welcome this positively as the beginnings of strategic change, rely on the cliche of "rearranging the proverbial deck chairs" or take little or no interest of the imminent changes to their food, drinks and shopping on board?

It's excellent that FOCL has very promptly and firmly stomped on the unfounded rumour (seemingly reported elsewhere) that the company will stop smoking on balconies this April. We've come across various versions of the same story for at least five years. We're non-smokers... always have been... and did dislike the smell on FOCL's balconies at times (in fact we even asked for ashtrays to be removed from our balcony because, even empty, they did still pong a bit)... but it's right and reasonable that smokers should have fair warning about when things are going to change. Genuine clarity at last from a reliable and authoritative source! Perhaps someone at either FOCL or First Olsen Holdings have been reading these posts and decided to put an end to unnecessarily damaging speculation, gossip and rumours! Business-wise, times have changed and culture has changed to such an extent there may be more "ocean view" clients prepared to make the transition to a balcony cabin than dedicated smokers who will vamoose from FOCLs' remaining ships rather than go to the smoking area. We very much doubt if FOCL will have made the decision without careful consideration of the financial pros and cons.

Of course the alternative may be that the post "Elsewhere" was made in error or based on speculation... but, of course, that's just speculation. However, the Olsen empire is quite good taking immense care to ensure that all company information that should legitimately be confidential remains confidential. (The company has to by law.) Even the inadvertent sharing (of what many would consider as nothing more than interesting snippets of gossip) is frowned upon by FOCL and may well be actioned by the appropriate line managers. All FOCL staff are bound by a duty of confidentiality to prevent unauthorised persons gaining access to information not reported publicly or classified as confidential... even after they leave FOCLs' employment. Very specifically, "All persons working for FOCL must not use or distribute inside information regarding FOCL... with... clients, customers... or others." The staff know this very well, it's part of their training, it's included in the staff handbook and it's part of the Loyalty Culture on FOCLs' ships and in the land based offices. A decision on any change of the company's T&Cs (as regards smoking on balconies is concerned) is only likely to have been taken at Board level... either by the Board of FOCL... currently Jeremy Dowler..., Richard Aa, Peter Deer & Anette Olsen or the Board of the immediate parent company, First Olsen Holdings, currently Jeremy Dowler..., Richard Aa, Fred Olsen Sen. & Anette Olsen. It would seem to be extremely unlikely to us that some of the most experienced, respected and successful business folks in Norway would allow any strategic decision to be known prior to a press release... more so any decision that might give rise to second thoughts or affect the sale of their balcony cabins and suites. And then... change a decision so soon afterwards. So, if "Elsewhere" now prophesizes a year ahead... we shall wait to see with interest.

Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! You must be so, so, so pleased! Can't thank you enough for sharing!

Perhaps Ken is singing tongue-in-cheek to the Inland Revenue... "Don't count my money!" 🤣😂

Well... a very grey sky this morning... 11˚C now and a forecast for 13˚C later... But tonight we knock together a bit of a medieval dinner in the midst of winter. We hope to begin with pumpkin soup, go onto a very savoury game pie with winter vegetables and finish off with a richly spiced apple and blueberry crumble... the apples have been set aside for over two months so that they've sweetened and slightly dehydrated. It will be accompanied by ale produced in an ancient Suffolk Abbey. At the end of the meal our own delicate little home-made marchpane sweets. Of course the table will be lit by candles and we will have a few recorded madrigals playing in the background. But why? It seems a pity to celebrate Burns' night as we did last week to celebrate part of our joint heritage without celebrating the other part of our heritage from England. Something to look forwards to all year, to share planning, preparing and, of course... eating the result! A happy way to spend a day and to enjoy an evening. In the words of a great philosopher, "A wise old man told me one time Happiness is a frame of mind When you go to measuring my success Don't count my money count my happiness." (Ken Dodd) Best Wishes to all.

Fred says, "Guests with collapsible wheelchairs will be able to book most Non Adapted Cabins on board" But give them a ring on 0800 328 1699 to make sure that they can accommodate you. There are lots of details @ https://www.fredolsencruises.com/legal/mobility-policy

Hence "after any necessary "cooling off" period." There may be a cooling off period. We cancelled the last cruise that we booked with FOCLs within the 30 day cooling off period which on no other grounds except that we had "cooled off"! We had been advised the 30 day cooling off period when we booked and it was set out in the T&Cs at that time. We received a full refund. However the question of whether or not smoking on the balconies of FOCLs ships will be banned in the near future seems to be only an unconfirmed rumour at the moment and its best to wait and see what, if anything, is announced by FOCLs. But it seems very odd to us that this issue that was current well prior to the pandemic has raised its head again on the very eve of a CEO joining the company. (It was way back in October 2023 that FOCLs put out a press release stating that, "Her new role will commence no later than February 1st 2024.") We're not smokers. We never have been and we have never liked the smell of tobacco on the balconies of FOCLs' ships... but... we feel very sorry for smokers who have already, in good faith, paid a substantial premium for a balcony. For instance a couple of weeks on the Balmoral in mid-Feb. to the Northers Lights is about £1.899 pp in a "ocean view" but £5,199 pp with a balcony... That's an extra £3.300 pp... so it seems to be incredibly unfair to possible perturb those people who've already booked cruises further ahead with the idea that they'll be deprived of the very amenity that a couple may have paid about £7,000 extra for. In our opinion, it's pretty unfair on some people for unsubstantiated and potentially disturbing rumours to circulate which may well have originated from the murkier depths of cyberspace; "balcony envy" and the constant sniping of those with axes to grind. It's only fair to the people who will be significantly affected to allow them to know where the "story" has originated from so that they can examine and interrogate the original source and make up their own minds on the veracity of the information for themselves.

Level of indebtedness of FOCLs... £100,000,000+. Recently dropped from 4 ships to 3. Never ever has a newish ship. They may have to dream on.

We've seen nothing, despite a request, to confirm or deny and there's no sign, as far as we can see on the FOCLs site. So exactly who has confirmed this unsubstantiated rumour. Why on earth is nobody but nobody said where it came from. What's the great secret? If it's a reliable source surely we should all be able to know exactly who is originally spreading this tale. The very secrecy is the cause for concern, doubt and the lack of creditability. So how can you confirm it? Who told you (name names), where did you read it (precise links) , where is the information published... and if you have them why not share the web links with us all... so that we can look at the source and make up our own minds.

What is interesting is that smoking is allowed on balconies is in FOCLs T&Cs and the contract that cruises have with FOCLs is based on those T&Cs at the point that the contract becomes effective... that's after any necessary "cooling off" period. So if there are any changes in whether or not smoking is allowed on balconies... and we would certainly prefer that smoking wasn't allowed on any balcony... we will watch with interest to see how FOCLs deal with the possibility of disgruntled smokers who have paid expensive for a balcony smoking area that, if these so far unsubstantiated rumours being spread are confirmed by FOCLs, there will be what many people who have already booked cruises will regard as a significant change to their already booked accommodation. It's also very odd that, if these rumours are true, the changes in policy have come about just before the newly appointed CEO, Samantha Stimpson, arrives in time for 1 February 2024... although there is no indication on her Linkedin account that she has joined FOCLs as yet, Pete Deer's profile has recently been significantly changed. Future cruisers up in arms about T&Cs and what they believe to be "significant" changes is hardly what a newly appointed CEO what's to deal with her first day on the job. We'll watch and wait to see what happens with interest!

Interesting to know how it has been confirmed.

Thanks for the suggestion. However done that... twice... but it makes no difference. However... return junk mail to the same original source a few times and it seems to stop!

Pop them in an envelope, addressed to the company, forget the stamp... hey presto... a point is made!

That would explain these manoeuvres and the speed. Feel very sorry for the passengers.

An interesting night for the Spirit of Adventure!