Windsurfboy

Good wildlife reserves near Durban, 2 or 3 hour journey will get you nearly real thing (have to go to Botwana , Kenya, etc for real thing) then plenty of flights Durban to Capetown. Get a Durban based tour operator, will be luxury and relatively cheap. Book air tickets yourself on line. Remember can leave most luggage on ship, and travel light

Do they have any ordinary non Electric bikes,

Depends where you are, with 25% of outside space (not QM2) taken up by grills deck, the passenger space ratio (for outside space) for non grills passengers is below par.

They bought two new ships at exactly the wrong time, but no one could have predicted what was to come. It all depends whether they borrowed money at the historic low interest rates with long-term bonds , good thinking. If they borrowed with say 5 year bonds Or shorter, getting cheapest short term loans, then the trouble is very much to come, and can blame management for that. We love Saga ships and crew, but management could do better. Firstly not very efficient, has some expensive ways of administration. Also a bit erratic in decision making, one minute panicking and handing out full refunds, next minute denying any resposibility for breakdowns. Unlike the bigger lines don't have a senior ex captain in head office to advise Captains give them someone to talk to. If the ships are operating at high capacity, it is a profitable business, so will be in demand. Given it's all balcony, high space ratio , hence the prices they charge, will demand high level service. It's impossible to run ships of this design as cheap and cheerful. Cabins too expensive , would never get any repeat business. I'm not worying, either Saga wil survive, or established cruise company come to rescue, or get money back from credit card.

At 5000 passengers Queen Anne would have a passenger space ratio of 22, which even the massive family ships beat, it would be the most dense ship on the water . So rep was talking rubbish. With a Passenger space ratio of 37, QA is a bit better than P&Os big ships at 35, but not in a different league. Cunard ships are mass market. Nice mass market , but space wise except QM2 , the queens are nothing to shout about.

Did Saga ring you on your English phone. As we don't have roaming in S.A. we have a local SIM , so planning to give them that number +27.... ...

If I change my number in my Saga, will Saga ring you if you are abroad, or do they only ring you in UK.

Do they disembark by deck , do suites get priority

Just seen advert in paper via travel agent , Capetown to Southampton, including flights and a nights hotel in PG £3850. Compared to direct with Cunard £4040 voyage only. Both cheap but via travel agent extraordinary

No doubt early preregistering gets best price. However my view is talk of 35% discount is a bit imaginative. Has anyone paid the full price?

You are right , should have been clearer I should have said more precisely , booking Saga at last minute when the discounts are normally small is bad value. Once discounts drop below 20 to 25% Saganstarts to look expensive.

I've never pre registered hadn't heard of it on first cruise, but have never had less than a 30% discount. 30% on first cruise 30% on second , 35% on latest (but on dearer B deck not C). I Have pre registered early for 2025 in 2022 I think the 35% discount is a marketing illusion ( bit of a con). As almost no one pays the nominal full price, on my last cruise just before sailing still could get 15 or 20% on most cabins. Nor should you pay full price, at the nominal full price Saga are not competitive, they as dear as luxury lines Practically pre registering helps you get the cabin you want , and a 5% discount, so definitely worth doing. Booking Saga at last minute except on guarantee basis is very bad value.

I dont think preregistering gives any better than the 35% discount unless I'm wrong let me know. Are there savings for booking on board ? Presumably you booked the other one very late and paid a high price. On a 30 day cruise in a suite at a 35% discount pay about £30000. , so £8000 more i.e. £38000, would be at a 20% discount which is a late booking. Normally preregistering ensures a 35% discount, normally a un preregister but early booking gets 30% discount. 5% not to be sneezed at. So on a normal cabin for 2weeks preregistering can save £500, well worth having. All the 35% discount on E Deck get snapped up by preregistering.

How?

You can still pay rate applicable at the time of booking if you choose

It still looks like the offers to stay on do not make sense. FCC less than difference between old full price and excellent new prices. Get refund and rebook gives more cash in hand.

On Discovery everything was fine for just a shirt at night , I like long sleeved. Except for the club dinning room which for some unknown reason was cold

Look just before and immediately after full payment date, ssomeone may cancel, don't leave it to Cunard

Looking at prices, people should think about taking full refund and rebooking looks a better deal than FCC.

Fantastic QG price , under 2/3rds of what we paid last year. Unfortunately our visa runs out on 8th April so will have to be out of South Africa before 12th.

Just spent afternoon windsurfing just north of Capetown. 30 knot winds but only 4 meter swell, QM2 wouldn't feel it. Weather gets calmer in April. Cape of good hope nothing spectacular. When Cunard cancelled Capetown to UK due to covid and we were stuck and bought own tickets back, Cunard reimbursed us for Business class back. We were in QG not sure if everyone would be allowed business class

That's the fun of CC 😁😁😁

The MSC website says 461 cabins 922 passengers, and 64000 tons (sorry I was wrong it's a bit bigger) so a slightly better passenger space ratio than Saga. Yes it does take children but not a family ship, priced slightly above Saga, well over double MSC big family ships Main point is they have also identified the circa 1000 passenget ,nalll balcony ship as a new market.

It is good news, they can negotiate a partnership from a position of strength. When we were in Carribean docked along side new MSC expedition ship, 960 passenger 58,000 tons all balcony , all adult. A new venture for MSC. What does it remind you of ?

Have they stopped table tennis