LondonLad60

Some years ago in Sicily my wife and I did a P&O excursion called The Godfather's Footsteps. It took in various locations where the three Godfather movies were filmed, including the bar where Michael and his bodyguards stop shortly after he first sees the girl who is to become his wife. It also featured a chat with the lady who played the girl's mother, with our guide acting as interpreter. If you are a fan of The Godfather films, and if this excursion is still available, then I thoroughly recommend it.

I had my Covid booster Tuesday last week (27th Sept) at a walk-in centre and my seasonal flu four days later at the local medical centre. I mentioned at the medical centre about my booster and I was told it didn't matter - there, they were offering both jabs, one in each arm, so it would suggest that there are no hard and fast rules, and that it is at the discretion of individual clinicians.

Hi Vivaldi That certainly is a plausible explanation. Thanks for posting.

Ivycottage, May I ask which cruise has been cancelled? I'm looking at two cruises next year (both in March) and I don't want to go to the trouble of searching for them if they are no longer there! Many thanks in advance.

Hi Ann I fully agree with BestGuessed above. My wife and I are 62 and 65 respectively. We've been on three Saga cruises this year, and I would say we were definitely at the younger end of the age demographic on all three I can't recommend Saga highly enough. Try them - I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Was it snowing instead?

First time in Bergen for us was back in 2015, and it was an overnighter. It was raining when we arrived and raining when we departed, and if it did stop at any time in between I must have blinked and missed it. We went ashore in the evening with another couple. Despite having been warned by many people about Norwegian prices, we decided to go for a drink. Two half litres of a locally brewed beer and two shots of a local brandy based liqueur came to the equivalent of just over £40 - and as I said, that was seven years ago...

Perhaps the OP ought to email Paul Ludlow outlining his concerns. Good luck with that...

Thanks for that Vivaldi. I'll certainly check that out.

Thanks Wacktle

We're looking forward to Bordeaux. This will be out third attempt at Bordeaux - we were supposed to go there with P&O some years ago, but that fell through when they sold Adonia. Then we were due to go there with Saga in July 2020, and we all know what happened then. Third time lucky?

See you on there Medeba!

Our daughter cruised with Fred a few years ago and she said the ship (Balmoral) looked and smelled like an old peoples home. When my wife and I were looking for an alternative to P&O (pre pandemic) we did consider Fred briefly, but what our daughter told us, combined with the fact that on Fred's ships smoking is allowed on cabin balconies put us off completely.

Anyone seen this? https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/norway-anticruise-poster-campaign-b2125605.html The full article is behind a paywall, but the preamble provides the gist.

Thank you BestGuessed for a positive and accurate review.

Back in the 1960's when money was tight my dad would occasionally bring home a rabbit that his workmate had shot. As wowzz says above, there was a lot of bone to flesh, but even worse was having to constantly spit out lead shot...

Ginger ale helps as well

I was treated to a Father's Day breakfast at Carluccio's in Southampton a few years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and although standards may well have slipped since then I would be happy to go back there. They also offer veggie and vegan choices.

Well, not officially...

Just received a letter from Saga - these changes will be effective for cruises departing from June 19th. In summary: To board the ship, a negative lateral flow test is required, which will be administered by Saga's medical team. All passengers must have had all three jabs no less than 14 days ahead of departure, and must show a valid covid pass. Masks are no longer mandatory for passengers, but are recommended. All passenger facing crew will continue to wear masks. Social distancing among guests and restrictions on table sizes will be lifted. Passengers who come into close contact with someone who has tested positive will no longer have to isolate - instead they will be tested and will only have to isolate if they test positive. Independent exploration of ports will be allowed. The Explore Ashore team will provide advice if required. Shuttle buses will be provided where the town isn't within walking distance. There was no mention of further on board testing, or if any ports will require passengers to be tested before getting off. Bob

I don't know about Oriana as I wasn't affected by its sale, but I'm pretty certain they didn't with Adonia.

Sorry to read this wowzz. I wonder what Saga considers to be the lowest number of passengers for a cruise to be viable? My wife and I are on SoA's Scandinavian Capitals cruise (formerly known as An Exhibition of the Baltic) departing June 22nd. There are currently 152 suites/twin cabins available which equates to 304 passengers (assuming none of the cabins will be booked by solo travellers). Apologies for bringing politics into this, but what with Finland and Sweden having formally applied to join NATO (although Putin has now softened his rhetoric on this), and with Estonia looking nervously over its shoulder I wonder if this cruise will go ahead, especially if it will only be at roughly 70% capacity, although SoD sailed in March with 726 passengers. If it does go ahead, looking on the bright side it shouldn't be a problem getting a seat in the bars or booking the select restaurants.

Or does "Thank you for taking the time to contact us, your comments have been sent to the ship to investigate further." count as a response within 28 days? They may have RESPONDED to the complaint, but they certainly haven't addressed it.

Thanks Denarius - apologies if I stole your thunder!

Hi lincslady Apologies for butting in here. On the Saga cruisecritic forum, in response to someone who was considering a first Saga cruise I posted a review of my first Saga cruise, which was the last Saga cruise to sail in 2020 before the pandemic hit. You may fine it useful - it's on page 3 from the main page, and under the thread First Saga Cruise it's on page 2. Hope this helps. Bob