JMMKUK

She isn't huge by modern standards.It wasn't unscheduled as it was posted as the destination before they left Portsmouth. In 2021 at the start of the Christmas cruise we overnighted in Southampton & then sheltered in Portland for the next night. No Funchal for us that time either. A Fred Olsen ship that didn't shelter spent a few days in Bordeaux.

First time on Sapphire they did that car thing to us. When I was booking the next time they told me we should have gone back to the terminal as they have some of the Titan fleet on standby. They sent us a 9 seater yesterday! We also have a case with a broken handle, it broke on the way to the Scenic Diamond cruise but was fixable. Now a part is missing & the handle doesn't pull out. Hope you've had a good rest.

It was lovely to meet you too. Sorry for the late reply but I couldn’t get the boards to load.

I’m very easy to spot. Drinking margaritas at the bar in the Britannia lounge before dinner in the grill.

We were one of those tours.

Think we chose the same for soup and mains. I think fillet and tenderloin mean the same. There must be a subtle difference that isn’t clear to me. Anyway we both thought it was fabulous. I loved the mushroom soup. I had key lime pie and OH has trifle. We were looking out for you. We were on the bench seats in the formal side of the grill.

I’m not happy to use libraries at the moment. We were having a coffee in the library on day 2 or 3 and a women was going through several books between coughing fits, It was so bad we took the long route via the other staircase back to our cabin.

Me too.

Looking at her itinerary I think the cruises based on Darwin will be mainly English speaking.

Before we were cleared someone left the ship in a blue flashing ambulance.

The Italian buffet was great except there was thick batter on the prawns and calamari. Must have walked across you trying to find a seat for our pre dinner cocktails.

Thank you for all the hard work. We went on the tunnels trip. Our guide told us that Morrisons was the only British supermarket on the Rock! We stopped to meet the monkeys, the baby one really knew how to pose and entertain us.

They did Bridge tours in April but I kept forgetting to book.

Oh that’s new. Reminds of Scenic Diamond cruise and a fellow guest having to be bandaged up by another fellow guest who happened to be a doctor. As I can’t ride I won’t be renting.

Good morning from SoA too. I am having problems with logging in as it is very slow. You are amazing to have posted all those pictures.

I think we are ready for our driver. Hope to see you on board.

When the ship docks officials come on board to check the passenger list & other stuff. Then the bridge or the cruise director announces that we are cleared to disembark. Last cruise, Eastern Med, we didn't need our passports. Caribbean cruise I think there was at least one island we had to carry them. Can't remember which ones.

I think the Saga crew are the best. Some have been with Saga for over 20 years. Their memories are fantastic, they remember you after a 2 year gap. They really go well above & beyond their remit too..

Added luggage? I've been expecting a phone call asking about how many bags we are taking. Do I have to tell them online now?

I think Bloodaxe might be reffering to the suites on Saga having Nespresso machines. I don't know much about them & I find them fiddly to use. We go for the self service bean to cup cappuccino from the library or order it from a bar. OK so they are push button machines, like Waitrose free coffee, not like the machine in a Silversea bar. They are much better than the bean to cup machines on Saga's old ships which used powdered milk.

I mean the ones in the Library & the Grill. Coffee served in Britannia lounge & the Living Room also comes from bean machines. The machines in the suites are pod not bean.

The coffee they pour in the restaurants is awful but the coffee from the bean to cup machines is pretty good.

A lot of the tables in the grill can be set up as 2 or pushed together to seat 4. Some of the twos in the MDR are in an area which we found much too noisy. Be careful, because it was in that area that allocated tables were.

We have a target price for a suite of £1000 per night. Don't care how we get it, so not booked for anything next year. We may have to up it for 2025. Thinking of river cruise next year as the Ocean ones just aren't appealing enough to us.

Don't know but think it's unlikely. They are on the way to Canada & there were uke classes on our trip there on Sapphie 5 tears ago. There have been classes on one of our 3 SoA cruises & I think it was the Caribbean one. Maybe they need 4 weeks & a lot of sea days to get ready to give the end of cruise concert.