LandC

This is very helpful. Thank you Medeba.

17 hours ago, Daisybops said:

I’ve made the right choice - thank you. 
 

We want to take the wine home, so that’s ok. We’re not actually going to Porto. Any of these places to buy ? 
 

 

Praia da Vitoria, Terceira, Azores Horta, Faial, Azores
Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores Cruise by Vila Franca Islet, Azores
Cruise by Cristo Rei & Abril 25 Bridge Lisbon, Portugal
Leixões, Matosinhos, Portugal

There is also a very good wine shop in Lisbon called Garrafeira Napoleao, in R. dos Fanqueiros, which is about 15 minutes walk from the cruise terminal. It is very well stocked and we are usually offered tasting samples! 
 

Enjoy your cruise.

32 minutes ago, Lady Meer said:

The room we enquired about (pre-registered) is actually cheaper on the website than we were offered.

That’s strange.  Can you give more details please?

I had an email from Saga stating that Summer 2025 cruises will go on general release next week. 

8 hours ago, LandC said:

Saga are calling people who pre-registered in 2021 and earlier. We pre-registered in January 2022, so are hoping to get a call soon.

We’ve just booked one of the Scandinavian cruises in July 2025.   A Standard cabin on D Deck worked out at £272 pppn with a 35% discount.  Prices seem to have gone up a fair bit!

10 hours ago, Kohima said:

The calls have already started this evening.

Saga are calling people who pre-registered in 2021 and earlier. We pre-registered in January 2022, so are hoping to get a call soon.

I wonder when Saga will start making the calls.

44 minutes ago, Kinniegirl said:

We thought we had a phone number to call if your vehicle didn’t turn up, but only have Saga number

do any of you clever people know it

TIA

01293874810 or 08009885165

These are the numbers I’ve stored on my phone

I hope one of them works!

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Just tried to update to my S.A. phone number, guess what Saga website  only allows 11 numbers , so no room for a country code.

 

At the rate things are going might not matter, only here for another 5 weeks

When did you pre-register?  Folks will post on here when they get the call. If you are still in S.A. then an option would be to ring Saga and ask when you are likely to be contacted. 

2 hours ago, Medeba said:

Just seen on other social media that Captain Darin Bowland is now working for Ritz Carlton Yachts and Saga is advertising for a replacement. 

That’s a shame, we liked him. He was due to be on our next cruise on SoD in May.

Me too!

Itineraries have to be planned well in advance in order to book the ports, so perhaps Saga leave it until the last minute to decide what price to charge for their cruises.  We are also looking at 2025 itineraries with Regent, Azamara and Silversea but want to see the Saga itineraries before we make a decision.  Some of the offers expire on 29th February, so it’s going to be touch and go!

The balcony cabins have no balconies, and the Junior Suites and Suites are in fact just balcony cabins, with a few canapés provided.

Unless people are prepared to pay for a premier suite they do not get the suite experience.

2 hours ago, owadbucket said:

Can you order a bottle of spirits for your cabin , anyone done this. Instead of someone carrying a night cap every day a bottle would be easiest.

I think it depends on your cabin grade.  For those lucky enough to be in a suite, bottles of your favourite tipples are provided by your butler for your in-suite bar.

We usually order from room service if we want a drink in our cabin.  

We got the free shuttle to Porto when we docked at Leixoes on Spirit of Adventure.  There were road works and it took about 25 minutes.  

We also rate Saga very highly, and are waiting for the summer 2025 itineraries, which we hope be be available to book soon!

We received an ocean cruise brochure today, together with an invite to pre-register for summer 2025 cruises, which are coming “very soon”.  We pre-registered some time ago, and hope we won’t have to wait much longer!

The brochure states that from 2025 the shared chauffeur service will be offered nationwide to everyone on the UK mainland.

You’re right tring, it is a mess.  No smoking on balconies and flexible dining has got to be the way to go.  
We will wait and see what happens now that the new CEO is in post.

This is good news Jazzbeau, thanks for posting.  I see you are on a Silversea cruise at present.  We did that itinerary on Azamara in the opposite direction (Sydney to Auckland), and loved it.  We have yet to try Silversea.

Saga customers have been notified that it wants to enter into partnership arrangements to enable them to offer more cruises to more guests in the future.  Let’s hope these results will enable Saga to forge a successful partnership arrangement.

2 hours ago, Mustang Sally 2 said:

November 8th 2023 onboard Saga Spirit of Discovery 30 night cruise Island hopping in the Caribbean. This cruise was our honeymoon.

Left Portsmpoth for the Azores but diverted to Lisbon. Spent 3 days dockside undergoing repairs. Missed 4  ports of call on the original itinerary. Returned to Portsmouth 1 day early and spent the day dockside in Portsmouth. Fobbed off when we complained and were told there would be no compensation/future cruise discount. Is anyone else as disappointed as we are with Saga's response?

If you were on the same cruise as Windsurfboy (see his comments on this thread), then I think you should put your complaint in writing.  Saga should pay compensation for the missed ports as they were caused by technical problems with the ship.

I hope the remainder of the cruise goes according to plan.

One of the passengers has posted on another site that Captain has announced there is a technical issue with the generator. SofA returning to UK to get it checked out.

When we boarded SofA for the Christmas cruise there were no books in the library.  However, halfway through the cruise they appeared!  The dining rooms also only provided salt and pepper in sachets for the first half of the cruise, then salt and pepper pots appeared. 
We wondered if these were measures taken against the spread of Norovirus.  If so, it worked, because we only heard of a couple of cases on board.

I understand from another social media site that the ship is staying in Portsmouth until Monday morning to avoid an incoming storm.  Shuttles have been provided to visit local attractions.

14 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

 

Not a huge sum.

I’m pleased that you have had some success Windsurfboy.
I hope others who were on the same cruise will persevere with their complaints.  

57 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Success 

Have you had a response from ABTA?