LandC

I’m very impressed that you have already unpacked! We are on Canarian Christmas cruise, and are really looking forward to it. We’re being picked up at 10 am, so should arrive at the port around lunchtime.

That’s even later than last year!

Sounds like you are enjoying yourselves. We’re on board for the Christmas cruise. Not keen on Elvis, but I hope the Agatha Christie playlets will be performed then!

You are lucky to have Sue Barker on board. Enjoy!

The ships have identical deck plans, but we prefer the decor and the speciality restaurants on Spirit of Discovery. We have cruises booked on both ships, however, so it’s not a deal breaker for us. Whatever you decide, I’m sure you will have an enjoyable cruise.

January/February sounds a bit late, bearing in mind that the Winter cruises were released two months earlier than last year. We’re on SofA for the Canaries Christmas cruise, so if I haven’t heard anything by then, I will ask on board.

We didn’t book any winter cruises. The Adriatic cruise looked interesting, but we felt that the departure in February was too early for this itinerary. We have pre-registered for April to December 2025, and look forward to hearing from Saga soon!

The BBC are asking people who were on board to email with their experiences. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

We had an email from friends on SOD. They were told that the ship couldn’t get into Porto or Lisbon due to the strike. As the Portuguese maritime pilots’ strike dates are 6-8 November, this seems a bit odd.

Winter 2025 cruises have now appeared on Saga website.

Spirit of Adventure is docked in Bilbao. Spirit of Discovery is sailing towards Portsmouth.

I’m surprised that Saga haven’t circulated a letter to passengers regarding compensation for the poor experience you have all had. Perhaps this will be discussed tomorrow when people are able to move around the ship.

I understand SoA will dock at Bilbao tomorrow and A Coruna on Tuesday.

Updates posted on another social media site this morning. Passenger on SOD reports that medical centre full, and part of dining room being used for injured passengers. A passenger on SOA reports that they had an awful night after leaving Falmouth with things crashing around, and wonders why the decision was made to leave Falmouth. A couple of passengers left the ship at Falmouth and, as they were new to Saga, got a full refund.

Thanks for posting Glad.

Oh Dear! They must be expecting very challenging weather. The other restaurants will be very busy if the Grill is closed. Is SOD heading straight back to Portsmouth?

I received an email from Saga this evening stating Winter 2025 cruises are about to go on sale (for those of us who didn’t pre-register).

It’s important to book early with Saga to get the best deal. Our last Saga cruise in April in a standard balcony cabin worked out at £223 pppn with a 35% discount. Saga will collect the day before and transfer you to a hotel near the port (hotel at your own expense) if you wish. We also like Azamara, and are prepared to travel to London and stay overnight in an airport hotel for the right itinerary.

Thanks for your blog NorbertsNeice. Antarctica with HAL on Oosterdam should be interesting, and very different to the Adriatic!

Thanks for posting Norbertsneice. The Officers talk is so informative. Steve was the Chief Engineer on our last cruise on SofA. Such an interesting military career, and as you say, he is very modest.

I pre-registered and received Summer 2024 itineraries on 28th February 2023. So if Saga are 2 months ahead this time, perhaps Summer 2025 itineraries will be released before Christmas. We do like to book early, and are interested in a couple of 2025 itineraries with other cruise lines, but we want to see what Saga offers first.

They haven’t appeared on the website yet - I keep checking! We have pre-registered for Summer 2025, so I hope Saga will send out details of those itineraries soon.

Thanks for posting, that is very encouraging. We await our email with baited breath!

Have you received the January to March 2025 itineraries? If so, are there any other than the usual Caribbean and Canaries itineraries?

That’s useful to know FatBoy20. Now we’re just waiting for the 2025 itineraries!