7th June Catalan Coastline - visit to Porto - TukTuk?

[Brissle]

Hi everyone,

The Roll Call for 7th June SOD cruise isn't very active, so I thought I'd ask a question here.

We visit Leixoes (for Porto) on 19th June.  I read elsewhere that a shuttle bus is likely to be provided into Porto.

We are thinking of finding a TukTuk tour (booked privately).  We had a great experience with one in Lisbon last year.

Has anyone here tried this?  Can they recommend a company?

[UKGirlies!]

Hi Brissle.

 

I'm not sure on the tuk tuk answer, but I'm glad I've found someone else on the Catalan cruise in June. I've not even been able to find a roll call for it!

 

Would you be able to provide a link?

 

Sailing with my mum, aged 85 and wanting to meet other (younger) people at various times. Mum retires to her cabin a lot on cruises 💕 

[Brissle]

Well, that makes 4 of us on this cruise.

The Roll Call appears to have been discontinued.

We find Roll Calls for Princess and Oceania are very active, but maybe Saga people don't use the internet....

[twotravellersLondon]

3 hours ago, Brissle said:

Well, that makes 4 of us on this cruise.

The Roll Call appears to have been discontinued.

We find Roll Calls for Princess and Oceania are very active, but maybe Saga people don't use the internet....

 

An interesting hypothesis... but difficult to really compare SAGA's two 🛳️ 🛳️ ships carrying less than 2,000 pax at full capacity on any day to Oceania's 8  ships carrying possibly over 6,000 or Princess' 17 ships carrying possibly over 53,000 lower berth passengers.

 

We've seen recent comments attributed to AgeUK indicating that about 66% of over 65s are happy to use the internet. But of course, a great many people have spent successful careers dealing with the every-changing digital age and the wonders of cyberspace. Form many, like ourselves, it was a fundamental part of their careers. 🖥️ 🖨️

 

SAGA's clientele do seem to be very skewed towards the computer-literate/internet-savvy side of things. The majority seem to book on-line, organise their excursions on-line and on sea-days the lounges are full of people using phones and tablets. Also... there are tens of thousands   of comments on this forum about a small line that can only carry a maximum of 2,000 pax per day. So, without doubt, "Saga people" do use the internet. 

 

Despite having been retired for yonks we still maintain a state-of-the-art home-office  desktops, printer and all manner of other bits and bobs that go with that... including external drives, terabytes of cloud storage ⛅  and suchlike. We think that the vast majority of SAGAnauts use the internet... and that the majority use it very well.

 

It's perhaps far more likely that... SAGAnauts are more independently minded and just have less interest in Roll Calls and see little advantage in using them. We've been cruising for the last four decades and, despite having completed dozens of cruises, we've have never used or taken any interest in a Roll Call. 

 

On the other hand we also know lots of folk who are wise enough to ensure that they don't openly advertise when they're away from home and there's a possibility that their property is unoccupied. Any one post can be accessed by most of the 8.5 billion phones 📵 that are currently in use these days. So maybe "Saga people" are wise and experienced enough to use the internet prudently and in a manner won't compromise their personal security.

 

🤓 😊

 

 

[Brissle]

I stand corrected.  You make some very good points.

We, too, have been on many cruises with different cruise lines.

We like to think we are independent in our planning, which is one reason why I have found Roll Calls a useful source of information, e.g. about independent tours rather than ship tours.  On several occasions we have linked up with other passengers to rent a minibus to visit an attraction at our own pace.  I have used recommendations from other folk (on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor) to find private guides, car hire companies etc. or to discover better ways of visiting places.

And I like to hope that, in return, we have been able to help others - maybe new cruisers - with their questions.

 

However - and possibly most importantly - I take your point about personal security.  When signing up for websites I always try to give a false location, phone number etc.  But personal/home security is more and more important. And hackers are more and more skilful.  Which is why we have recently invested in a remotely monitored  comprehensive video recording home security and alarm system.

 

I had no intention of making deprecating remarks about the Saga generation - we are well into that category ourselves!

[Medeba]

50 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

SAGA's clientele do seem to be very skewed towards the computer-literate/internet-savvy side of things. The majority seem to book on-line, organise their excursions on-line

I would be interested to know how you know this. I, for one, have not booked a Saga cruise online since I became aware of the pre-registration system. Given that it seems to take Saga at least a month to deal with everyone who has pre-registered, it seems to me that many of us book our Saga cruises by phone.

 

I am quite happy to book and pay for things online, and will do with my Saga excursions, but I know a number of people who are reluctant  to input financial information online and, given the number of scammers out there now, I can’t say I blame them. So there may be many Saganauts who use the internet for information but do they actually book and pay for things online?

[Brummijam]

7 hours ago, Brissle said:

Which is why we have recently invested in a remotely monitored  comprehensive video recording home security and alarm system.

Hi Brizzle.

My take on security is good quality locks and burglar alarm but more importantly proper all inclusive insurance. I can think of nothing worse than being on holiday and getting a video alert that a burglar is ransacking my home and would I care to watch.

 

If it happens I will find out when I get home, Let the insurance sort it.

I have been victim to burglars in the past and it’s not nice so why let it ruin your holiday.

Keep well.

 

Edited Monday at 01:03 AM by Brummijam
Spellings