Saga Rose Greenland Voyager August 2007

[Druke I]

I've been on a DC-3 twice: once, in the early 60s, on a gambling junket from the SF Bay Area to Reno, NV.

 

The second time was from Cozumel to Chichen Itza to see the ruins, 3-90, on a Panama Canal cruise aboard the late great Royal Princess. I vowed then to never fly on another Mexican airline! Shortly thereafter, it went down with a tour group from one of the HAL ships, with a large loss of life.

 

I know what Ruby means about walking uphill on a tail-dragger, DC-3.

 

Worst flight I think I had was on an Air Force Globemaster I, Tachikawa Japan to Kadena Okinawa, back in Jun 1956. No air conditioning, and paratrooper seats (aluminum tubing/canvas, facing each other). Damned uncomfortable plane.

 

I am not a real fan of flying, but it is a way to get to where I can board the cruise ship on an itinerary that interests me.

[Saga Ruby]

I used to be able to recognize aircraft - DC-8, 707, Constellation - but now with all the MDs, Airbuses and 7-somethings, I no longer do so (except for the 74). I don't care for RJs, as I am six feet tall and the cabin is rather confining. I have to be a contortionist to fit into the washroom. D'maniac.

 

I had to laugh at your comment about recognizing aircraft. I haven't been able to identify cars for the past 20 years - they all looked the same. As do jets. None of us like the RJs because they are too small altho' the airlines pretend they are the cat's pajamas.

 

It is important when dealing with airline reservations to make a distinction between direct routes and nonstops. The airlines play a game where "direct" means we'll get you there in a roughly straight line while making stops along the way, nonstop means exactly that - fly with no stops between two cities. Back in the day, I got caught in the "direct" game and learned my lesson.

 

I used to do the tight turnaround times from flight to flight, but with the hurly burly that is airplane travel nowadays, I look for a 2-hour layover in case of trouble on either side. I am particularly interested in my cases making my next flight to Timbuktu.

 

I can kill 2-3 hours in an airport like it was nothing. I love to "people watch" so I sit in a chair facing the corridor, pretend to read a USAToday, and enjoy making up stories about people rushing past. Nobody else watches the airport staff, the cleaning crew, the shops - I do. There are a million stories all around you.

 

Which reminds me of the Piazza San Marco in Venezia. I can sit at one of the cafe tables, paying $10 for a glass of water, and see the world pass by me. My theory is that, if you sit there long enough, your neighbor will walk past.

 

Hmmm, do you suppose Conte survived his weekend with the Texas relatives? And where is Graham? Admiral Ma'am is looking to hear from her stalwarts. Thanks to Kapricorn and Druke I for holding up the side.

 

Ruby

[Conte Di Savoia]

I'm back! The Texans are winging their way to DFW after a fine but very busy weekend.

 

 

Which reminds me of the Piazza San Marco in Venezia. I can sit at one of the cafe tables, paying $10 for a glass of water, and see the world pass by me. My theory is that, if you sit there long enough, your neighbor will walk past. Ruby

 

And has!! I frequently run into people I know or are one degree of separation. Be careful what you say and where you say it. You never know!

[Kapricorn]

And has!! I frequently run into people I know or are one degree of separation. Be careful what you say and where you say it. You never know!

 

That's the truth, Conte! A couple of times when I was in Hawaii, I bumped into people whom I knew from back home in Vancouver. The most bizarre incidence was atop the CN Tower in Toronto, when I bumped into a friend from Vancouver, who I did not even know was in Toronto.

 

Ruby, I also don't recognize cars ... a car is a car to me. Some time ago a friend told me that he would pick me up in his Supra. I had no idea what a Supra looked like, so I asked him, "what colour?" ... "Dark blue" ... ok, so I was on the watch for a dark blue car.

 

Also, Ruby, thanks for alerting me to the distinction between direct and nonstop routes!

 

D'maniac

[Saga Ruby]

So I’m sitting at a picnic table in Teton Village in WY in the summer, enjoying the sparkling weather, the delicious scents of birch, popular, and pine, while enjoying the best grilled hot dog I’ve ever had. The crowd eating lunch is in the best physical shape I’ve ever seen including the ski instructors who are performing the cooking duties.

 

A couple walks up and asks if they can join me. Sure. The usual chitchat of "Where are you from?" They are from Chicago. The woman says, "Do you ever play the name game?" Blah, blah, blah and it turns out that this couple will be in Fort Worth to attend the wedding of my close friend in Dallas. See you in six weeks!

 

My family is in Rome. Daddy asks the hotel concierge where a certain restaurant is located as he has heard it is small but exquisite. We are given written directions, the restaurant is nearby, so the four of us are walking the streets of Rome, enjoying the stroll. We turn a corner and bump into some people. We try to say, "Excuse me" in Italian. We look up and it is our pastor and his family from Fort Worth.

 

I’m sitting in the exquisitely furbished lobby of the Danieli in Venezia, enjoying the Roman columns and staircase which are part of the original hotel. I know virtually no one in Venezia. A bellboy walks thru the lobby, calling out that there is a phone call - for me. The caller is the nice man at Pauly’s who showed me around the glassworks earlier in the day. He is calling to ask if he can come to the hotel and buy me a drink. Sure! Later - "No, you cannot come to my room to see the view of the Grand Canal."

 

Ruby, I also don't recognize cars ... a car is a car to me. Some time ago a friend told me that he would pick me up in his Supra. I had no idea what a Supra looked like, so I asked him, "what colour?" ... "Dark blue" ... ok, so I was on the watch for a dark blue car. D'maniac

 

I feel your pain. Whole lotta dark blue cars out there, aren't there?

 

Ruby

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI GANG!!! BLACK CARS...loads of black cars!!!

 

I have a good and great friend who is leaving on a Saga cruise from England tomorrow...what ship is he on??? Let's see how well versed you SAGA fanatics really are...LOL!!!

 

Ross

[Conte Di Savoia]

HI GANG!!! BLACK CARS...loads of black cars!!!

 

I have a good and great friend who is leaving on a Saga cruise from England tomorrow...what ship is he on??? Let's see how well versed you SAGA fanatics really are...LOL!!!

 

Ross

 

That would have to be the Rose. Ruby is returning from North America and won't be in Southampton until the 19th. So your friend will be on the Med cruise which goes to Venezia. Nice trip! For some reason both ships are now leaving from Southampton rather than Dover. I wonder why the change?

[CGTNORMANDIE]

THANKS CONTE...INTERESTING...maybe he got the dates wrong...not unusual for him to do so...lol. Maybe it is the 19th. He told me the cruise will end in Barbados. Do you have the details??? Thanks.

 

Ross

[Saga Ruby]

THANKS CONTE...INTERESTING...maybe he got the dates wrong...not unusual for him to do so...lol. Maybe it is the 19th. He told me the cruise will end in Barbados. Do you have the details??? Thanks. Ross

 

The only Saga itinerary that visits Barbados for the rest of the year is Saga Rose, a 30-day r/t out of Southampton. After 10 days, the ship arrives in Barbados on December 16th, then continues on for the "Christmas in the Caribbean" cruise. The ship will enjoy New Year's fireworks in Madeira then return to Southampton on January 5.

 

Perhaps your friends are doing a one-off and doing a crossing to get to Barbados. Otherwise, on October 17th or 19th, both Saga Sisters are touring the Med.

 

Ruby

[Saga Ruby]

Conte, has the deluge of Saga’s Royal Mail offerings begun to hit your mail slot? If I had paid more attention to the avalanche of Saga mail, I might have heard about the Britannia Club and stowed away for that one extra day.

 

Have you noticed over the years that the RCI ". . . of the Seas" crowd rarely knows what ship they sailed on? So many people go for the trip, do not remember of the ship on which they sailed. Evidently if the atrium has enough neon and acres of glass, it’s a good cruise. I didn’t know until recently that there are shopping malls onboard some of the RCI ships. It’s a different mindset than I am used to.

 

Anybody have any information about Oriana? I’ve heard the ship and service are good but I don’t have much information about P&O. Evidently the current ship is a new, improved version of an older one. Does P&O concentrate itineraries in certain areas of the globe?

 

Ruby

[Druke I]

The new Oriana is a beautiful ship, in my opinion. I haven't sailed on her, just seen her in San Francisco. Her running mate Aurora looks good too.

 

I sailed twice on the old Oriana, which has now been scrapped. She was a beauty in her day, although not as pretty as her running mate, Canberra (the great white whale).

 

P&O (UK) was formerly the parent of Princess Cruise Lines, but with the Carnival buyout of both, P&O (UK), P&O (Australia) and Princess are all now stepsisters.

 

Service and kitchen much more British than Princess, and P&O slightly more formal than Princess, but perhaps not as formal as Cunard (also now owned by Carnival).

 

Every spring, P&O (UK) sends two ships out from Southampton, circumnavigating the globe in different directions. Depending on itineraries, it is possible to"boomerang" from the West coast of USA to Australia on one of their ships, spend a week or two down under, and return to the Left Coast on the other.

 

I've wanted to do that "boomerang" very much, but can't talk Virginia into going that long.

 

Most of their itineraries are into the Baltic and Med., but their world cruises look grand to me.

[Conte Di Savoia]

Conte, has the deluge of Saga’s Royal Mail offerings begun to hit your mail slot? If I had paid more attention to the avalanche of Saga mail, I might have heard about the Britannia Club and stowed away for that one extra day.

 

Ruby

I haven't received anything from Saga since arriving home. Now I'm feeling rejected.

Have you noticed over the years that the RCI ". . . of the Seas" crowd rarely knows what ship they sailed on? So many people go for the trip, do not remember of the ship on which they sailed. Evidently if the atrium has enough neon and acres of glass, it’s a good cruise. I didn’t know until recently that there are shopping malls onboard some of the RCI ships. It’s a different mindset than I am used to.

 

Ruby

I agree. Us old timers always knew what ship we were on. I have a hard time keeping tract of names which are so similar, not only between ships of the same line but also between different lines, e.g. Voyager of the Seas, Regent Seven Seas Voyager. The worst were R1, R2, R3 etc. It also doesn't help when the ships look so similar. It's all about marketing. They want to use innocuous names which convey a sense of fun and adventure. Owners stay away from naming ships after people lest some group takes offense about something in the namesake's past. What scandal will be uncovered about Queen Victoria?

 

 

Anybody have any information about Oriana? I’ve heard the ship and service are good but I don’t have much information about P&O. Evidently the current ship is a new, improved version of an older one. Does P&O concentrate itineraries in certain areas of the globe?

 

Ruby

 

We made a transatlantic crossing on Oriana in 2000, before Carnival took over the line. I thought she was a wonderful ship which was created with a great sense of detail. The public rooms were very comfortable, the service quite good and the food was more than acceptable. They served some very fine curries. The entertainment was very British. The troupe of entertainers put on a very funny version of The Full Monte and one night there was a production honoring the English Music Hall type of shows. It concluded with a tableau of Britannia accompanied by a lively version of Rule Britannia. We were each given Union jacks to wave at the end. It was great fun. I thought the same might have been done on Saga Rose, but alas, there was no such patriotic performance to be staged. The Brits on board Oriana also enjoyed line dancing, so one evening there was Country Western Night. Many of the passengers had packed their duds for the event. It was a hoot to see. As Druke stated, they do the world cruises each year and segments are available. I thought their itineraries were interesting, but there is this dollar/pound issue right now.

[Druke I]

Getting back to (1st) Oriana: first time (1964) I sailed her was in a Court cabin, and Oriana still had the corn yellow hull of Orient Lines, which was in the process of merging with P&O (UK).

 

Second time I sailed Oriana (1970) was in a convertible cabin down on F deck. She then sported the white hull of P&O.

 

Always regret not sailing on Canberra (the great white whale). At one point, we almost had reservations on her, San Francisco to Sydney, but V nixed that cruise, sure that I would book a cabin w/o facilities (I probably would have - they certainly were much cheaper, and we were much younger).

[engineer38]

The Royal Mail has been on strike. Just settled (we hope) and the Saga paper avalanche is arriving in the UK. (At the moment I'm getting two of everything from Spirit of Adventure). Really enjoy reading this thread so felt I had to join in.

[Saga Ruby]

The Royal Mail has been on strike. Just settled (we hope) and the Saga paper avalanche is arriving in the UK. (At the moment I'm getting two of everything from Spirit of Adventure). Really enjoy reading this thread so felt I had to join in.

 

[kazoo salute to embarking officer)

 

Admiral Ma'am extends a warm welcome aboard to our new chief engineer on the Nostalgia Cruise. It has been a bit tiresome swanning around in admiral's dress uniforms, then running down to the engine room to kick a boiler. I hope Bunker C was right for our fuel tanks. Or should that have been Jet A?

 

Can anybody tell me why they are called the "Proms?" Color me curious.

 

Ruby

[Saga Ruby]

We made a transatlantic crossing on Oriana in 2000, before Carnival took over the line. As Druke stated, they do the world cruises each year and segments are available. I thought their itineraries were interesting, but there is this dollar/pound issue right now.

 

Holy shipwreck! You mean to tell me that Carnivore now owns P&O? That one fact alone is a deal breaker for me. I’ll wait and see how it all goes with "them" running P&O. It can’t be good. I’m also glad that, for once, my timing is spot-on with me being off of international travel while the currency issues loom ever larger overseas.

 

Our new Chief Engineer has been kind enough to notify us of the Royal Mail strike so it's not rejection, it's that pig in a python that keeps moving along, causing trouble along the way. I hear that France is cranking up for a mail/transportation strike.

 

I had not realized that your Saga Rose cruise was a "port a day" itinerary. I would second your motion to spend more time in Edinburgh. If you can arrange it, try to the train out of Waverley Station which is originates under a hill. As the train pulls out of its cave into daylight, it passes the Castle high up on the hill on the right as you can enjoy the smooth, silky greensward and landscaping along the tracks. Abfab.

 

Ruby

[Druke I]

That fact that Carnival now owns P&O (UK) should not "scare you off". After the take-over, Carnival financed two ships (Arcadia & Ventura) for P&O.

 

Carnival pretty much lets each division (line) run itself, while infusing capital for new ships.

 

Princess and Holland America are two lines which in my opinion have benefited from the Carnival takeover. Both have added several ships since coming under the Carnival umbrella.

 

I did not hear you going aghast when Apollo put money into Oceania, allowing them to order two new ships. Apollo owns a lot of the NCL stock also.

[Saga Ruby]

How do we properly use the "multi-quote" function on these posts? I took a run at it yesterday and flamed out. The prompt was "not enough characters in your reply" and I had a paragraph.

 

Admiral Ma'am appreciates your input.

 

Ruby

[Kapricorn]

Is there a multi-quote function? When using more than one quote in a post, I've simply copied and pasted the second quote, incorporating the symbols from the start and end of the first quote. A multi-quote function would make things much simpler for me and others similarly technology-challenged.

 

I've just now completed reading Clive Harvey's "The Saga Sisters." It was very well-researched, with a plethora of photographs of the ships at the various stages of their careers. I was surprised, though, that it was not carefully proof-read prior to publication, because it contained numerous grammatical errors ("compliment" for "complement" and "that" for "than," among others). Clive Harvey's two other books, "The Last White Empresses" and "The Saxonia Sisters" had no grammatical errors.

 

D'maniac.

[Conte Di Savoia]

I pretty much do what Donald does. I open the thread in a second tab, copy the whole quote and delete the parts I don't want to appear. I then copy and paste the edited quote into the reply I'm creating which is in a separate tab. I then return to the tab with the original quote, copy the quote again and delete the parts I don't want to see. I then preview the reply because sometimes there are various directions which appear as text. If I don't want to see them I eliminate them, and preview the post again until it looks correct. It does takes time.

[Saga Ruby]

I pretty much do what Donald does. It does takes time.

 

We're all doing the same thing, but I noticed that there is a "Multi-Quote" function inside the individual message we are replying to. (Excuse the twisted grammar.) I clicked on the "quotes" symbol inside the message box and my choices are Reply, Multi-Quote, and QuickReply. I never got the Multi-Quote to work. I working in different screens and copying from one to another like y'all.

 

If my message is complicated, I type it into WordPerfect (my favorite software as opposed to the Great Satan Word), review it, then move it into CCritic.

 

Ruby

[Saga Ruby]

I've just now completed reading Clive Harvey's "The Saga Sisters." It was very well-researched, with a plethora of photographs of the ships at the various stages of their careers. I was surprised, though, that it was not carefully proof-read prior to publication, because it contained numerous grammatical errors ("compliment" for "complement" and "that" for "than," among others). Clive Harvey's two other books, "The Last White Empresses" and "The Saxonia Sisters" had no grammatical errors. D'maniac.

 

Numerous grammatical errors in a text are quite a distraction from the story. How interesting that "they" let The Saga Sisters go out in such a poorly edited condition. I guess their copy editor had gone to lunch.

 

I have a question for you. Does HAL pronounce its ship "Reendam" or "Rindam?" Is there a Eurodam? I thought I saw that title once but don't know anything about the ship, whether it's new or old - or extant today.

 

Ruby

[Druke I]

My thoughts on spelling/grammar erro4s today being so prevalent.

 

People use spell check, and that system does not discriminate between words that sound alike, not does it check grammar. That causes problems like the aforementioned "complement" vs "compliment'.

 

Can't help you on pronounciation of the HAL ships, as many use an Americanized version rather than the Dutch. That particular ship I pronounce rind dam (as in peel or skin), and don't have a clue what is correct.

 

Eurodam is currently under construction and has its own blog according to google.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I have a question for you. Does HAL pronounce its ship "Reendam" or "Rindam?"

RYNDAM is pronounced "Rhine Dam". This may not be the exact correct Dutch pronunciation but it is close as a non-Dutch-speaker is going to get.

 

Is there a Eurodam? I thought I saw that title once but don't know anything about the ship, whether it's new or old - or extant today.

EURODAM is the next ship being built by HAL. It is a completely daft name IMHO (I am yet to find anyone who likes it)...

 

HAL is keeping a nice blog on the ship's progress here.

[Kapricorn]

People use spell check, and that system does not discriminate between words that sound alike, not does it check grammar. That causes problems like the aforementioned "complement" vs "compliment'.

 

I've never, ever used the spell check function.

 

We're all doing the same thing, but I noticed that there is a "Multi-Quote" function inside the individual message we are replying to.

 

I've never noticed the "multi-quote" function, so I tried it here ... and it works! Just click on that function on the messages that you wish to respond to, one after the other, and, after you're done, all these messages will show up in your reply box. Voila! I have two quotes in my message, without copying and pasting.

 

D'maniac.