saga rose 1 night repositioning

[seabourndt]

i found this cruise on sagazone a social networking site. as it was on SAGA ROSE which is being retired this year i wanted to try it out. i also tried a short cruise on SAGA RUBY last year thought it was ok but not sure if it was worth the high price! it was £200 for an outside cabin from liverpool to soton. including tips and train tickets which is good.

 

MONDAY 24TH AUGUST

 

i boarded the virgin train 0707 from euston to liverpool arrived in liverpool at 0910(early!) then boarded the coach transfer to langton dock(a horrible place for a cruise terminal) 5 miles away from the city centre. checked in quickly and was escorted to my cabin 292 on main deck. it was right at the front but while it was a large cabin with a sofa(which i love) and an actual bath! the portholes were so far up you had to climb onto the table to see out of them(and it was very uncomfortable there as well) after we left port and went through the lock(which is interesting) and went out into the mersey. they said the wind force 3-4 would increase to force 6-7 during the night. lunch was in the dining room but was open sitting i was given a table to myself which i don't like later a man sat next to me but it was hard work thinking what to talk about. at 3.30 we had the lifeboat drill rather than have it on deck they had ours in the britannia lounge. the lifebelt was easy to put on and was quickly over. after returning it to my cabin i had afternoon tea which was in the grand ballroom, very nice it was too. a cocktail party was arranged only for sagazone members(but think others wer there too) i met my ship friends there and it was nice talking to them with plenty of snacks and champagne. but the idea of the party was to meet new friends that are also on sagazone and not one of them spoke to me i was very dissapointed! i usually go to lunches around the country and it is much easier meeting people there. for dinner in the dining room was me colin,chris,patrick and a lady who we invited to join us. the menu was ok but i thought not a great choice, only 2-3 choices and not much oustanding fare. we all had wine with the meal which was nice. after dinner i went back to my cabin and went to the show later. first there was a philipino choir which was lovely then a show of different show tunes which i really enjoyed. i usually like to smoke a cigar but the only place was the open deck. not a great place as only on the port side and no ashtrays anywhere. i decided to smoke a ciggerette instead in the small smoking area in the north cape bar with a beer. the wind was now getting up and my cabin was mopving quite a bit.

 

TUESDAY 25TH August

 

i awoke at 7am see the seas were astill quite rough. i went down to breakfast in the dining room it was quiet this early and sat on my own by the window. i found orange joice,swiss muesli which i always like in the buffet area. if you want a cooked breakfast you can order something. i had eggs benedict,with back bacon and sausage. then toast and marmalade. coffee was very strong i could see it at the bottom of the cup. then i went up on deck tom join the walk round the deck. found nobody so went on my own,7 times round the decfk was 1 mile which seemed a lot(i only did 1 mile) then went to the saga talk, all about their holidays,and river and ocean cruises. rthey keep making a point that they (SAGA) are much more friendly. i have been on a lot of other cruiselines and found saga to be quite unfriendly!! thev waiters did not talk much, the wine waiter never even asked if i wanted anything. when i left hardly any of them said anything. again fo lunch i sat on a table all by myself and nobody made a point of me joining them. i was going to have lunch with colin but could not see them until later. then went up on deck as we had to vacate our cabins at 1400. had afternoon tea which was good. we passed the needles and the dorset coast.arriving at 1630 it then waited overan hour till they started disembarkation. luckily i was 1st to leave as we were on the coach transfer to the station. no sign of coling and the rest, thought they were on the same transfer. i met the same lady we sat with for last nights dinner. another person at the dinner DAVID TREVOR JONES who i thought to be a nice person got upset with her over something.

 

well i must say i enjoyed the ship, but the the sagazone and food was not something i would book another saga cruise especially as they are overpriced in my opinion!

dave