Early in January we booked an 8 night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords with Saga sailing very conveniently from Dover. I then had the problem with my 'good' eye in February and as the outcome was uncertain, we cancelled that booking. By early May my eye had recovered and as we still wanted to try cruising we booked a 4 night short cruise, again with Saga from Dover. This went up to Amsterdam with a whole day in the city. We then had a whole day cruising south to St Peter Port on Guernsey in the Channel Islands. The fourth night we sailed back to Dover.
Photo opportunities were a bit limited but the following is a brief account of our trip with pictures and finally our assessment of cruising as a holiday alternative for us.
Let me start by saying that Saga's arrangements are five star and tick every box. It started with their arranged private car collecting us from home at 1pm last Monday. From that moment we didn't touch our cases until they were at our cabin door just over an hour later. After the mandatory evacuation drill, we left Dover Cruise Port at 16.00 and headed north into the North Sea.
By morning we had moored at the Amsterdam Cruise Port. We would have preferred to go ashore independently but opted for a pre booked city tour and canal boat cruise.
A coach and canal boat are NOT the best way to see Amsterdam and 'snapping' was limited. I was most interested in seeing the canal houses, in particular the gable ends which themselves have stories about the various designs. They can reflect the residents 'Keeping up with the Jones's' mentality when gable ends would be changed to the latest style. Also worth noting that every house has a protruding beam in the gable with a pulley which allowed large items of furniture etc. to be hauled up on the outside of the house then pulled in through a central door at each floor level. Because the houses are so narrow, internal staircases are also narrow preventing large items being taken up by the stairs.
Holland is noted as a country of bicycles. In Amsterdam, a city of around 800,000 people, there are more than one million bicycles so many people have 2 or even 3 of them. The local authority dredge the canals every year and remove around 5,000 rusty bikes.
Our vessel was the Saga Sapphire, a proper ship. She has a capacity of just 700 passengers and a crew of around 420, so the ratio is very high. Service on board was exemplary, the restaurant service (3 restaurants) was waiter service with a new menu every day. Like fine dining, and with unlimited wine included at lunch and dinner.
The day at sea was enjoyable, the weather for the whole trip was wall to wall sunshine, and for lunch on Wednesday we had fish and chips and mushy peas at the 'Beach Club'. There was ice cream and sweeties to help yourself at the Beach Club beside the pool.
St Peter Port cannot accommodate large ships so we anchored about a mile offshore and were ferried ashore by one of the ships tenders. And everything ran like clockwork. We each had a 'passport card' which was scanned each time you left or returned to the ship. This card was also your cabin door key and printed on it was your name and your individual WIFI password.
This is a lovely little port with many marinas and an air of wealth about the place. On Thursday afternoon we pre booked an island panoramic tour. With narrow roads, large modern coaches are not allowed and our coach had an added disadvantage of 'NO AIRCON'. That was a real downer.
Guernsey is quaint, in my opinion, with many beaches around its rocky coastline and villages with church and parish council. There are relics from WWII around the coast in the form of former German gun emplacements. Our driver/guide told us that, although under German occupation for most of the war, life was not bad and you could even refuse to work for the Germans and not receive any recrimination.
We got the last tender at 16.30 back to the ship and the anchor was weighed at 18.00 for the 12 hour run back to Dover. The procedure there reversed with cases collected from cabin the night before, private car waiting, and home by 11am.
So, what is our opinion of cruising? We found everything about Saga's service and arrangements to be absolutely first class. Their package includes transport to port up to 250 miles, all onboard gratuities, travel insurance, wine at lunch and dinner, and 24 hour room service.
We missed the chance to do our own thing and found the experience a bit regimented. Saga have a minimum age limit of 50 years, most of the passengers were probably over 80. So are we but we like a bit of humour and laughter and the experiemce was a bit droll. We like to mix with other nationalities and these were all Brits, not an ethnic face among them. Although the restaurants were freestyle timewise, we did find that experience crowded and, as I said, lacking in lightheartedness and all a bit stilted.
We would not try one of the large ships so we have decided, cruising is not for us..........