Our Brief Nautical Break

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Grandad
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Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Grandad »

Our Brief Nautical Break
With my increased mobility problems, I remember that I said that we may consider a cruise as an alternative holiday option. I also said that we had reservations about the whole concept of being on a cruise ship when we have mostly travelled independently and done our own thing in our own time.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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..........


:gg:
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@Grandad - you described the cruising experience to a "T"! I've never found anything to fault with the service, the ships, the staff and on and on - BUT - there is just something about the mass people processing/mass people moving experience that is just not for everybody and really not for me. I've given cruising more than its fair share of tries and while it was all experiences I'll never forget cruising isn't an experience I want to continue to experience. It is also hard to put into words what the cruising experience actually is. There are very few negatives as there is almost always a good ratio of staff to cruisers and they're all ready to assist you with anything. The entire cruising experience is - an experience.

From your description and photos it sounds like you had a nice few days. Too bad about the first tour when you got crowded out by people who experienced a fire on their boat. Very interesting photos about the gables and lifts. I remember staying in a house like that in Amsterdam and going up the extremely narrow staircase.
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Horus »

Nice photos Grandad and it looks like you had a pleasant enough short trip. Now I have a different take on things and maybe Grandad did not experience a long enough cruise to really enjoy things, in addition maybe your own mobility is restricting things a little and putting a different slant on things? I would have thought that a cruise ship would have been right up your street as everything is within reach with lifts to other levels and a basically flat walking surface. Perhaps you needed to try a larger ship with a longer cruise that would have given you more time to make friends on board and more opportunity to chat with others, generally speaking it takes a couple of days for strangers to get friendly with each other. Also with longer cruises and bigger ships there is more on offer such as theatres, cinemas, evening variety shows, dancing, speakers etc. plus lots of other activities if you fancy doing them. Food is usually excellent with everything from large self service restaurants to more intimate dining with full waiter service and of course the 24 hour venues if you fancy a snack or a coffee. Often you get a large selection of bars that have all sorts going on from lively to cocktail bars and piano lounges. Also on longer cruises you do get more chances to do your own thing when in port as you don’t have to take any of the organised tours, but the advantage is that there is usually plenty on offer if you fancy it.

Amsterdam is a great place to go around, but again you need to be fairly mobile to walk along the canals and back streets, although I did enjoy having a ride on the boats as I reckon you can see quite a lot from them especially all those house frontages and of course the many houseboats along the route. I seem to remember someone telling me that they were built narrow more to do with taxation rather than available land space, hence them building tall instead of wide.
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Kiya »

Lovely photos & boat :) you don't seem to keen on the cruise but otherwise you seemed to enjoy it :)

As Horus says perhaps if longer & bigger boat you would have a lot more to do.

We often have the Pearl Saga berthing in our bay & there is lots of coach tours from the boat all over the N.E Aberdeenshire.

Thanks for your write up & pictures :) it must have taken some time to do :up :)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I think there is a feeling about cruising. I can attest that some people on cruises seem to love them and live to get onto the next. Any of the cruise lines I've been on have everything down pat re: orderly, clean, activities, variety in meals, shows etc etc etc

The first cruise I took was a cruise to Alaska (7 days) and the longest 3 weeks through the Panama Canal. I much favoured the shorter cruise as the longer cruise(s) where there was nothing but days at sea cruising were pretty boring in that I loved the evening theatrical/musical shows but had no interest in the other "party" type evening activities, didn't gamble and no interest in just sitting in any of the numerous bars. Day time was ok but other than eating meals it was constant struggle with the crowds of people to get a seat anywhere near a pool and the day time 'activities' (other than drinking or gambling) were pretty insignificant i.e. learning how to make an origami star and the ever present talks offered on botox, facials, manicures, pedicures and everything spa related.

Then the absolute crush to get OFF the boat once in shore and I don't want to even get into when we landed and were taken to a HUGE warehouse to play the game of "FIND YOUR LUGGAGE" ...... about on par with being kept in a holding area waiting to get ON the ship.

All in all I've taken 7 cruises. Gave cruising a great try. Don't regret cruising and can say over the years the clothing requirements have definitely loosened up. Made one excellent life time friend on one cruise and we still chat often, made other friends in passing on every cruise I was on and can't fault any of the cruise lines I've been on but .......... ???

Have no cruises looming in the future and am not really terribly interested in booking any more. Have a gf in the next city north of me and her and her fellow have just started cruising and can't wait to book their next trip. Another gf booked (I think) a month long cruise from somewhere around Florida and cruised south around the tip of South America and back up to Seattle - was the absolute highlight of her life and she'd cruise again in a heart beat. I know they've asked me to join them on future forays but I've politely declined as I just don't get the FEEL for cruising - ocean going ships.

I've never taken a river cruise and do have a thought that I might just like them as the ships seem smaller with daily stops. That would appeal (I think). It would meet my need to get off the ships, walk around wherever & do what I want when I want.

On the other hand IF invited to a pending TRIP I'd be there in a heartbeat ;)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Horus »

I loved the Nile cruises as they were just about right size wise to cater for everyone without any crush, food was always good and the service excellent. Couple that with an interesting itinerary of places I always want to visit and the relaxed atmosphere in the day and evening, then it suits me fine and if I need a companion I know who to call. :D
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@H - Definitely! ;)

I was on the Diamond Princess (and I, by FAR, preferred the Princess Ships) three times (all just by chance - although I think cause it is on the west coast of Canada) and carried (I think) something like 5,000 passengers and probably half that in Staff.

The Norweigan Dawn was carrying something like 2000+ people. Definitely smaller but still LOTS of people. I hated pulling into port and then having to wait 'til your number was called to get off and, from memory it had nowhere to sit other than the Lounges (whereas Princess was full of nooks and crannies where you could sit in an upholstered chair, read a book and relax) where you were constantly bothered (i.e. another drink? sorry I bumped your chair, loud music - just not relaxed)

I personally think that River cruising is quite a bit different. Have never done any but smaller numbers of people, less crush of humanity (so to speak) would suit me and the ability to get off and on at daily different site would be optimal.

Grandad and Mrs Grandad gave themselves an 'intro' to cruising. A longer cruise might just suit them but if I was to throw in my two cents worth I'd think they might prefer river cruising to the salt water ocean type cruises.
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Mad Dilys »

I have always wanted to whale watch on a cruise, but apart from that it doesn't really appeal.

One of the members of my Art class arrived one day mid term with lots of souvenir chocolates from her 4 month world wide winter cruise! Apparently she used to work for the company and does it every year. Now that's more appealing - a world wide cruise has my vote. :up
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Grandad »

Thanks for all your comments folks and I am pleased that my post has prompted some discussion about the pro's and con's of cruising.

Our aim was to just do a 'taster' cruise to help us to decide if that might be our future holiday mode. Four nights was plenty of time to experience all that the ship had to offer and I disagree Horus that more time on a larger ship might have changed our opinion.

The Sapphire had all of the facilities that you mention, theatre, cinema, evening variety shows, dancing, speakers etc. plus lots of other activities if you fancy doing them. We met and spent some interesting time with many other passengers. I was very happy that there was no buffet service in any restaurant. I do like the formality of A la Carte dining, especially when the menu changes every day for both lunch and dinner.

There were so many plus points about our trip that you may well ask, 'Why have you decided against cruising'?
Like you Horus we also loved our Nile Cruise and then the Aswan to Abu Simbel on Lake Nasser, but they are very different to ocean cruising.

I think it all comes down to personal choice and what you expect from a holiday. We do like to mix with the locals in our destinations and cruising does not afford that opportunity when going ashore is usually limited to just a few hours. And as LLL has said, cruising is holidaying 'en masse' and a larger ship can only be even more 'massive'.

Fortunately we have travelled quite widely and have seen many exciting parts of the world. My disability is now very restricting but we are still considering a river cruise in Europe that I think I would find more agreeable.

My wife often says that she would like a holiday where she could spend lazy days under palm trees beside an azure blue sea. We have never been west so perhaps the time has come. ;) :lol: 8)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I've not river cruised but the idea of being able to get off the ship daily in cities appeals. Ocean cruising out on the open ocean can also bring significant rocking of the ship and :sk :sk I've seen many passengers turn :sk in Hecate Straits.

When the ship docked in Cartagena Columbia the shipyards were miles out of the city. Cartagena is and it seemed every inch of road was blocked by cars that slowly moved here and there. Hiring a taxi or trying to get somewhere by yourself would have been futile. I was lucky enough to be able to get off the ship first. I counted 17+ tour buses parked to take us all on our tour. For the rest of the day we all got on and off that same bus surrounded by 17+ other tour buses arriving and leaving which says nothing for all the other tour buses transporting all the other tourists arriving on other ships. Ocean cruising tends to have 2 or more ships traveling somewhat in tandem hence your 5000 passengers arriving with another 5 or 10 thousand people plus can happen at cities too. Doesn't make for a pleasant experience at all - it is mass tourism at its worst.
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Kiya »

Here is your cruise ship Grandad , just leaving my home town of Peterhead.


http://www.buchanobserver.co.uk/news/la ... -1-4525226
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Grandad »

That's her Kiya. Lovely ship in the old style and, contrary to what we said, we might even consider travelling on her next year. Everything was so good and 5 star all the way and with our eye and mobility problems, Saga do cater for all our needs. Who knows? ;)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Kiya »

It could be better second time around Grandad now you know much more of the ship & crew & especially when they cater for your needs :) :up
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Grandad »

Whatever negative comments I made, earlier in this thread, about our opinion on cruising PLEASE FORGET IT. :lol:

In the last few weeks we have been trying to find a holiday in October. Although I could get assistance at an airport, that whole airport experience has become something we no longer want to tolerate. Add to that the cost of travel insurance, we are both in our eighties and have medical conditions, which is extortionate. We also need to hire taxis to and from the airport at both ends and we have run up bills of around £700 before we look at holiday costs.
SO last evening we re-considered a cruise with Saga. They are not cheap but when you consider the total package that they offer and the very high standard of everything on board, we have booked a 12 night cruise in October to Madeira, The Canaries, and La Coruna. We sail from Southampton Saga get us there and back by private car, they include travel insurance, full board, wine with meals, all gratuities, 24 hour room service, WIFI etc so once you pay as I did this morning, the only extra will be bar bill.
For mobility reasons we will not book excursions but, from our experiences last month in Amsterdam and Guernsey, we will go ashore and do our own thing. All 5 ports of call are in port so no clambering on and off of tenders.
So, we all have the right to change our mind and we have done just that. Will report back after the event of course.... 8)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Never say never and never a problem with changing your mind! ;) I'd say it is a better positive (is there such a thing as a better positive? hmm - but it seems the thing to say ;) ) to still get OUT and ABOUT than staying home.

I agree with Airport issues and interestingly I just booked THREE weeks to Mexico spring 2018 vs two two week trips exactly for the reason of all the issues happening at the airport. Even most recently my dtr and her boyfriend came out from Quebec for a visit and soon as he got up to the counter (having gone through screening etc) to get onto the plane he was told his seat had been re-sold!!! Guess there were words and he got his seat but the seat they booked together didn't happen (small issue they just wanted ON the plane) but had they not allowed him to start his trip every other booking (Quebec City to Montreal to Toronto to Vancouver to here) would have been disrupted especially when they told him there were no more available seats on any flight 'til the next day.

There are few direct flights across Canada and you pay dearly for them. Personally I always opt to get me off the island and across to the USA and much prefer flying out of there.

Seattle to Puerta Vallarta direct in 4 hours.

Vancouver British Columbia to Calgary Alberta to Puerto Vallarta is MEGA HOURS but you can't get any direct flights as seemingly Canada has adopted almost like a BUS mentality whereby the plane flies all around collecting people prior to leaving for the destination!

Anyway, I digress - great you've changed your mind and 12 days seeing the fjords sounds like a fantastic trip! :) Take lots to do during boat time, be prepared to eat, eat, eat, snack, eat and snack :) and enjoy some fine wine :)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Grandad »

LLL, no fjords in Madiera, The Canaries or La Coruna but I get your point. ;) These are all Spanish and Portugese destinations down the West Coast of Africa. October should be sunny and warm so hope to top up the tan. 8)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

@Grandad - you know - I read that you said Madiera & the Canaries but for some reason I put you cruising up around Norway in my mind!! No idea why I transposed your cruise destinations but I did so I was serious when I said you'd enjoy the fjords (DUH!!!! Must've been a Seniors moment!)
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Re: Our Brief Nautical Break

Post by Kiya »

All sounds fantastic Grandad & I'm sure you & Mrs G will enjoy your cruise, cant wait to see your pics :)
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