A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

A place to swap ideas, share your hobbies, pass on hints and tips and discuss how you spend your free time.

Moderators: DJKeefy, 4u Network

Post Reply
User avatar
Grandad
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 6924
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:15 am
Location: South East UK
Has thanked: 797 times
Been thanked: 2254 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by Grandad »

A 12 night cruise off the West Coast of Africa on MV Saga Sapphire

Saturday 21 October. During the morning we approached La Palma with its grey/brown hilly landscape. We had pre-booked one of the optional tours called 'Scenic La Palma' because it involved very little walking. After the usual brief city tour, the coach climbed typical mountain roads to the top of the volcanic crater. This is 'Caldera De Taburiente' a National Park in which the coach took us to 2,400 metres. Only pine trees grow at that altitude and there are often major fires that burn off the branches of the trees but miraculously the trees survive and the branches re-grow. The result is an absolutely beautiful landscape with new green foliage and dramatic mountain peaks. For me that park was the highlight of our whole trip, stunning.

Arriving at Santa Cruz
8498

Climbing the mountain in the coach
8499

At 2,400 metres in the National Park
85008501

All of the stops on our cruise were brief and we departed La Palma early evening and headed for Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

Sunday 22 October. We arrived early at Las Palmas and there were many optional tours available through the day. One that we had booked in the afternoon was cancelled and re-scheduled to the morning. I have already said we are slow starters in the morning and opted to cancel and have a refund credited to our cabin account. To be honest we are not impressed with the Canaries and find one to be much like another. After all they are all the tops of volcanoes, and the water around the islands goes down to over 4,000 metres. We spent the day at leisure onboard.

Trust TUI to be as unimaginative as to call their ships 'Mein Schiff'
8502

On several occasions we opted for the light lunch of fish and chips with mushy peas and a glass of wine, at the pool. Most passengers would queue at the restaurant doors at 12 noon and eat a 3 course lunch. Just wanted their moneys worth I suppose.
8503

Two of the excellent small entertainment groups that played in various venues around the ship. This was in the forward drawing room.

An easy listening duo of piano and vocalist
8520
A Russian piano quartet with an excellent classical repertoire. On one occasion they played Vivaldis Four Seasons.
8521

Time for another break I think.

To Be Continued:


:gg:
User avatar
Horus
Egypt4u God
Egypt4u God
Posts: 12363
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:15 am
Location: UK
Has thanked: 1658 times
Been thanked: 2213 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Re: A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by Horus »

So far so good Grandad and I'm glad to see that you and Mrs G opted for just enjoying the cruise and the ship without the need to try out everything on offer. ;)
Image
User avatar
LovelyLadyLux
Egypt4u God
Egypt4u God
Posts: 11596
Joined: Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:12 pm
Location: Canada
Has thanked: 417 times
Been thanked: 2714 times
Canada

Re: A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Lovely scenery and those trees are definitely quite amazing. Really an interesting splash of green in an otherwise fairly barren looking area.

Some of the entertainment onboard is really good. I always quite enjoyed sitting in whatever lounge and listen to whomever was entertaining whilst I'd read and sip tea :)

As for eating on your cruise - did they give you the option of "OPEN" dining?

Open seems the way to go on the cruises that happen here in this area in that open means you can eat in the Buffet 24/7 (and it is essentially the same food as is being served in the Restaurants.) When you chose Open you can also make nightly reservations in 3 or 4 of the other Restaurants from their opening 5pm or 6pm to 11pm-ish and eat whatever specialty food they were serving

There were a couple Restaurants designated as ?? (I can't remember :( but will call the Scheduled) but they were the Restaurants where you could sit with the Captain + Officers but they were only going to eat at 7am/noon & 7pm every day.

From your photos the interior looks quite relaxing.
User avatar
Grandad
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 6924
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:15 am
Location: South East UK
Has thanked: 797 times
Been thanked: 2254 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Re: A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by Grandad »

Here are a couple more of the pines in the National Park.

85308532
:gg:
User avatar
Kiya
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 4286
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:15 am
Location: Peterhead Scotland
Has thanked: 1575 times
Been thanked: 537 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Re: A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by Kiya »

Super photos Grandad :) it all looks amazing.

Those beautiful green trees looks like being painted :)

Love the Beatles chair & were the fish really fresh each day ;)
User avatar
Grandad
Egyptian Pharaoh
Egyptian Pharaoh
Posts: 6924
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:15 am
Location: South East UK
Has thanked: 797 times
Been thanked: 2254 times
Gender:
United Kingdom

Re: A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by Grandad »

Glad you like the pictures Kiya :up

The food on the ship was excellent and although some must have been frozen I believe that some provisioning would be done at each port for fruit and fish.
:gg:
User avatar
LovelyLadyLux
Egypt4u God
Egypt4u God
Posts: 11596
Joined: Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:12 pm
Location: Canada
Has thanked: 417 times
Been thanked: 2714 times
Canada

Re: A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 2

Post by LovelyLadyLux »

I like the stark contrast between the mountains in the background, the green of the trees and the red of the ground. Interesting.

It is amazing the amount of food that is pushed through in a day on a cruise ship. They must have phenomenal kitchens and chefs & cooks & helpers and the orchestration to put on a meal must be fantastic. From memory right now I can't say I've ever had a bad meal on any of the cruises I've been on. Most of the food just rolls right out non-stop and all of it always looks pretty darn fresh and appealing.

I loved the small tiny buffet at the back of the last ship I was on. They opened for afternoon tea with scones and cream (one of my favs) plus all the fresh fruit one could want. Was always a lovely sitting area, shaded, no wind and quiet so lots of opportunity to talk to everybody.
Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post
  • A 12 night cruise on Saga Sapphire Part 3
    by Grandad » » in Hobbies And Pastimes
    10 Replies
    898 Views
    Last post by Grandad
  • A 12 night cruise on Saga Saphhire Part 1
    by Grandad » » in Hobbies And Pastimes
    7 Replies
    660 Views
    Last post by Kiya
  • Saga Pearl
    by Kiya » » in General Discussions and Rants
    6 Replies
    2049 Views
    Last post by Kiya
  • Cruise Ships
    by LovelyLadyLux » » in General Discussions and Rants
    10 Replies
    1884 Views
    Last post by LovelyLadyLux
  • WOW - What a night!!!!
    by DJKeefy » » in Myth, Magic and Spirituality
    3 Replies
    9909 Views
    Last post by Scottishtourist