My Saga Sapphire cruise came to an end on Sunday, but I hadn’t quite finished my live blog – internet signal stopped me adding part 4 before I disembarked, so here it is.

We had 2 days at sea and the weather was glorious, I actually complained several times that I was too hot! I spent my days watching other passengers enjoying their cruise and soaking up the sun and I spent my evenings in Cooper’s bar listening to Martin playing the piano and telling jokes.

Our final port of call was Leixoes (Oporto) in Portugal. The day started off quite cool and cloudy so I decided to put a pair of jeans on – bad idea! By the time I got into town the clouds had lifted and it was another typical summer’s day. I was roasting! I looked around a few shops in the city and after a few hours decided to head back to the ship to change and cool off. I would have liked to have spent a little more time there and had a look inside the Lello Bookshop – one of the oldest bookstores in Portugal and one of the best in the world – but I was just too hot. Apparently, J.K. Rowling got a lot of inspiration for Harry Potter from spending time in the Lello Bookshop and having since looked it up online I can most certainly see the connection – the interior is incredible and reminds me a lot of scenes from the movies. When I got back onboard I threw on a sundress and made my way outside for some lunch in the sunshine. We had a deck BBQ/Grill almost every day!

We sailed from Leixoes and spent the next 2 days at sea. I done more or less the same things I had done on the previous sea days, but by now we were joined by some of the stars from Strictly Come Dancing: Robin Windsor and Kristina Rihanoff. They held a Q&A session in the Britannia Lounge the morning before their evening performance, so I popped my head in for a few minutes. I have to admit that Strictly Come Dancing is not really my “cup of tea”, so to speak, but a lot of other passengers enjoyed the fact that they were onboard and I’m told their evening performance was fantastic. I did stand and watch a few minutes of one routine, but from just outside the door, then I retreated back to Cooper’s.

I really do like Saga Cruises and I met some incredibly nice people on that cruise – we had MANY laughs and the majority of us exchanged contact information. I will miss you all, and Sapphire!

There were a few things I picked up on during the cruise that I wanted to mention, the first being the dress code. We had formal, informal and casual evenings onboard, but there was one particular day that was so hot and humid the very thought of wearing anything other than a birthday suit was quite scary, so what did the ship do? They relaxed the evening dress code and gave passengers the option to dress casual instead of informal. I really liked that touch. I was also told that the very same day, crew at the mid-ships pool passed out eucalyptus towels, cold drinks and then cups of ice cream to help keep people cool – another nice little touch.

The itinerary I sailed was all-inclusive, but all-inclusive definitely didn’t mean small measures or just a tooth-full of wine. The bar staff were not shy when it came to giving you the world’s biggest glass of rose or half a bottle of rum! They also left a trolley of goodies at the pool area (there is no outdoor bar there) so it saved having to go in and out all of the time for refreshments.

I am sad to have left Sapphire behind. She was starting to feel a lot like home for me, but I don’t want to end on a sad note, so here is one of the videos I promised you from my dolphin watching excursion in Gibraltar – I will be adding more soon!

When will I next be cruising with Saga? I’m not sure, but I’m hoping something in 2016 will soon be on the cards – keep you posted. 🙂