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Saga Sapphire in Monte Carlo. It may look smooth but there was real trouble getting people ashore on the tender!

Stayed on from the previous cruise (Harbours of Western France). Sailed, again, from Dover and visited Lisbon, Cartagena, Ibiza, Livorno (overnight), Monte Carlo, Barcelona (overnight), Castellon and Gibraltar. Over the Bay of Biscay (and back) but, again, we had trouble remembering that we were on the Ocean. Never have we had such a smooth time on a ship. The heat wave in Britain reached record levels but we beat it! On a trip to Murcia (slightly inland so hotter than by the sea) the temperature at 16.10 (on the coach) showed 42. Don't think I've ever been in hotter. Having said that, I felt more comfortable there than I did in Monte Carlo where it "only" reached about 35!

On the first formal night of the Harbours of Western France cruise the Captain (who only knows me as Michael Caine!) recognised me and said that "We must meet up for dinner". Yeah, right! There are several hundred on board so what chance have we got. I should have had more faith! The invitation arrived. Alright, it was not on a formal night (most unusual for the Captain to have "a Table" on a casual night) but never mind. All the guests who had sailed on the previous cruise (I think there were about 41) were invited to a Senior Officer's table and we got the Captain!

The Captain's Table and, surprisingly, we got to know all of them!