Alchymist

Fingers crossed!

Many thanks for your response, but your interpretation of the 30 January Trading Update was rather selective as it made no mention of the insurance business where policy sales are down 9%, customer retention down from 84% to 81% and margin per policy down from £69 to £54. Net debt at is also expected to be slightly higher. However, cash availability is not a problem at the moment, it would seem. Cruise and travel is just a part of SAGA plc's total business and it is great to see that it is doing well, but you cannot ignore the drag of the insurance business it is towing along. Please let me re-iterate, I am in no way getting at their cruise business, it's a great offering at very reasonable prices. I want the business to survive and continue to provide me with the opportunity to travel with them again, but I am not blind to the issues the business as a whole faces. I will wait for the annual report, thank you. Hopefully it will also carry some good news about a re-structuring of the business. Best wishes to all subscribing to this board and happy sailing.

The latest, substantive financial summary of SAGA plc's performance comes in the form of the Interim Results as at 31st. July 2023 (attached, if necessary click on the attachment to see it in full) and I certainly don't want to get into an analysis of them or what might be the case now. However, please remember that businesses fail when they run out of money and this is where debt comes in. I am sure it is where the management will be focusing a whole lot of attention. The year end was about 2 weeks ago and we can be sure that the finance department will be hard at work and they are likely to be published in April. We would probably all do well to wait until then before offering any further comment, however interesting it is to share other people's views.

It is good to see Spence55 quoting some actual figures rather than puff pieces in magazines. We all love SAGA ships and crew, or I guess we wouldn't be spending our time scrutinising these boards, but we have to recognise that they are just a part of the business and its financial performance. It's when you look at it holistically and realise what a debt load the business has that you can see that unless something drastic is done to restructure it, then it will probably/possibly fail. This time last year the hope was that they could offload the heavily loss making insurance business, but they had to abandon that plan in the autumn. We should be reassured that the management is looking at other, equally radical options, although as SAGAnauts, some of us may naturally be worried about how it will affect our future holiday experience as well as the livelihoods of the crews. All power to the management for trying to find a solution - how much of it is their own making, who can tell?

Sadly, the alcohol hand gel is not effective against Norovirus. (It's all to do with the lipid shell of the Coronavirus!)

SAGA halted their efforts to sell the insurance business in September and in the meantime their cashflow looks quite disturbing. I sincerely hope that they will thrive, because they do offer a lot to us of senior years, even if there are concerns that should be addressed. If one looks at their revenue against earnings lover the last few years, they haven't made as much progress as the dreaded Carnival and it would be awful if the insurance business sank them. (Not the ships, of course.) Institutional holdings and insider holdings are pretty high, but not too sure if that is a good or bad thing at the moment.

Well, there was a Norovirus outbreak! To give due credit, this was handled quickly and rigorously - but it was an issue that had a significant effect upon activities.

I am surprised that my post of two days ago has aroused such interest in my comments on dining! My wife has asked me to point out that she found the fish dishes revolved around a good variety of species. In particular, she enjoyed the "scabbard fish" from Madeira. Perhaps we might just wonder whether adopting a more vegetarian diet would be good for our health? If so, Saga could provide more than (eg) a fraction of a carrot or a single little head of broccoli with their non-veggie dishes!

Writing specifically of the Cape Verde cruise, there were a number of things which I found disappointing. Firstly the careless attitude towards sanitation - until Norovirus struck. The first time ever I have boarded a ship without a member of staff insisting that I use sanitiser, and that was the case when returning from the pre-Norovirus shore trips too. Staff at the restaurants dispensed about one drop of gel, certainly not enough to wet out your hands. This all changed with Norovirus when the outbreak was swiftly and effectively dealt with - although it put a dampener on everything and clearly curtailed many activities. (Incidentally, alcohol gel is not effective against Norovirus!) The food was disappointing, with meat cookery especially poor and what seemed like a smaller menu than hitherto = 6 mains, of which 3 were vegetarian. One table companion in the Supper Club had a ribeye steak which she could not cut and eat and I had a grossly over-cooked rack of lamb, which appeared as individual chops. Entertainment was below par, the Cruise Director was almost universally known as the Invisible Man - although he may have had personal issues (who knows?) which led to this. The String Quartet, however, were brilliant as were the Spirit Trio. Would also commend the Agatha Christy evening in The Playhouse. But there is now only one show per night in The Playhouse and quite late at 21.30 or 21.45. Clashes of performances with the Britannia Lounge which had things on at the same time (eg Crew Show in Lounge at same time as Ventriloquist in Playhouse). The Destination lecturer was second to none and the other Speakers also VG. We had a Captain change at A Coruna which brought a welcome announcement from the Bridge spot on Midday (as opposed to random time); seemed somehow more disciplined, perhaps I am old fashioned. However, proud of the first Captain and Bridge Crew for spotting and coming to the aid of the migrant boat. Filling in the "online" questionnaire on the last day was a farce. Like several other passengers I spoke to, the app persistently failed after the first question and I wasn't prepared to go the Library and be nannied into using a supervised iPad. Perhaps that is why I am being frank here! Disembarkation at Portsmouth was late and sad to see some less abled people struggling to push their trolleys up the ramp with no offer of help from staff. Journey home a fairly manic affair in a none too comfortable MPV, but we got there. The crew were generally excellent and our Cabin Steward was a gem. I think it is people like him who encourage us to use Saga and despite my comments here, we will probably cruise with Saga again, although we do intend to go back to other lines to reset our expectations.

I agree. Indeed, if there were engine problems, I am surprised - perhaps shocked - that these were not addressed before leaving Portsmouth.

Whilst I shall be intrigued to read the MAIB report in due course, let us not forget that it is the MCA who decide whether a vessel is safe to sail and I would expect them to have been heavily involved when SOD got back to Pompey after the "incident". The data and bridge recorder information will presumably have been available to them then? (Those interested in the MAIB and their work could take a look at their website maib.gov.uk .)

Notice of investigation by MAIB . Unlikely to be published for some time yet, will prove an interesting read.