I'm 50, Can Saga Convert Me? SoA Northern Lights

[nosapphire]

10 hours ago, SaraSailing said:

Here's the thing. If you want to cruise, want a balcony (however small the attached cabin), want all-inclusive, want UK ports, want the slightly nanny British attitude - then you will probably love Saga. If you want adventure, exotic flavours, and cosy indoor spaces - you won't. If you are a Saga stalwart, you'll book the day new itineraries are launched and "save" 35%. If you book at any other time, you've paid significantly more for the same cabin/cruise. 

There are things about Saga that are personal taste, and there are things that (for this trip) maybe cross that line. I've still no real understanding of the mask and quarantine policy, because if one were effective, the other would be much less necessary. And as for taking the ship to places it shouldn't go, and temporarily disabling some of the fire safety system in the process? If you love Saga, that's probably okay with you, even though it's not with me.

No cruise line is perfect. They all have bizarre quirks. With a few tweaks, I think Saga could appeal to the younger end of their target market, although I'm still to be convinced by the design of the interior, or the quality of the wifi for those of us at 50 or just under.

All in all, I glad I went, I had a great night at the husky racing lodge, met some lovely crew, walked around four little towns, and I'm super glad to be home - you'd have struggled to pay me enough to stay. But I'm not representative of the Saga crowd, so maybe they never had to woo me.

Thank you for your report. As a long-time Saga cruiser, I can also tell you that many other long-time Saga passengers are disenchanted with the new ships (or at least with the SoD) based on conversations we had on board in 2019. I suspect that much has been because the layout, size and design of the new ships has removed much of "feel" that Saga had on their smaller older ships, plus Saga management seem lately to be confused about their target market.

Maybe (as one captain accused us) we are simply stuck in the past, sighing over the ambience of the old days - but I do know that in the maiden season of the SoD (sister to the SofA), many of us were so excited to get on the new ship, having followed the build progress step by step, so maybe it was that our expectations were simply too high which is why so many of us felt so let down by Saga. But that was the first cruise where I have come home and cancelled all future bookings (and I hear that I was not the only one).

 

[Windsurfboy]

Thanks,  will have to make up own mind after first Saga cruise in May.  If Black sea goes ahead. Big if.

 

Will look seriously at  Silversea. 

 

At moment  my biggest worry about  Saga is approach to covid. They and other cruise lines want cake and eat it;- cruise to be like before covid ,  but want zero Covid . Then overeact to any cases.  

[Vivaldi]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

Will look seriously at  Silversea. 

 

At moment  my biggest worry about  Saga is approach to covid.

Unfortunately all cruise lines seem to have difficulties with covid, and I'm not sure there is an approach which is unproblematic. Given the nature of its clientele, Saga's approach has always been to put safety first, whether that is in relation to covid, bad weather or whatever.

 

Silversea has not fully escaped difficulties related to covid, as one can see at www.cruiselawnews.com/articles/disease/  where is is claimed that 72 out of the 230 crew on the Silver Cloud have tested positive and 29 more are in isolation. 

 

I do agree that getting B2B passengers who have tested negative to isolate, while allowing new passengers the freedom of the ship is somewhat bonkers. I wonder from whom Saga takes its advice?

[SaraSailing]

2 hours ago, nosapphire said:

Thank you for your report. As a long-time Saga cruiser, I can also tell you that many other long-time Saga passengers are disenchanted with the new ships ...

 

You are far from the only one. I think there are those of us who have a genuine affinity with smaller (300-600) passenger ships - and personally I'd go smaller if not for accessibility. I spoke to several people who spoke very fondly of the gemstone ships. On lady who has sailed with Saga multiple times put it well: "I'd love for them to just admit mistakes, apologise, and move on, not pretend things are perfect when they aren't." 

I'm told by those in the know that SoA has resolved some of the issues with SoD - the Dining Room layout, is one example. You might also want to have a look at what Viking have done with the same basic ship.

Of course my experience was coloured by the problems, and with one unpleasant incident (involving a guest, which Diego of Guest Relations handled MAGNIFICANTLY). I'm still glad I went, and very glad to be home. I had some real highlights with the trip, and the capacity to enjoy almost anything - but I don't feel I have to hide what did go wrong - we're all adults making their own choices. Each cruise line has a personality, and we can find our match - which might be different lines for different trips!

I genuinely hope you find what you want in a cruise for your next trip!

[SaraSailing]

2 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

At moment  my biggest worry about  Saga is approach to covid. They and other cruise lines want cake and eat it;- cruise to be like before covid ,  but want zero Covid . Then overeact to any cases.  

Yes, please make up your own mind - the world WILL be different in May! We all love different things. I'm due to be cruising with Silversea in May, just around the south of Norway, so I'll try to give a critique of that too. Much as I love SS, the Wind (before it became an expedition ship), the Whisper and the Shadow particularly, they are not perfect - as my many run-ins with Shore Concierge indicate. But what I have found with SS is that when I escalate within the UK business, or within the ship hierarchy, I find genuinely interested and helpful responses (less so from Miami and the machine of the business).

My argument with covid policy is my logic brain. If everyone on a coach or in the theatre wears a mask to protect each other, then those people wouldn't need quarantine. And if quarantine worked, the virus wouldn't be popping up in random places. We also have to recognise that the huge majority of people are not getting seriously ill, the triple jabbed are showing much less tendency to long covid, and the virus is now endemic. There's also a strong argument for exposure to the virus a month or two after the third jab, while protection is high, to boost immunity further. It is always sad when people die of a disease, and this is no different. But we're coming into parallel with flu now. 

I think part of the issue for us was that the ship is heading to the Caribbean, and some islands still have a very low tolerance for cases. Whereas mid-cruise Norway released pretty much all restrictions, and it was wonderful. So some of the policies applied to us were to benefit the following cruise. 

But lots of quarantine takes infrastructure. Particularly for room service, for example (which seriously struggled). And maybe more thought about how to improve the experience of people in quarantine. On the plus side, Saga offer a LOT of movies on the cabin TV - I watched something almost every night when I went to bed, and the day I spent in my cabin I got through all of Back To The Future!

[SaraSailing]

50 minutes ago, Vivaldi said:

Given the nature of its clientele, Saga's approach has always been to put safety first, whether that is in relation to covid, bad weather or whatever.

 

You are right of course, and my opinion is only mine. I'd hate to be the policy maker!

And the whole approach to safety slipped in terms of travelling to a place that was predictably too cold for the ship. At least we were in port for long enough for the fire misting system to be repaired before we went back to sea.

Of course, there's a positive to everything, and one couple got moved to a suite after the leaks affected their cabin!

[SaraSailing]

Well, here's a bit from my excellent trip the the Holmen Husky Lodge near Alta (once we'd been taken to the wrong place first, because the driver had the wrong information). Once we reached the lodge, the staff there were amazing, and really looked after us. 

After walking through the kennel area to get a feel for the noise, we were divided into two groups. The first group headed off in pairs for a 6km ride with a musher and seven dogs each. The rest of us retired to a large teepee for coffee kept warm by the fire, and a chat with the kennel manager. The lodge has a very serious racing team, and the most enthusiastic, healthy, fit, hungry dogs go into that area - the rest work with tourists. They breed a small number of new pups each spring, and old dogs will get adopted locally. 

The ride through the woods was beautiful, and the dogs and our musher kept us entertained. One of our lead dogs, Leia, was very opinionated and feisty, but her harness partner Tre took it all in his stride. 

Then there was dinner prepared by a local restaurant and sent up to the main lodge - simple, generous and tasty. 

We were super lucky that the clouds cleared and we had several hours of Northern Lights dancing across the sky - faintly visible to the naked eye, but showing up beautifully on film. 

We slept in little teepees, each equipped with a wood pellet stove. Very cosy. 

Breakfast the next morning was traditional bread, meat, cheese and jam. The most gorgeous fresh bread, I think with cumin seeds. 

And there was time for husky cuddling before the coach came to take us back. The dogs have been well socialised, they love their work, and they love interacting with people. Their kennels are in pairs, each well insulated. They are bred as outdoor dogs, and they thrive in those conditions. 

Here are some random photos (which might be upside down, sorry, they don't start off that way), and a video of the first sleds setting off (sound on to hear the barking).

[sleepingcat]

Hi @sarasailing, thanks for all the review, discussion and photos.  Ive yesterday posted our review of the 20 January departure cruise to Canaries. I notice that our assessments are very similar to those of another reviewer who has just posted (let's hope Saga takes notice).  Still not really sure if we would book Saga again, it probably has more to do with itineraries than anything else. 

 

Good you are safely back home, happy sailing next time. 

[Kohima]

There will always be some cruise lines and ships which suit some people more than others and I am sure none are perfect in every respect. We have had some some wonderful cruises with Saga, on both the old and new ships, over the years but unfortunately this last Northern Lights cruise was not one of them. Very rough seas, missed ports, extra sea days, cancelled excursions, inconsistent quarantine with no support or information, hundreds of passengers crammed on a ‘complimentary’ superspreader catamaran excursion, ship system failures, poor communication from the captain, a hi di hi cruise director….I could go on! In short, Sara, I don’t think you have had the typical Saga experience. As ever the waiting staff were fantastic and Diego, the Guest Services Director was valiant in absorbing ‘feedback’!
However dog sledding with the Holmen Huskies and seeing the Northern Lights were unforgettable highlights so I am trying to keep those as my memorable moments.

[SaraSailing]

1 hour ago, sleepingcat said:

Hi @sarasailing, thanks for all the review, discussion and photos.  Ive yesterday posted our review of the 20 January departure cruise to Canaries. I notice that our assessments are very similar to those of another reviewer who has just posted (let's hope Saga takes notice).  Still not really sure if we would book Saga again, it probably has more to do with itineraries than anything else. 

 

Good you are safely back home, happy sailing next time. 

I'll take a look.

I do hope Saga continues to evolve in a way that improves their future prospects. As an independent British company, I'd love to see it.

[SaraSailing]

52 minutes ago, Kohima said:

In short, Sara, I don’t think you have had the typical Saga experience. As ever the waiting staff were fantastic and Diego, the Guest Services Director was valiant in absorbing ‘feedback’!
However dog sledding with the Holmen Huskies and seeing the Northern Lights were unforgettable highlights so I am trying to keep those as my memorable moments.

I totally agree! Sorry you were subject to quarantine, though that timing was perfect, if it had to be. I hope you have some excellent photos.

I heard second-hand that the captain has gone off for a break after the experience. Can't say I blame him. 

[Lady Meer]

On 2/23/2022 at 5:38 PM, sleepingcat said:

Hi @sarasailing, thanks for all the review, discussion and photos.  Ive yesterday posted our review of the 20 January departure cruise to Canaries. I notice that our assessments are very similar to those of another reviewer who has just posted (let's hope Saga takes notice).  Still not really sure if we would book Saga again, it probably has more to do with itineraries than anything else. 

 

Good you are safely back home, happy sailing next time. 

Hi 

 

It was good to meet you both onboard. I’ve just read your review and it was similar to our impression. Except, we had a settee in our room and would have preferred 2 chairs! Had we known at the time we could have swapped! 
 

Brenda

 

 

[SaraSailing]

On 2/26/2022 at 10:03 PM, Lady Meer said:

Hi 

 

It was good to meet you both onboard. I’ve just read your review and it was similar to our impression. Except, we had a settee in our room and would have preferred 2 chairs! Had we known at the time we could have swapped! 
 

Brenda

 

 

Oh goodness! That made me giggle. Maybe that's what we need, an onboard furniture swap-shop!

The things we survive become stories to tell, and I've bored everyone rigid with my photos of huskies and lights.