SoD- Covid Outbreak

[nosapphire]

On 2/16/2022 at 4:34 PM, wowzz said:

Saga already have numerous restaurants, where you can dine at a time of your choice,  thus reducing crowding. 

By forcing half the passengers to eat at a specific time, you are actually making things worse, by cramming people in together. 

But the majority of passengers all seem to want to dine at the same time, so are all bunching up together waiting at the door (dinner is between 18:30 and 21:00, so "anytime" is within those 2.5 hours).

The same crowding occurs at breakfast and lunch, and there are certainly not numerous restaurants here, the speciality restaurants (which are limited seating and have to be booked) are only open for dinner.

[Windsurfboy]

Saga should extend hours , open all restaurants  and also remove or a do not use sign on tables, They have over 1200 seats. With reduced passenger number , at 800 then 400 at any one go passengers wouLD only need to use one in three tables. Plenty  to  space. Not ideal but better than 9 days confined to csbin

[Wacktle]

Just now, Windsurfboy said:

Saga should extend hours , open all restaurants  and also remove or a do not use sign on tables, They have over 1200 seats. With reduced passenger number , at 800 then 400 at any one go passengers wouLD only need to use one in three tables. Plenty  to  space. Not ideal but better than 9 days confined to csbin

I couldn't agree more, but there seems to be no common sense amongst those making the decisions on a Saga cruise.  

[kruzgal]

I emailed SAGA today with a list of questions including how are they defining ‘close contact’, how much is capacity reduced by at the moment in terms of passenger numbers, do they make it clear to guests in their website and in pre-cruise literature that they could end up in confinement as a result of ‘close contact’, do they offer financial compensation if forced into isolation despite testing negative etc. They acknowledged receipt of my email but apparently didn’t know the answers. I await their response next week….

[Windsurfboy]

A cruise ship can operate in one of two ways.

 

A) If you only isolate those who test positive, run restaurants in normal way.

 

B) If you isolate "close" contacts then must operate restaurants in a way to minimise contact.

 

I'd be happy with A , but  saga are ding some A and some B.

[Denarius]

3 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

A cruise ship can operate in one of two ways.

 

A) If you only isolate those who test positive, run restaurants in normal way.

 

B) If you isolate "close" contacts then must operate restaurants in a way to minimise contact.

 

I'd be happy with A , but  saga are ding some A and some B.

It's a matter of balance, how much risk you are willing to take to reduce the number of people whose cruises are spoiled by quarantine. I agree with you, but accept that others may take a different view.

[Windsurfboy]

The big question is next month once isolating for contacts is not required in UK,  will cruise ships follow suit.

 

In the end the goverment sets the rules .

[SailawaySarah]

On 2/18/2022 at 8:55 PM, kruzgal said:

I emailed SAGA today with a list of questions including how are they defining ‘close contact’, how much is capacity reduced by at the moment in terms of passenger numbers, do they make it clear to guests in their website and in pre-cruise literature that they could end up in confinement as a result of ‘close contact’, do they offer financial compensation if forced into isolation despite testing negative etc. They acknowledged receipt of my email but apparently didn’t know the answers. I await their response next week….

That sounds like essential information. Have you had any meaningful response yet?

[kruzgal]

Their response was generic and referred to the FAQ’s. I went back to them and pointed out that they had not answered my questions. No reply. 

[GerryL13]

1 hour ago, kruzgal said:

Their response was generic and referred to the FAQ’s. I went back to them and pointed out that they had not answered my questions. No reply. 

I wrote to ask what my options were regarding final payment if their protocols would prevent me from being able to board. I noted that as a non-UK citizen/resident I had no access to the required NHS proof of vaccination. The response -- each time -- was simply a detailed list of the protocols.

It has taken me several weeks to get close to a response ... we're almost there. I think.

 

The staff appear to be swamped with incoming questions and don't have time to hunt down answers that are beyond what management has provided them.

[CeaJay]

I contacted SAGA about our list of concerns via their website on our return to the UK.  It took a further 3 attempts to receive an acknowledgement from them to confirm that they received our first communication!  
 

They advise that it will take them 28 days to reply.

[nosapphire]

57 minutes ago, GerryL13 said:

(Extracted)

The staff appear to be swamped with incoming questions and don't have time to hunt down answers that are beyond what management has provided them.

Probably explains lack of response to my letter sent January asking about the Saga included insurance position if, for example, a Spanish port insisted on shore hotel quarantine for a positive-but-not-ill passenger, and also for their non-positive companion who elected to stay ashore with them.

 

[LandC]

nosapphire, I agree that your question needs a detailed answer.  It’s very important to know if the Saga included insurance covers passengers in the circumstances you describe.  

[Fletcher]

UPDATE - A Covid outbreak has forced SoA to abandon its Caribbean cruise and return to Southampton.  All guests are being offered a full refund.  The earlier Caribbean cruise on SoD was also hit by Covid with many ports of call cancelled. 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/10086-saga-cruises-spirit-of-adventure-covid-cases

Edited March 9, 2022 by Fletcher

[Medeba]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

UPDATE - A Covid outbreak has forced SoA to abandon its Caribbean cruise and return to Southampton.  All guests are being offered a full refund.  The earlier Caribbean cruise on SoD was also hit by Covid with many ports of call cancelled. 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/10086-saga-cruises-spirit-of-adventure-covid-cases

You may be interested to have a look at "Bit of a Blog" by NorbertsNiece who has been reporting live on the SOA situation.  SOA is now safely back at Southampton.

[wowzz]

8 hours ago, Fletcher said:

UPDATE - A Covid outbreak has forced SoA to abandon its Caribbean cruise and return to Southampton.  All guests are being offered a full refund.  The earlier Caribbean cruise on SoD was also hit by Covid with many ports of call cancelled. 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/10086-saga-cruises-spirit-of-adventure-covid-cases

Talk about old news !

[ingatestonian]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

Talk about old news !

SoA was today. SoD is old news.

[CeaJay]

Just a quick update re the complaints I raised with Saga after our recent cruise.

 

As expected Saga are not prepared to offer us anything so w are raising a dispute through ABTA as a first attempt.  Saga state that they have protocols in place to prevent higher levels of Covid on board.  I did point out that the protocols aren’t working as they had to turn around their last Caribbean cruise.

 

 I would be interested to hear from anyone who was on the Rythm of the Caribbean cruise who had Covid related issues