Help me decide?

[mklions]

Hi Sailors,

As a regular cruiser (over 40 cruises) my wife and I have started to look at Saga Cruises for a first time. 

Not pinning our flag to any one particular cruise line we have sailed with both the mainstream lines ( P&O, Cunard, Princess, Celebrity ) along with such premium lines as Silversea,Oceania,Seabourn and Azamara.

 

When travelling with the mainstream we normally try to book a suite cabin, in fact we have two cruises booked either side of Christmas one on the P&O Ventura and one on Britannia both in aft suites.

 

We are always looking for our next adventure (cruise holiday) and have started to consider Saga as a viable option,It appears that they tick all the boxes that the premium lines offer with their all inclusive packages plus a few really good extras, chauffeur service from home to port being the main one.

 

Cost wise Saga is similar priced to such luxury cruise lines such as Azamara and Oceania but how do they compare on the following?

 

1 Cabin sizes? along with cabin inclusions? (robes ,slippers, bath tub and toiletries Etc)

2 Food in main restaurant ?

3 Specialty restaurants ?

4 Service in general?

5 Last but no biggie for us entertainment?

 

Will be very interesting to hear your thoughts.

 

king regards,

Mklions.

 

 

 

 

[arlowood]

11 hours ago, mklions said:

Hi Sailors,

As a regular cruiser (over 40 cruises) my wife and I have started to look at Saga Cruises for a first time. 

Not pinning our flag to any one particular cruise line we have sailed with both the mainstream lines ( P&O, Cunard, Princess, Celebrity ) along with such premium lines as Silversea,Oceania,Seabourn and Azamara.

 

When travelling with the mainstream we normally try to book a suite cabin, in fact we have two cruises booked either side of Christmas one on the P&O Ventura and one on Britannia both in aft suites.

 

We are always looking for our next adventure (cruise holiday) and have started to consider Saga as a viable option,It appears that they tick all the boxes that the premium lines offer with their all inclusive packages plus a few really good extras, chauffeur service from home to port being the main one.

 

Cost wise Saga is similar priced to such luxury cruise lines such as Azamara and Oceania but how do they compare on the following?

 

1 Cabin sizes? along with cabin inclusions? (robes ,slippers, bath tub and toiletries Etc)

2 Food in main restaurant ?

3 Specialty restaurants ?

4 Service in general?

5 Last but no biggie for us entertainment?

 

Will be very interesting to hear your thoughts.

 

king regards,

Mklions.

 

 

 

 

To address point 1 on your post, the following link gives you the square footage of all cabin grades on offer. For each grade there is also a drop-down list to show what is included for each cabin grade.

Hope this helps to address at least some of your questions. Unfortunately we have not sailed on either Azamara or Oceania so I can't comment on the comparison points you have highlighted.

 

https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/ocean/our-ships/spirit-of-discovery/cabin-grades.aspx#app-Tabs-activeTab|Standard-Twin-with-Balcony||

[Windsurfboy]

Google a  saga a guide to spirit of discovery,

 

https://widgety-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/2019/07/16/23/37/10/e7a38093-6126-4564-b38c-2bc422cf00dd/Saga Holidays - A Guide to Spirit of Discovery.pdf 

 

Has example menus for all restaurants. 

 

Look at page two of this forum , thread "included drinks" tells you all about drinks

MDR and speciality restaurants top notch and included. We found service excellent throughout ship, but it wasn't anywhere near full.

 

Entertainment  mixture of own team and some guests in main theatre.

 

Speakers in day but not every day. Everything in main theatre is on TV by demand if you want to watch later

 

Plus live music in Britannia lounge every night. Also the singer's from their team came and sang in Britannia lounge when guest were on in theatre. Ballroom  dance music before dinner , then more modern after dinner.  If you grew up in sixties or seventies felt at home.

[LandC]

We enjoyed our cruise on Azamara Journey, and would be happy to cruise with them again if we were looking for a fly cruise. The food in the speciality restaurants on Saga ships is on a par with the speciality restaurants on Azamara.  The food in the Main Dining Room on Saga ships is better than Azamara.  The service is good on both cruise lines. Entertainment is varied and generally good on Saga ships.  We particularly like the Classical quartet, not so keen on comedians and magicians, but there is something to suit everyone!

 

[Bloodaxe]

Saga compares very well with Azamara who we have sailed with many times, the standard cabins are nicer than Azamaras basic balconies.

The bathrooms are much better without shower curtains, food very similar on both.

We did miss the international feel of Azamara and their good

Coffee, Saga is very British and the coffee is poor.

 

Azamara is not classed has a luxury line and does not claim to be one, it is a step up from the mainstream ones.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Bloodaxe

[JMMKUK]

48 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

Saga is very British and the coffee is poor.

 

 

The coffee they pour in the restaurants is awful but the coffee from the bean to cup machines is pretty good.

[Bloodaxe]

2 minutes ago, JMMKUK said:

The coffee they pour in the restaurants is awful but the coffee from the bean to cup machines is pretty good.

But the bean machines are not in the standard cabins unfortunately.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Bloodaxe

[JMMKUK]

55 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

But the bean machines are not in the standard cabins unfortunately.

I mean the ones in the Library & the Grill. Coffee served in Britannia lounge & the Living Room also comes from bean machines.

 

The machines in the suites are pod not bean.

[Glenndale]

51 minutes ago, Bloodaxe said:

But the bean machines are not in the standard cabins unfortunately.

I don’t remember Azamara having bean machines in their standard cabins either nor in their club continent suites.

[Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, Glenndale said:

I don’t remember Azamara having bean machines in their standard cabins either nor in their club continent suites.

 

They do not but they do have a proper cafe that serves good coffee and tea all day long.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Bloodaxe

[Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, JMMKUK said:

I mean the ones in the Library & the Grill. Coffee served in Britannia lounge & the Living Room also comes from bean machines.

 

The machines in the suites are pod not bean

I did not rate the coffee has good anywhere on the ship, obviously just my opinion.

[Medeba]

I agree with Bloodaxe. We have done a few Azamara cruises, the last one being in September.  We thought the Azamara Journey was looking very tired and in need of refurbishment.  The Saga bathrooms in the standard cabins are far superior and the ship is much newer and shinier.  We too miss the international mix of passengers on Saga though. We enjoy the entertainment more on Saga and there is a wider choice of alcohol included in the cruise fare. On our last Azamara cruise we thought that the crew didn't seem so happy and there were difficulties with some restaurant staff misunderstanding requests.  Food quality and choice seems to have declined on Azamara but reading comments on CC that seems to be true of many cruise lines. The crew on the Saga ships seem much more attuned to the age of their clientele and go the extra mile to make sure the passengers are well looked after.

 

So whilst we have enjoyed our Azamara cruises with their great itineraries, it looks like Saga will become our cruise line of choice in the future (although I don't rule out other lines).  It's so much nicer not to have to fly to a cruise and be collected from and delivered back home. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Medeba
clarification

[Glenndale]

1 hour ago, Bloodaxe said:

 

They do not but they do have a proper cafe that serves good coffee and tea all day long.

I know that, but I don’t understand your comment on the standard cabins on Saga not having bean machines?

[JMMKUK]

1 hour ago, Glenndale said:

I know that, but I don’t understand your comment on the standard cabins on Saga not having bean machines?

I think Bloodaxe might be reffering to the suites on Saga having Nespresso machines. I don't know much about them & I find them fiddly to use. We go for the self service bean to cup cappuccino from the library or order it from a bar.

 

OK so they are push button machines, like Waitrose free coffee, not like the machine in a Silversea bar. They are much better than the bean to cup machines on Saga's old ships which used powdered milk.

[Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, Glenndale said:

I know that, but I don’t understand your comment on the standard cabins on Saga not having bean machines?

 

Just meaning that they just have a kettle with tea bags and instant coffee.

We did enjoy being able to make our morning tea with real milk from the fridge.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Bloodaxe

[Windsurfboy]

Never use Nespresso machines as like latte not expresso can't warm milk in suite. Perhaps we can rent it out. 😁

 

If you are a real coffee  lover , understand you can get very good coffee bags for caffetiere .

 

Apart from cup of tea before we get up , like to have coffee, afternoon tea, coffee after dinner , even night time hot chocolate (and malt whiskey ) in lounges , more sociable . So never tried dinning room coffee and from what people say never will.  Were happy with coffee in lounges

 

[FatBoy20]

You can have the same coffee, Latte etc in the MDR. All coffees available are listed on the Dessert Menu.

[Kohima]

We always take our own Percol Colombian coffee bags for the cabin. Other brands are available!

[LandC]

We also take our own coffee bags for the cabin.  I can’t function properly until I’ve had my first cup of decent coffee in the morning!

[Scorpio41]

18 hours ago, Bloodaxe said:

But the bean machines are not in the standard cabins unfortunately.

I have always taken a jar of my favourite coffee when cruising. I like a nice strong black coffee to start the day. 🙂

[Kohima]

Oceania definitely has the edge over Saga with its barista style coffee bar serving an excellent range of coffees.

[Bloodaxe]

3 hours ago, Kohima said:

Oceania definitely has the edge over Saga with its barista style coffee bar serving an excellent range of coffees.

 

Has does Azamara, at Saga prices it is a shame that Barista Coffee is not available on the ships.

However Sagas included alcoholic drinks are much better than Azamaras swings and roundabouts I guess.

 

[Denarius]

This thread appears to have been hijacked by coffee afficinados. May I respectfully suggest that the quality of coffee is not a major factor for most people in deciding which cruise line to sail with.

[Bloodaxe]

40 minutes ago, Denarius said:

This thread appears to have been hijacked by coffee afficinados. May I respectfully suggest that the quality of coffee is not a major factor for most people in deciding which cruise line to sail with.

 

Nobody suggested that it was, the original posted was asking for comparisons with other lines and many things have been mentioned.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Bloodaxe

[JMMKUK]

4 hours ago, Denarius said:

This thread appears to have been hijacked by coffee afficinados. May I respectfully suggest that the quality of coffee is not a major factor for most people in deciding which cruise line to sail with.

I think the Saga crew are the best. Some have been with Saga for over 20 years. Their memories are fantastic, they remember you after a 2 year gap. They really go well above & beyond their remit too..