Spirit of Adventure: riding out the storm ?

[Harry Peterson]

3 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Nearby  , short drive or an hour's walk along coast path

Great place. Went to school in Falmouth many years ago. Very many happy memories of growing up in Cornwall. Including wandering down Dracaena Avenue at 3 in the morning at the age of 14 with a mate - we thought that so exciting!

[Glad Bailey]

Many thanks for all the good wishes

 

Dinner is to be served in our cabins again- still a bit bumpy

but nothing like during the storm

[JMMKUK]

13 minutes ago, Glad Bailey said:

Many thanks for all the good wishes

 

Dinner is to be served in our cabins again- still a bit bumpy

but nothing like during the storm

So pleased things are improving. Is the MDR still being used as a field hospital?

 

I'm guessing there'll be a fleet of ambulances waiting at Portsmouth. A dining companion last week said SoA had 3 flashing ones at one of our final ports but she couldn't remember which.

[FannyLiz]

21 minutes ago, Glad Bailey said:

 

Dinner is to be served in our cabins again- still a bit bumpy

but nothing like during the storm

I imagine there will also be a lorry load of china and glassware waiting at the dockside as well. Perhaps this is why you are eating from paper plates in cabins ?

 

 

[Whiteduck1]

Firstly sympathys to all aboard. Can't imagine how awful and scary it was for you. 

Just asking and if I'm being silly just say.. Why are you still having food in and being told to stay in the cabins in what now looks like fairly normal stormy weather during the winter months. Is it because the restaurant is still being used as a field hospital? ... 

Being cynical I wonder if they want to keep the passengers in their cabins and apart so that they don't start asking very difficult questions..... If I was the Captain I would start looking forward to my new job with Saga, probably involving toilet duck..... 

[FannyLiz]

4 minutes ago, Whiteduck1 said:

. If I was the Captain I would start looking forward to my new job with Saga, probably involving toilet duck..... 

I wonder how many stand by captains they have ? If they want to do a thorough debrief of this one then they will have to find another able to do 30 days away at short notice. 

[Windsurfboy]

If SOA arrives in Portsmouth tommorow night, expect all the injured will be whisked of the ship. Will others be given opportunity. 

 

No reason for people to be kept in cabins by then. Indeed by tomorrow morning  should be relatively very calm under 4m waves and diminishing rapidly. 

[Glad Bailey]

Don’t know for sure but I would guess that the dining room is

no longer being used for the injured as we have been told that all

dining rooms and public areas will be available from breakfast to morrow.

 

I think the fact we are still having meals in cabins is just over caution

after previous problems.

Dinner just arrived - china plates for main,paper for deserts.

 

Assume any passengers who are able to take their own bags off

could disembark tomorrow night,but majority will have included transport

home so will need to wait until Tuesday morning.

[Windsurfboy]

50 minutes ago, Glad Bailey said:

Don’t know for sure but I would guess that the dining room is

no longer being used for the injured as we have been told that all

dining rooms and public areas will be available from breakfast to morrow.

 

I think the fact we are still having meals in cabins is just over caution

after previous problems.

Dinner just arrived - china plates for main,paper for deserts.

 

Assume any passengers who are able to take their own bags off

could disembark tomorrow night,but majority will have included transport

home so will need to wait until Tuesday morning.

 

Are you allowed out of your cabins To stretch your legs?

[Glad Bailey]

Although we have been asked to stay in cabins,

when opening door for meal service,have seen some wandering about

[LandC]

I’m surprised that Saga haven’t circulated a letter to passengers regarding compensation for the poor experience you have all had. Perhaps this will be discussed tomorrow when people are able to move around the ship.

[FannyLiz]

2 minutes ago, LandC said:

I’m surprised that Saga haven’t circulated a letter to passengers regarding compensation for the poor experience you have all had. 

Are you actually entitled to compensation ? I thought bad weather, like war, was counted as an Act of God in the insurance world and you were not entitled to a payout.  I can understand them giving an ex gratia one or vouchers to keep customers loyal but it is going to be an expensive week for Saga.

[Polly79]

I’m wondering if we will hear from Kevin Woodford at some point, being a celeb on board. His social media is quiet so far. Have been thinking about everyone on board, it sounds a truly horrendous experience. I will be happy to hear everyone is safe on land. Thank you for the updates, it’s good to hear it has calmed and that you are being well looked after.  

[Windsurfboy]

55 minutes ago, FannyLiz said:

Are you actually entitled to compensation ? I thought bad weather, like war, was counted as an Act of God in the insurance world and you were not entitled to a payout.  I can understand them giving an ex gratia one or vouchers to keep customers loyal but it is going to be an expensive week for Saga.

 

An entitlement for compensation , as opposed to an exgratia goodwill payment,  would only exist if it was considered negligent to proceed into the bad weather given the forecast. That is the question.

[JMMKUK]

1 hour ago, Polly79 said:

I’m wondering if we will hear from Kevin Woodford at some point, being a celeb on board. His social media is quiet so far. Have been thinking about everyone on board, it sounds a truly horrendous experience. I will be happy to hear everyone is safe on land. Thank you for the updates, it’s good to hear it has calmed and that you are being well looked after.  

OMG Poor Kevin & Jean. Hope they are both OK. 

I will only stop worrying about all on board when SoD is back in PME & you have all disembarked from your hellish return to the UK.

The last few days have been so unlike any Saga cruise we have been on. They have always been so cautious about weather conditions.

[lincslady]

She seems to be docked in Bilbao;  hopefully good news, and with luck  the weather may improve on the way home?

[LandC]

Spirit of Adventure is docked in Bilbao.  Spirit of Discovery is sailing towards Portsmouth.

[khkate]

On Cruisemapper, Spirit of Discovery is listed as picking up the pilot for Portsmouth at 6pm this evening. 

[FannyLiz]

I do hope they provide transport into Bilbao and don’t let them think that Santurtzi is “ it”.  

[nosapphire]

10 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

An entitlement for compensation , as opposed to an exgratia goodwill payment,  would only exist if it was considered negligent to proceed into the bad weather given the forecast. That is the question.

It would be interesting to know the real reason for proceeding into the forecast bad weather.

Did the winds/swell change direction and/or increase when already underway and too late to change?

Were they picking the best of 2 options because of another storm behind?

Was it an error of judgement?

Were they placing greater importance on getting the next cruise away on time?

Was it an experiment to find out whether they could keep sailing without too much fallout (financially) from passengers?

 

IF Saga have any sense, they will make a serious gesture of goodwill, along with some form of explanation to all affected passengers, purely on a commercial basis to keep them all onside.

 

If somebody starts a legal claim which snowballs into a class action from one of the always advertising "shark" companies, even if Saga are found to have taken the best/only possible action under the circumstances, much damage will be done to their reputation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Banjo an]

Being an ex seaman myself and having watched cruise mapper for the last few days I think it’s possible that the officers took the best option other than not sailing. The route they took the ship on was much further out into the Atlantic and probably put the bow into the waves to lessen the worst impact. They didn’t bring the ship into the Bay until the weather had moderated somewhat. It’s a case of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

[Dermotsgirl]

2 hours ago, nosapphire said:

It would be interesting to know the real reason for proceeding into the forecast bad weather.

Did the winds/swell change direction and/or increase when already underway and too late to change?

Were they picking the best of 2 options because of another storm behind?

Was it an error of judgement?

Were they placing greater importance on getting the next cruise away on time?

Was it an experiment to find out whether they could keep sailing without too much fallout (financially) from passengers?

 

IF Saga have any sense, they will make a serious gesture of goodwill, along with some form of explanation to all affected passengers, purely on a commercial basis to keep them all onside.

 

If somebody starts a legal claim which snowballs into a class action from one of the always advertising "shark" companies, even if Saga are found to have taken the best/only possible action under the circumstances, much damage will be done to their reputation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From one of the Saga groups elsewhere, somebody posted that a Q&A session had taken place, hosted by the Cruise Director.

 

As I understand it, there was an announcement when they were in Fuerteventura, advising that Gran Canaria would be missed, and they would proceed 'at pace' to La Coruna, with the view to spending two nights there to shelter from the storm. However, when they got to the vicinity of La Coruna, the port was closed. the storm getting to its height, and just being too dangerous to manoeuvre the ship safely into port.

 

My assumption is that the poor weather on the way up, going past Portugal, meant that there were already high seas, meaning that they couldn't go as fast as was needed in order to get to La Coruna before the worst of the storm.

 

What isn't entirely clear to me is whether other options were considered during the journey.  Lisbon seems to have been rejected (there's been talk of industrial action, but this was set for 6 - 8 November - perhaps the worry was they'd get into Lisbon, then have to wait days to get out again!)  It was said that Vigo was considered to be 'too exposed'

 

Saga can't control the weather, but it seems that the decision making process ended up putting the ship in the middle of the weather - as such I think the SOD passengers should get a very decent goodwill gesture. 

[LandC]

We had an email from friends on SOD.  They were told that the ship couldn’t get into Porto or Lisbon due to the strike.  As the Portuguese maritime pilots’ strike dates are 6-8 November, this seems a bit odd.

[rslrhu]

My Mum is on the ship and has endured a truly traumatic couple of days, but thankfully she is in better shape than many by the sound of things.  She has cruised extensively for many years around the world and experienced plenty of bad weather, but this was a whole new level.  Lots of questions about the decision making that ended up with the ship being in the Bay at the height of the storm, carrying many elderly passengers with limited mobility.  Attempting that passage all but guaranteed that they would have passenger injuries, not to mention the crew who all still have to continue to provide what service they can (and by all accounts they have been outstanding).  Whatever goodwill gesture is offered, I hope it's not future cruise credit...

[Windsurfboy]

Any goodwill payment  should be extended to the crew