Spirit of Adventure: riding out the storm ?

[JMMKUK]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

SOD and SOA according to marine vessel traffic are the only passenger ships in BOB 

SoA is still in the E Channel after being in Falmouth for days. Seems illogical to me that she's set off tonight but she isn't in BoB yet.

[khkate]

[LandC]

Updates posted on another social media site this morning.  Passenger on SOD reports that medical centre full, and part of dining room being used for injured passengers.

A passenger on SOA reports that they had an awful night after leaving Falmouth with things crashing around, and wonders why the decision was made to leave Falmouth.  A couple of passengers left the ship at Falmouth and, as they were new to Saga, got a full refund.

[khkate]

Sorry, but couldn't work out how to do message along with image. But the map is from Cruisemapper with circled blue vessel being Discovery and the blue vessel heading south at the top is Adventure, so both vessels are now in the Bay. Wind is less violent closer to shore, so Discovery's direction makes no sense. Certainly Saga's attitude to safety seems to have changed. Jan 2014 when there was violent weather in the Bay, both their current ship *Saga Pearl and Saga Ruby) holed up in Lisbon for 3-4 days (and gave those on board the opportunity to be flown home). As somebody else has already remarked, safety of ship, crew and passengers should be the priority, but obviously isn't. 

[Glad Bailey]

Update from SOD

 

After a rough and sleepless night,we are experiencing less motion

although we have been advised to stay in cabin and breakfast will

be delivered.

We ‘hove to’ in the Bay until 05.30 this morning and now underway

for Portsmouth.Can’t wait to get off.

There have been numerous injuries including a broken hip.

Although the crew have been marvellous in helping us through things,

there are a lot of angry passengers asking why we were the only cruise

ship going through the Bay of Biscay in the storm

[Banjo an]

Is it possible that those two ships were the only two ships due to cross the Bay at this time?

[Windsurfboy]

4 minutes ago, Banjo an said:

Is it possible that those two ships were the only two ships due to cross the Bay at this time?

According to vesselfinder they were only passengers ships

[Banjo an]

Yes I agree, but I would be more concerned if there was a queue of cruise ships at Southampton waiting for the weather to improve in the Bay before sailing. But there isn’t. 

[twotravellersLondon]

24 minutes ago, Banjo an said:

Is it possible that those two ships were the only two ships due to cross the Bay at this time?

 

Mein Schiff 3 and Fred Olsen's Balmoral were also in the Bay earlier. Mein Schiff 3 reached Funchal but the Balmoral had to divert to Getxo.

[JMMKUK]

Thanks for the update Glad. It certainly hasn't been the luxury cruise you signed up for.

I hope the captain explains why they did hole up somewhere & it better be a good reason!

[twotravellersLondon]

1 hour ago, Glad Bailey said:

There have been numerous injuries including a broken hip.

 

1 hour ago, Glad Bailey said:

there are a lot of angry passengers asking why we were the only cruise

  

 

We've travelled through te Bay of Biscay in the same type of weather in FPCLs Balmoral a few years ago and so have some inkling of the situation and emphasise with how folks on board must feel.

 

Just wondering if passengers are keeping snug and safe in cabins, what's the source of the information about injuries and moral on board?

 

Keep safe.

 

 

[nosapphire]

This is a pure guess, but are they trying to avoid the front due to move in to the area on Wesnesday?

(Info courtesy of Scuttlebut sailing news).

It certainly does sound as if questions need answers.

Either there was a valid reason, in which case one would expect the Captain to have announced it.

OR - there was pressure from Head Office on (fairly) new Captains to keep to schedule - which is not what we really expect from Saga.

My sympathies to those who have endured what must have been a very miserable time, and wishing a trouble free speedy recovery for the injured.

 

[Medeba]

Looks like Bilbao has been added to SoA's itinerary.  Not sure though where it fits into the revised itinerary - perhaps first stop?

[Windsurfboy]

Arcadia stayed in Southampton since Thursday,  now look to be a couple of hours behind SOA

[LandC]

 I understand SoA will dock at Bilbao tomorrow and A Coruna on Tuesday.

Edited November 5, 2023 by LandC

[Dermotsgirl]

53 minutes ago, twotravellersLondon said:

 

  

 

We've travelled through te Bay of Biscay in the same type of weather in FPCLs Balmoral a few years ago and so have some inkling of the situation and emphasise with how folks on board must feel.

 

Just wondering if passengers are keeping snug and safe in cabins, what's the source of the information about injuries and moral on board?

 

Keep safe.

 

 

From reading passengers comments, I’m not sure they felt ‘safe and snug’ in their cabins.

 

But they weren’t kept incommunicado. There’s cabin phones, WhatsApp groups, Facebook, visits from the hard pressed crew who were delivering food. The unfortunate people who were injured saw other people in the medical centre (which was overrun, so a ‘field hospital’ had to be set up in the dining room).

 

From what is being said, and these are multiple reports, not just one person, I think what they endured on SOD is actually worse than we can imagine. 

[twotravellersLondon]

4 hours ago, khkate said:

Discovery's direction makes no sense

 

We liked it in the old days when the pointed bow section indicated the direction that the ship was travelling! These days so much is different. SAGA's Pod Propulsion units give the ships the ability to move in almost all directions... so the ship may be moving but not in the direction that the ship's bow is pointing on CM and other similar sites.

 

 

This screen-shot is from the Windfinder site. It shows the current situation. The Spirit of Discover is in an area or relative calm... for many of those on board the will be difficult to believe. However the Spirit of Discovery seems to be attempt to mitigate the worst effects of the storm winds and waves by pointing the bow towards them... hence the seemingly strange orientation of the ship icon on CM. On other sites, the ship's course/speed is given as 353.5° / 5.2 kn. That makes it online for the South-West approaches.

 

So it may be that the Spirit of Discovery has the bow to the waves and winds and is moving almost due North and back to the UK to mitigate the effects of the storms on passengers and crew.We don't think that those who seemed to have sausage and mash off papers plates in their cabins last night will feel that the situation is being mitigated but... it could have been much worse.

 

There is also a comment somewhere that the Spirit of Adventure will be following the French Coast to Getxo/Bilbao. It isn't...  that's where the winds and seas are worse now. The projected course is through the Bay of Biscay.

 

We've experience a force10 in the Bay of Biscay. We've had sea water running into the ship from the decks, we've had furniture blown up in the air and crash on the decks, signifiant damage and have even been thrown out of bed. And we've experienced some very concerned and worried passengers made even more concerned by the odd person or two relaying hysterical "Chinese Whispers" about what they thought, presumed or supposed was happening ... often based on what they'd heard from someone else. We even met one passenger in floods tears because she'd been assured by another passenger that the ship was about to run out of fuel and we would all be adrift in the midst of a storm! That was, of course, sheer nonsense

 

Best wishes to all on board. The winds and waves are subsiding. The ship is stronger than many. Its designed to cope with storms in a way that other ships of the same size operating from UK ports aren't.

 

We wish you safely home.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by twotravellersLondon

[Windsurfboy]

I  refer back to a post at the beginning,  

 

On 11/2/2023 at 5:03 PM, Windsurfboy said:

If SoD keeps going may hit 9 meter waves. Could drop La Corona and spend day in port further south, Cadiz say and let waves die down

 

Weather has turned out even worse than predicted and 9m waves would have been no fun, never mind 12m they hit. The question isn't can the ship cope of course it can. The question is should the passengers have to cope. Looking at forecast they could have waited South then got back to Portsmouth perhaps a bit late, but much more safely.  If the rumour of a broken hip is true then for many Saga passengers that's life changing.

 

A complete opposite of the ultra precautionary principle with covid, when Saga resisted putting books in library even though public health said risk was negligible 

 

[Glad Bailey]

24 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I  refer back to a post at the beginning,  

 

 

Weather has turned out even worse than predicted and 9m waves would have been no fun, never mind 12m they hit. The question isn't can the ship cope of course it can. The question is should the passengers have to cope. Looking at forecast they could have waited South then got back to Portsmouth perhaps a bit late, but much more safely.  If the rumour of a broken hip is true then for many Saga passengers that's life changing.

 

A complete opposite of the ultra precautionary principle with covid, when Saga resisted putting books in library even though public health said risk was negligible 

 

 

[Glad Bailey]

Good points

As a passenger on board,being told the ship can cope is not much

consolation.It was scary and very uncomfortable 

The Captain did what he could to minimise the effects of the storm,

but the question that needs to be answered is why we entered

the Bay at all and were the only cruise ship to do so

 

We have just been advised that we should be back to Portsmouth

tomorrow night.Lunch is being delivered to cabins.

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, Glad Bailey said:

Good points

As a passenger on board,being told the ship can cope is not much

consolation.It was scary and very uncomfortable 

The Captain did what he could to minimise the effects of the storm,

but the question that needs to be answered is why we entered

the Bay at all and were the only cruise ship to do so

 

We have just been advised that we should be back to Portsmouth

tomorrow night.Lunch is being delivered to cabins.

 

Thanks for your reports - always helpful to hear something based on fact rather than speculation.

 

At least you’ll be safely back sooner than planned, and I’m sure Saga will make suitable gestures to retain customer goodwill. They’re usually pretty good about these things.

 

Good wishes for better weather on the last section of the journey - the shipping forecast suggests there should be some improvement. 

[FannyLiz]

I’m glad, for everyone’s sake, that the end is in sight. While I feel for everyone the poor soul with the broken hip ….well, I hope they are well-sedated. I can only imagine what the effect on the outcome will be of excessive movement and a long wait for treatment.

 

On a purely selfish note, is there any indication of what the knock on effect of all this will be ? Is there an expectation that the ship will sail on Tuesday evening as scheduled ?

 

I’ve been crossing the Bay on ferries on a regular basis several times a year for the last 20 years and we have only had 3 cancellations though some horrific sailings. We have several times had apologies from the Portsmouth cleaning ladies gang that they can’t get rid of the smell of vomit or dry the carpet in time before sailing but  SoD sounds to have had a worse bashing that this and higher standards are presumably expected by the majority of joining passengers.

Edited November 5, 2023 by FannyLiz

[Windsurfboy]

Firstly so glad you survived.  Hope this doesn't put you of cruises.

 

My sympathy to every who was hurt,  many Saga passengers don't recover as quickly as they once did. 

 

It would be ironic if SoD has to spend an extra day in harbour  being cleaned and is late for our cruise, when all of this could have been avoided by waiting in the calm for a day, same result a day late, but without pain and suffering. 

 

Like Fannyliz I selfishly hope the ship is fine on Tuesday. But have spent far too much money to accept a suite that isn't perfect. 

 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Windsurfboy

[Harry Peterson]

56 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Firstly so glad you survived.  Hope this doesn't put you of cruises.

 

My sympathy to every who was hurt,  many Saga passengers don't recover as quickly as they once did. 

 

It would be ironic if SoD has to spend an extra day in harbour  being cleaned and is late for our cruise, when all of this could have been avoided by waiting in the calm for a day, same result a day late, but without pain and suffering. 

 

Like Fannyliz I selfishly hope the ship is fine on Tuesday. But have spent far too much money to accept a suite that isn't perfect. 

 

 

Did you say you live in Falmouth? Envy………😇

[Windsurfboy]

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