Wingco39

Give us a break folks and let’s get our feet on to dry land for a while.  Although I’m retired I’ve got plenty to do right now but I will write a full  account of the cruise, the ship and the warts when I get a moment. Honest injun!

Linkslady have cruised with SAGA a few times on Sapphire and enjoyed the product despite the hassle boarding. So this time on SOD? Well so far so good, a beautiful ship and helpful cheery staff. Food is excellent and we’ve been eating in the Grill buffet (huge choice and you see what your getting) same as the main dining room which is waiter service. The proper theatre is a huge asset and it doubles as a cinema later at night. So far have not been too impressed with the evening shows though. We’ve seen a juggler/comedian - boring! and some young ladies playing stringed instruments accompanied by a pianist giving us their renditions of popular songs with a classical twist- very screechy I thought and gave it my undivided attention for all of six minutes. We missed another show which was a dance show but again feedback from other passengers was very mixed. However, it’s early days and there are, I believe, some very good vocalists on board so we look forward to hearing them. There’s always music in the Britannia lounge and the usual afternoon tea, Ice cream and snacks in the Lido, so some of the Saga traditions have carried over thank goodness. I’ll write more later as my experience of the ship grows. 

Embarkation is a hit and a miss with SAGA. We’ve just embarked on SOD (5 December) but to be fair it was no problem, but we did arrive early about 1pm having stayed overnight in Southampton. It did strike me that the big hall/waiting room was akin to an airport waiting lounge and followed the same methods ie when your ticket number is called you rush forward for the walk to the ship. Now if I had paid what this cruise cost for an airline ticket I would have been considerably better off waiting at the airport in a special first class lounge with provided drinks and snacks and a short walk to the aircraft!! At Southampton once your number is called eg “everyone with a 5 on their boarding please come this way”. There then follows an unnecessary long walk up a long covered ramp and then down another long covered ramp which doubles back on the first one to reach the short passage onto the ship. Now I know that SAGA will respond explaining that this ramp arrangement can be adjusted for different tides and ships but for SOD the entrance was virtually at dock height and a short single ramp was really all that was required - it was a long walk for passengers with walking difficulties and older people. I’m sure with a bit of wit SAGA could come up with a better answer and get round the port authority ramp. When we arrived early most of the staff were unsure what they were supposed to be doing and there was a general ambiance of disorganisation which took a while to organise. It looked like passengers with gold or sapphire grades loyalty were actually given the same seating in the shed but with a bit of amber rope round to define their area and as many helpers as they needed to carry their belongings when they were ready to board. Passengers who had requested Special Assistance had reserved seating and were boarded as a pusher became available to manoeuvre their pushchairs up the two long ramps. Now I know this boarding regime is bound up with security issues as the first thing you have to do is have your photographs taken and a keycard has to be issued with an ID number that matches your photo. When you come aboard from one of your excursions you hand over your card and the security staff immediately get your picture on their screens to check its really you!!  But, more photo check ins were required and would it not be possible to have two boarding doors on board so that people could board as soon as their ID card was issued and their photo taken. Maybe need to network the on board Security and booking hall systems so that passengers boarding could be immediately identified by their photo. 
So, embarkation could be streamlined to negate two hour waits but someone in SAGA needs to get a grip of the problem to change the waiting shed introduction to what is described as a Boutique 🚢 Cruise !!

On 10/28/2019 at 4:35 PM, brimary said:

Too technical for me..stuck with the camel.Never mind boarding the Spirit of Discovery 

in 7 Days.

It’s no problem folks it’s easy to do, just ask any 5 year old 😂