Live from SoA 8-19 Jul Melodies of Ireland

[Tothesunset]

For completeness it's only right that I should do a final report of the cruise that ended a week ago! 

 

Before I forget, though, I thought the disembarkation was handled superbly. We were told our "tag 27" disemb. time would be 10.05. And it was! In the car by 10.20 and home at 13.30 to 40 degrees and a LFT before reoccupying our in-law occupied home. 

 

We really enjoyed our cruise, met some lovely people, decided we're moving to Donegal and felt we had excellent value for money. Yes, l make no apologies for the VFM comment. It matters. The only people who think VFM doesn't matter are lottery winners and the aspiring middle class. 

 

Good things:

 

1. Embarkation and disembarkation along with the included travel to the port. Faultless. 

 

2. Cleanliness. Perfect. 

 

3. Space. We wondered if 840 passengers would make the ship feel crowded - they don't. It was a very pleasant surprise but given the extensive indoor and outdoor areas it shouldn't have been. 

 

4. Food. We liked it. It's a personal thing so my opinion matters not at all really. 

 

5.  Cabin. Perfectly adequate and spotlessly maintained. 

 

Bad things:

 

1.  Ummm... 

 

Lastly, there were Covid cases aboard with several passengers in isolation. I've no idea how many but the indicator was a little table placed outside the cabin door for the prisoners to receive their rations. The ship operates a tracking system but I don't know the details. We perceived that the number of little tables increased over the 11 days. I'd guess at 1 in 20 cabins by the end but that could be shockingly wide of the mark. 

 

Would we go again? Yes. Will we go again? Yes, next May to Norway. 

 

Is Saga our new favourite? No, it's not. Money being no object would see us back on Silversea but we just aren't happy to pay a per diem rate double that of Saga. VFM, you see. 

 

And this is now my very final paragraph today. The customer-facing crew are outstanding. Some were clearly still not fully trained yet their willingness to please was exemplary. Indeed, as the days passed the crew were getting slicker even as some of their number were being forced into isolation. Once they get the newbies up to speed I'm thinking that the level of service will be very hard to beat. 

 

[lincslady]

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your Saga trip - your report chimes a lot with what I have thought over the past few years, especially comparing Saga with some of the 'luxury' lines.

 

I suspect that as you get older you will appreciate the no flying, door to door, even more.

[Vivaldi]

 

23 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Is Saga our new favourite? No, it's not. Money being no object would see us back on Silversea but we just aren't happy to pay a per diem rate double that of Saga.

 

Many thanks for your very  informative and entertaining reports, TTS, and it's good to hear that you enjoyed your cruise. 

 

Leaving aside considerations of VFM, might I ask you in what respects you prefer Silversea . It would be interesting to know if these were things which Saga could improve in its own offerings, or simply things which reflect the different styles of cruising between the two companies - for example, visits to more distant places necessitating 'plane journeys, or a more international clientele, or a greater age-range in one's fellow guests. 

 

And lincslady is quite right: with increasing age I find the door-to-door service an absolute boon! 

[Tothesunset]

2 hours ago, Vivaldi said:

 

 

Leaving aside considerations of VFM, might I ask you in what respects you prefer Silversea . It would be interesting to know if these were things which Saga could improve in its own offerings, or simply things which reflect the different styles of cruising between the two companies - for example, visits to more distant places necessitating 'plane journeys, or a more international clientele, or a greater age-range in one's fellow guests. 

 

And lincslady is quite right: with increasing age I find the door-to-door service an absolute boon! 

Great question, very hard to answer! 

 

So what does SS offer that Saga doesn't? Mmmm. Yes, the itineraries are way more varied but that isn't too important to us although not having to suffer the ignominy of international air travel, especially right now, is a plus to Saga. Ditto the door to door transport. 

 

This isn't going too well in supporting my preference for SS, is it?  OK then, the suites on SS are larger with more storage space, the staff to customer ratio is better as is the variety and quality of food. I would also prefer the variety of dining venues and encyclopaedic selection of drinks not to mention the better quality of the free pour wines. We really didn't like The Grill on SoA however Khukuri was excellent and the other venues very good. 

 

We like the international flavour of the SS clientele who, dare I say it, are slightly younger on average than the Saga sailors. 

 

In fact every feature of the SS hard product is a notch or two up from Saga - toiletries, napery, bedding; you get the drift. 

 

However, and this is the clincher, SS isn't twice as good for twice the price. Saga couldn't realistically offer the premium hard product at current prices. For those of us that don't have money to burn this matters. 

 

We also have some frequent floater benefits with SS such as free laundry, 5% extra discount, mini bar in suite stocked to our needs on arrival and intangibles such as being greeted by name by the crew. 

 

Yet all the foregoing doesn't alter the one clinching factor, even though it's  not considered terribly British to admit it (from which, being Irish, I am mercifully excluded😉) and that is the VFM quotient. 

 

I've saved one factor to set apart as probably the defining factor in our assessment and that is, of course, the customer-facing crew. SS staff are, to my mind, the exemplar of personal service: unfailingly polite, obliging, intuitive and endlessly helpful. Saga crew are good, they really are, but, on the basis of only one cruise mind you, lack that edge. The willingness is there but the training isn't - yet. There's also a noticeable lack of mid-level supervision in dining venues - not once did we see a Maitre d' scanning the room nor chefs de rang directing their staff. It's not a big deal, of course it isn't, but it takes the shine off the dining experience. 

 

Please don't think I'm being over-critical. I think Saga was a great choice for us at the per diem price point. You don't buy a Ford and criticise it because it's not a Jaguar. I'm the sort who'd buy the Ford and enjoy it. 

[beaujolais]

 

A treat comparison TTS, just what I have been waiting for, thanks very much

 

It looks as if SS maybe changing their booking terms. maybe worth another look for you for the future

 

Thanks once again for a great comparison

[pristick]

This got me to thinking: Is it good form to tip the driver? We thought, if he was good, £20 might be fair. Any thoughts? 

[lincslady]

We did have a Jaguar, and now I have a Ford.  I actually like it more - easier to park and quite big enough for one or two people.    Plus two big doors and a very smooth automatic gearbox.

 

Regarding Saga staff - I think if there are quite a few in training this is pretty new and we all understand why.  Last time I cruised with Saga  nearly all the staff had been on the ships for quite a few years , and were both very efficient and friendly.  I feel this will return when enough staff have been recruited and trained.  Obviously it seems to apply to most lines at present.

[Denarius]

15 hours ago, Tothesunset said:

Great question, very hard to answer! 

 

So what does SS offer that Saga doesn't? Mmmm. Yes, the itineraries are way more varied but that isn't too important to us although not having to suffer the ignominy of international air travel, especially right now, is a plus to Saga. Ditto the door to door transport. 

 

This isn't going too well in supporting my preference for SS, is it?  OK then, the suites on SS are larger with more storage space, the staff to customer ratio is better as is the variety and quality of food. I would also prefer the variety of dining venues and encyclopaedic selection of drinks not to mention the better quality of the free pour wines. We really didn't like The Grill on SoA however Khukuri was excellent and the other venues very good. 

 

We like the international flavour of the SS clientele who, dare I say it, are slightly younger on average than the Saga sailors. 

 

In fact every feature of the SS hard product is a notch or two up from Saga - toiletries, napery, bedding; you get the drift. 

 

However, and this is the clincher, SS isn't twice as good for twice the price. Saga couldn't realistically offer the premium hard product at current prices. For those of us that don't have money to burn this matters. 

 

We also have some frequent floater benefits with SS such as free laundry, 5% extra discount, mini bar in suite stocked to our needs on arrival and intangibles such as being greeted by name by the crew. 

 

Yet all the foregoing doesn't alter the one clinching factor, even though it's  not considered terribly British to admit it (from which, being Irish, I am mercifully excluded😉) and that is the VFM quotient. 

 

I've saved one factor to set apart as probably the defining factor in our assessment and that is, of course, the customer-facing crew. SS staff are, to my mind, the exemplar of personal service: unfailingly polite, obliging, intuitive and endlessly helpful. Saga crew are good, they really are, but, on the basis of only one cruise mind you, lack that edge. The willingness is there but the training isn't - yet. There's also a noticeable lack of mid-level supervision in dining venues - not once did we see a Maitre d' scanning the room nor chefs de rang directing their staff. It's not a big deal, of course it isn't, but it takes the shine off the dining experience. 

 

Please don't think I'm being over-critical. I think Saga was a great choice for us at the per diem price point. You don't buy a Ford and criticise it because it's not a Jaguar. I'm the sort who'd buy the Ford and enjoy it. 

As someone who took his first Saga cruise earlier this year and is shortly to go on his second, I have found your comments very interesting.

Prior to sailing with Saga, I had sailed mainly with mid market lines like P&O, Celebrity and Cunard. Saga was definately a couple of notches up from any of them. It was imo well worth the extra cost. But whether it would still have been so had they charged Silversea prices I would very much doubt.

One other comment I find interesting is that on the age of Saga sailors. As Saga enforce a minimum age of 50 for lead passengers I fully expected the average age to be somewhat higher than other companies. I did not expect however, for it to be as high as it was. At 75 I often felt like a youngster! Having said that, their company was excellent and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I must admit that I missed the multigenerational aspect of other lines.

[Tothesunset]

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

We did have a Jaguar, and now I have a Ford.  I actually like it more - easier to park and quite big enough for one or two people.    Plus two big doors and a very smooth automatic gearbox.

 

Hah Hah! We swapped our Focus ST Estate last Oct for a Skoda Superb estate. Need the space for 2 dogs. I could have paid 5k more for the equivalent VW Passat to gain the badge Kudos but you've maybe worked out that my VFM instinct wouldn't allow it. 

[Tothesunset]

4 hours ago, beaujolais said:

 

It looks as if SS maybe changing their booking terms. maybe worth another look for you for the future

They have but we would still be seriously disadvantaged as we always make our own travel arrangements. There are some good deals to be had from some specialist agents who effectively offer the door to door package at the port to port price and might be of interest to us in future. 

 

But, for now, we are grateful to be in a position to sail at all and will stick with Saga and its UK departures while the travel industry sorts itself out. 

[Tothesunset]

26 minutes ago, Denarius said:

 

Prior to sailing with Saga, I had sailed mainly with mid market lines like P&O, Celebrity and Cunard. Saga was definately a couple of notches up from any of them. It was imo well worth the extra cost.

Interesting comment. We have sailed Cunard only once on the QM2 from NY to Soton in Princess Grill. We came away feeling short-changed (I'm at it again with the VFM thing). Fantastic ship, right enough, and great food but hated the fixed table for all meals - what's all that about? Nice suite, too. Total scrum on disembarkation. It was fine but failed to hit the mark for us especially the nickel and diming for the things we take for granted on an all inclusive like SS, Seabourn or Saga. 

 

Isn't it great, though, that we are all privileged to at least have the choice? A lad from the Shankill whinging about Cunard? I think I need to get real sometimes! 

[Kohima]

As someone who has voyaged with Saga since the days of the first Spirit of Adventure, I would like to point out that the waiters will need some time to develop their skills to the high professional standard we have been used to in the past. Although some of the stalwarts are still on the ships, due to a combination of the pandemic coinciding with the arrival of the 2 larger ships, many of the staff are still quite new. At times they have been quite stretched due to the spread of Covid and the consequent demands on room service. In the past the long standing supervisory staff were always a joy to observe, constantly eagle eyed to make sure everything was perfect. I’m sure this will return.

With regard to various comments about the age range, I would definitely say it has crept up and is quite misrepresented by the pictures in the Saga brochures. Equally the entertainment is generally aimed at the older end of the age range. We have met interesting people in all the age groups so this is not a criticism, just an observation.

Despite trying other companies (mainly for better itineraries), we still come back to Saga!

[Windsurfboy]

Thank you everone. Found this very interesting,  and I  very much agree with what's been said.

 

This comparison with SS is useful to highlight  Saga's strengths and weaknesses. 

I  completely agree Saga offers great value,  also good quality.

 

When looking at VFM,  there are some things that tothesunset said were better on SS ,  like toiletries , Napkins , bedding, that I felt were more than good enough on Saga and being any better wouldn't increase our enjoyment at all.

 

Whilst other things like better included drinks , food  and service would.

 

Better included drinks can be overcome by buying premium wine on Saga at reasonable prices. Although this seemed to take an inordinate time for them  to find what you wanted. 

 

Food , as for the main dining room Saga is good but a more expensive line like SS should be better .  SS has gone down the route of extra charges for speciality restaurants,  clearly  if you pay on top of their high base line the food should be exceptional . Saga has chosen not to go down this route. The vast majority of Saga passengers were very happy with speciality restaurants,  so I can't see them charging, or even having one or two premium dishes in speciality restaurants. 

 

Looking back after reading what to thesunset said  I completely agree although the Saga junior staff were great and very willing, the senior staff in the restaurant were there , but were not contributing much. 

 

We found the Saga staff soon got to know us by name. 

 

Saga offers good VFM. It has become one of our go to lines. It certainly beats Cunard , even their premium offerings,  you get a a lot more in a Saga balcony cabin than Cunard Brittania Club at same price. I would put our Saga suite and service above Cunard QG , for the same price.

 

Saga beats similarly priced lines

 

The comparison with the other UK based line P&O is different,  a suite on P&O is under half the price of Saga. Clearly a very different ship and atmosphere.  But if you have a rear suite with huge balcony for peace and quiet. Eat in pay for dining rooms every night, buy top end wine, perhaps you can get good quality for an even more reasonable price. 

 

As for SS we are very tempted even though it's clearly more expensive but whether we would go on a fly cruise is the question. We have two long-haul journeys every year to see family,  so it's nice just to drive to Southampton.