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![2022-06-29 12:05:27]()
This was a 32-night cruise that had originally been scheduled to go to the Black Sea. That wasn't possible, but in a very short time Saga created a superb itinerary that took in Greece, Crete, Cyprus and Turkey. Sadly on the change of itinerary a lot of passengers cancelled, so we had about 525 passengers and 540 crew members. The new Saga ships are extremely spacious anyway, so this low number of passengers did make parts of the ship very quiet at times.
Saga food and service is exceptional - you could pay a lot more with some so-called luxury cruise lines and not do as well. There are three alternative restaurants, available to book without an extra charge. Some drinks are always included, but on this trip all drinks were included, including the sparkling wine served at the classical recitals and at breakfast on special days. We had a standard cabin with balcony (all cabins have a balcony) and that was spacious enough for a month.
Ship entertainment is often not to out taste, but this time there were several acts in the theatre that we enjoys. There were also two classical piano quartets on board, in addition to the resident bands. Much of the music in the theatre is performed live, rather than working with backing tracks.
Saga now includes some excursions, usually a panoramic tour. We did some of those but selected extra charge excursions in a few ports. Most of the tours were good, with good guides, but I could recommend changes to a couple of the paid for trips.
The turnround point for the trip was Canakkale in Turkey, as Istanbul had already been dropped. That gave me the opportunity to visit the Gallipoli peninsula - somewhere that I have want to see for many years. Movingly, as we sailed back through the Dardanelles, heading for the Mediterranean, we sounded our whistle as we passed the British monument at the tip of the peninsula as a mark of respect.
Although a Saga cruise might look expensive on paper, there is an awful lot of extras included that makes it pretty good value.
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![2022-06-10 16:19:39]()
Couldn’t find fault, the crew were excellent, Covid was handled well, all in all it was very good indeed, well done Saga!
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![2022-06-09 14:27:49]()
As expected, Saga delivered, with happy, attentive staff, and excellent food and wines. The entertainment was great and we had lovely presents and a wonderful Christmas Day and New Years Eve. We will definitely sail again on Spirit of Adventure, and her sister ship, Spirit of Discovery.
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A mini cruise on Saga's boutique ship, Spirit of Adventure. It was short and very sweet. The ship and its facilities were top class. The things that made it exceptional were the door to door chauffeur service and the inclusive insurance.
Being fairly new, the ship was in immaculate condition and it was lovely spending time in such a spacious and airy cabin with its own balcony.
The staff were particularly helpful to those of us who had mobility restricting health conditions. They were unfailingly cheerful under some quite difficult weather conditions.
The organisation of movement of guests and making sure they were Covid free was very well executed, with no queuing or standing around waiting to be served.
The food was plentiful and fresh. I can not comment on the drinks as I do not drink alcohol, but the non-alcoholic drinks were plentiful too.
An added bonus for those less mobile was that all the shows were shown on the cabin television, so it was very comfortable to watch them in the comfort of your own cabin.
I could enthusiastically recommend a Saga mini cruise for those with less than maximum mobility as there was no feeling of being left out of any activities. Well done Saga!
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was our first cruies and we loved it was treared so well will be booking againe soon +
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Our cruise, titled In The Footsteps of St James, got off to a bad start when excursions to Santiago de Compestella were cancelled because of Covid concerns. We were not allowed to go ashore except on organised trips and many of those were cancelled because they involved interaction outside the Saga bubble. Eventually we were allowed to go ashore individually but on the final day we were unable to stop at Guernsey because the swell was to much to allow going ashore by tender. Leaving excursions aside all other aspects achieved the usual high Saga standard.
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Saga is proving with its two new ships that it is no longer a cruise line for the elderly! We travelled to the Canary Islands on Spirit of Adventure and enjoyed superb facilities - all cabins have balcony as standard; all the alternative dining venues come without any extra cover charge (and they are exciting options); everything is all-inclusive, including gratuities and - a real selling point - being chauffeured from home so that your holiday begins as you close your front door. The nightly entertainment on offer included a show in the theatre, sometimes followed by a cabaret in the main lounge, where we were also surprised to be able to boogie the evening away to a really excellent live band. There were included excursions at many of the ports, and many options for other trips at a reasonable cost. If we had criticisms, they were minor: a standard cabin has very limited wardrobe space for instance. And we are night owls so it was a little frustrating that the evenings were wound down just after midnight. There was plenty to do on board during the day. although we preferred to sit on the balcony or on deck where there was a good sized pool and many spaces for loungers . We think the facilities offered rival those of the luxury small ships but at a fraction of their cost and, whilst on first sight Saga prices may look expensive, it is testament to the all-inclusive nature of the ship that when our holiday came to an end, we didn't have anything on our account to be settled - we truly didn't need to bury a thing!
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Very poor cruise the entertainment was terrible and finished at 11.15 we were in the late bar and the staff were clearing up around us and this was 11.30 we also did not make it to the carrabean due to covid cases which we think was already on the ship before we got on there was no apmanfear on the ship at all it was a shame as it was a lovely ship this was our first cruise with saga and I am afraid it will be our last
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Organisation, food, drink, accommodation were all absolutely excellent. Shore excursions were absolute rubbish, not to mention dangerous as it appeared there were two coronavirus scares and several cases after 40 people sat together on the coaches. We had to sit on these coaches with numerous others for several hours. The coaches only stopped once or twice and you all had to stay together - there was nothing to see. One of our excursions was actually cancelled as we had a suspected covid case on board ship and the Port of Liverpool would not let us ashore. On these occasions we were confined to our cabins for hours whilst testing was carried out. We had no idea we would not be able to disembark at ports of call independently until we were told this once onboard. We felt very cheated as this was an extremely expensive cruise. Obviously, we understood the covid rules but had been told everyone would be double.
