Saga Ocean Cruises Reviews

Summary:  I looked forward to the Spirit of Discovery, after cruising on the Saga Sapphire, I was interested in a cabin with a proper balcony. The Discovery has by desgn a positive tick, being all balcony. Also having on all decks a passenger stern verandah. I chose the October 18 day cruise to the Med. My review summarises the good and not so good. The good, plenty of space, both in public areas and corridors. Dining choices, at no extra charge. Of special mention breakfast and lunch in the Grill, especially Sunday roasts. Evening meals above average in the Club, rack of lamb was the best. Interested to have on board working wifi at no extra charge. I also liked the arts and crafts sessions. For the first time on a cruise no long waits for lifts. Now for the not so good. The hardest bed I have slept on, even 2 overlays did not help , so 18 nights without proper sleep. Very poor embarkation over 2.30 hours wating time, and disembarkation, a shambles 3 hour wait and then they could not find the driver. Entertainment unsatisfactory. Theatre not designed to cater for 6ft plus passengers. Quality of entertainments, not good except for the quartet. Missed the after diner drinks with soft music, such as guiter, piano or the quartet. The Brittania lounge after dinner was deserted with no atmosphere. Finally October sailing we met gales going and coming back in the Bay, so would I go again on Saga? No, I think the negatives outway the positives when one considers the cost.

Summary:  Transport to the ship excellent and on time.Reception friendly and efficient, introduction to staff and guidance to room good ,Cabins spacious and spotless with all added extras ie a kettle and supply of tea exc.,Fruit supplied a great touch Being a larger ship it takes several days to ascertain where you are and where you want to go map supplied. Food an excellent choice of restaurants to suit ones taste how ever main restaurant portions smaller than usual. Problems The lift operating board indicated deck numbers the map indicated deck names not numbers The main complaint was the theater did not commence until 2200hours far to late for many people especially if you had to rise early the next day for an organize trip thank you for organizing it.

Summary:  Wonderful fairy tale cruise. Amazing staff. very comfortable cabin - tea in bed in the morning. Fantastic sights. Food was out of this world and we loved dressing up for the formal nights. Lots to do, good shopping on board. Met loads of lovely people. Door to door service was excellent. Our cabin steward was very attentive This cruise was faultless , thank you.

Summary:  The most wonderful service from a Phillipino crew who were unbelievably attentive and polite. The cabin was excellent, The food was the best I've ever had on a ship. We were lucky with the weather too.

Summary:  Excellent cruise The staff couldn't do enough for me..Food was excellent plenty of choices.Disapointed most of the people on the cruise had paid a lot less for the same cruise.

Summary:  Best of the Baltic cruise, Saga Sapphire, 8th - 23rd September, 2016 Checked in at 3.15 in Dover. A very nice outside cabin, 7038, and just a short walk to Reception, the Aviators bar, and the Pole to Pole restaurant. We sailed at 4.00 and, not long after clearing Dover harbour, we were treated by Saga to a 15 minute flying display by two Spitfire fighter aircraft from Biggin Hill. Amazing! This was our third voyage on Saga Sapphire in 2 years, and it was rather nice to see familiar faces amongst the staff and to be greeted by name. Our prior (excellent) experiences were repeated on this 15 day voyage.....excellent service, good food and quality complimentary wines. If you wished, you could order wines from the standard wine list, with a £10 per bottle discount,but the complimentary wines were so good that this would only be necessary for celebrating a very special occasion. We visited seven ports, Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallin, Ventspils, Gdansk and Wismar.....all interesting destinations although Ventspils is probably still climbing the learning curve for tourism. It was our second visit there and my wife and quite like its quirkiness (especially the bovine street art!) We were also impressed with the flower displays all around town. With calm seas and slight winds for the whole voyage, we could not have wished for better on this cruise holiday. Just a few spots of rain for 20 minutes in St Petersburg, and that was the totally of 'bad' weather. I have to mention the efforts of the catering staff and the hard work they put in for lunchtime events outdoors on the Verandah terrace, and for the fabulous Russian Buffet that was put in place in the Pole to Pole restaurant on our overnight stop in St Petersburg. The entertainment was of high quality. We enjoyed the Greek classical guitarist, Dimitris Davakallis, and the Polish violinist. Michael Bacala who each gave two excellent performances. Also aboard were the Think Pink Duo (Marta and Gabi Onali) from Rumania and, along with many other guests, enjoyed dancing to their music late at night in the Drawing Room. They very kindly burnt us a CD of some of their recordings so that we can continue enjoying their music post-cruise. This was a truly enjoyable holiday. Thankyou Saga.

Summary:  SOUTH AMERICA DISCOVERY - 7 Jan - 19 March, 2016 72 days away. 23 ports, with two missed out because of bad weather - Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Punta del Este, Uruguay. 23,500 miles travelled. Fantastic experience, although for some guests the first week was not a good one because of an unseasonably early storm after departing Madeira. Saga Pearl II is smallish so it got tossed around a bit The quality of staff is excellent, and lots of long service crew which says a lot about Saga employment practices. Staff and management aboard worked hard to ensure that the cruise was a memorable experience for guests - for all the right reasons - and they succeeded. The entertainment was generally of good quality and high standard, something for everyone, really. The highlights for me and the missus were: - the Panama Canal transit (one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World - meeting up with an ex-colleague in Guayaquil, Ecuador - Lima, Peru - the Chilean fjords, "glacier alley" and the Garibaldi Glacier - a lap of honour around Cape Horn on a calm and sunny morning - Buenos Aires, with a return evening performance by the Morgado Esteban Cuarteto and tango dancing, aboard. The quartet had done 3 performances on the Colombia - Peru leg. - Rio de Janeiro, the trip to Christ the Redeemer (in clear weather), and an evening performance aboard by Samba Rio. (I heard that the ship's doctor was on standby with the defibrillator.....but maybe that was a tongue-in-cheek comment from one of the female passengers because the Samba dancer outfits!) And that's just to name some of the highlights.....there was much, much more. The only downside.......stepping on the scales yesterday. The dining was excellent with really good complimentary wines at lunch and dinner. We did our own excursions as we are fit and able, and confident about doing our own thing. One memorable excursion we organised via the internet was the 'Grafreetti' in Valparaiso, conducted by a street artist. Amazing creative art! I can highly recommend Saga cruises. Of the 23 cruises we've done, this has to be the best cruise ever!