Saga reassures customers over newest vessel

Missed ports, power cuts and late return on Sapphire’s early voyages were due to mechanical problems.


Saga Cruises has sought to reassure passengers about the reliability of its newest ship following a series of on-board mechanical problems.

Saga Sapphire, the replacement for the popular Saga Ruby, the last British-built cruise ship in service, which is due to be retired next year, had to curtail its inaugural cruise in April because of engine trouble.

A trip to Norway in June was also hit by complications, and last week another engine fault delayed the ship’s return to Britain from a voyage in the Baltic.

Passengers on board the Norwegian cruise complained after the 31-year-old vessel, which Saga bought from a Brazilian operator and refurbished at the start of the year, missed several ports of call following problems with a bow thruster, and subsequently a generator.

The cruise, billed as a “Voyage to the North Cape”, was unable to visit the North Cape, nor was it able to call at Svolvaer, Honningsvåg, Geiranger or Eidfjord. Arrival at Bergen was also late, leaving passengers little time to visit the town.

Passengers also reported that there were power cuts and problems with the air conditioning – an issue highlighted by Jane Archer, the Telegraph’s cruise correspondent, in her recent, and otherwise positive, review of the ship.

“The whole point of the cruise was to visit the fjords and the North Cape,” said Malcolm Billingsley, 71, a retired teacher from north London. “We missed the North Cape and the three most famous fjords. Many of those on board were loyal fans of Saga – I’ve sailed twice on Ruby and had no such problems.”

Mr Billingsley’s comments are echoed by several other holidaymakers, in emails seen by Telegraph Travel. Some passengers suggested that the problems arose from the ship’s age: it was built in 1981.

Paul Green, Saga’s director of communications, said: “The problems in Norway could not be foreseen and were not due to the ship’s age. Sapphire is a £67  million investment in the future of our fleet, and it is on the way to becoming a firm favourite with our customers.”

Mr Green added that, in a survey of passengers on Sapphire’s most recent cruise to Norway, 99 per cent rated their experience as “excellent” or “good”.

According to Jane Archer, the refurbishment of older ships is not unusual practice in the cruise industry.
“Although it cost Saga millions to overhaul and improve Sapphire, it would have cost many millions more to build a new ship,” she said.

Mr Green said that most problems with the air conditioning had been fixed and the power cuts were caused by work to fix the generator.

All affected passengers have subsequently been offered a refund of 40 per cent by Saga or a 50 per cent discount on a future cruise, but some felt the offer did not go far enough.

Richard West, 66, from Sutton, who was on the June cruise, said: “I understand that problems of this sort do sometimes occur, but Saga has not fulfilled its obligations. The only way for me to see all the places we missed will be to book another voyage to Norway – so I feel entitled to a replacement cruise.”

Saga also confirmed that a “minor” problem occurred on Saga Sapphire during last week’s return from a Baltic cruise, which meant the ship had to sail into Dover using only one engine, but that it was fixed overnight.

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Noro-Like Illness Strikes Cruise Ship

Noro-Like Illness Strikes Ship, Affecting 20 Percent of Cruise Passengers.

A Norovirus-like outbreak on Fred. Olsen's Boudicca left a reported 170 of its 1,176 people (828 passengers, 348 crew) ill over the course of a 13-night cruise.

The report from United Kingdom's Daily Mail says the ship was greeted by National Health Service (NHS) staff and ambulance crews on Sunday (20/05/12) in Greenock, Scotland, where it concluded a Canary Islands and Portugal cruise.

Boudicca underwent an intensive fumigation Sunday before embarking on its next scheduled voyage (a 21-night Adriatic cruise) 90 minutes later than scheduled. The deep cleaning was overseen by local health authorities, including Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS.

In a statement,  Fred. Olsen stated that no more than 35 people were "in isolation at any one time."

Still, according to the report by Scotland's Daily Record, an unnamed female passenger said "passengers were offered £150 discounts on their next cruise."

In spring 2010, the line cut short a cruise on Boudicca because of a suspected Norovirus outbreak, even though only six passengers remained in isolation at the time of the decision to do so.

Norovirus is the second most common illness next to the common cold and is highly contagious, spreading easily in confined spaces like hospitals, hotels, dormitories and cruise ships. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea, and millions are infected each year.

Removal Plan for Concordia Wreck

With the Costa Concordia Emergency Commissioner Franco Gabrielli in attendance, Costa Crociere and Italo-American consortium Titan-Micoperi, the winner of the tender tasked with performing the work, today presented their plan to remove the wreck of the Costa Concordia.

The work, following the decisional Services Conference convened by the Commissioner on May 15th during which the authorities have provided the necessary permits, will begin in a few days’ time and last about 12 months.

Titan Salvage is an American-owned specialist marine salvage and wreck removal company, part of the Crowley Group, and is a world leader in its field. Micoperi is a well-known Italian marine contractor with a long history as a specialist in underwater construction and engineering.

The plan to re-float the hull in one piece gives top priority to minimising environmental impact, to protecting Giglio’s economy and tourism industry, and to maximum safety of the work.

Environmental protection will have top priority throughout this monumental salvage operation, the likes of which have never been attempted before anywhere in the world. Once removal is complete, the sea bottom will be cleaned and marine flora replanted.

The plan also includes measures to safeguard Isola del Giglio’s tourism industry and wider economy. Salvage workers’ presence will not have any significant impact on the availability of hotel accommodation for the summer season. The operating base will be located away from the island, on the mainland near Piombino, where equipment and materials will be stored, thereby avoiding any impact on the island’s port activities.

Operations will be divided into four basic stages:

●     after stabilising the ship, an subsea platform will be built and caissons that can be filled with water will be fixed to the side of the ship that is out of the water;

●     two cranes fixed to the platform will pull the ship upright, helped by the caissons which will be filled with water;

●     when the ship is upright, caissons will also be fixed to the other side of the hull;

●     the caissons on both sides will then be emptied, after treating and purifying the water to protect the marine environment, and filled with air.

Once floated, the wreck will be towed to an Italian port and dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the Italian Authorities.

The plan was selected by an evaluation team with specialist representatives from Costa Crociere, Carnival Corporation & plc, London Offshore Consultants and Standard P&I Club, with the collaboration of RINA and Fincantieri, because it best fulfills the main objectives of the operation: removal of the wreck in one piece, minimal risk, minimal environmental impact, protection of Giglio’s economy and tourism industry, and maximum safety of the work.

“Right from the early stages of the accident, Costa Crociere has been fully committed in terms of its resources, professional expertise and organisation to minimising the impact of the shipwreck on the environment and on Isola del Giglio in particular," said Gianni Onorato, Costa Crociere S.p.A. president.

“As was the case for the fuel removal operation, we have always worked to find the best possible and safest solution to protect the island, its marine environment and its tourism industry. We are now launching a salvage operation with characteristics and technical complexities that have never been faced before. There will inevitably be some unknowns in a project of this scope, but we are sure we have made the right decision and will continue to work to our best ability and on schedule”.

“We are very pleased to have been chosen to perform this incredible operation to remove the wreck of Costa Concordia. Our quality engineering and the experience we have gained in this area allowed us to present a project that met expectations," said Richard Habib, president of Titan Salvage. "From now on we will work with the aim of preserving the environment and the natural habitat”.

“We were confident from the outset that the professionalism of our company and our proven experience in underwater rescue and recovery operations could be of service to this salvage operation," said Silvio Bartolotti, general manager of Micoperi. "Being chosen is also powerful demonstration of the quality and capabilities of Italian companies to manage such delicate and unprecedented projects”.

Two ‘New’ Ships Underway for Saga Cruises

Saga Cruises' Saga Sapphire has finally embarked on a much-delayed maiden voyage –- if it can still be called that -- after two previous attempts at an inaugural cruise had to be scrapped due to engine trouble.

The 706-passenger, 33,819-ton ship left Southampton on Sunday (06/05/12), bound for the Baltic, after emergency repairs had to be carried out in Valencia in April. The original maiden voyage was cut short and passengers flown home when an engine failed, and the revised second itinerary was cancelled when repairs took longer than expected.

The inauguration of Saga Sapphire isn't the only change for the company. The ship that arrived in Southampton at the weekend as the 446-passenger, 18,591-ton Saga Pearl II was rapidly converted into Quest for Adventure, its new name painted onto the ship's dark blue hull before the vessel embarked on Sunday on a round-Britain and Ireland voyage.

Quest for Adventure replaces the old Spirit of Adventure, a smaller, aging ship that, after six years of service for Saga, has been sold to a German company. Both vessels are the side of Saga's cruising product it calls ‘Adventure Cruising' (as opposed to the ‘Classic Cruising' offered by Saga Sapphire and Saga Ruby).

Quest differs slightly from the ‘Classic' ships in that the minimum age for passengers is 21, not 50, and a selection of shore excursions, which varies according to the length of cruise, is included in the price. Many of the crew from Spirit have transferred to Quest, including the captains, cruise director and some hotel staff. But essentially, it's Saga Pearl II with a new name and new itineraries; we haven't heard of any plans for changing the interiors, and in any case, the ship underwent a £14 million refurbishment when Saga acquired it in 2009.

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Allure of the Seas to Depart as Schedule After Engine Fire

Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas arrived back in Fort Lauderdale early Sunday morning as scheduled after a short-lived fire broke out at 7:45 Friday evening in the engine room aboard the world's largest cruise ship.

Royal Caribbean tells Cruise Critic that nobody on the 5,400-passenger vessel was injured, and the next sailing will leave on time Sunday evening. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

According to accounts from several passengers on cruise message boards, the ship had to change course briefly on its way from St. Maarten to Fort Lauderdale to keep smoke from blowing back inside the vessel.

One such message had this to say of his first-hand experience: "I am on board The Allure, yes there was a small fire in one of the engine rooms, that caused some smoke smell around the back end of the ship. There was no visible smoke in passenger areas. I was dining at the Chefs Table at the time and we were asked to move from the area for about 20 minutes, whilst the extract fans did their job. There was NO panic around the ship, a couple of youngsters showed concern, and some parents went to meet up with family members."

Whilst another posted the following: "Just got off the Allure and I have to disagree that there was NO panic. The crew were visibly scared as we're many of the passengers. ...The crew were trying very hard to appear in control and they did a good job, but you could see them passing notes to each other and the concern on their faces. We were finished our dinner, but skipped out on desert because I really couldn't eat much after hearing Bravo bravo bravo and water tight doors closing." 

"We could see that there was no power from the engines as it appeared we were drifting - this occurred for at least an hour maybe two," commented another user of the online message boards of the view from the AquaTheater deck. "Auxiliary power was running as at no time did the power, lights, air conditioning or water go out."

This incident is just the latest in a string of recent cruise ship engine problems. Last week, Saga Holidays' Saga Sapphire cut its inaugural cruise short due to engine troubles. Two weeks ago, Plancius, an ice-class vessel operated by the Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, suffered a partial engine failure and stranded its 73 passengers and 42 crew on a South Atlantic island. In March, Azamara Quest suffered an engine room fire that injured five crewmembers and left the ship adrift off the southern Philippines coast. In February, an engine fire left Costa Allegra inert in the Indian Ocean. Cunard's flagship, Queen Mary 2, has also been plagued with engine troubles over the past year.

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