Saga Ruby (ex Caronia) Photo Tour

Dear All,

At long last, I've posted my photo tour of the delightful SAGA RUBY, which I visited in May:

http://shiploverny.smugmug.com/gallery/1843783

Yes, I know she is not a Cunarder, but she is a former Cunarder, so I am posting this here anyway :) .

I'll warn you in advance that they aren't great photos - first, the bright light that day was a problem (I prefer to take interior photos at dawn or dusk when the light is friendlier) and also there were a lot of passengers around (an unusual number, I thought, for a ship that was in port) so some of the compositions are a bit dodgy in order to avoid photographing unwitting passengers and then posting their photos on the web. As a result, I'm not really satisfied that these photos convey what a beautiful ship she is, and I considered not posting them at all... But I hope you enjoy them anyhow.

Great pics Doug of a great ship, I last saw her in Southampton with her sister on "5 ships" day.

Thanks for sharing these.

Dear Doug,

Thank you for posting the photos of the Saga aka Cunard Caronia.

It was interesting to see it once again. We happen to have taken it on a NE/CANADA cruise in August 2001 just before September 11th.

It was good seeing it again since I really didn't remember it after all the excitement and personal experience of 9/11 that truly pre-occupied us for the coming months afterwards.

She still looks good even though she was redecorated from what I remember.

Thank you again,

Regards,

:) ESLO

(Ed & Bev)

Thanks Doug.

She looks great. I am glad SAGA took the time, money and energy to refit her. Too bad Carnival doesn’t take a similar investment to QE2. She looks more refreshing than QE2’s last refit!!

Thanks Doug.

 

She looks great.

Not just the boat - the pictures are great as well:)

Yes, Doug, thank you for posting and bringing fond memories back.

While I did like some of the rooms better in the Caronia design, she still looks great.

Didn't you use your visit to convince Saga to allow people under 50 to book with them?

Doug,

Thanks for the great photos of cabin 103. I was lucky enough to be upgraded to this hidden gem on one of the Caronia's last cruises. I am very pleased to see that it is still a single cabin and that they maintained it's unique character. Too bad they wont let me onboard for at least another decade!

Cheers,

Julia

Doug,

Thank you for the thorough and well-organized photographs of the ship. They really gave a good feeling of what the ship is like - it looks cozy and classy. And the quality of the images is certainly nothing to apologize for; they are clear and well lit.

You are lucky to get tours of ships. Do you get them often, and do you know about them well in advance? Or do you get a phone call a day or two ahead letting you know?

Thanks again for the work of organizing them and giving us the link.

Paul

Thanks everyone for your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. It's sad that she is no longer in the Cunard fleet but frankly, she gets from Saga the care and attention she often didn't get from Cunard.

She looks great. I am glad SAGA took the time, money and energy to refit her. Too bad Carnival doesn’t take a similar investment to QE2. She looks more refreshing than QE2’s last refit!!

Yes, I would love to see QE2 get a similar refit.

Carnival have spent great sums on QE2 but aside from the one refit in 1999 (the results of which I really don't care for) they have concentrated on the technical aspects rather than the cosmetic stuff. So QE2 is now in excellent condition technically but her interiors look rather un-coordinated and in need of attention. What she really needs is to have a complete stem-to-stern refurbishment of her interiors... Exactly what RUBY got before entering service for Saga.

While I did like some of the rooms better in the Caronia design, she still looks great.

Didn't you use your visit to convince Saga to allow people under 50 to book with them?

Personally I greatly prefer her present decor to that during the CARONIA period; which I found overly "fussy" and traditional. Of course, even then she was a very nice ship but I much prefer the clean, modern interiors she has now.

She was, after all, decoratively very modern when she was built in 1973, and Cunard's 1990s refits were rather futile attempts to make a basically modern ship look "traditional" and "British" inside. Now she has returned to an aesthetic more in line with that of her youth, and I like it a lot.

As for convincing Saga to allow people under 50... I would if I could :) !

Thanks for the great photos of cabin 103. I was lucky enough to be upgraded to this hidden gem on one of the Caronia's last cruises.

It is indeed a wonderful cabin! I love it. The balcony is the best balcony I've ever seen.

The only way you could improve this cabin would be to add a forward-facing view :) .

I actually saw two more cabins - a standard inside and an outside single - but was in and out too quickly to photograph them or to notice the cabin numbers. All the cabins I saw were quite nice indeed.

You are lucky to get tours of ships. Do you get them often, and do you know about them well in advance? Or do you get a phone call a day or two ahead letting you know?

It depends. Sometimes I am able to visit ships through organizations like the World Ship Society Port of New York Branch which anyone can join. Other times (like this one) I am invited privately by a cruise line.

Either way, I usually know quite some time in advance, though other times it can be a week or so before.

Too bad they wont let me onboard for at least another decade!

My partner is over 50, but I like Julie, won't be there for another decade (just;) ) yet. My parents have just returned from the Saga Ruby and are saying that as long as one partner is over 50 the other one only needs to be over 40. They are desperate for us to go with them, but they commented that they were at the younger end of the age range (Mum was 80 this year!).

My parents have just returned from the Saga Ruby and are saying that as long as one partner is over 50 the other one only needs to be over 40.

Indeed, this is true.

I'm not sure how many 40-somethings go on Saga though.

They are desperate for us to go with them, but they commented that they were at the younger end of the age range (Mum was 80 this year!).

Well, most of the passengers I saw looked like they were in their 70s and 80s... But these were the people who stayed aboard - perhaps the ones who actually went ashore in New York were younger. Also, it was a longer than usual cruise (four weeks) which tends to limit things to the retired.

I know a lot of people in their 50s who do enjoy Saga very much. Actually, virtually all the Saga passengers I know are in their 50s and 60s and say that while they are (obviously) on the younger end of the age range, they don't mind at all.

In fact, I know very few people of any age who do not like Saga. Most people who have been on Saga love it and most people (like me) who visit their ships and are too young wish they could sail in them.