Saga Sapphire Spellbinding Norway 11-18 July trip report

Hello all

I have not long returned from a week's cruise on the Saga Sapphire's Spellbinding Norway cruise from 11th - 18th July. Rather than write a long report here I have compiled it all as a blog with photos to hopefully make it more interesting. It may need a little bit of extra tweaking here and there, but I think it's basically finished.

Here's the link if anyone is interested in having a wee look.

http://mynorwayholiday.blogspot.co.uk/

Many thanks for posting that, Marlscat. I'm booked on the Sapphire for a 35day cruise in January to the Caribbean. Can I ask you a few questions about the ship? We are not interested in the formal dinner evenings (I don't own a tie) and won't be attending any of the shows - we plan to eat every night at the Grill/Veranda/EastWest restaurants. I assume this would be possible and that we can easily opt out of things.

Was there adequate deck space for sun lounging etc.

What was the average age of the passengers. Sometimes Saga has a sort of reputation for geriatrics only.

Thanks again and hope to hear from you.

Hi Fletcher

Yes, I think you can opt for not going to the formal cocktail parties etc and you don't need to go to the shows. You can go to any of the restaurants, but you do need to book for the East to West as it's very small and numbers are restricted. On a 35 day cruise I'm sure they will allow you to dine there more than once!! As far as I could make out, there's no buffet style dining - it's all served to you. We ate mainly in the Verandah for breakfasts and dinners. However, in the Verandah it's more limited I think for breakfast choices - still a good choice, but you only had two hot breakfast specials to choose from. So, if say fried egg wasn't on the menu for a particular morning, you couldn't get one. I think for the bigger choice in respect of breakfast you need to go to the Pole to Pole.

There does seem to be a lot of deck space for loungers, but it's a wee bit restricted round the pool area - plenty of loungers etc. though on the other decks (although we didn't get the chance to use them because the weather wasn't great). The pool also seems to be quite small and was closed almost all of the time during our week's cruise. When there was water in it, it was crashing about terribly at the beginning of the cruise and it was emptied and left like that for the rest of the week.

Most entertainment was either in the Britannia Lounge or the drawing room - you'll see what's on offer in the daily magazine they leave in the cabin for you. There were entertainers too in Aviators Bar and Coopers Bar (singers/musicians/pianists type of things), so there was something on everywhere. There would be nothing to stop you sitting with a drink in some of the quieter areas though, like the library.

Our cruise was advertised as a 60s themed music cruise so I thought all passengers would be of that era - that wasn't the case though. There was a mix of ages from the minimum to folks obviously in their 80s or so. Mind you, some of the passengers lots older than me were having a great time and were never off the dance floor!! Some passengers had walking aids and wheelchairs too, and seemed to be getting about without difficulty.

Everything seemed to be well organised and there was no queuing to get off for shore excursions like we experienced in the past with Princess. Our cruise was full to capacity and there did seem to be plenty of room for everyone. The staff were brilliant.

Once I get my photos of the ship uploaded to webshots I'll post a link in this thread for you to have a look at.

If there's anything else you want to ask, please do and I will try to answer as best I can.

Many thanks for the swift response. It was rather reassuring as we are a bit nervous about this trip as the ship is at least six times bigger than any other ship we have been on - we've only done expedition cruise ships like the Orion and Island Sky with about 100 passengers and no entertainment apart from one pianist in the bar. Thanks again and if I think of anything else I'll post it here - or PM you over on the TA site.

Hi again

By all means contact me via PM on the TA site - I check TA every day and am on those forums more than I am on this one! Glad to help at any time.

I have now uploaded photos of the Saga Sapphire to my Webshots albums which you can view via this link

http://travel.webshots.com/album/583196574GnDEfZ

Please feel free to have a look (click on photos to make them bigger) and also feel free to look at my albums of other destinations.

Thank you for posting these, Marlscat. We are on the Sapphire in February in a similar balcony cabin, so it was great to see what it actually looks like. I am pretty sure that we won't be sitting out there while cruising in the Arctic Circle, bu it's nice to be able to step outside from your cabin sometimes.

Hi Willma

Glad to be of help. We didn't use our balcony on our Norway trip either apart from to step outside a couple of times to take photos, but sometimes the wind was so strong you couldn't actually open the door!!! (door opens outwards, so not sliding). I'm sure you'll have a lovely time. :)

We are on the Sapphire in February . . . I am pretty sure that we won't be sitting out there while cruising in the Arctic Circle . . .

In February, Willma, the Sapphire won't be in the Arctic, it's in the Caribbean.

Hi Fletcher, we embark on Feb 25th for Wonders of the Northern Lights.Technically you are correct as we cross the Arctic Circle on March 2nd.

Hi Fletcher, we embark on Feb 25th for Wonders of the Northern Lights.Technically you are correct as we cross the Arctic Circle on March 2nd.

Ah . . . then you are on the cruise right after ours.