Protocols on board for restarting?

[nosapphire]

I am not a shareholder of Saga, but I frequently surf the shareholder chat pages in order to try and find out what may be happening with the cruise side.

According one chat, Saga will tomorrow (11th July) release details of the new protocols they will have in place on board in order to restart cruising.

If we are really lucky, they will put them on their website so the people expected to embark can see what the plans are, otherwise we'll have to look out on the trade press and news reports to see what Saga plan for us.

I do hope that by now they have given some serious thought to it, as they certainly hadn't when I got the call about the inaugural cruise.

I still suspect they are not really expecting to operate any cruises this year, just trying to keep people interested so they can be rolled over to next year.

I do not criticise them at all for doing that - but I am getting irritated by how difficult it is to find out what is or is not happening.

Come on Saga - you tell everybody how proud you are of your "loyal customers" - why not start keeping us informed?

 

 

[Fred989]

I understand they have just started consultation with staff concerning cutting 300 jobs.

 

There will be perhaps a lot less interest in answering questions and keeping cruisers informed, and more interest in finding another job.

[tring]

On 7/10/2020 at 3:37 PM, nosapphire said:

I am not a shareholder of Saga, but I frequently surf the shareholder chat pages in order to try and find out what may be happening with the cruise side.

According one chat, Saga will tomorrow (11th July) release details of the new protocols they will have in place on board in order to restart cruising.

If we are really lucky, they will put them on their website so the people expected to embark can see what the plans are, otherwise we'll have to look out on the trade press and news reports to see what Saga plan for us.

I do hope that by now they have given some serious thought to it, as they certainly hadn't when I got the call about the inaugural cruise.

I still suspect they are not really expecting to operate any cruises this year, just trying to keep people interested so they can be rolled over to next year.

I do not criticise them at all for doing that - but I am getting irritated by how difficult it is to find out what is or is not happening.

Come on Saga - you tell everybody how proud you are of your "loyal customers" - why not start keeping us informed?

 

 

 

Thank you for the interesting information.  Is it possible for you to post a link to the chat pages you mention or explain how to find it?

 

If people own shares, do they benefit from onboard advantages, like you can with Carnival Plc shares?  Not the time to buy, but may be interested as things start to loosed up and if Saga are looking OK then.

Edited July 12, 2020 by tring

[nosapphire]

On 7/12/2020 at 1:55 PM, tring said:

 

Thank you for the interesting information.  Is it possible for you to post a link to the chat pages you mention or explain how to find it?

 

If people own shares, do they benefit from onboard advantages, like you can with Carnival Plc shares?  Not the time to buy, but may be interested as things start to loosed up and if Saga are looking OK then.

I just Google "Saga share chat" - the 2 that come up are :

https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=SAGA&share=Saga

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/saga-SAGA/share-chat

They evidently do not have as much information as they thought, as nothing anywhere about Saga's intended protocols.

I am not a member of either talk, so I cannot see the full threads.

The majority hold shares on the basis of Saga being mainly an insurance company. I did read some while back that shareholders do not get any special perks, but no idea whether that was/is true.

 

[tring]

19 hours ago, nosapphire said:

I just Google "Saga share chat" - the 2 that come up are :

https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=SAGA&share=Saga

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/saga-SAGA/share-chat

They evidently do not have as much information as they thought, as nothing anywhere about Saga's intended protocols.

I am not a member of either talk, so I cannot see the full threads.

The majority hold shares on the basis of Saga being mainly an insurance company. I did read some while back that shareholders do not get any special perks, but no idea whether that was/is true.

 

 

Thanks for the very detailed reply - much appreciated.  We have not travelled with Saga previously, but on past recommendation and the new ships it looks a good direction to go.  At least that was our thoughts before the last few months though, but will be worth me keeping in touch with developments.

Edited July 14, 2020 by tring

[janecambridge]

On 7/13/2020 at 6:11 PM, nosapphire said:

I just Google "Saga share chat" - the 2 that come up are :

https://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChat.asp?ShareTicker=SAGA&share=Saga

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/saga-SAGA/share-chat

They evidently do not have as much information as they thought, as nothing anywhere about Saga's intended protocols.

I am not a member of either talk, so I cannot see the full threads.

The majority hold shares on the basis of Saga being mainly an insurance company. I did read some while back that shareholders do not get any special perks, but no idea whether that was/is true.

 

 

No perks at all with SAGA shares.☹️

[lincslady]

From what I think about how Saga operates cruises (having been on quite a few, though not yet on Discovery), whatever is necessary  in terms of protocols for if and when cruising resumes, Saga will  perform at least as well as any other line.

 

I do hope it is when, and not if.

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, lincslady said:

From what I think about how Saga operates cruises (having been on quite a few, though not yet on Discovery), whatever is necessary  in terms of protocols for if and when cruising resumes, Saga will  perform at least as well as any other line.

 

I do hope it is when, and not if.

I hope they perform better than they did with the outbreak of Norovirus on SoD - see the lengthy thread about it on this forum. Seemed to be a pretty shambolic response all round.

[nosapphire]

3 hours ago, lincslady said:

From what I think about how Saga operates cruises (having been on quite a few, though not yet on Discovery), whatever is necessary  in terms of protocols for if and when cruising resumes, Saga will  perform at least as well as any other line.

 

I do hope it is when, and not if.

Hollow laugh.

Perform at least as well as any other cruise line? No, I don't think they will. I actually think they will be one of the worst.

Saga management has changed a lot, and it certainly showed on the Discovery, as that was possibly one of the worst run ships I have been on. Twice, for my sins - I thought the second time could not be as bad as the first, but it was even worse. 

 

They say they will sail at 800 passengers, which is 80%.

This is not a reduction in passengers numbers, their own CEO told shareholders that the cruises prior to the pandemic had reached 80% capacity

The two cruises we did on the Discovery were 80 and 85%, and the queues for the dining venues were horrendous at all meal times.

It will still be freedom dining, but with less seating - so the queues at popular times will be even worse than usual.

When asked how they would control queues, all they have planned is to ask passengers to go to another venue.

But they will ALL have queues - management have not thought of that.

Embarkation - will be the same as always, apparently. Which again, means no possibility of social distancing.

Turnaround of the ship at the end of the cruise - the next cruise will still embark on the same day as the previous ones get off, just a bit later to allow "deep cleaning"

Bearing in mind how many passengers use the car service, that often means there are still passengers in the lounges waiting to disembark up to 60 minutes before the new passengers get on. How do you deep clean a lounge full of passengers?

 

Yet Hurtigruten - for example - with even smaller ships than Saga have announced that dining will be at allocated times to avoid queues, turnaround will be spread  over two days to allow for proper cleaning in between voyages, and they will reduce capacity to 65% on some ships, 50% on others.

Hurtigruten have a plan.Other lines are working on plans.

Saga simply keep saying they have a lot of loyal passengers, the assumption being that these loyal passengers won't ask questions about their protocols, just assume that Saga will get it right.

 

Saga demonstrated their new management attitude by sailing 4(four) consecutive cruises with severe outbreaks of noravirus on board (this is not the only forum that has talked about it)  even though one of them was a 4 day mini-break, everybody expected them to cancel in order to clean the ship and give their totally exhausted crew a break - but they sailed.

I would like to think that Saga will surprise many of us by coming up with a plan that shows they have thought about it - but all they really seem to be thinking about is getting as many final balances in before they cancel the cruise.

 

[lincslady]

Oops!  Looks like I have set the cat amongst the pigeons.  I am afraid I was just going on my past experiences, which did include one with norovirus on board Sapphire, which was dealt with very well.  I will keep my head down, for a while.

[nosapphire]

59 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Oops!  Looks like I have set the cat amongst the pigeons.  I am afraid I was just going on my past experiences, which did include one with norovirus on board Sapphire, which was dealt with very well.  I will keep my head down, for a while.

Worry not, had I not been on their new ship, I would have said exactly the same as you.

I am a Gold member of the Britannia club, and until this year I had always considered that when a problem arose, be it Noravirus, bad weather, closed ports, whatever, Saga handled it better than most others.

Sadly, that no longer seems to be the case. It can only be the total restructuring within senior management at head office,  as it now seems that the people with the knowledge have less and less say in what action to take or how to do things, there is an iron hand overall, which seems mainly interested in shareholders rather than passengers.

I will add, that was the general opinion of a very high number of the regular Saga passengers on both Discovery cruises, and - for the first ever time - I heard people saying, "never again with Saga".

I came off feeling absolutely gutted - I had such high hopes for the combination of a new ship and Saga management, as it used to be.

 

 

[nosapphire]

I wonder what happens if there are more passengers booked than the 800 maximum they say they will have.

Trying to calculate how many on the Adventure Christmas cruise, and looks like it is already over the 800 (counting available cabins) - so are they relying on some cancelling beforehand? Or is it just that no passenger is actually going to be able to count how many are on board?

And I wonder if the maximum 800 includes guest entertainers/lecturers? Or if it is 800 plus?

Either way, social distancing is going to be noticeably absent.

[Dermotsgirl]

I’ve noticed from another thread that they’re saying Discovery is going to restart on 16th December. 
 

This seems a bold and ambitious statement, considering that the FCO have recommended against travel on cruise ships, and nobody knows when this will be lifted.

 

I’m not so sure it’s a good time of year to restart. People will catch normal seasonal colds, so the colds could easily be confused with Covid. 
 

Saga will need to publish what their protocols will be and what the onboard experience will look like.  It would be disastrous if it went wrong 

[nosapphire]

Ohhhkay.... just had the telephone call about a cancelled cruise and spent more time trying to find out about Saga's planned protocols for restarting.

 

The answer is that they are waiting for the UK Government to tell them what they can or cannot do.

 

They will apply social distancing at whatever distance is set by the Government (which is currently 2 metres whenever possible, if not possible other precautions must be taken).

Asked how 2 metres would apply to an 80% full ship, and was told that the current regulations now may not apply by the time it sails.

Asked about wearing masks, and was told that the current regulations about masks indoors may not apply by the time it sails.

Asked about freedom dining and how they would cope with queues, and was told that if the UK Government tell them they have to socially distance people at dinner, they will look at this again.

Asked if the library would be open, and was told that if the UK Government tell them that they have to close it, they will.

Asked if the suggestions already published by the EU were being taken into consideration, and was told that ust be another department.

Apparently the bigwigs at Saga are in constant contact with the UK Government and public health  - which I take as meaning constant lobbying to remove FCO advice.

 

FYI, I am taking the refund, not the FCC.  A cruise line that is waiting for the Government to tell them what protocols they should have in place is not a line that I will trust with my health.

 

 

[LandC]

36 crew members of Hurtigruten’s ship Roald Amundsen have just tested positive In Tromsø for COVID -19.  All of the crew are now in quarantine, and passengers on the previous 2 cruises are being contacted.  Even with  protocols in place, it appears that it’s still too early to start cruising again.  

[saintgeorge]

2 minutes ago, LandC said:

36 crew members of Hurtigruten’s ship Roald Amundsen have just tested positive In Tromsø for COVID -19.  All of the crew are now in quarantine, and passengers on the previous 2 cruises are being contacted.  Even with  protocols in place, it appears that it’s still too early to start cruising again.  

 

Yes I totally agree

[Jay23]

We are booked on Discovery's 16th December cruise.  We will not be going on it.  The FCO says we shouldn't .  We would not be insured would we?     Saga should come clean.  This would have been our first Saga cruise.   I doubt we will ever cruise again after 20 years of wonderful travel all over the world.  😞    J

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, Jay23 said:

We are booked on Discovery's 16th December cruise.  We will not be going on it.  The FCO says we shouldn't .  We would not be insured would we?     Saga should come clean.  This would have been our first Saga cruise.   I doubt we will ever cruise again after 20 years of wonderful travel all over the world.  😞    J

It is entirely possible that between now and December that the Government advice will change, in which case your insurance would be valid.

Obviously if the Government advice is still in place, the cruise will be cancelled.

Saga is not alone in not, as yet, cancelling November and December cruises.