You're about to discover the eight best
things about the brand new Saga Spirit
Of Discovery, plus one thing that could
be a deal breaker and stop you from
cruising on this ship. I'm Gary
Bembridge, and this is another of my tips
for travellers. I want to share with you
the things that I thought were fantastic
about the Spirit Of Discovery and,
importantly, the one thing that could
stop you from cruising on this ship.
First of al,l a couple of facts and
figures about the ship. The Spirit Of Discovery is the first of two sister
ships being built by Saga Cruises . Spirit Of Discovery is the first one, and Spirit Of Adventure
is the second one.
It holds 999 guests, has 505 crew and 10
passenger decks. Those stats mean that it
falls, in many people's definitions,
within the small ship cruising category,
which is normally defined as less than a
thousand passengers. The first great
thing is the design. It is a great
look from the outside. It's
unique. It's different because it
was specifically designed for Saga. But inside, the designers which were SMC (a
london-based design organization) have
created a boutique hotel feel and
that what's Saga are going for.
The inspiration for the design was taken
from london-based boutique hotels. It is a modern and contemporary look. A
couple of things that I really liked
about this more as a ship geek
is this that there is a really great connection to the ocean. They have an enormous and
wide promenade deck. If you walk around
the promenade deck four times you've
done one mile, and that has disappeared
from many modern cruise ships. At the
back of the ship there's a
magnificent terrace area, where you can
sit at the back of the ship. It's multi
levels and you can have drinks there
during the day and in the evening and
look at the ocean. I love the fact
that the design inside is a boutique
contemporary hotel feel, and there's a
real sense of nautical connection and a
connection to the sea. You even see that
in the open spaces. For example,
the Lido, which is the pool area. This is
also very open. It's large and again
there's great connection to the ocean.
There's a real sense of Britishness
around the design and the aesthetics.
For example, there are 1,000 pieces of
artwork across the ship, 400 of which
were created for the ship and all have been created by artists that
are based in the UK. Most of the suppliers
the cheese, the salmon and wine are again
from British suppliers. The second thing
that struck me about the ship were the
dining options. Saga is all-inclusive and
all of the dining, both speciality dining
and regular dining, is included within
the fare. There are six dining options
across the ship. The most important, of
course, is the main dining room which is
known as the Grand Dining Room. it serves
British and international cuisine. It's a
magnificent traditional liner
looking type of dining room. You then
have the Grill and the Verandah, which is
up on the Lido deck and this is the
more informal dining, so it's more buffet.
Although importantly on formal
nights they have the same menu in here
as in the main dining room. So, if you
don't want to get dressed up for formal
nights you can have the same menu up in
the Grill and the Verandah area. The Verandah is an outside area where
you can dine alfresco when the weather
is good. There are three specilaity dining
options. The first of which is one that I
know Saga are very excited about, and
passengers are also very excited about, and
this is The Club by Jools Holland.
Jools Holland being a well-known
British entertainer and musician. The
Club is a steakhouse and in the evenings
they have cabaret, which is all curated
by Jools Holland. Then there's Coast To Coast, which is a beautiful restaurant and
it's the seafood restaurant. this seats 74 diners. It's a new
concept to Saga and is only open in the
evening. The one which really appeals to me
is East To West, and this is an Asian fusion restaurant with
beautiful decor. It's only open in the
evenings and holds 76 diners. Also, which
is included, is your sixth dining
option on board the Spirit Of Discovery
and that's 24-hour room service. Again no
charge as all of the dining options
are included within the fare. For me, the
third most amazing and great thing
about the ship is the Britannia lounge.
Britannia lounge is a classic on all the
Saga ships, and this particular
lounge is spectacular. When you walk in
there's a real wow factor. The
Britannia lounge is used during the day
for talks, or various events, and in the
evening it's where you can go dancing as
there's a dance floor. You have the
Britannia deck outside which has some
beautiful artwork there and, as
it's on the front of the ship, you
have great views as the ship sails
through the beautiful scenery. Britannia
lounge I've pulled out as one of the
best things about the new ship because I
do think it is one of the absolute best
parts of the ship. It really is a
magnificent space. The fourth thing that
I've identified as being really good
about the ship are the cabins. I want
to talk about a couple of cabins very
specifically. All of the cabins
have balconies, so there's no inside
cabins and no ocean view cabins. It is
entirely a balcony ship. In the brochure and
on the website they I identify
nine grades, but I think you can better
split those down into three key
categories: solo cabins,
balcony cabins (with two
types: standard and deluxe) and then
Suites (where there are three types
midships, forward and aft). One of the
things I really wanted to talk about
solo cabins. 20% or 109 cabins on board the
Spirit Of Discovery are solo cabins. Saga really cater for solo travellers
in a big way. Also what's great is they cater for
different budget types within solo
cabins. They have a standard cabin,
superior cabin, deluxe cabin and even have solo
suites. So, catering for solo travellers is
a really big plus. The other great thing
that Saga do is cater phenomenally well
for people who have disabilities or need
accessible cabins. The accessible cabins I
was really impressed with. Of course it's
a great size to have extra space if
you're in a wheelchair, there is a wet
room style bathroom, ramp
which heads up and out onto the balcony,
but the great thing about it is every
single accessible cabin has an inter
connecting door to a solo cabin next
door. It means if you're traveling
with a friend, family or even a carer,
they can have a separate cabin connected
to yours - and they don't have to share a
cabin or bunk up with you. I think
there's real plusses here. Not only do
they have a range of
cabins for all budgets, but they really
cater phenomenally well for solo
travellers, with those many different
grades, and for people with accessibility
needs especially if they're travelling with
carers or friends. So, the cabins for me
definitely are a real big plus. The fifth
thing that I want to talk about
is entertainment and their take on
entertainment as I think they do
somethings slightly differently. They have
the Playhouse Theatre, which can seat 440
at one time. They have production
shows in the evening and have
guest artists. At other times it acts as
a cinema. So, that's fairly standard and,
as you'd expect, it's pretty high-tech
being a new ship. The other thing which
they have, which i think is great, is the
Library. The library is a really
interesting venue. It's not only a great
looking venue, where they have 3500
books in an enormous library,  they have
self-service teas and coffees here but
they have a couple of really interesting
things. They have an enormous craft area,
and they run classes on jewellery making and
paper crafts, then they have a large
card room. Bridge and card playing is very
popular on board, so this dedicated card room
which can hold up to 40 people at one
time. In terms of entertainment and
activities they have a large
enrichment program.  There's always
guest speakers and lecturers. The
entertainment definitely is more
enrichment orientated and they do some great things. In terms of
social venues, they have a number of
places where you can socialise. One of
the most interesting is the South
Cape Bar. This is the name of a bar
which originally appeared on one of
their first and earlier ships within the
cruise line which was the Saga Ruby back in 2005. Another great
space, which is part of a hub of
the ship is known as the Living Room.
During the day this is a coffee bar  and in
the evening it becomes a cocktail
bar. Because it's right in the heart
of the ship and near the atrium, it's a
real hub during the day and in the
evening. The living room is a great
space, beautiful seating areas and a
fun bar. Of course, you have the
Britannia lounge which I've already
spoken about, and you have the Terrace at
the back of the ship which I've also
spoken about. The next thing that I
thought was really good, and struck me about
the ship, was just how much space and
effort was focused on the whole area of
wellness. First of all they have a spa,
which is huge. In the spa you, of course,
have traditional spa treatments, a
pretty big salon area, a large steam
room and sauna area  and a great hydrotherapy
pool area. So, lots of space dedicated to
the pampering side of
wellness. Right up on the top of the ship
they have a fitness area and the
gym area. There's an outdoor sports
area, and also they have a Fairway golf
simulator. So, lots of space and focus on
wellness. Another really good thing
on board the Spirit Of Discovery is the
all-inclusive nature of the fare.
Saga had been pretty inclusive, but
from 2020 they're going completely
all-inclusive. So, what does that mean?
Obviously your accommodation, all the
dining as I've already mentioned, gratuities, Wi-Fi and from 2020 drinks are
included. They also include a pickup
service where you get picked up from your home and
taken to and from the ship. Insurance is
included, and if you don't take the
insurance you can then also get a slight
discount on the fare. Of course, you have
extras like excursions, spa
treatments and if you buy stuff in the shop.
But, it's great to know that all the
fundamentals of the cruise experience
are included within the fare.
So, those are my views about the eight
great and good things about the
brand new Spirit Of Discovery ship from
Saga. So what about the downsides 
that could stop you cruising? Saga is a
UK-based company and they do all of
their marketing to UK passengers, and
they create a very British experience.
Now, that doesn't mean if you're not a UK
resident you can't cruise on Saga! If
you want to cruise on Saga and you're
out of the UK make sure that
you connect through with Saga in the UK.
However, the biggest issue that you face
is: in order to cruise with Saga Cruises
you need to be over 50 years of age.
However, if you are 50 years of age and
your partner or friend is over 40, they
can cruise with you. But you do need to
be over 50 before you can cruise on a
Saga
Cruises. If you want to find out much more
about cruising and Saga Cruises,  I have
many more videos on the topic so why
don't you watch one of those right now!
