FEBRUARY CRUISING: Saga, Viking, plus "Cruises from Hell"

A SAGA shock is good news.

In the third week of January Saga Plc issued a statement which caused concerns in some quarters.  The company was looking for partnerships it said.  Some worrying headlines were made!

A trading update statement explains all.

“Given the ongoing momentum in Ocean Cruise, the business is now approaching optimum capacity, building on the continued high demand for our successful boutique cruise offer. We are exploring opportunities to optimise the business, including potential partnership arrangements which, consistent with our move to a capital-light business model, would support further growth, crystallise value, reduce debt and enhance long-term returns for shareholders”.

Mike Hazell, Chief Executive Officer, Saga Group, continued: “Ocean Cruise revenue growth is expected to be around 30% year-on-year, delivered through a load factor of 87% and per diem of £331, both significantly ahead of the 75% and £318 in the prior year. As a result, and in line with previous guidance, we expect to exceed our target of £40.0m Ocean Cruise Trading EBITDA (Excluding Overheads) per ship.

River Cruise is expected to return to underlying profit, supported by a load factor of 85% and a per diem of £285. This equates to revenue of around £44m and 17k passengers, which compares with £29m and 12k passengers in the prior year”.


VIKING SATURN – The latest and ninth Viking sea going cruise liner

Viking as a brand is the world’s second largest cruise line in terms of vessels, 80 quality ships spread over “Rivers”, “Oceans” and “Expeditions”, all self-explanatory.  Carnival Group tops the list with 91 ships and vastly more capacity Malcolm Ginsberg writes.

The company was established by Torstein Hagen in 1997 at St Petersburg as Viking River Cruises.  Already a cruise veteran with Royal Viking Line, Russian money helped him establish a small, four-ship river cruise company. In 2000 he was able to buy out an established river cruise operator, and with 26 ships was quickly the world’s largest of its type concentrating on the European rivers.

The Yangtze followed in 2004, and even when things went wrong, as experienced by your Editor-in-Chief on the Volga in 2009, the maxim “the customer is always right” was followed, leaving a positive view of the operation.  Our ship was not ready, requiring two extra nights in St Petersburg, and during the voyage work continued on Viking Koriv.  A cheque for £1,000 awaited us when we returned home. It was one of our most memorable river cruises. Read the BTN report, a journey that sadly cannot be repeated at the present time. www.btnews.co.uk/article/759

Over the next few years the Viking ‘Long Ships’ established an enviable reputation as the lead European river cruise operator.

In 2013 Hagen decided to go deep sea cruising.  It was another gamble with the idea to once again build a series of identical ships.  

This had been tried previously by a Norwegian company Renaissance Cruises in the 1990s, initially with eight 4,000 tonnes 100-passenger boutique ships, Renaissance class, followed by the R class also eight ships and all identical with accommodation for 684 passengers and coming in at 30,000 tonnes.  

With both classes of ships they are very much still in service proving the concept right.

Renaissance ceased operations on 25 September 2001 having been in poor financial health for quite some time, the 11 September attacks being the final blow.

The big difference between Renaissance and Viking was that the latter already had a strong portfolio of happy customers well pleased with the river cruise product. They were not all to try the sea-going enterprise, but many did.

The other contrast was the size of the ships.  Hagen went for 47,000 tonnes and 930 passengers, around the size of Crystal, and ships that were distinctively Scandinavian influenced with a modernist interior design. All built at the same Italian yard they have arrived at more or less one a year.  He got it right first time with very little changes that the public can see between Viking Star 2015 and number nine Viking Saturn which joined in 2023.

In December Viking Vela arrives, the first of a new class, powered by liquid hydrogen, sllghtly larger at around 53,000 tonnes, 10ft wider, which wil be noticed, and 39ft longer. It is incidentally the same passenger accommodation (998) as the two new Saga ships (see www.btnews.co.uk/article/16433), the pair distinctly aimed at the British seniors market. They are very different in most respects, but are both fully inclusive products, no children, no tipping, no casino. With Viking no chauffeur car to and from the ship as part of the package, but that can be arranged.  

Viking Octantis entered the fleet in 2002, at 30,000 tonnes and 378 passengers, a specialist expedition ship.  Viking Polaris followed.  Also in 2022 Viking went to the USA with Viking Mississippi. Your Editor-in-Chief has booked for 2025 including stays at New Orleans and Memphis.

Late January we joined Viking Saturn at Istanbul's impressive new cruise terminal, which could over the years become the Eastern Mediterranean's version of Barcelona as the major changeover port (A port review is planned for TNU March). The brand new and impressive Istanbul International Airport is just under 14 hours non-stop from both Los Angeles and Tokyo, a real cruise gateway.

A full review of Saturn will appear in the March TNU. The ship, virtually full, has a 90% clientele of North Americans, the breakdown similar to the Viking European product.  

C R U I S E S   F R O M   H E L L 

A case of “could do better” and are not necessarily the views of TNU’s Editor-in-Chief.

New research by Loveit Coverit, the mobile phone and gadget insurance company, highlights the cruise operators with the lowest average online customer review scores. 

• Holland America, finds itself at the bottom of the rankings with an average review score of 2.63. One customer left a review on Trustpilot in October of last year saying, "If I could give it less than one star, I would.” 

• MSC Cruises, secures the second spot with a less than stellar average score of 2.67. A passenger who left a review on Cruise Critic after sailing in December 2023 criticised MSC Cruises’ overall organisation. 

• To put these figures in perspective Loveit Coverit found that the average review score for all cruise lines is 3.38 out of 5. 

Loveit Coverit calculated the average customer review score for each of the largest and most popular cruise liners by aggregating customer service ratings from Which?, Trustpilot, and Cruise Critic. All quotes were taken from the review sites in the last 12 months. 

Holland America, finds itself at the bottom of the rankings with an average review score of 2.63.  One customer left a review on Trustpilot in October of last year saying, "If I could give it less than one star, I would. If you expect anything more than a 2-star experience, choose ANY other cruise line… the staff is amazing - but the operation is short of smart. This is my first cruise ever and needless to say, this will be my last with Holland America".

MSC Cruises secures the second spot with a less than stellar average score of 2.67. A passenger who left a review on Cruise Critic after sailing in December 2023 criticised MSC Cruises’ overall organisation. “Everything is disorganised, waiting to board the boat, entering a dining room to eat[.] They take all day and then you have no time to visit the place you arrived in, relaxing is a complete joke, stressful to the point you just want to stay in your room. Getting off the boat just make sure you give yourself ample time. I will not be going on this cruise again”.

Carnival, sails into third position with an average review score of 2.80. A traveller on Trustpilot criticised the line’s customer service saying, "Cruise line lost my luggage between port and ship. It was a 4-day Caribbean Cruise and the front desk took zero responsibility for my satisfaction. I am reasonable and understand accidents happen, however the lack of empathy and responsibility was mind blowing. Thousands of people on the ship and with a clothing store on ship they offered nothing until day 3 [or] 4 in the way of credit to get clothing".

Royal Caribbean shares the same average score as Carnival. A customer who left a review on Cruise Critic remarked that one of the Royal Caribbean ships is no longer fit for purpose. "Enchantment of the Seas is the oldest ship in the RC fleet and needs to be sent to the scrap yard! The ship is very dated with lots of rust and broken parts (public bathrooms, cabins that creak like a coffin, poor layout of decks, etc). We've been on several RC ships and this one is not on par with Royal Caribbean's other ships (eg Serenity of the Seas). We do NOT recommend anyone cruise on Enchantment until it is either fully refurbished or, better yet, scrapped".

Princess Cruises does not live up to its regal name in reputation with an average score of just 2.83. One passenger who sailed in November 2023 left a review on Trustpilot. "Worst cruise line I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Post covid they have no interest in the customer, just their wallets. Customer service is appalling, cleanliness on board is dreadful, excursions are a complete rip off and you absolutely do not get what you pay for".

Azamara, falls to the sixth position with an average review score of 2.87. A traveller on Cruise Critic was particularly disappointed with the customer service. "Although the food is incredible, the service is extremely slow and low quality. If you are someone who enjoys poolside service, this cruise is not for you because the average time I waited for a drink was roughly 45 minutes to an hour, and they consistently get your order wrong. The average time for all of our food to come in the dining room was roughly 2.5 hours and I have had staff roll their eyes at me numerous times. Overall, there is a serious management issue that needs to be solved since the [morale] of these workers are extremely low. Until they fix this issue, I would not recommend this cruise to anybody".

Costa Cruises achieves an average score of 3. A passenger who sailed in August remarked on a Trustpilot review that the noise on the ship was excessive. "The loud announcements in 5 or 6 languages, the music everywhere, in some places you hear 3 different songs at the same time, the acoustics in the swimming pool... the really over-done colours and lights... I'm so happy to be home and relax again. I feel like I spent 14 days on a fancy fair... for the first time in the 50 years I lived I [felt] overstimulated."

Norwegian Cruise Line receives an average score just above 3. A customer on Cruise Critic noted. "Just a ridiculously bad cruise in almost every category. I consider this an unfortunate experience and feel embarrassed to have brought my entire family to share in this experience. The one positive is “at least we didn’t get food poisoning”.

P&O Cruises claims the ninth position with an average review score of 3.2. One passenger on TrustPilot lamented the line’s excursions. "We spent our honeymoon in October / November and we had several bad experiences including a large shard of glass in my champagne jelly. Several excursions were not as sold. For example an open bar day trip with no bar and a turtle trip which collected us two hours late so when we arrived all the turtles had gone. We complained as we were told to on our return and to date we have heard nothing".

Fred Olsen Cruises claims an average customer review score of 3.33. One passenger on Cruise Critic said their experience made for a disappointing 80th birthday. "For our first cruise post covid we chose to return to our favourite ship, Balmoral, to celebrate our joint 80th birthdays. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement! The cabin was tired and the bathroom was really dated with a chipped sink and ancient shower controls. We found the air conditioning in the Ballindalloch to be so fiercely cold that we had to wear our ‘going ashore clothes’ in the evening to keep warm. Our table was so close to a serving station that a risk assessment would have required us to wear hard hats!"

A spokesperson Loveit Coverit commented on their findings. “The study reminds us that behind the glossy brochures and enticing travel ads, the reality of cruising experiences can sometimes fall short. It stresses the value of travel insurance, guaranteeing that should anything go amiss, you won't be liable for the expenses while having to endure a substandard holiday”.

www.loveitcoverit.com

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