45: Saga Sapphire 2012
Ireland & the Tall Ships
24th - 29th August 2012

Returning to the ship on the free shuttle-bus, I had lunch in the Verandah Grill where you help yourself to a buffet of starters and the waiters serve you a main course from the limited selection of the day. My morning's exercise had given me an appetite, so I had Prawn Skewers with Fennel, which was really good but then, tempted by the Apple Crumble, I then fell asleep on deck for the afternoon until our departure at 5.30 was delayed while we waited for the Germans to leave first!

The Verandah Grill		Aida Aura Keeping us waiting!		French Dinner		More bad weather, so... Deadlights on Again!

Tonight's French Dinner was by far the best so far, with all my favourites; Snails, French Onion Soup and Coq au Vin followed by Pavlova! I also had an interesting and chatty table, which made it all the more enjoyable. However, with a Force 8 gale promised, the port-hole deadlights (which had only been opened this morning in port) were back on again when I turned in for the night!

		Monday 27th August Cobh (Queenstown), Ireland On an island in the harbour that eventually leads inland to Cork, Cobh was the major embarkation-point for millions of emigrants to North America and from 1850 to 1922, it was known as Queenstown, after Queen Victoria.

The worst of the weather was in the early hours, when the gale reached Force 10 (apparently) but I couldn't see a thing because of the deadlights again! Amazingly though, we arrived on time but as it was still grey and miserable outside and I didn't have any plans, I decided to have a lazy morning.

No Breakfast before 7.30am!
Aboard Saga Sapphire, there's no cafeteria as such and breakfast is served in both Pole to Pole and the Verandah Grill - but not until 7.00am. On sea-days however, breakfast isn't until 7.30 (either they think the passengers want a "lie-in" or the crew do!). So if you are an early riser, apart from a tea-station off the Verandah, there's nothing for you!

However, you can have Room Service from 6.00am, so I opted for this most mornings. The Cabin Breakfast options are limited but it's ideal if all you want is something quick & simple and I found Room Service to be prompt and quite reliable.

The Indoor Pool & Spa (Deck 2 forward) Originally a crew pool, it was taken into passenger use some years ago and extended to provide a small gym, sauna and massage rooms. The pool has two aqua-jets (which are fun!) and no shallow-end but it's been made smaller by the relaxation bars at one end and the water-level was always too low to reach them! The hours of 8.00am-7.00pm could also be improved!

By mid-day, the weather had improved and I went ashore to explore the town, which is dominated by St Colman's Cathedral on the hill. Right by the waterfront, the Cobh Heritage Centre tells the history of Irish emigration by sea via Cobh (or Queenstown as it was called from 1850 to 1922). Outside is a statue of Annie Moore & her brothers, believed to be the first immigrants processed through the new Ellis Island Immigration Centre in New York, when it opened on 1st January 1892.

Saga Sapphire & the old White Star offices		St Colman's Cathedral towers above the town		Heritage Monument Annie Moore & her brothers		Reproduced 3rd-class Ticket The Titanic Experience

The Titanic Experience
Queenstown was the last call of RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage to New York in April 1912 and this interactive museum now occupies the old White Star Line Ticket Office on the waterfront. Upon entry, you are given a named passenger's ticket from the voyage and you are told that you can find out (your) fate at the end of the tour. However, one little girl took it all quite seriously and burst into tears when she was told by our guide that not all of us would survive the journey!

The "Titanic Experience" had a few interesting exhibits, including a mock-up of a First-class cabin. Also, learning the fate of the passenger named on your ticket was quite touching. Mine was that of Denis Lennon (age 20), a labourer from Ballymahon, travelling with Miss Mary Mullin. It is believed that they were eloping and he was pretending she was his sister. Neither of them survived. However, the "interactive cinema" involved us getting into a poor immitation of a lifeboat while we watched an equally poor video montage of the ship sinking. While it was all too shoddy to be taken seriously, I did consider this to be in rather bad taste for an afternoon family outing!

		However, Titanic is not Cobh's only claim to historical fame as it was here, just 3 years later in 1915, that the survivors were brought ashore following the infamous sinking of the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania by a German torpedo, with the loss of 1,195 lives. The memorial to this tragedy is also in the town centre and forms part of its Heritage Trail.

		The Sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 Built on Clydebank for Cunard Line in 1906, Lusitania and her younger sister Mauretania were smaller than Olympic & Titanic but faster, holding the "Blue Riband" Atlantic speed record at over 25 knots. On 7th May 1915, Lusitania was 11 miles off the coast of Ireland heading for Liverpool when she was hit by a torpedo from a German U-boat. She sank in 18 minutes, with the loss of 1,195 lives.

The tragedy resulted in considerable controversy. It was claimed by Germany that she was carrying munitions and was a "legitimate target", a claim vehemently denied at the time. However, it wasn't until 2008 when exploration of the wreck finally discovered and photographed cases of ammunition aboard that the original claim was proven to be true.

Unlike Titanic, Lusitania had more than enough lifeboats but because of a severe list and the speed of her foundering, she was only able to launch 6 of her 48 boats. Although her passengers included only 128 Americans, it has been claimed that the sinking of Lusitania was one of the factors that contributed to America entering the First World War 2 years later.

Departing Cobh				A View at Last! The Pilot Boat		The Verandah Grill

Tonight was our second formal night of the cruise but there was no cocktail party, so no chance of a free drink! However, tonight I had Dinner in the Verandah Grill which, quite surprisingly, serves exactly the same menu as in the main Pole to Pole Restaurant; it's just printed differently! The only real difference seemed to be that the restaurant is smaller and with more of a Bistro atmosphere.

After 3 nights with the deadlights over my cabin portholes, I was beginning to feel like a trapped rat in a box and my heart sank when the Captain announced that we would again be experiencing bad weather. However, when he said that "the weather-side" would this time be to starboard, so only those cabins would have their deadlights on, I was overjoyed! At last I was allowed to see out!

Tuesday 28th August (am) A Morning at Sea

After some rocking and rolling in the early hours, the sea settled down and the weather improved to give a glorious morning, promising a pleasant afternoon tendering at Guernsey. After a swim in the indoor pool, I enjoyed a leisurely late breakfast in the Verandah Grill.

Observation Deck		The Verandah & the new Suites Looking out over the Verandah Cafe				View From the Top Sundeck & al-fresco Cinema!

The main midships pool used to have a sliding roof but this was removed in the recent refit. Also removed was the ship's other outdoor pool, located where the Verandah is now. Meanwhile, the previous Cafe has been converted into balcony cabins and 3 suites overlooking the Verandah below.

		Tuesday 28th August (pm) St Peter Port, Guernsey The Captain said we would be late arriving at Guernsey because of last night's weather but I was suspicious that we were actually only making 16 knots when we could easily have gone faster. Perhaps he was restricted by busy shipping traffic in the English Channel or maybe he just didn't have enough fuel? (left) Preparing the boats for tendering and (below) Castle Cornet & the harbour of St Peter Port

Whatever the reason, our late arrival was followed by even more delays while the boats were prepared, or so we thought. Eventually the Captain announced that there was too much swell to allow safe boarding of the ship's tenders and he was cancelling our call. This was all the more annoying as the sea was quite calm and I have tendered in far worse conditions!

The Saga Punch!
I was so fed-up and disappointed that I went back to my cabin, chucked everything in my suitcase and then went and sat on deck. I was just wondering, "What will they do to make up for our disappointment on the last day of such a short cruise - maybe we'll get some free drinks?", when it was announced that, while we would enjoy the sunny afternoon cruising around the island (hadn't we done that this morning?) there would be a party on deck and everyone was invited to have a complimentary glass of Punch on the Verandah! I was dumbfounded - what, one glass - and only Punch? Is that the best Saga can do these days?

		Wednesday 29th August Dover The final insult came when, after I had enjoyed a pleasant early breakfast, I returned to my cabin at 7.00am to find that my key-card didn't work! I had been "locked-out" already! Not surprisingly, I was furious!

Eventually, I managed to locate my stewardess and she let me into my cabin. Later, as I waited for my disembarkation call at 9.45 and watched the luggage slowly being packed into containers and winched off the Verandah Deck (just like in the "old days"!), I reflected that my expectations of Saga Sapphire had perhaps been too high and that this cruise had simply been too short to withstand the number of disappointments it had produced. Should I give it another try......?

Read more about Saga Sapphire in my full Ships Report at The Saga Sapphire Gallery >>