Cruising is the new package holiday. This is where the the people with grown up children go. This is where you go when you want to travel, but don't want the hassle of destinations or the concern of where you are going to stay or going to eat. The Saga cruises are a little bit of Britain that travel the world. It is not all tea as mother makes it, because most of the time, our mothers could not match this.
Saga says it is targeting the over-50's, but on the Saga Ruby, that is aiming low, and it has been remarked in the UK press that the average age is much higher than that. These are the people with the indexed linked gold plated final salary occupational pensions. Where their customers will come from in 20 year's time is anyone's guess. The Ruby is being scrapped at the end of they year, possibly because it is old-fashioned and keeps breaking down. There is a high loyal factor among some cruisers, and many of the passengers on this trip to North Africa had been on the ship multiple times, and seemingly some did not even bother getting off at ports of call. This was a first (and last for obvious reasons) for us. We had been on Saga Pearl a couple of years ago, and noted that the client based even then seemed younger to us.
One of the biggest deals of the Saga experience is the food. Potentially five meals a day of high quality grub, in huge quantities. Whilst each dish is not large, there are so many of them. There was an outbreak of Norovirus during our trip, and for this reason, coupled with the age of the passengers, buffet style food was served by gloved staff. Probably for the best. Three of the meals each day could be taken by silver service sittings.
One of the biggest pluses of the food on the Ruby is the existence of the specialty upmarket evening restaurant called 'View' (over the stern) and passengers were limited to one go there at no extra cost. The staff were kind to us, and permitted an out of scope second visit.
Over a two week period, there was too much for me to discuss in detail here, so I will let the pictures do the talking.
Typical dainty starter of smoked salmon and caviar: much attention paid to appearance of food which was served plated up.
Bit of a mistake: pan fried fish which was regularly available but was a bit of a miserable portion. Did not do this style of fish again.
Typical cooked breakfast: suffered from ubiquitous problem of overcooked scrambled egg which was not adequately hot, getting only a 6.8 on the CHOF scale.
A sumptuous tea is offered each day with savoury and sweet items. Not what you need before a big dinner, but there were no shortage of takers. Not quite up to Reeds or Claridges, but difficult to fault.
An exciting Spanish style lunch in the buffet restaurant did not get as many takers.
By and large, by virtue of numbers and buffet style food, there was always an element of hit and miss with the hotness of food. Most came in at an 8 or below for hotness,but I did not have to send anything back. In the View restaurant, where food was cooked to diners' orders, the hotness was an 8+ to 9.
In the View restaurant, where the best dining experience was to be had, the appearance was clearly important.
The desert above is a 'deconstructed trifle.
I can only speak highly of the View and it was the high-spot for eating.
There were too many other meals to go into detail, but the key issues are high quality of food with adequate choices. The temperature of most, especially buffet food deserved to be hotter, but there was nothing much the staff or kitchens could have done, given the magnitude of serving the passengers. However, I have little reservation in recommending the food on board Saga cruising for quality and quantity.
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