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Whilst I understand the reviewer, at the same time I think it is a bit hasty to judge the entire ship and product on one cruise. We have been away on a few Christmas cruises with other cruise lines, and also did the Christmas cruise last year on the Spirit of Adventure. I think the ship had been dealt a poor hand by those in power with the addition of a group of French passengers. This is not meaning to sound xenophobic, but the French group were clearly on the wrong ship - she is too small to cater for multiple languages, although the crew tried their best - and the French group seemed much more older and less mobile than the Brits! Did the French group have a say in some of the shore excursions and therefore limit the number of "adventure" style tours on offer? I wouldn't be surprised. From our previous Spirit cruises I also felt it was very unfortunate that some key personnel were missing. No Clive Carrington to do cycling, hiking and snorkelling was unfortunate - and I felt that Neil Horrocks as Cruise Director was also greatly missed. The Captain did a great job but the lecturers, other than Ernie Rea (and his wife's talk on Komodo) were not inspiring. I felt the food was far better than the 3 stars you've awarded here - what on earth do you eat at home? I was amazed to learn that the Spirit of Adventure had paid for the jetty to be built on the Indonesian island we called at (apologies that I can't remember how to spell the name, but something like Kuminajawan?). As you rightly say the Filipino crew are excellent, but perhaps a few factors came into play here which led to the unfavourable after taste that you appear to have experienced. We will be no means be always loyal to the ship, and we expect standards to be maintained and some areas to be developed, but I always have the impression that the officers, staff and crew do care about what they're doing and I'm sure that these small details will be put right. We are due to sail with her again in July and are already looking forward to it - it'll be our sixth cruise with her.

I agree with the review. We too did this cruise, our 5th on the Spirit. It was noticeably very different from the other cruises we have done on this ship in many respects, as regards pace and variety of excursions. It has always been marketed as a ship with a very different type of itinerary and excursions. Now it is almost the same as other Saga ships. We travelled on this ship because it was sold as a different product. The ship had sold on berths to a French Cruise Company that had almost 60 passengers on board. The size of the ship made it difficult to accomodate the activities needed for a mixed group of passengers. Some of the excursions were at best poor, with too much reliance placed on local agents. Where the local agents had their acts together, and were not just"doing another cruise ship excursion," we had an excellent time. We will probably not be using this ship again, not because of Mr Stanford's review, but because we feel it is not the product it was. If we wanted a Saga cruise, we would have booked one. As pensioners, we qualify. We wanted to have interesting and pacy trips as we have had in the past.

Enjoy your mobility while you can, in your mid 50's-60's, there is no guarantee it will last. Meanwhile there's no need to be condescending about senior citizen passengers or wishing to relegate them to what you consider to be a more appropriate vessel, which you seem to associate with 'oldies.' The cruiise Company you refer to caters for the 'over-50's' so YOU would qualify to sail on their ships, that is unless you are related to Peter Pan. Your review of the ship is adequately off-putting (if that is your intention) and enough to put me off contemplating a cruise on her. Your high marking for the staff seems to be the only good words you have to say, with food and onboard activities coming a poor second with 3 stars. On the other hand, apart from whingeing about the tours, you did express delight with your visit to Komodo and the pleasure you derived from watching the lumbering, flesh-eating, vile slobbering overgrown lizards, which I find repulsive - still, whatever turns you on. Enjoy your Berlitz guide to cruising, I'm sure there is a cruise ship within its pages to suit you, or is there?

Saga Rose has been replaced by Saga Pearl II.