Spirit Of Discovery Review

Five years in the planning, the 58,250-ton Spirit of Discovery is Saga Cruises’ first new build. The line’s mission was to create a luxurious, "boutique" ship for British cruisers, with a balcony for every guest and interiors inspired by hotel design.

This is exactly what it’s done. Spirit of Discovery oozes class and, in many aspects, does feel more like a hotel than a cruise ship. There’s a real sense of space in the elegant cabins, the wide corridors and the light-filled lounges. The exterior is smart-looking, too, with a navy hull and jaunty yellow funnel and lifeboats.

Saga commissioned one design firm, SMC Design, to do all the interiors, which has paid off as there’s a pleasing theme of continuity onboard rather than a hotchpotch of different ideas, which can jar on some cruise ships. You’ll find nothing garish, no phony themes and no gimmicks. Everything from the fabrics used to the 1,000-piece, £1million, art collection is a gentle celebration of things British.

There’s a wonderful sense of nostalgia in some of Spirit of Discovery’s offerings, from the old-fashioned jars of liquorice and rum-and-butter boiled sweets lined up on the Lido Deck to the classic prawn cocktails on the menu. Factor in some of the guest entertainers -- DJs and TV stars from the 1970s, for example -- and, assuming you’re in the line’s target age range, you’re catapulted back through the decades and bathed in warm memories of youth.

There are a few niggles, some of which can be put down to teething problems. Service was pretty shaky in places on the maiden voyage, but there was clearly plenty of crew training going on. Passengers weren’t behaving in the way they had been predicted to, so although the ship has enough covers for everybody to eat at once, there was a rush for the Grand Dining Room at 6.45 p.m. every evening, when the restaurants opened, with queues forming. Entertainment had to be rescheduled quickly to distract people from early dining and ease the pressure. The same happened at breakfast, with overcrowding in The Grill, but plenty of space in the Grand Dining Room.

Finding your way through the deck naming system takes some getting used to, as well; some decks have names and letters, so A, B, C, D and E, as well as Main Deck, Promenade Deck, Lido Deck, Sun Deck and Observation Deck, rather than numbers. Of the lettered decks, A deck is the highest and E the lowest. If you’re trying to count the decks in your mind while trying to decide whether to take the stairs of wait for the lift, sometimes it’s easier to visualise them as numbers, E being deck 7, D deck 8 and so on.

Overall, though, Spirit of Discovery is a joy to sail on; soothing rather than cutting edge, and chic rather than flashy. The quality of the ship and the fact that so much is included makes Saga a serious competitor now to lines like Oceania Cruises, Viking Ocean and Azamara.

Spirit of Discovery is not for party people, gamblers, fitness freaks or shopping addicts -- but the ship should serve Saga well, with plenty of appeal to Gen-Xers as they sail into their 50s and into the cruise line’s sights.