BOUTIQUE CRUISING
SPIRIT OF SAGA
Having the Saga Group as parent company of this vessel certainly offers stability and the option to be capricious at a time when the cruise industry at large seems to becoming more homogenised. This is where the influence of the travel giant ceases, for anyone over the age of 21 can book a cruise aboard Spirit of Adventure, although, in truth, the great majority of passengers are 50-plus.
sun and curious about Ukrainian, Russian and Georgian ports that for so long had a lugubrious stigma in my mind, I joined this anachronistic vessel, about which so many previous passengers have eulogised.
“Being small and intimate is the key to our
success,” Captain Spekman told me as we navigated out of the port of Sochi. “The fact we also sail to off-the-beaten-track ports and ply the world’s oceans in a manner that wouldn’t be out of context with the novels of Joseph Conrad, ensure we rarely repeat itineraries.”
adventure. But, with around two-thirds of passengers repeat guests, no one can deny it’s a sure-fire success. This cruise, absurdly rich in history, began in
P
Piraeus and, after visiting Kuşadasi for the chance to take in the incomparable site of Ephesus and the port of Mytilene, we made a transit of the Dardanelles before calling at every country that has a coastline on the Black Sea. Located at the mouth of the Provadiya River,
Varna has prospered under ‘glasnost’ and today is a modern town of wide boulevards, parks and gardens. A complimentary shuttle bus took us to the Cathedral, from where we explored the Archaeological Museum, famous for its Varna Gold found in graves at the Necropolis, dating back to 4000BC. Some passengers opted for the ‘Highlights of Varna’ tour, which visited the Stone Forest, Aladja
28 WORLD OF CRUISING I Spring 2011
erhaps it is this lack of repetition, or maybe it’s just this niche style of cruising appeals to Brits who enjoy discovering their own spirit of
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