Saga Cruises’ second newbuild Spirit of Adventure latest new ship to be delayed

Spirit of Adventure, Saga Cruises latest new cruise ship, will not be delivered on time and will not debut in August as planned according to a statement from Saga.

A sister ship to Spirit of Discovery, Spirit of Adventure is under construction at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Germany, which was forced to implement social distancing and reduced worker capacity on-site during the Coronavirus pandemic.

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“The Meyer-Werft shipyard in Germany, which is building the Spirit of Adventure, has informed us that the ship will not now be delivered in time for our planned maiden voyage,” the cruise line said in a statement.

“Progress has been severely impacted by the workplace and travel restrictions in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” it added.

While Spirit of Adventure is a sister ship to Spirit of Discovery, she will have a completely different design aesthetic. To ensure this, the cruise line used two different design agencies: SMC Design for Spirit of Discovery, and AD Associates for Spirit of Adventure.

Spirit of Adventure’s design will be bolder, with more vibrant colours and artwork than the understated luxury of Spirit of Discovery.

Another change between the two ships is that Spirit of Adventure has different restaurants and entertainment spaces. It will have a new Nepalese restaurant that has a Gurkha theme in food and design, reports Riviera Maritime.

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Her staterooms will also look different, but will have an identical layout. Like Spirit of Discovery, however, Adventure will also feature the popular new cabaret supper club, but it will be smaller and more intimate, not two-tier like that aboard Discovery.

Regarding the cruise ships’ delayed delivery, Saga Cruises said it has informed passengers and offered them a choice between yet-to-be-confirmed rescheduled cruises or a full refund.

“We have written to our customers to let them know and offered them the chance of amending over to the new date once confirmed or to receive a full refund,” the statement said.

“An inaugural cruise is a very special event and we expect the majority of our guests will want to amend their bookings to the later date. We will continue to work with Meyer-Werft on finalising a new delivery date,” it added.