Spirit of Discovery blog

After leaving Alesund yesterday evening we set sail towards Haugesund, however we had to embark our pilot near the southern entrance to Bergen as there is no dedicated pilot station outside Haugesund. This is a relatively new cruise port and certainly one I had not been to before. It was rather a rude awakening at 0330 to tell me we had to steam an extra few miles into Korsfjorden to embark our pilot before heading back out to sea and then steaming south towards Haugesund. Having leapt out of bed I managed to return to it at around 0530 for my 2nd wave of sleep!

Back up at 0700 and then on the Bridge to meet with the pilot who had returned to the Bridge from his own “cat nap” in his cabin. The approach to Haugesund harbour is extremely tight and precision navigation is required with the pilot working closely with the Bridge team to bring us safely into the harbour in strong winds. I then took the con and swung the ship through 180’ to “parallel” park at the main quay. We were all fast alongside by 0830 and shortly afterwards our guests were heading off on tour.

For me it was another busy morning with a Public Health Inspection and I had the pleasure of inspecting the galley – one of my favourites areas to visit and experience all the wonderful aromas and to see our chefs hard at work preparing the thousands of meals they do every day.

Unfortunately it was a fairly wet day so I decided to take a little rest in the afternoon before our sail away at 1700. Once clear of the harbour I headed to the Britannia Lounge to host a party for our 293 Newcomers who have never sailed with Saga. They are absolutely loving the ship, the food, entertainment and the personalised service from our crew.

Captain Julian Burgess