Saga Cruises

[shoreham01]

Hello everyone, we have just booked our first Saga cruise having previously cruised with Celebrity, Princess and P&O.  We have a long wait for our cruise on Spirit of Discovery 19th April 2020.  We do have to wait for the insurance people to phone us to confirm they will accept our health conditions but the Saga agent seemed very hopeful that all would be OK.  If they don't accept us we will cancel as it is too expensive to get insurance elsewhere.  We have never been to Great Yarmouth or Amsterdam so this taster cruise sounds perfect.  The only other taster cruise we have taken was with P&O a few years ago which was awful and ensured we would not travel with them again so hope we have made good decision with this one.  It is a shame there is no dedicated roll call for Saga as we really enjoyed the build up to our other cruises and made contact with lovely people before we travelled.  

[kentchris]

11 hours ago, shoreham01 said:

 It is a shame there is no dedicated roll call for Saga as we really enjoyed the build up to our other cruises and made contact with lovely people before we travelled.  

There's nothing stopping you creating a roll call for your cruise in the 'All Other Cruise Lines Roll Calls' forum. The chances are you won't get many if any responses as the proportion of CC members on any Saga cruise is likely to be lower than on mainstream lines, but there's only really one way of finding out...

 

Here's hoping the insurer will say 'yes'.

[shoreham01]

Good news, Saga have agreed to insure us so now we just have the long wait for our cruise on Spirit of Discovery 19th April 2020

[Glenndale]

I found this on the Saga site, maybe you've all seen it but if not it contains lots of information for the new ship.

https://brochures.saga.co.uk/seeinsidebrochure/Saga-Holidays_A-guide-to-Spirit-of-Discovery/doublepage

Spirit of Discovery is due to float out later this month.

https://www.meyerwerft.de/en/meyerwerft_de/besucher/termine_1/wichtige_termine.jsp

[orville99]

She should be floating out this morning.

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by orville99

[Glenndale]

Ship ahoy!

Edited May 12, 2019 by Glenndale

[lincslady]

She looks lovely - but BIG!

 

On another topic, on a recent cruise I mentioned to several people that I have found discovering the actual price of a cruise at any time, plus the availability of cabins, seems to be very opaque and a bit 'smoke and mirrors' when you speak to anyone at Saga Folkestone office.  Others agreed.  The book early and you will not lose out if the price comes down seems to mean that you will get an upgrade, not cash back, and cabins which appear to be available online are  apparently not when you phone.

 

Have others found this to be happening to them, and finding it annoying, as I do?

[Glenndale]

1 hour ago, lincslady said:

She looks lovely - but BIG!

 

On another topic, on a recent cruise I mentioned to several people that I have found discovering the actual price of a cruise at any time, plus the availability of cabins, seems to be very opaque and a bit 'smoke and mirrors' when you speak to anyone at Saga Folkestone office.  Others agreed.  The book early and you will not lose out if the price comes down seems to mean that you will get an upgrade, not cash back, and cabins which appear to be available online are  apparently not when you phone.

 

Have others found this to be happening to them, and finding it annoying, as I do?

 

Yes she does look big, but there will be lots more space per passenger compared to Sapphire and Pearl.

I am really looking forward to my cruise in September on her.

As to prices, yes 'smoke and mirrors' to some extent, all cruise lines have similar ploys especially when trying to sell unsold cabins near to the date of sailing.

Saga have been selling guarantee cabins for a while now and I see offers on their website to save £x amount on its cabins, which when you look at the prices doesn't seem to stack up.

 

 

 

[lincslady]

Having cruised with many lines over the years, I do find Saga to be by a fair  way the most obscure in providing helpful information regarding prices and available cabins - at least on the telephone.  The people you talk to are almost invariably charming, but obviously have to give the information they are provided with by the powers that be.

[Glenndale]

I have checked my booked cruises with Saga and all are more expensive now then when I booked.

The one in September is now also being sold on a guarantee basis but that price is also more expensive than our booking price.

Taking a guarantee is a lottery, you may get lucky and get an upgraded cabin but it is more likely that you get one which no-one else wanted because of the possibility of excessive movement, noise etc.

Book the cabin you are happy with, at a price you are happy with - job done.

[lincslady]

Yes, I guess part of the difference is that we will not book a guarantee for various reasons, and do not tend to book until two to three months before a cruise, when the supposedly available cabins can be in areas you do not really want to be in - and you then discover that other cabins were in fact not occupied, but not  'available' when phoning in.

 

However, I know for a fact that on a particular cruise coming up there has been an amazing offer of 25% off the reduced price, provided you were booking onboard, and someone on board who had paid in full quite a long time ago was told that they would get recompense, but that would not be cash back on what they had paid - which would have been quite an amount.   Almost certainly an upgrade instead.  

 

In future we have decided that we will say either a particular cabin in an area which we find  acceptable, which would have to be not too far from a lift, or we won't book - as you say, it is a lottery, and we are prepared not to book a particular cruise if nothing suitable is available.  Plus, the firm ruling that if offered an upgrade we can refuse it.  I can see that this would not suit everyone, of course.

[Wacktle]

We booked an "outside guarantee" for our first Saga cruise on Sapphire and were lucky to be given a balcony cabin. I often wonder if first time bookers with a company get "upgraded" to encourage them to re-book. If so, it worked with us because we booked the same grade balcony cabin for our second cruise. We signed up to the advance bookings for the new ship and have 3 more bookings. "Guarantee" prices for the next cruise have appeared but are still higher than we're paying, and we haven't booked the lowest grade. All cruise bookings are a lottery, but maybe Saga ought to make their price guarantee a little clearer as it is easy to assume that you'll receive a refund if they start to offer discounted cabins.

[Glenndale]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6MtI6Y3hbc

Starting sea trials soon.

 

Edited May 28, 2019 by Glenndale

[lincslady]

She looks lovely - and all those fantastic balconies -  a completely different lifestyle for Saganauts.

 

I hope I am not being a bore, but as a relative newcomer to Saga - my impression has been up to recently that everyone booked directly with the Saga office.  I have noticed over the past few weeks ads in the newspapers by Agents, and also have had the odd email from an Agent we have used, for some of the cruises at prices less that they are with Saga - at least on their website. Is this something new, and is it a good idea to book through an Agent?  I have certainly found the staff at Saga to be friendly and as helpful as they can be.  

[Wacktle]

I've also noticed various agents advertising Saga cruises, and don't recall seeing them in previous years.  Maybe someone else can enlighten us? 

[cinnamon]

When we booked Spirit of Discovery last August for this coming September it was our first ever booking with Saga. As a frequent cruiser I had no idea that most people book directly, we just asked an agent and received a small discount. 

[retiredbrit]

I have found if you use an agent Saga wont answer your queries but refer you to your agent, which I suppose is reasonable as your agent gets some of the commission - Scenic river cruises work in the same way

Alan

[Glenndale]

On 5/28/2019 at 4:09 PM, lincslady said:

She looks lovely - and all those fantastic balconies -  a completely different lifestyle for Saganauts.

 

I hope I am not being a bore, but as a relative newcomer to Saga - my impression has been up to recently that everyone booked directly with the Saga office.  I have noticed over the past few weeks ads in the newspapers by Agents, and also have had the odd email from an Agent we have used, for some of the cruises at prices less that they are with Saga - at least on their website. Is this something new, and is it a good idea to book through an Agent?  I have certainly found the staff at Saga to be friendly and as helpful as they can be.  

Be careful about agents prices. Often they have removed the Saga premium for included insurance so can appear cheaper. Always check.

As I've said it can be a hassle booking with an agent as Saga won't deal with you directly.

I've only taken 2 Saga cruises previously, a 4 night taster cruise which we booked direct and a 15 night Northern Lights cruise which we booked thru our TA.

We enjoyed the product and have now 3 more cruises booked with them, all booked direct.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Glenndale

[DreamflightPat]

On 4/29/2019 at 10:12 PM, shoreham01 said:

Hello everyone, we have just booked our first Saga cruise having previously cruised with Celebrity, Princess and P&O.  We have a long wait for our cruise on Spirit of Discovery 19th April 2020.  We do have to wait for the insurance people to phone us to confirm they will accept our health conditions but the Saga agent seemed very hopeful that all would be OK.  If they don't accept us we will cancel as it is too expensive to get insurance elsewhere.  We have never been to Great Yarmouth or Amsterdam so this taster cruise sounds perfect.  The only other taster cruise we have taken was with P&O a few years ago which was awful and ensured we would not travel with them again so hope we have made good decision with this one.  It is a shame there is no dedicated roll call for Saga as we really enjoyed the build up to our other cruises and made contact with lovely people before we travelled.  

I have just booked this cruise.  Am really looking forward to it.   Have cruised with many lines including Cunard, P& O, Celebrity, Princess, Regent, Seabourn and Pullmantur.  Have heard a lot about Saga and can't wait to experience it.

 

 

[shoreham01]

3 hours ago, DreamflightPat said:

I have just booked this cruise.  Am really looking forward to it.   Have cruised with many lines including Cunard, P& O, Celebrity, Princess, Regent, Seabourn and Pullmantur.  Have heard a lot about Saga and can't wait to experience it.

 

I have started a roll call for this cruise over on the roll call board.  Saga now have their own roll call section.  Look forward to seeing you over there.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by shoreham01
The quote went wrong not sure why so I enhanced by reply with italics

[Wacktle]

Shoreham01 .... please could you post a link to the Saga roll calls?  I can't see Saga in the roll call lists.  Thanks.

 

[Glenndale]

22 minutes ago, Wacktle said:

Shoreham01 .... please could you post a link to the Saga roll calls?  I can't see Saga in the roll call lists.  Thanks.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2456-saga-cruises-roll-calls/

 

This should get you to all the Saga roll calls 😃

[Wacktle]

Thanks ... got it !

 

[Medeba]

Just wanted to thank all you Saganauts for your postings on this forum.  As an experienced cruiser, but a first time Saga cruiser next April, I'm finding the information very useful.  The new ships have attracted us to Saga and remind us a lot of the Viking Ocean ships.

[IbizaLover]

You won’t be disappointed, I can assure you. We have cruised with four lines, and Saga remains our favourite for quality.