Why does Saga use Dover

[Windsurfboy]

Why does Saga use Dover when so many places are nearer to Southampton, London is in the way from most places

 

250 miles from Dover misses out half of Wales and the West country,  and just takes in Manchester and Liverpool .

 

250 miles from Southampton takes in all of Wales and the West country and goes all the way up up the South Lakes

[Wacktle]

Being in the middle of the country, I haven't thought about the distance to Dover or Southampton. However, having boarded Spirit of Discovery in Dover for our last cruise, I'd say that the Dover port experience is more pleasant than the crowded Southampton port area. The check-in was painfully slow and crowded, but hopefully Saga will improve on that. Once past check-in, the waiting area was very nice and airey.

[Balticdream]

Their HQ is in Folkestone.

[lincslady]

Dover is more convenient for the Baltic and Scandinavia in particular, and the terminal is much pleasanter than Southampton, though I suspect with the increased passenger numbers on the new ships it might get crowded.  Obviously Southampton is better for the Med,  Canaries etc,  but both compare badly with flying out to the starter port, if you do not like days at sea.  We find those first days pleasant, and more relaxing than the hassle of airports, flying, and being up and running for port visits straight away.   And the door to door travel is so much pleasanter.

 

Living within 250 miles of both ports, obviously we do not have the annoyance of being just outside the car included area for one of them, which I guess is irritating - though I understand that you are offered train or flight tickets if you are far away?

[ighten]

Its not a dead line at 250 -  when we asked what alternative would be offered as we are (by google maps 290 miles from Dover) they talked about discount train tkts before a supervisor  interrupted and confirmed the car would be included.

[Windsurfboy]

I used the 250 miles more for the difficulty of the journey than the extra cost. For me Dover is 6 1/2 hours, Southampton 4hrs

[goody1]

We live in Ayrshire and it's 1000 miles round trip by car for us.

 

[Glenndale]

Hello goody1, I remember chatting to you and your wife while we were waiting to embark last September.

You had arrived bright and early 🙂

Did Saga offer you a flight?

[Denarius]

On 10/17/2020 at 8:08 PM, Windsurfboy said:

Why does Saga use Dover when so many places are nearer to Southampton, London is in the way from most places

 

250 miles from Dover misses out half of Wales and the West country,  and just takes in Manchester and Liverpool .

 

250 miles from Southampton takes in all of Wales and the West country and goes all the way up up the South Lakes

I live in Bolton. Southampton is within the 250 mile limit, Dover is not. As I would not wish to drive to Dover and Saga do not offer a coach transfer, this effectively rules out about half of Sagas cruises as far as I am concerned.

[goody1]

12 hours ago, Glenndale said:

Hello goody1, I remember chatting to you and your wife while we were waiting to embark last September.

You had arrived bright and early 🙂

Did Saga offer you a flight?

Hi Glenndale, nice to hear from you again. Yes they did, however with weight restrictions regarding luggage, we drove down the day before and stayed at a Hotel in Canterbury that we've used before. 

We hope to go in Spirit of Adventure next summer to the Baltic, however with the current situation, who knows what will happen.

[Windsurfboy]

On 11/4/2020 at 4:16 PM, Denarius said:

I live in Bolton. Southampton is within the 250 mile limit, Dover is not. As I would not wish to drive to Dover and Saga do not offer a coach transfer, this effectively rules out about half of Sagas cruises as far as I am concerned.

 

Similiar  position, from West Cornwall , Dover is such a pain to get to even if they included 350 miles free we'd still not use it. So like you miss out on half Sagas offerings. 

 

But as Dover concentrates on northern cruises , and we like to head South it's not to bad. Just have to use someone else if we ever want to do Iceland or northern lights

 

[nosapphire]

Dover is Saga's "home" port, it is in the old railway station, and an interesting and attractive place to wait to embark.

But - we still prefer Southampton, despite the fact that Dover is considerably closer to us.

Dover is very old fashioned on the baggage handling side, takes forever to get the bags on and off.

But, for us, the worst part is that the road leading in runs through a very bad fog bank and the road leading out will be full of traffic off the ferry with drivers who may or may not remember that the UK drives on the left.

 

 

[Denarius]

On 11/6/2020 at 12:20 PM, Windsurfboy said:

 

Similiar  position, from West Cornwall , Dover is such a pain to get to even if they included 350 miles free we'd still not use it. So like you miss out on half Sagas offerings. 

 

But as Dover concentrates on northern cruises , and we like to head South it's not to bad. Just have to use someone else if we ever want to do Iceland or northern lights

 

If Saga would drive me down to Dover as it will to Southampton (even if it meant paying a charge for the additional 50 miles or so) I would not rule out sailing from there. But I would not want to drive myself, and getting there by public transport would be a nightmare.

[nosapphire]

47 minutes ago, Denarius said:

If Saga would drive me down to Dover as it will to Southampton (even if it meant paying a charge for the additional 50 miles or so) I would not rule out sailing from there. But I would not want to drive myself, and getting there by public transport would be a nightmare.

Check with them - they used to provide transport if you paid the mileage difference between the included distance and the extra. The per-mile cost was reasonable, and they used the AA routefinder to get the quickest route.

[Windsurfboy]

42 minutes ago, Denarius said:

If Saga would drive me down to Dover as it will to Southampton (even if it meant paying a charge for the additional 50 miles or so) I would not rule out sailing from there. But I would not want to drive myself, and getting there by public transport would be a nightmare.

 

They will drive you , it's £1.85 for each additional mile over 250  

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

They will drive you , it's £1.85 for each additional mile over 250  

Thanks for the info. I estimate it as around 290 miles, which is an additional 40 miles each way. So that is 40 times £1.85 equals £74 each way, say circa £150 for the round trip. In the context of a single cabin fare on a Saga cruise that is a marginal cost, and one I would be willing to pay.

Edited November 7, 2020 by Denarius

[Denarius]

On 11/7/2020 at 5:03 PM, nosapphire said:

Check with them - they used to provide transport if you paid the mileage difference between the included distance and the extra. The per-mile cost was reasonable, and they used the AA routefinder to get the quickest route.

Saga have confirmed that this is so. They will provide a shared car and charge a mileage rate for the excess mileage in excess of 250 miles each way. The current mileage rate is £1.75, so if the distance was 300 miles you would pay 2 x 50 x £1.75 which is £175.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Denarius