nosapphire

If the headline price for a cruise is reduced, then this triggers the price promise. One of my 2024 booked cruises had 2 sequential downward reductions on the balance when the headline price was reduced (twice). But it seems that reducing the headline price was not sufficient to fill the ship, so greatly reduced guarantee prices came in, and - as you point out - guarantee cabins never trigger the price promise for anyone who has booked early because they trusted that early booking would always mean the best price. Not any more, it doesn't.

I doubt that there is a single cruise line which does NOT have long-term regulars bewailing the fall in standards. It has been going on for years on Saga, and I can distinctly recall pre-Covid people telling me how P&O were slipping.

In fairness, I don't think that Saga ever made that specific explicit promise - but it was certainly implied by them, believed by most of us - and until very recently was true. They still apply their Price Promise, so if the price reduces for a booking under the exact same terms as the one you have, then they will apply the reduction to your existing booking. But now their terms have changed slighly, instead of "book early for the best price" it says "the earlier you book the better chance of getting the maximum discount". That is still true - but a lot of us are dismayed to find that for several cruises sailing the 2nd half of this year, guarantee prices are less that the 35% discount for the lowest grade of cabin (E deck). "Book early for the best price" is no longer an accurate statement. "Wait until the last minute to snag a deal" would be a better description.

Sir Roger rejoined the board of Saga as (non-excecutive) chairman back in 2020, along with a massive cash injection.

There are definitely people who would use Saga more if they offered fly-cruise (not me - glad to have stopped flying). A lot of people do not really enjoy sea days, and if people suffer badly from motion sickness then they can have a miserable time as all the seas that have to be crossed leaving the UK can be very rough (worst weather we ever had was in the North Sea). When we did a Saga fly cruise (Ruby, the Round Africa cruise 2009) we flew out to Cairo to join the ship at Port Suez, and several passengers left the ship at Port Suez to fly home.(I think they offered the option of 2 different joining or leaving ports during that cruise.)

On our Discovery cruise December 2023 they had a new system. Instead of a member of staff individually escorting each passenger, they had all the staff acting as signposts. As you entered the ship, a member of staff checked your cabin card and directed you right or left, depending whereabouts on the ship you needed to be. All along the corridor were staff members saying hello and directing you along. When you got to the lift atrium, more staff checked your card, called the lift and told you which button to press. When you exited the lift, more staff checking cards and directing you. It was - in my opinion - a much faster, nicer and more efficient method than the system of one-to-one escort. (People who needed help with their hand luggage, or mobility assistance, still received one-to-one escort).

Going back to the OP. Just looked back at my notes, and we were mid-50s still full employment when we took our first Saga cruise (Saga Rose, Baltic). Waiting to embark at Dover, we did wonder if we had made a terrible mistake when we saw so many passengers using port wheelchair assistance, walking aids, etc - we thought we had signed up for a floating care home. As it turned out, we had a wonderful time - we were possibly the youngest on board (Captain gently asked us, during the welcome-aboard party, "do you feel very,very young?") but we can honestly say that age really did not matter. We had some fascinating (and some very energetic) travelling companions - many of whom had been in the Diplomatic service and based in St.Petersburg during their career, and were eager to see how much things had changed. Some of the bodies may have been failing, but the minds (and the wits) were as sharp as ever. Conversation flowed, laughter was evident, and friendships were made. You will not feel out of place.

That may be more of an age thing than a class thing. Wholly working class, but still reared to avoid contentious subjects when conversing with others. If the conversation starts veering to subjects that are likely to cause conflict or awkward pauses, non-committal responses and and a digression to safer ground.(which is when "has anyone seen the weather forecast?" is such a useful question). And - also possibly an age thing - the ability to accept that people may say things that I very much disagree with, but who is to say that their opinion is not as valid as my opinion? No sense in getting inflamed about it. But I have never had cause to "veer" the conversation on any cruise yet.(One typical conversation about who had travelled furthest to join the ship seemed to point to a clear winner from Scotland until trumped by lady from Canada).(On another cruise, a couple from Sri Lanka seemed to be the winners until decided that as they were already in the UK on holiday their air flight did not count).

Disappointed, more than grumpy. Saga have always promoted the "book early for the best price". Until this year, if you booked early then you were confident that you had a better price than if you left it til late. This year is the first time (in 18 years) when I feel it is no longer the case. Promotions and cabin guarantees are now for some cruises less than the launch price at maximum discounts. This is also the first year when the pure volume of promotions and special offers - all of which are either "ending soon" or "ending this Friday" are arriving several times a week. Most other lines stick to once or twice a week by email - not 3 or 4 or (this week) 5 times by both post and email.

Yes. Same situation for me. Which is why I'm getting a bit grumpy with all the mailings. Presumably not printing maps for passengers on the ships saves enough paper to bombard passengers off the ship to let them know how much money they could have saved if they hadn't booked early....

That is going to be the problem for Saga if they continue - if people cannot get the maximum early booker discount, then they may well wait for a late sale. The more people who do this, the more late sales there will be - a self-fulfilling prophecy. As you correctly say, Saga are training people to wait for a better discount (though will not apply to those who need specific cabins), when it made far more sense for them to persuade as many people as possible to commit to a cruise in advance (money in the bank for Saga). The other thing I wonder - how much does this over aggressive marketing have to do the the (still not announced) possible sale-and-leaseback/shared-ownership deal? I have booked the lowest possible grade of standard cabin, and I don't actually want an upgrade, I just don't want to discover that I could have saved over £1,000 by waiting for a last minute guarantee cabin.

That is very sad to hear - but if this relates in any way to the "and where are you from?" question - many Saga cruisers ask everybody the same question, often they want to swap tales of how good/bad/exhausting the included transport was. After giving a general location, a bit of ponder, then the next question "Oh - I think I know that, is it just outside xxx?" (Where we come from is so downmarket that nobody ever knows it. We now just say the nearest large town). Attempting to make small talk that does not include politics or religion can be a bit of a minefield at times. Sadly, there can be ignorant and/or unpleasant people on any cruise, and Saga is not exempt from having their fair share of of people that you would rather not meet again.

The average age varies quite a lot; I have been on cruises where everybody seemed to be in their 90s, others where I wondered how so many youngsters managed to get on board. Oddly, nobody ever seemed to feel "out of place" as every Saga cruise I have been on people simply seem to happily blend together. The on-board entertainment can sometimes be geared towards the older group(depends on the Cruise Director), the various excursions cater for both the less mobile and the extremely active. (Nordic walking poles are at the exit gangway for those going on a volcanic crater hike...)(Did it once - got overtaken by some older passengers going down and up like mountain goats). If you get bored, they have an excellent gymnasium. Yes, they are expensive compared to many other lines - but the cost is paying for both the visible extras and the hidden support. Many people rebook another Saga cruise after their first one, so must be doing something right.

Although I am sure it is not the case, the volume of mails and emails with BIIIIIIGG headlines "new reductions ending soon" is starting to resemble a company that is getting desperate for business. Not a good impression. Three brochures today, all with special offers ending Friday. Same last week - and the week before - and the week before. Flyers in weekend papers offering discounts. Emails every other day with same heavily discounted offers. Saga have tipped over from active promotion (good) to off-putting aggressive marketing (bad). My next 2 cruises are now being offered at a substantial discount to the price I paid (including special offers for Britannia Club members - but not for existing bookings) (that includes one I booked with max 35% discount). Makes me wonder why anybody who does not need/want a specific cabin would book early instead of waiting for all the special offers to start.

Dover is pretty much the same, except that you park the car yourself (next to the terminal) and keep the keys. (Note: this is based on our last visit to Dover, pre-pandemic - so it MAY have changed, but unlikely.) With all the terminals there is the possibility of going wrong if you enter the wrong gate - the departure terminal and gate will be clearly marked on your paperwork, along with the correct postcode for satnav. We found ourselves heading for a multi-storey once (can't remember which Port) so it does happen. That may have been on the same trip where we overshot the motorway exit and then ended up going round in circles in the town centre....in absolutely torrential rain so we could hardly read the signposts... Never have we been so pleased to see a soggy human signpost once we found the right gate.

Put it this way - in order to miss the luggage drop area, you'd have to run over a lot of human signposts.😊 Self parking with Saga is remarkably easy, they try and make the experience as easy as the included transport experience.

I doubt that they would be that worried about restricting large cruise ships. We were the only cruise ship in Olden last year, and the place was heaving with non-cruise tourists. Campsites were full, and it was almost nose-to-nose motorhomes on the roads. Shops were buzzing with various European accents. We have seen similar in other small Norwegian towns - Norway is a magnet for campers and hikers.

At Portsmouth there is a shuttle bus between the ship and the Terminal where the luggage hall is, so unless you really want to hoik your main luggage on and off the bus, be easier to let Saga offload it and just carry the hand luggage. Pretty quick and easy finding the luggage in the terminal - you will be given a tag number, the luggage is rowed up according to tag number so you just take a trolley, find your case(s) lined up by the relevant tag number and head to your car. But if you want to take it yourself, pretty sure you can.

Previously it made no difference whether you had their transport or your own, you still had to wait for your allocated slot, but think it has changed slightly on the new ships. Not used our own car since Covid, but if I recollect correctly luggage was still collected as usual the night before, but you could disembark when ship was cleared, collect your luggage from the arrivals hall and trundle off to your car. We did this twice on the Discovery, the first time we we were told we could disembark as soon as the announcement that the ship was cleared was made; unfortunately, they did not actually make the announcement - we had to go and ask. The second time we had an allocated disembarkation time which was the time they expected the ship to be cleared. Both times we were off very quickly (and the luggage was waiting ready for us). Once at Southampton, once at Dover. I think the only people who carry their own luggage off are the guest speakers/entertainers/staff - but you can always ask at Reception once on board if you want to do this (Saga cruise Reception are very helpful).

Total agreement. I wonder if that is a Rome speciality. We did one tour with Fred, with a full coach load. There was only a single exit on the coach, so getting off was never going to be a speedy act. The "guide" never bothered to look to see if everybody was off, simply kept walking - by the time the people at the back were off, the guide and the people from the front had totally vanished and nobody had any idea where they were or what direction we needed to go. Fred did have an escort who had stayed until we were all off - but she didn't know where to go either. We did - after about an hour - manage to find the guide, who was totally oblivious to the fact he only had half the coach with him (and probably wondered why so few gave him a tip). We also thought that many of the people who were with the guide MUST have realised that not everybody was off the coach when they all set off, so why did they not stop him? Certainly, if we are on a tour of any description and we note that somebody is getting left behind through no fault of their own, we'll shout for the leaders to slow down - and then if necessary drop back to assist.

Not just people with "issues" of any description who would be grateful for the type of detail you say Princess supply. Too many lines rely solely on the information given by their local Port Agnt, who in turn is relying on the information given by the company which offers the tours - who may or may not be the same as the party actually running the tour. Which is why there is such a huge variant in the accuracy of different descriptions. But not making sure that people know how far they will HAVE to walk (as opposed to how far they may choose to walk) is remiss from any tour operator. All cruise ships will have passengers with a degree of mobility problems, whether or not they are considered disabled, and should take that into consideration when giving descriptions. (More than once booked a tour and only discovered when on the tour that the main promoted highlights of the tour were - err - closed).(Thanks, Saga!).

I think that you only get the extra Britannia Club discounts if you phone to book, they are not available via online bookings. It is still confusing, as we booked (via phone) a late cruise last year and got a very good discount, which was actually higher than the one offered on the email. We didn't understand the system at all. It is, however, annoying when you get Britannia Club special discounts offered by email for cruises that you have already booked without any Britannia Club incentive. And no way to verify that the discount makes the price cheaper than the one already paid...

I used to have the Nationwide European insurance when it was included with the (free) Flexaccount. Made 2 small claims, both handled very well. The cover was, in my opinion, better than the Saga insurance. You can download the current policy books from the Nationwide website to see if you think it is suitable. I have seen several reports on other forums where people have praised the cover (and the claims process). I believe they may have changed some things, so things like "missed port cover" for cruises are not automatically included, have to be add-ons - but you are still covered for the cruise itself.

The attached link may be of interest - just come across it. https://safety4sea.com/chirp-passengers-with-disabilities-on-cruise-ships/ Rather than specific legal criteria about disability, it comes down to each cruise ship (not just the line) being able to comply with evacuation speed. So each ship has to think about how they can and will be able to handle passengers with mobility or other problems in the event of a major emergency.

Saga website says that dry cleaning is included for Britannia Gold members. https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/britannia-club.aspx