I contacted Saga again yesterday via Webchat. I didn't get very far in getting a definitive answer to the question about whether 2024 would be released in 2 phases and, if so, whether we need to pay 2 registration fees. Briefly I was told that releasing cruises in 2 batches was ALWAYS the case. Was it?
I then rang and got through very quickly. (Thank you Saga.) I explained the query to the lovely lady and after discussing several scenarios. This included paying one advance registration, which we had, but not making a booking for the first release and where would we be in the pecking order for the second release, given that some had already registered for both releases. Initially she said that calls for both releases would be in the order of our original, single, registration. However, on further pushing, she messaged a manager with the query. She read out the query text to me to ensure it adequately reflected the question.
Half an hour later, she called back. (Again, thank you Saga.) The answer was that, to ensure that we were higher up the queue for the May-Dec release, we should also register for that release. Therefore we paid an additional registration fee.
Apologies for the long post, but I hope it helps.