Pre-registration for Cruises

[Wacktle]

45 minutes ago, LandC said:

Wacktle, as our message facility is not working, if you don’t want to post your email address here,  I suggest you contact Saga with your Booking ref. for the pre-registration, and ask them to email the PDF to you.

 

I find the live chat facility on Saga’s website is useful, and messages are usually answered in a few minutes.

Thanks. I've been trying to set up a new email address for this purpose but failing dismally. If I can't get it done tomorrow I'll contact Saga as you suggest. 

[Wacktle]

19 hours ago, LandC said:

Wacktle, as our message facility is not working, if you don’t want to post your email address here,  I suggest you contact Saga with your Booking ref. for the pre-registration, and ask them to email the PDF to you.

 

I find the live chat facility on Saga’s website is useful, and messages are usually answered in a few minutes.

Thanks again LandC. I contacted Saga this morning and they've kindly sent me the 2022 brochure.

 

We usually use our own annual travel insurance but, as those with Saga's insurance seemed to have some advantages recently, we thought we'd take their insurance if we make a booking. However, the Ts&Cs regarding cruises that are more than 18 months away baffle me. It says that the booking is "held" until 18 months before, and then the insurance can be added. Has anyone experienced this? If so, how does it work in practice?    

[nosapphire]

36 minutes ago, Wacktle said:

Thanks again LandC. I contacted Saga this morning and they've kindly sent me the 2022 brochure.

 

We usually use our own annual travel insurance but, as those with Saga's insurance seemed to have some advantages recently, we thought we'd take their insurance if we make a booking. However, the Ts&Cs regarding cruises that are more than 18 months away baffle me. It says that the booking is "held" until 18 months before, and then the insurance can be added. Has anyone experienced this? If so, how does it work in practice?    

They will take the deposit and confirm the booking. The paperwork will show the price excluding their insurance, and it will also say (rather alarmingly) that as you have declined to take the included insurance, you must arrange your own.

Do not panic, because at the end, there will be another line which states that they have noted that you DO want to take their insurance, and that as they cannot confirm more than 18 months away, you will be contacted closer to the time.

You will get a telephone call (depending how busy they are, it may be 18 months prior, or only 10 months prior) to take you through medical screening, check that you do still want their insurance, and then re-issue the documentation showing that you have taken the included insurance and with the revised price including the insurance.

The included insurance only covers you during the cruise, it does not cover pre-cruise cancellation.

Pre-cruise cancellation is covered by Saga themselves for everybody who has taken the included insurance (think the excess is £80 per person) and this cancellation cover starts as soon as the initial booking is confirmed, so you will be covered for pre-cruise cancellation from the start.

The paperwork is a bit clunky, just check that somewhere there is a note that they know you have chosen to take the included insurance, and you will be fine.

One note - when you have completed the screening and get the revised paperwork, do check that they have actually sent you details of the insurance itself. They have a tendency to forget to include it.

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by nosapphire
added section

[Wacktle]

Thank you nosapphire for that very comprehensive explanation. I wouldn't have expected it to be documented like that, so it's a huge help.  It's a pity you can't add this explanation on Saga's website. I bet I'm not the only puzzled person ... or does nobody else read the Ts&Cs !!

[LandC]

We got a call from Saga yesterday (we pre-registered in March).  Prices For 2 people sharing a cabin worked out at approx £250 pppn for a standard cabin, and £300 pppn for a deluxe cabin.

This price includes a 35% discount for early bookers!
 

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by LandC
Omission.

[wowzz]

On 9/2/2020 at 7:14 AM, LandC said:

We got a call from Saga yesterday (we pre-registered in March).  Prices For 2 people sharing a cabin worked out at approx £250 pppn for a standard cabin, and £300 pppn for a deluxe cabin.

This price includes a 35% discount for early bookers!
 

 

Wow! At that sort of price I can't imagine there will be many people who can afford to book  late! 

[LandC]

I know!  These prices are for cabins on D deck, and I was advised that some (but not all) shore excursions are included.  

[Wacktle]

On 9/2/2020 at 7:14 AM, LandC said:

We got a call from Saga yesterday (we pre-registered in March).  Prices For 2 people sharing a cabin worked out at approx £250 pppn for a standard cabin, and £300 pppn for a deluxe cabin.

This price includes a 35% discount for early bookers!
 

 

Hi. Did you book anything? I don't suppose the agent gave any assurances about onboard safety, or about how the home transfers will work?

[LandC]

We have bitten the bullet and booked a 2 week cruise on Adventure.  We had a deposit left with them plus they gave us 10% credit from a cancelled cruise, so we only had to pay a small deposit.  We want to sail on the new ship so hopefully it will happen without incident.  We are optimists!

 

We had a general discussion about safety.  Saga will ensure protocols in place, as necessary, but not able to say more at this stage.  Shared transfers were offered as standard, so Saga is  assuming that the threat of the virus will be over by 2022.   If this is not the case, they will obviously have to look at it again.   We have paid for a private transfer to Southampton, which will cost £35 pp as we are outside of the “free” zone for transfers.  We would have done this anyway as it saves the hassle of leaving home at the crack of dawn to collect other passengers, which is what happened to us last time.

[Wacktle]

LandC, thanks for replying. We may book if the cost pppn is £250 for a std balcony. Our 2 current Saga cruise bookings work out at less than £200 pppn, but one of those was booked 2 years ago. Also prices for other cruise lines we'd consider seem to be going up, and they have extras to cost in too. From where we live, the cost to upgrade to a private transfer is silly money. I do wonder what Saga will do re transfers if the 2020 cruises go ahead. Maybe someone with an Inaugural Cruise booking has been told?

Edited September 3, 2020 by Wacktle
Punctuation!

[nosapphire]

I really do hope that this is over (or at least so mainstream it can be regarded as over) by 2022. We will not be even looking at cruises until then - we'll see who is still in business, and how they have handled things in the interim.

At least Saga should still be a viable company, with the former owner expected to be back on the board with a hefty buy-in next week.

 

TRANSFERS: 2020 cruises are no shared transfers, all private.

They don't seem to have made any other firm plans, they have told the various press that they will have all their procedures in place initially mid-July, then end of August, and now??

But they are advertising for crew (engineers, staff captains, etc) for the Adventure. Interestingly, the adverts are now all being placed via a ship management company rather than via Saga themselves, so not sure if the management of the new ships is now third party or still direct to Saga.

++

I've been trying to find out who is supposed to be the Captain for the Inaugural - anybody know?

Search for Saga Captains, and what I can see of their linked-in profiles they are all "Ex-Saga" as their most recent post.

 

[Wacktle]

1 hour ago, nosapphire said:

Thank you for the info, nosapphire

 

 

[LandC]

We have been looking at Viking ocean cruises as well.  Viking have similar sized ships, to Saga with all balcony cabins.  We can usually only manage 2 weeks away, so their fly cruises are of interest, as they enable us to cruise further afield.  The price of a 2 week fly cruise in summer 2022 in the cheapest balcony cabin works out at over £400 pppn.  This includes flights, gratuities, beer and wine with lunch and dinner, and one included shore excursion in every port (this is usually a walking tour or a panoramic coach tour.) It does not include home transfers or travel insurance.  It puts Saga’s prices into perspective.  

We will wait for a special offer before we book a Viking cruise!
 

 

[nosapphire]

27 minutes ago, LandC said:

We have been looking at Viking ocean cruises as well.  Viking have similar sized ships, to Saga with all balcony cabins.  We can usually only manage 2 weeks away, so their fly cruises are of interest, as they enable us to cruise further afield.  The price of a 2 week fly cruise in summer 2022 in the cheapest balcony cabin works out at over £400 pppn.  This includes flights, gratuities, beer and wine with lunch and dinner, and one included shore excursion in every port (this is usually a walking tour or a panoramic coach tour.) It does not include home transfers or travel insurance.  It puts Saga’s prices into perspective.  

We will wait for a special offer before we book a Viking cruise!
 

 

 

Reviews suggest that Viking offer something more akin to the luxury that Saga say they offer,  for but lately fail to achieve.

[nosapphire]

5 hours ago, nosapphire said:

++

I've been trying to find out who is supposed to be the Captain for the Inaugural - anybody know?

Search for Saga Captains, and what I can see of their linked-in profiles they are all "Ex-Saga" as their most recent post.

 

Adding to this, looks as if Saga terminated contracts with their senior Captains back in April, presumably when they realised they would not be sailing for several months..