Cruise Itineraries

[tring]

Looking at Saga cruises and not finding it easy to see the destinations and ports in one page, so can I ask a question?

 

Do they always sail out of Southampton if sailing from the UK and what in general are their itineraries like - are they the same old ports like P&O or are they more like Fred with some unusual, interesting destinations?  Also do they offer fly cruises in other parts of the world at any stage?

[nosapphire]

Southampton and Dover, occasionally Portsmouth.

I am not sure how they will run on the new ships under the newish management, but previously fly-cruises only came about on their longer cruises if the round trips were not sold out (for example, we flew out to join Saga Ruby in Egypt when she was on her way home on the Round Africa cruise)

Again previously,  Saga had a reputation for being very adventurous on many cruises and visiting ports that were rarely visited by cruise ships, sometimes even ports that had never been visited by a cruise ship. I suspect this may be less common now, partly because of insurance and also because of cost - being adventurous on destinations has a much bigger risk of unexpected changes to itineraries. Also, with cruising being more popular, there are more cruise ships about all looking for new ports to visit.

Saga so far have not operated their cruises on the type of bus-route system that some lines do, with the same ships calling at the same ports for several consecutive cruises, and they do usually try to include at least a few of the lesser known places in their visits; I would say they are more like Fred than P&O - but their new ships will not be able to get into all the same places that Fred's can squeeze into.

The brochures give more detail if you can get them to send one, but on line, click on the holiday details button for a cruise that sounds interesting and then click on the itinerary button, which will bring up a map, then click on View full itinerary button under the map for the detailed ports list.

[tring]

2 hours ago, nosapphire said:

Southampton and Dover, occasionally Portsmouth.

I am not sure how they will run on the new ships under the newish management, but previously fly-cruises only came about on their longer cruises if the round trips were not sold out (for example, we flew out to join Saga Ruby in Egypt when she was on her way home on the Round Africa cruise)

Again previously,  Saga had a reputation for being very adventurous on many cruises and visiting ports that were rarely visited by cruise ships, sometimes even ports that had never been visited by a cruise ship. I suspect this may be less common now, partly because of insurance and also because of cost - being adventurous on destinations has a much bigger risk of unexpected changes to itineraries. Also, with cruising being more popular, there are more cruise ships about all looking for new ports to visit.

Saga so far have not operated their cruises on the type of bus-route system that some lines do, with the same ships calling at the same ports for several consecutive cruises, and they do usually try to include at least a few of the lesser known places in their visits; I would say they are more like Fred than P&O - but their new ships will not be able to get into all the same places that Fred's can squeeze into.

The brochures give more detail if you can get them to send one, but on line, click on the holiday details button for a cruise that sounds interesting and then click on the itinerary button, which will bring up a map, then click on View full itinerary button under the map for the detailed ports list.

 

Thank you very much for that detailed reply, especially how to navigate the website.  There will obviously be a lot of port changes as well as different methods of managing the ships for a while, but was generally thinking about what may happen beyond that.  At least if they have previously used less common ports, they are well worth keeping an eye on.  Having a balcony on the new ships will be good as well, so worth a compromise.   A northern or Scottish port departure would have been nice, but the bigger ships would have made turn around almost impossible for some of them, so not surprising.  Portsmouth (if still possible with the new ships) would be interesting as DH is from that area so would be easy to stay and meet up with old friends before or after a cruise. 

Edited June 20, 2020 by tring

[nosapphire]

Yes, definitely keep an eye on them, as IF (I am afraid it is a big IF) they operate their new ships in the same way as the old, then they will always have some interesting places and innovative itineraries.

On the Sapphire, Canada in the Fall in 2015 received rapturous welcomes from several small ports as they were trying to open up for cruise ships, but nobody else wanted to come because the towns were very limited in facilities and glitz; the entire town turned out to welcome us at some of the ports.

The Saga Pearl was also the first ship to go back into Dominica after the 2016 hurricane and spend some money there (I think that P&O UK was the only other line that came back that same season) and the people were delighted to see us.

They managed to have a ship anchored (with the organisers' permissions) off the Isle of Wight in the middle of the Round The Island yacht race, which was considerably more exciting than it sounds.

And Saga were the first ever cruise line to operate mystery cruises (it was a Saga captain who came up with the idea, and each was run on a route that the captain had picked, and included at least one port new to the ship). Nobody knew what to pack as nobody knew which direction the ship would go, so had to be warm, cold, wet weather gear each time. The only problem was that they obviously could not issue excursion booklets, as we only knew the port when we actually berthed, so excursions had to be included in the price, and it had to be a "one size fits all" at each port. We were given port information once we had arrived, for those who wanted to go for a wander- but when the local tourist office said, "and where are you going next?" it was very difficult to try and explain that nobody knew.

Alas, they seem to have stopped these but you never know - they may restart again.

 

 

 

[tring]

5 hours ago, nosapphire said:

Yes, definitely keep an eye on them, as IF (I am afraid it is a big IF) they operate their new ships in the same way as the old, then they will always have some interesting places and innovative itineraries.

On the Sapphire, Canada in the Fall in 2015 received rapturous welcomes from several small ports as they were trying to open up for cruise ships, but nobody else wanted to come because the towns were very limited in facilities and glitz; the entire town turned out to welcome us at some of the ports.

The Saga Pearl was also the first ship to go back into Dominica after the 2016 hurricane and spend some money there (I think that P&O UK was the only other line that came back that same season) and the people were delighted to see us.

They managed to have a ship anchored (with the organisers' permissions) off the Isle of Wight in the middle of the Round The Island yacht race, which was considerably more exciting than it sounds.

And Saga were the first ever cruise line to operate mystery cruises (it was a Saga captain who came up with the idea, and each was run on a route that the captain had picked, and included at least one port new to the ship). Nobody knew what to pack as nobody knew which direction the ship would go, so had to be warm, cold, wet weather gear each time. The only problem was that they obviously could not issue excursion booklets, as we only knew the port when we actually berthed, so excursions had to be included in the price, and it had to be a "one size fits all" at each port. We were given port information once we had arrived, for those who wanted to go for a wander- but when the local tourist office said, "and where are you going next?" it was very difficult to try and explain that nobody knew.

Alas, they seem to have stopped these but you never know - they may restart again.

 

 

 

 

Thanks, we went to some small ports up the St Lawrence, as well as other places, on Fred and experienced a whole town meeting/saying goodbye, so I know what you mean 🙂

 

We went an the Fred Maiden port mystery cruise about 3 years ago which was great as we had 6 ports in The Baltic.  Fred produces tour books and gives somewhat vague descriptions, but with a bit of research you can work out some of the ports.  Not so easy with the Maiden port cruise, but I did get 2 or 3 of them after working on them.

 

Sounds very our sort of cruise, so hopefully they will continue on a similar manner.  Unusual ports can sometimes be big towns/cities, so size of ship not necessarily a problem and could always use tenders, though visiting the smaller, more remote places is always very special.  Not that many people on the ship for the size of it and often that is the thing that makes a port possible of not.  We visited tow very small villages and Isle Royale (near Devil's Island) on Minerva II with Swan Hellenic in 2006 and for a couple of them they only let half of the passengers off per half day (on a full day call) and that worked well.  Minerva II (subsequently Adonia) had about 600 pax on board, so not that small.  

 

 

 

[Glenndale]

According to the Britannia Club magazine the itineraries for the whole of the 2022 season will go

on sale soon.

Difficult to predict how soon is soon though with Saga, as the 2021 program kept being pushed back with only the first 3 months being announced in September 2019.

[LandC]

When we pre-registered for 2022 cruises,we were told that all the cruises would be released at the same time ( January to December 2022), and that we would be contacted August /September.  I see from the Saga website that cruises will be available for the general public to book from 2nd September, so Presumably We will be contacted before then.  

[lincslady]

Re departure ports - up until now, it has been Dover, Southampton and Portsmouth, but the latter only sometimes, and in terms of boarding there (unless they have made improvements) a bit of a nightmare, as you had to take a bus from the port building to the ship, and then quite a long zig-zag  gangway, all with your hand luggage.

 

Our preference, purely  when at the port, is Dover, a small cruise port and pretty civilised, with a fairly pleasant waiting area in the old port station building.

[nosapphire]

In case you are not aware, it is also possible to pre-register with a travel agent.

Though I have no intention of pre-booking anything with anyone until I see who is still trading when the dust settles.

 

Prior to the new ships, the people who got first dibs were those who had pre-registered with Saga, then Britannia Club members got the brochure ahead of the general public so they could get in early.

Now people who have pre-registered with Saga OR a travel agent get in first, then everybody who is signed up with a travel agent, then anyone who sees the travel agent newspaper adverts, then the general saga clients and Britannia Club members all get the brochure at more or less the same time.

++

Yes, Dover is an interesting old port to wait in - but not nearly as efficient with the baggage as Southampton.

Plus, the departure lounges are smaller and much more crowded while waiting to embark.