Cancelled cruise

[Ivycottage]

We booked a cruise with Saga for 2023 whilst on board the Spirit of Adventure three weeks ago.  We have just been told by Saga by email that this cruise is cancelled.  They said they are going to contact us to discuss an alternative cruise  "over the next week".  We have tried contacting them by phone today and their advisors will not tell us why the cruise was cancelled and will NOT let us book an alternative cruise despite the fact that they have our deposit.  We have been told that we have to wait until we are contacted by them.  Has anyone had a similar experience with a booking for 2023.  We are concerned that there is something we are not being told.  

[LandC]

Ivycottage, we have experienced this in previous years where cruises were cancelled due to COVID, or countries became unsafe to visit eg Black Sea.  Usually Saga will offer you an incentive to book an alternative cruise, eg an extra discount.  I suspect they are finalising/pricing the replacement cruise before they contact affected customers.

 

Which cruise were you booked on?

[nosapphire]

It may be that they are contacting all those affected by the cancellation in the order they originally booked, to try and keep anyone who wants to rebook in the same order as they originally booked - i.e, those who booked the original cruise first get first dibs on a replacement.

 

[twotravellersLondon]

2 hours ago, Ivycottage said:

We booked a cruise with Saga for 2023 whilst on board the Spirit of Adventure three weeks ago.  We have just been told by Saga by email that this cruise is cancelled.  They said they are going to contact us to discuss an alternative cruise  "over the next week".  We have tried contacting them by phone today and their advisors will not tell us why the cruise was cancelled and will NOT let us book an alternative cruise despite the fact that they have our deposit.  We have been told that we have to wait until we are contacted by them.  Has anyone had a similar experience with a booking for 2023.  We are concerned that there is something we are not being told.  

 

We've had a SAGA cruise cancelled in the past and we had to be patient for a few days until the alternative offer was finalised. In the event, it was very generous; full refund, large compensation and the offer of a future cruise at a 35% discount... or, if we wanted it, a full refund. We were treated exceedingly well.

[LondonLad60]

4 hours ago, Ivycottage said:

We booked a cruise with Saga for 2023 whilst on board the Spirit of Adventure three weeks ago.  We have just been told by Saga by email that this cruise is cancelled.  They said they are going to contact us to discuss an alternative cruise  "over the next week".  We have tried contacting them by phone today and their advisors will not tell us why the cruise was cancelled and will NOT let us book an alternative cruise despite the fact that they have our deposit.  We have been told that we have to wait until we are contacted by them.  Has anyone had a similar experience with a booking for 2023.  We are concerned that there is something we are not being told.  

Ivycottage,

 

May I ask which cruise has been cancelled? I'm looking at two cruises next year (both in March) and I don't want to go to the trouble of searching for them if they are no longer there!

 

Many thanks in advance.

[Vivaldi]

Looking at the SofA calendar online, there is a gap between a 7 night sailing leaving on August 21 2023 and the next listed cruise which leaves on September 11. The cruise which has disappeared is the August 28 "Great Cities of the Baltic", so I assume that this is the one which has been cancelled. Does anyone have a clue why this has gone? It is rather far in advance to cancel a cruise if it is because of poor sales. 

[Vivaldi]

On the SofD the "Baltic Capitals" cruise leaving on July 16 2023 has also disappeared from the online calendar. I wonder if recent gas pipeline events and general nervousness about the region would explain it?

[LondonLad60]

Hi Vivaldi

 

That certainly is a plausible explanation. Thanks for posting.

[Vivaldi]

My speculation about the reasons for cruises disappearing from the online calendar might not be quite right - the SofA has a trip called "Scandinavian Explorer" (renamed from "Baltic Capitals") on June 5 2023, and the SofD has "Contrasts of Scandinavia" on May 21, and both of these are still shown on the calendar. They both visit Helsinki, Kotka and Tallinn, as did the cruises which have been removed from the online calendars. If there were deemed to be problems with cruises visiting the Baltic, these would also have been subject to change, I would think.

 

Ivycottage, if you could let us know which cruise has been cancelled, it would be very helpful. And if Saga ever gives you a reason for the cancellation, that would be even more helpful to know! I just hope it's nothing to do with debts, inflation, rising interest rates and falling share price ... 

[silversurf]

I was told that they are changing to cruises around the British Isles which are proving more popular. Don’t know if this is true as they seem to make it up as they go along.

Have got mine sorted at last, after 3 days phoning them and being told they would call me back the next day. Got a call yesterday evening to be told they would phone me early today soon after 9. Got my call at last around 3 o’clock.

[LandC]

I understand that Saga are offering a transfer to Contrasts of Scandinavia on May 21st, price matched with an extra 5% discount, for those who want a similar itinerary.
 

[blairbuie]

We have managed to swop our booking from August (cancelled) to June 5.

Fingers crossed this one sails, we are now booking flights.

Blairbuie.

[Windsurfboy]

There was no incentive offered when black sea was cancelled 

[Ivycottage]

We were booked on the cruise to Scandinavia on 28th August which has been cancelled.  We have now transferred our booking to Scandinavia  in June.  We were contacted by Saga four days after we received the email and offered a very suitable alternative.  We weren't told why the cruise was cancelled they just said "for operational reasons".  I suspect that they hadnt sold many cabins for the cruise in August and just wanted to make sure the other cruises to Scandinavia in May and June were booked instead.  It was just the fact that we were notified by email but then couldn't get any information if we contacted them which seemed unusual.  Hopefully its all sorted now.  Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to respond.