Britannia Suite vs Saga Cabin

[Windsurfboy]

For a Norway cruise absolutely saga,  perhaps for Mediterranean cruise,  the private balcony might swing me a bit.  But all in all,  even then ,would need the difference to be at least £100 per cabin per night in favour of P&O, to pay for speciality restaurants and  wine.

 

I think Saga premium is worth it, so much better experience,  not what Wowwz asked , but don't think Cunard premium is worth it,.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

Well done on making a decision! .....and may all your fellow passengers be nice ones! 🤞😉

 

I'm hoping none of them spit in their beer !

[Windsurfboy]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

I'm hoping none of them spit in their beer !

 

It's your beer you should worry about. 

 

Anyway on Saga a very nice 18 year old malt so why drink beer.

[Bill Y]

34 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Thanks for all the replies. Always good to get a choice of opinions.

When I did my sums more diligently,  the aft suite on Britannia was costing around £60 per day more than Saga,  and the price differential would have been even more if we had gone for the lowest cabin category on Saga.

So the pricing, plus the fact that even although the suite looked fantastic, we would, at the end of the day, still be on a mass market cruise ship (which is not being judgemental) swung the balance in favour of Saga. And also, time may be running out for us to experience small(ish) ship cruising. 

End result  - just booked Saga for next year.

Five cruises now booked , counting the one starting on Saturday.  Mrs W is now hiding the brochures away !

 

Well done, the only problem is that we will have to wait until 2024 for your report. Please post it on this forum before you move to the Saga one as I am sure that a lot on here will be interested in your comparisons.

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Bill Y said:

Well done, the only problem is that we will have to wait until 2024 for your report. Please post it on this forum before you move to the Saga one as I am sure that a lot on here will be interested in your comparisons.

Thanks, but there are plenty of others on here who cruise with both lines, and whose opinions I value. So no need to wait for me !

[Host Sharon]

As Wowzz said, you do need to book early with Saga. Now they are on general sale, I priced up my May 2024 Saga cruise booked with a pre-registration against the price now on sale. I saved nearly £1000. 

[Host Sharon]

18 hours ago, Bill Y said:

Well done, the only problem is that we will have to wait until 2024 for your report. Please post it on this forum before you move to the Saga one as I am sure that a lot on here will be interested in your comparisons.

Happy to answer any queries as Saga is now my cruise line of choice, although I still have a few Aurora cruises booked. 

[wowzz]

49 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

Happy to answer any queries as Saga is now my cruise line of choice, although I still have a few Aurora cruises booked. 

Although unless the queries are specifically related to Saga vs P&O,  I guess Saga specific questions should be posted on the Saga forum ?

Unfortunately,  there are very few posters on the Saga forum, so replies to specific queries can be thin on the ground. I've not had a single response to a question I posted there two days ago !

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by wowzz

[zap99]

47 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Although unless the queries are specifically related to Saga vs P&O,  I guess Saga specific questions should be posted on the Saga forum ?

Unfortunately,  there are very few posters on the Saga forum, so replies to specific queries can be thin on the ground. I've not had a single response to a question I posted there two days ago !

 

If you want to ask questions about Saga, ask them on P&O seems the answer. Interesting SoA blog on the Saga board, seems all is not all roses.

[Scorpio41]

Saga. No brainier for me. 🙂
 

What deck did you go for?

Edited March 30, 2023 by Scorpio41

[lincslady]

I don't know if this would make a difference for anyone, but it would for me - tea and coffee making faciities in your cabin, as well as room service.  Great if you like to wake up and have  an early cup of tea, without waiting for a knock on the door.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Interesting SoA blog on the Saga board, seems all is not all roses.

You must be reading a different blog to me ! Yes, some minor quibbles,  but nothing major.

[wowzz]

27 minutes ago, Scorpio41 said:

Saga. No brainier for me. 🙂
 

What deck did you go for?

"D" deck. Worried about noise from below if we had a cabin on "E" deck.

[zap99]

I just had a look at some Saga offerings 2-3 times the price of P&O. I just wonder why this topic crops up so regularly onthe P&O boards, but nothing on Saga, oh ! Apparently from the soot reports.

[wowzz]

Just now, zap99 said:

I just had a look at some Saga offerings 2-3 times the price of P&O. I just wonder why this topic crops up so regularly onthe P&O boards, but nothing on Saga, oh ! Apparently from the soot reports.

I certainly didn't spend three times as much for our Saga cruise !

[Scorpio41]

45 minutes ago, wowzz said:

"D" deck. Worried about noise from below if we had a cabin on "E" deck.

We have D deck booked for next year. 

[Selbourne]

I would have booked Saga also. We haven’t cruised with them (yet) but we have had 3 cruises on Britannia, all in suites (one was an aft corner wrap). Unless we change our mind following our two P&O cruises this year (Iona and Ventura), we would take a standard cabin on Saga over a Suite with P&O.
 

I have nothing against mass market brands. We use Premier Inn and rate them. However, we tend to only book them when we can get very low prices. With what we started noticing about P&O over the 5 years or so pre Covid, and also based on what I have read has happened since, we are still happy to book with P&O but will no longer pay suite prices as we don’t feel that the overall product is worth that sort of  price any more. As I say, we might change our mind following our two cruises this year (our first since Covid), but until then I would be reluctant to make any new booking with P&O with a cost (for the two of us) of more than £200 per night (balcony cabin).
 

Saga appears to be aimed at an entirely different market segment and sounds as though it would be far more to our liking. On that basis, and as we definitely favour quality over quantity, I’d happily chance as much as £450 a night to try them, especially as they are fully all-inclusive. However, although my expectations of the ‘new’ P&O will be low, I will be paying a price that reflects those low expectations, so I may well be pleasantly surprised. Equally, paying £450 a night with Saga, my expectations would be high, so they could well fall short. Only time will tell. 

[Windsurfboy]

We have become Saganaughts

 

But have one P&O bargain.  A rear suite on Arvia huge balcony  , 14 days med for £6000 at launch. Saga standard cabin similiar cruise same time with 30% off £7000, Saga  suite (which my wife insists on) £14k.  Savings either minimum  £1000 , or £8000

 

So we will have plenty to upgrade speciality dining every night, and very nice wine.

P&O entertainment used to be excellent best weve had. we will hopefully enjoy it. But I think we will be Saga from now on , especially for longer cruises.

[Denarius]

I have been following this thread and believe that the OP has made the right decision. I find it interesting however, that by and large those who advocate Saga have sailed with both Saga and P&O, whilst those advocating P&O have never sailed with Saga.

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Denarius said:

I have been following this thread and believe that the OP has made the right decision. I find it interesting however, that by and large those who advocate Saga have sailed with both Saga and P&O, whilst those advocating P&O have never sailed with Saga.

And some have sailed on neither since before lockdown.

[Beckett]

6 minutes ago, zap99 said:

And some have sailed on neither since before lockdown.

I am Spartacus!

[wowzz]

5 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I’d happily chance as much as £450 a night to try them,

Selbourne,  not sure if you are talking pp, or per couple.  The cost for the cruise we booked worked out at £261pp. 

I think you will struggle to hit the £450 mark if you are talking a "couple" price. 

[zap99]

3 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Selbourne,  not sure if you are talking pp, or per couple.  The cost for the cruise we booked worked out at £261pp. 

I think you will struggle to hit the £450 mark if you are talking a "couple" price. 

I costed that cruise at £4,500 in a standard cabin. A 14 night med cruise was about £7,500. Have a great cruise. We will slum it with P&O, or RC/X....twice.🤣

[Selbourne]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Selbourne,  not sure if you are talking pp, or per couple.  The cost for the cruise we booked worked out at £261pp. 

I think you will struggle to hit the £450 mark if you are talking a "couple" price. 

Per couple. I think it’s possible occasionally, if you can get the max 35% discount. Would go to £500 ish if the itinerary was really special. The cheapest that we were quoted for the 4 summer 2024 cruises that might have been of interest was £524 (so practically the same as yours) but it was only 2 weeks after our first Cunard cruise, so we decided to try again with summer 2025.  

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Per couple. I think it’s possible occasionally, if you can get the max 35% discount. Would go to £500 ish if the itinerary was really special. The cheapest that we were quoted for the 4 summer 2024 cruises that might have been of interest was £524 (so practically the same as yours) but it was only 2 weeks after our first Cunard cruise, so we decided to try again with summer 2025.  

If you go for the cheapest cabin grade,  at launch, and exclude Saga insurance, you might just hit your price point.

 I suppose that at least with Saga, you can be virtually certain that if you book at launch with 35% discount,  your fare will bever be undercut.