Fly Cruise - a new departure for Saga?

[arlowood]

Just received an email advertising a Caribbean fly cruise on SOD in November this year.

 

Fly out to Madeira to join SOD on 9th November. Sail across the Atlantic and cruise several Caribbean islands, then back to Tenerife from where your UK return flight leaves on 30th November

 

Chauffer service to and from Gatwick Airport for departure and return.

 

Not seen this type of cruise offered by Saga before. Is this a departure from the norm or have they done this in the past. The email describes it as a "one off opportunity," so I'm wondering if this is Saga dipping a toe in the waters of the fly cruise market.

Edited August 2 by arlowood

[DohaBreeze]

Not for me i am afraid - I choose to cruise because i don't have to fly. The chaos and humiliation at airports is something i want to avoid

 

[Spence55]

They did offer some fly cruises many years ago. This seems to be an innovative way of filling capacity on an existing cruise still scheduled to sail from and back to Portsmouth. Perhaps they have overestimated the demand for month long cruises. Given the time of year I can imagine it will appeal to many who recall the Discovery’s BoB incident last November. 

 

[Denarius]

A fly cruise to the Adriatic and/or Eastern Mediterranean would suit me. I love this area but getting there sailing from the UK is impracticable on a standard 2 week cruise. Perhaps if Saga get another ship this is something they might consider.

Edited August 2 by Denarius

[LandC]

51 minutes ago, Spence55 said:

They did offer some fly cruises many years ago. This seems to be an innovative way of filling capacity on an existing cruise still scheduled to sail from and back to Portsmouth. Perhaps they have overestimated the demand for month long cruises. Given the time of year I can imagine it will appeal to many who recall the Discovery’s BoB incident last November. 

 

This is interesting.  I understand that Saga are offering guarantee cabins only for this 21 night fly cruise, and the price is around £5,000pp for 2 people sharing a standard cabin.  This is the same price as Saga were advertising for guarantee cabins for the 30 night cruise about a month ago, but it is likely to appeal to people who are still prepared to fly.  
 

If successful I wonder if Saga will consider splitting the Caribbean and Central America Discovery 49 night cruise next January into sectors?  There are still plenty of cabins available on that cruise.

 

 

[Kohima]

The original Spirit of Adventure was based on fly cruising so this is not new for Saga. Just as many people enjoy multiple sea days, others either do not or cannot afford the time but would like to cruise further afield than Norway and the Canaries.

[JoJo1947]

4 hours ago, arlowood said:

Just received an email advertising a Caribbean fly cruise on SOD in November this year.

 

Fly out to Madeira to join SOD on 9th November. Sail across the Atlantic and cruise several Caribbean islands, then back to Tenerife from where your UK return flight leaves on 30th November

 

Chauffer service to and from Gatwick Airport for departure and return.

 

Not seen this type of cruise offered by Saga before. Is this a departure from the norm or have they done this in the past. The email describes it as a "one off opportunity," so I'm wondering if this is Saga dipping a toe in the waters of the fly cruise market.

Not new but first since the pandemic 

[JoJo1947]

3 hours ago, DohaBreeze said:

Not for me i am afraid - I choose to cruise because i don't have to fly. The chaos and humiliation at airports is something i want to avoid

 

Good to have a choice don't you think? It may not suit all but we should think of those it would not just ourselves! 

[JoJo1947]

3 hours ago, Spence55 said:

They did offer some fly cruises many years ago. This seems to be an innovative way of filling capacity on an existing cruise still scheduled to sail from and back to Portsmouth. Perhaps they have overestimated the demand for month long cruises. Given the time of year I can imagine it will appeal to many who recall the Discovery’s BoB incident last November. 

 

I'm on the 30 night Christmas cruise on Adventure 🥳

[JoJo1947]

3 hours ago, Denarius said:

A fly cruise to the Adriatic and/or Eastern Mediterranean would suit me. I love this area but getting there sailing from the UK is impracticable on a standard 2 week cruise. Perhaps if Saga get another ship this is something they might consider.

Saga did give you those choices pre covid. Another ship would be smaller on lease and for expedition cruises more than likely as told to me by an Officer.

[Kohima]

Unfortunately it’s still 13 sea days but only 7 ports, otherwise we would be booking. We await developments on the 49 day Central America cruise with interest.

 

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, Kohima said:

Unfortunately it’s still 13 sea days but only 7 ports, otherwise we would be booking. We await developments on the 49 day Central America cruise with interest.

 

Exactly. Whilst I do not dislike sea days the main reason I cruise is to visit ports. Once the number of sea days exceed the number of port days I lose interest.

[JoJo1947]

November's Caribbean cruise is also a fly cruise option. Loving it 

[Windsurfboy]

I'm on this cruise from Portsmouth on 5th Nov to 5th December.  So it looks like  the first  4 days and final 4 days will not be a full ship.  Looks like the guarantee sale for full cruise has not filled ship.

 

I like sea days but more importantly, it would also need a big discount on 30 day price to outweigh complications of flying , and  more importantly airport  hassle, 3 hours sitting round. Happy to be on a lovely ship . Also don't like flights to Canaries or Maderia, 4 hours in cramped plane , no opportunity for upgrade to decent seating.  If I  wanted a fly  Caribbean cruise , would longhaul to Caribbean,  then find a 2 or 3 week cruise.

 

I understand why Saga are not making this much cheaper than the full cruise, as these cabins will be effectively blocked, no one will book a 4 day one way cruise to Maderia, or one way back from Tenerife.

Edited August 3 by Windsurfboy

[JoJo1947]

19 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

I'm on this cruise from Portsmouth on 5th Nov to 5th December.  So it looks like  the first  4 days and final 4 days will not be a full ship.  Looks like the guarantee sale for full cruise has not filled ship.

 

I like sea days but more importantly, it would also need a big discount on 30 day price to outweigh complications of flying , and  more importantly airport  hassle, 3 hours sitting round. Happy to be on a lovely ship . Also don't like flights to Canaries or Maderia, 4 hours in cramped plane , no opportunity for upgrade to decent seating.  If I  wanted a fly  Caribbean cruise , would longhaul to Caribbean,  then find a 2 or 3 week cruise.

 

I understand why Saga are not making this much cheaper than the full cruise, as these cabins will be effectively blocked, no one will book a 4 day one way cruise to Maderia, or one way back from Tenerife.

Do you remember when Saga used to give fly cruise options pre pandemic? They were popular so by putting out feelers and the talk is another s smaller ship (leased) will do fly cruises possibly expedition .

[Windsurfboy]

One other thought, last year same cruise , different islands.  Didn't make it to first stop , Azores, supposedly bad weather.  On way back didn't stop at Maderia straight from Caribbean to Portsmouth,  excuse bad weather.  Perhaps having to drop passengers off , will give them more incentive to stick to itinerary. 

[trams]

Our first SAGA cruise (2011 on Saga Ruby) was a fly cruise, or more correctly a fly/railway cruise It was an eastern Med' cruise which included Cyprus, Israel and Alexandria.

We had the choice of flying or train to meet the ship in Marseille.

The SAGA taxi collected us at 02:00 and took us to Waterloo where we boarded the train for Lille in France where we transferred to the TGV for the rest of the Journey arriving in Marseille at 15:00.

The day before arriving back in Marseille we were informed  that the French railway workers were going on strike and passengers who came by train will be flown to Gatwick. Those who could not/would not fly were transported back to UK by coach with an overnight hotel stop in France

[Kohima]

It’s interesting that, although a proportion of potential Saga clients may choose to ocean cruise with Saga because no flying is involved, Saga river cruising often involves flying which seems to be perfectly acceptable. Therefore there must be Saga clients who would be open to ocean cruising involving flying.

 

[JoJo1947]

29 minutes ago, Kohima said:

It’s interesting that, although a proportion of potential Saga clients may choose to ocean cruise with Saga because no flying is involved, Saga river cruising often involves flying which seems to be perfectly acceptable. Therefore there must be Saga clients who would be open to ocean cruising involving flying.

 

Exactly

[david05]

1 hour ago, Kohima said:

It’s interesting that, although a proportion of potential Saga clients may choose to ocean cruise with Saga because no flying is involved, Saga river cruising often involves flying which seems to be perfectly acceptable. Therefore there must be Saga clients who would be open to ocean cruising involving flying.

 

True but the number of passengers on the Saga river cruise ships is small in comparison to the ocean going ships so it's unlikely that Saga will offer fly ocean cruises with their current ships except, like the current offer, as a means of filling the ship for the majority of the cruise or by splitting a longer cruise into 2 or more sectors which they have occasionally done in the past.

[Windsurfboy]

If they get finances sorted , no news on partnership front.

 

Then a smaller,  but nice all balcony ship , consistent with current ships.  Not a second hand old ship .Small enough to go to ports the bigger ships can't go to, would be great for a  Mediterranean based summer and a Caribbean winter only stoppingin UK during repositioning. 

 

We're looking at Seabourne they have great med fly cruises, anything from 1 week to 4 weeks no repeat ports. 

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, Kohima said:

It’s interesting that, although a proportion of potential Saga clients may choose to ocean cruise with Saga because no flying is involved, Saga river cruising often involves flying which seems to be perfectly acceptable. Therefore there must be Saga clients who would be open to ocean cruising involving flying.

 

I agree. I sail with Saga because they offer the quality and ship size which I seek at a price which I am prepared to pay. As a solo traveller the availability of single cabins at a fair price is an important factor in choosing Saga. The availability of "no fly" cruises is not. I am quite happy to fly to take river cruises with Saga and am sure that many others who do so would be equally happy to fly to take ocean cruises with them should they become available. Equally, I am aware that there are people who do not sail with Saga at present because of the absence of fly cruises; they have no wish to spend a significant part of their holiday sailing between the UK and their destination area. Offering fly cruises based in (say) Malta would open up a new market.

Edited August 4 by Denarius

[Kohima]

The number of Saga river cruise passengers may be smaller in number than ocean cruise but clearly there are hundreds of passengers per week for whom fly cruising with Saga can be an option. A third, smaller ship could tap into that market.

[Windsurfboy]

Not sure if being based in one of big ports same as other cruise lines is best, they should offer something different. 

 

The nice thing about Seabourne fly cruise is they are not based in one port repeating same itineraries every two weeks like say Cunard queen Victoria  does. The Ships roam the med. Logistically more challenging but more variety,  so can offer multiple length holidays And cruises to places you may not have been to. 

[janecambridge]

If flying out to board SOD,would that entail an overnight stop in a hotel at destination so as to avoid missing ship with flight delays,strikes etc? I wonder.