You're about to discover the four things
you really need to know about Saga Cruises.
I'm Gary Bembridge this is another
of my Tips For Travellers.
I'm here onboard Saga Cruises Spirit of Discovery
in my cabin, and I want to share with you things that I think
you really need to know about Saga, starting with this one.
Saga Cruises is part of the Saga Holding Group,
and they specialise in insurance and also regular travel,
so escorted tours particularly.
They have two ships in their fleet, very modern fleet.
You have Spirit of Discovery, which I'm on now
recording this, which launched in 2019,
and Spirit of Adventure, a sister ship, launched in 2020.
It operates in the small ship category,
they have 999 guests on these ships, 10 passenger decks,
and it's all balcony cabins.
Saga talks about offering boutique small ship cruising,
and what they mean by that is the whole design
and look and feel of the ship is quite contemporary
and modern inspired a lot by boutique hotels,
particularly in London, and small ship
because it falls within the small ship category
in the industry by only having 999 guests.
Secondly, one of the critical things that I always like
to look at when reviewing a cruise line,
is what do they do unique or different to other
cruise lines, and Saga does a surprising large amount.
In fact, there's several things
that I think they do differently.
First of all, they are an adults only 50+ cruise line.
The second thing they do is they focus
on a very British experience.
So everything on the ship, whether it's the styling of food,
the quizzes, the entertainment, the lectures,
even the passengers, it's a very, very British experience.
And in fact, if you wanna come on a Saga cruise,
the only way you can really book it is through UK agents,
or through UK Saga, Saga does offer probably
one of the most British of all experiences
that you can get cruising out of the UK.
The other thing that Saga does,
and they win a lot of awards for this every year
at travel awards they win awards for it,
which is their door-to-door VIP service.
So they basically will come and collect you
from where you live, bring you right down to
the ship in Dover, and then when you're finished,
they will take you back to your home.
So it's very much a door-to-door service.
And the guests who come on Saga Cruises
love the fact that they get met at the door
and brought all the way to the ship.
The other thing which I think they cater for better than
any other cruise line in the world is for solo travellers.
20% of the cabins on these new ships, the Spirit Discovery
and the Spirit of Adventure are solo cabins.
109 cabins are solo cabins.
So they cater enormously for solo travellers.
And it does mean that you don't have then
all the big surcharges for double occupancy.
So definitely, I don't think there's any other cruise line
that caters on this scale as a percentage
of their ship for solo travellers.
It's something I think they do incredibly well,
and they have lots of meetups and ways of looking
after solo travellers once they're onboard.
The other thing which Saga do is they provide
no fly cruising out of the UK all year around.
Most of the departures will be out of places
like Dover, they do move to Southhampton,
particularly in the winter season,
but unlike many cruise lines who move their ships
out of the UK and head to places like the Caribbean,
Saga will sail all year around out of the UK.
That's one thing that I think does make them
unique and different, the whole fleet
is based in the UK all year round.
Another really interesting aspect to what Saga does,
is they will bundle insurance into the fare.
One of the issues when you go cruising
is the cost of insurance and making sure
that you've got the right policy.
And because Saga does attract some older passengers,
particularly in their 60s, 70s, and above, getting
travel insurance and cruise insurance can be a challenge.
So within their fare, you can opt in
to have insurance to cover your cruise.
I don't know of any other cruise line that includes it
within their fare, so it's definitely something unique,
and it's a real big plus.
Another thing that they do pretty uniquely,
certainly for the category of ships that they operate in,
is their fares have a huge amount of inclusions
compared to other cruise lines of a similar status.
So obviously your accommodations are included,
all your food's included, and that includes both
the standard dining, so in the main restaurant,
in the grill, and the veranda,
which are the informal dining.
But also then in all of the specialty restaurants,
so for example, onboard the Spirit of Discovery,
they have the Club by Jools Holland,
which is the steakhouse,
they have East to West, which is a real Saga classic,
which is kind of Asian fusion food,
then they have a seafood restaurant called Coast to Coast.
On Spirit of Adventure, they are tweaking it slightly,
you still have the steakhouse, you're going to have a Nepalese,
and you're also going to have an Italian.
So all of your dining is included, afternoon tea,
room service is included.
They used to include wine and beer at lunch time,
but all of your drinks are included
in all of the fares from 2020.
As I've already mentioned, you've got the transfer service,
and you've got the insurance.
They also have a shuttle bus which runs into the towns
if it's not within easy walking distance,
that's included within the fare,
that's kind of a complimentary shuttle service.
Other cruise lines will often charge you for that.
Other inclusions within the fare, they include wifi,
now most cruise lines will charge you for wifi,
some of the very premium ones do.
To be honest with you, I don't find the wifi
particularly good onboard the times that I've been
onboard Saga, but it is definitely included.
Gratuities are included, and even if you go to the spa,
I wasn't charged any gratuities when I went to the spa.
So no gratuities on top of your fare, that's included.
So the key extras that you're going to pay for
is laundry, you're going to pay for, though you can use
the guest laundry for nothing.
Obviously if you do shopping.
There's no casino onboard.
If you use something at the medical centre.
And then excursions, they are extras.
So the fares do include pretty much more
than many other equivalent cruise lines.
So thirdly, what does Saga do the same or worse
than other cruise lines of a similar type,
sort of premium end cruise lines.
Well first of all, they offer a very traditional
cruising experience, so you're not gonna find it
particularly innovative or different.
So it's going to have formal nights, for example.
Where you are expected to dress up.
So gentleman in tuxedo or dark suit and tie,
ladies in sort of glamorous gowns.
The activities and events onboard are pretty traditional.
As well, as you're going to have things like your quizzes,
patting competitions, trivia quizzes, the production shows
are very traditional styles you are going to have
your sort of review type shows.
I think the shows, for example, are pretty standard
to the rest of the industry, they're not particularly
innovative and different, so they're good quality,
certainly the passengers enjoy them a lot, but certainly
I find them pretty standard to other cruise lines.
So if you like production shows which are
of the review type, so for example,
they had some onboard which looked
at dance and music through the decades.
They did another one focusing on Queen.
Those types of shows, pretty traditional,
that's what you're gonna get onboard.
Other activities that they offer,
include dancing to live bands, which again,
is very consistent for a lot particularly
British-based cruise lines.
They also have craft classes,
they have a dedicated craft class.
They have a library stocked with lots of books.
So it is pretty similar for many of the other
cruise lines of its type in terms of the style
and type of cruising experience,
it's not a particularly different cruise experience.
So if you like traditional cruising,
you certainly will like the Saga experience.
The facilities onboard the ship are, again,
pretty traditional for a cruise ship.
You're going to find the usual things, spa, fitness centre,
pool, a selection of bars and lounges, although in fact,
one of the lounges which I think is kind of different
and very special is the Britannia Lounge.
But overall the facilities are pretty standard
for other cruise ships of its type.
The other thing which I think is pretty similar is food.
The food onboard is great, but of course,
all premium lines tend to have really good food.
There's lots of choice, big menus, good quality food,
but I would say it's pretty consistent
with other cruise lines of that type.
So if you're paying a sort of a premium cruise fee
you expect good food and you'll find it on Saga.
And they certainly have the choice because they have
different specialty restaurants.
But I'd say overall the food certainly matches
and is good as other premium lines.
Like other premium cruise ships, or many cruise ships,
there's a wide range of accommodation,
but what's very important is they're all balconies.
So, it's also a plus, but you can get everything
from suites down to solo balcony cabins.
So there's a wide range of cabin types
like there are on other cruise ships.
The thing which they also probably do a lot bit worse
than other cruise lines is making it easy
for international guests to come onboard.
They're very focused on the British cruiser,
and it's very easy if you live
in the UK to book a Saga Cruise.
If you're coming from another country,
say you're Australian, or from the US,
it's a little more difficult because they don't actually
sell those actively in those other countries so you need
to work with an agent which can connect with Saga in the UK.
They can make all the arrangements, they can do flights,
and do all of the arrangements to get you into the UK,
but they don't make it that easy, so you do have to deal
with Saga, or an agent in the UK that deals with Saga.
So that's one thing they probably make it a little bit
more difficult because if you're on a cruise,
normally on other cruise lines you'll find it very easy
to make bookings online directly with a local site.
So who is Saga best for?
Well as I mentioned, you need to be an adult,
you need to be over 50, or at least one of the people
in the party needs to be over 50 to come on a Saga Cruise.
So it's adult only, no kids, and you do tend to find
the profile is on the higher side, and of course it depends
a little bit on the cruise, and the length of the cruise,
and the time of the year.
So you will find a lot of people in their 60s, 70s,
and even in their 80s on board a Saga Cruise.
Also, you need to be someone who loves
a very British experience, and likes travelling
with lots of British travellers.
It's going to be pretty much all British cruisers onboard
and the experience, as I already discussed,
is going to be very British, from the food, the entertainment.
So if you're really craving and looking for
a great British experience you'll find it onboard.
It's very good if you're a solo traveller, as I've mentioned.
They also do have cabins for people
with accessibility needs, and are very good at dealing
with people who have accessibility needs on the ship,
and also when it comes to arranging excursions.
So those types of travellers will find Saga
a good option in my view.
Saga is a very interesting line, it's a small line,
it's a very British-focused line, and it has really,
big, strong, loyal following.
Hopefully that's given you some insight.
If you'd like many more tips around cruising
why don't you watch one of my other videos,
I have many, many videos all about cruising.
So watch one of them right now.