Saga Cruises

Saga Shipping
Subsidiary
Industry Shipping, tourism
Founded 1996
Headquarters Folkestone, England
Key people
 Saga Group
Products Cruises, holidays
Website Official website

Saga Shipping, also known as Saga Cruises is a British based cruise line, a division of the Saga Group. The cruises are aimed at people aged 50 and over.

History

The Saga Group decided to start operations of a holiday branch by purchasing the Saga Rose.[1] She operated generally as Saga's flagship until her fairly similar ex fleet mate the Saga Ruby was purchased from Cunard Line in 2005.[2]

For the summer of 2003, Saga Cruises chartered the 1989 built MV Minerva which sailed as the Saga Pearl.

The Saga Rose was retired after a final 37 night Mediterranean cruise. She was subsequently laid up at Gibraltar and later scrapped in China.[3]

While on her final cruise, a planned 31 night Caribbean cruise, the Saga Ruby had one of its generators fail which disabled the ship's air-conditioning plant. It was then decided to cancel the cruise and sail a revised Western Mediterranean itinerary, returning to Southampton on 9 January 2014 due to poor weather. While in Funchal, Madeira the Saga Ruby met up with the Saga Sapphire for a New Year's Eve fireworks display. After her cruise, she departed for Gibraltar leaving Southampton for a final time on 10 January, she was handed over to her new owners, Millenium View Ltd, on 13 January 2014. She was renamed Oasia and scrapped in 2017 despite having undergone a major refit.

Currently Saga Cruises operates the Saga Sapphire and the Saga Pearl II. The latter is due to be retired in 2019 when the new Spirit of Discovery joins the fleet.[4]

Spirit of Adventure Cruises

Saga formed the brand Spirit of Adventure Cruises in 2005. In March 2006, the Spirit of Adventure, ex-Orange Melody, set out on her first cruise.[5] Unlike Saga's sailings, people 21 and older may embark on a cruise with Spirit of Adventure. Saga sold MV Spirit of Adventure in August 2011[6] marking an end of the brand, following the move of the Quest of Adventure back to the main Saga fleet, as the Saga Pearl II.

Fleet

Current fleet

ShipBuiltIn ServiceTonnageNotesImage
Saga Sapphire19812012 – present37,301 tonsFormerly Bleu de France with CDF Croisières de France. Originally built as Europa for Hapag-Lloyd.
Saga Pearl II19812010-2012
2013 – present		18,591 GRTOriginally sailed as the Saga Pearl II from 2010 to 2012, later became the Quest for Adventure; before moving back to the Saga Fleet.Originally built as Astor for HADAG.

Future Fleet

ShipBuiltIn ServiceTonnageNotes
Spirit of Discovery2019201955,900 tonsFirst new build for Saga Cruises.[7][8] The ship will accommodate 1,000 guests.[9]
Spirit of Adventure 2020 2020 56,000 tons 2nd option picked up

Former Saga fleet

ShipBuiltIn ServiceTonnageNotesImage
Saga Pearl1989Summer 200312,500 GRTChartered by Saga Cruises in briefly during Summer 2003.
Saga Rose19651996-201024,474 GRTOriginally passenger/cruise ship operated by Norwegian America Line. Sold along with fleet mate Saga Ruby) in 1983 and initially named Sagafjord
Spirit of Adventure19812004-20129,570 GRTOriginally operated by Peter Deilmann as Berlin. Sold to FTI Group in 2012 and renamed to FTI Berlin (only Berlin since 2014), she is now operated by FTI Cruises.[10]
Saga Ruby19732005–201424,292 GRTOriginally passenger/cruise ship operated by Norwegian America Line. Sold along with fleet mate Saga Rose) in 1983 and initially named Vistafjord.

References

  1. ↑ Saga Rose
  2. ↑ Saga Ruby
  3. ↑ Saga Rose to set sail for the Final time
  4. ↑ "Ocean Cruises". Travel Saga. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  5. ↑ Spirit of Adventure Cruises
  6. ↑ FTI Cruises bringt MS Berlin zurück nach Deutschland (German)
  7. ↑ http://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/13086-saga-cruises-orders-new-ship-from-meyer-werft-for-2019-delivery.html
  8. ↑ http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6557
  9. ↑ Staff, CIN (2018-03-01). "Steel Cut for Saga's New Spirit of Discovery". Retrieved 2018-03-02.
  10. ↑ FTI Cruises: Die Berlin (German)
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