Saga Cruises

Saga Shipping

SAGA Cruises logo
Type	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.

History

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

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.

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 cancel the cruise and sail a revised Western Mediterranean itinerary, returning to Southampton on January 9, 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 January 10, she was handed over to her currently unknown new owners on January 13, 2014.

Currently Saga Cruises operates the Saga Sapphire and the Saga Pearl II

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. 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 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

Ship	Built	In Service	Tonnage	Notes	Image
Saga Sapphire	1981	2012–Present	37,301 tons	Formerly Bleu de France with CDF Croisières de France. Originally built as Europa for Hapag-Lloyd.
Saga Pearl II	1981	2010-2012 2013–Present	18,591 GRT	Originally 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

Ship	Built	In Service	Tonnage	Notes
TBA	2019	2019	55,900 tons	First newly build for Saga Cruises.

Former Saga fleet

Ship	Built	In Service	Tonnage	Notes	Image
Saga Pearl	1989	Summer 2003	12,500 GRT	Chartered by Saga Cruises in briefly during Summer 2003.
Saga Rose	1965	1996-2010	24,474 GRT	Originally passenger/cruise ship operated by Norwegian America Line. Sold along with fleet mate Vistafjord (now Saga Ruby) in 1983.
Spirit of Adventure	1981	2004-2012	9,570 GRT	Originally 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.
Saga Ruby	1973	2005–2014	24,292 GRT	Originally passenger/cruise ship operated by Norwegian America Line. Sold along with fleet mate Sagafjord (formally the Saga Rose) in 1983.