Saga Cruising

Saga Holidays is a UK travel operator with an in-house cruise line. The company has three "classic" mid-size ships:

Saga Ruby (inset photo) is the former Vistafjord. We saw the ship briefly in fall, 2003 when it was still sailing as Cunard's Caronia, and Douglas Ward (author of the Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising and Cruise Ships) told us that it was "a beautiful little ship."

Saga Pearl II (formerly the Arkona and Astoria, shown at left)--was built in 1981 and had a three-month, £20 million overhaul before joining the Saga fleet in 2010.

The line's newest "classic" ship is Saga Sapphire, which was built as Hapag-Lloyd's luxury cruiser Europa in 1981 and most recently sailed as the Bleu de France.

Saga Holidays caters exclusively to travelers over the age of 50, and most of its customers are from the UK.

Under a sister company's brand, Saga also operates the Spirit of Adventure (formerly the Berlin and Princess Mahsuri), a small ship that often cruises to less mainstream areas such as Norway's North Cape and Iceland.

Cruise line's Web site:

Saga Cruising

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Photos copyright © Saga Holidays. Used by permission.

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