Saga Travel chief executive Robin Shaw says the company's two new cruiseships will be transformational for the business on a number of levels.

Firstly, the customer experience will be much better.

“We are proud of what we have achieved with our older ships, but the Spirit of Discovery will blow our existing customers away because it is fabulous — everything we expected and more,” he says.

Secondly, in terms of profit, Shaw says the new ships' contribution will be “very material given the level of profitability we make currently out of cruise”.

Thirdly, there will be less pollution.

“Not least the carbon footprint per passenger, which is far less and something that is becoming an increasingly important issue for customers,” he adds.

Reducing waste

Scrubber technology and onboard facilities for disposing of everything from rubbish to hazardous materials will make the ships more sustainable. The Spirit of Discovery even has its own bottling plant that helps reduce plastic waste.

On the downside, Saga announced in June that booked revenues from its general tour operations — which cover subsidiaries Saga Holidays, Titan Tours and Destinology — were down 4% for the year to 15 June after being forced to discount package holidays due to competition.

“But cruise is far more resilient for us,” Shaw insists. It is growing “significantly” and must expand if the company is to fill the extra 74% capacity provided by its newbuildings.

As of 8 June, the Spirit of Discovery’s 2019/2020 bookings were at 85.9% of target revenues and at 31.1% for 2020/2021. The Spirit of Adventure's is at 30.6%.

Its [the UK register's] standards are high. We are a small cruise line and want that support and third-party validation that we are doing things properly

Robin Shaw

The cruise business actually delivered a 9.5% increase in revenue in 2018/2019 to £96.6m against £88.2m in the previous year.

There are no plans for Saga Cruises to move into other markets, although Shaw says fly/cruise remains an option for the future.

Saga has chosen the UK register for the Spirit of Discovery instead of flagging it in Malta, as for previous ships.“Its [the UK register's] standards are high,” Shaw says. “We are a small cruise line and want that support and third-party validation that we are doing things properly.”

Meanwhile, it is intended also to introduce new vessels to Saga’s river cruise fleet, which is almost entirely Europe-focused.

Currently, Saga takes either season-long or two to three-year charters of vessels. Recently, it has signed a contract for a newbuilding, plus an option for a second, on the basis of long leases with builders and suppliers.