Saga River Cruises has released their 2024 itineraries with up to 25% off for early bookers.
The company has also experienced a 37% increase in pre-registrations for the 2024 itineraries compared to 2023.
Saga UK's river fleet will have a new boat - Spirit of the Douro (2017-built) starting operations in March 2024 on the Douro River in Portugal. The boat will have 63 cabins (all outside) and has scheduled 36x voyages ("Douro Explorer" itinerary) between March and November 2024.
Additionally, Saga will offer a range of five-night 'taster' river cruises, such as A Taste of Holland with Keukenhof and Ypres and Flanders Fields cruise, along with a new Rhine in the Springtime cruise and an unusual itinerary along Lake Ijssell in the Netherlands.
Saga will also be offering four 2024 Andre Rieu cruises, including tickets to one of his concerts. One of the cruises is a seven-night Andre Rieu’s New Year Concert in Amsterdam (Netherlands) departing on January 3, 2024. Prices for these cruises start at £1299 per person.
Note: Spirit of the Douro is a 2017-built boat owned by Mystic Cruises (via its Portuguese subsidiary Douro Azul/fleet). Douro Azul has two vessels launched in 2017 - the sisterships Douro Elegance and Douro Serenity.
Both fit Saga's information about Spirit of the Douro - including max passenger capacity (126), staterooms (63), length (80 m), width (11 m), cabin sizes (Junior Suite: 19 m2, Suite 29 m2). One of these ships will be rebranded (to Spirit of the Douro) and operated by Saga UK under a long-term boat charter.
Douro Serenity (now operated by Mystic's German subsidiary Nicko Cruises/fleet) has a schedule ending in 2023 (November) so this ship will be probably chartered by Saga UK as Spirit of the Douro.