Saga gets Astoria at long last!

UK cruise operator Saga has finally got the vessel it has wanted as a replacement for its ageing Saga Rose, with the acquisition of the former Club Cruise owned Astoria at auction in Gibraltar.

Saga was in the process of buying Astoria earlier this year just before Club Cruise went into receivership and the vessel arrested in Barcelona. The UK operator already had a slot booked at Malta Shipyards for a refit, but this was lost as the delay in the vessel’s purchase went on. Astoria will now undergo a £14m refit at a yet to be named European shipyard this winter before entering service as the 446 passenger capacity Saga Pearl II in March 2010. During the refit the 1981-built vessel will be fitted with new balcony cabins, upgrading of the show lounge, spa and two swimming pools, the addition of a library, new galleys and a new Veranda Restaurant.  

The vessel’s inaugural cruise, an 18 night voyage to Norway and the Northern Lights, will sail from Southampton, UK on 15 March. Calls will be made at Bergen, Analyses, Alta, Tromso, Marvin, Sondheim, Alesund, Olden, Flåm and Stavanger. This was an early season cruise pioneered by Saga this year.

Saga Pearl II’s first season will see the vessel offer a series of cruises to North Africa, the Canaries, France and the Mediterranean, Greenland, Iceland and the Arctic, the Baltic and Scandinavia and the British Isles and Ireland, 

One special cruise during 2010 will be the seven night ‘Remembering Dunkirk’ voyage, which commemorates the 70th anniversary of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the beaches of northern France during WWII. This cruise departs Dover, UK on 29 May and calls at Dunkirk, Rotterdam, Ghent, Boulogne, Cherbourg and St. Peter Port (Guernsey).

Meanwhile, the final cruise of the much loved Saga Rose will see the vessel undertake a 37 night round-trip ‘The Farewell Voyage’ from Southampton sailing on 30 October 2009 with calls at Vigo, Barcelona, Civitavecchia, Venice, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Katakolon, Heraklion, Rhodes, Limassol, Haifa, Alexandria, Piraeus, Valetta, Toulon, Alicante, Casablanca and La Coruna. Aboard the final sailing, which is ‘all inclusive’, will be a host of famous Brits, including Katherine Jenkins, Des O’Connor, Ronnie Corbett, Sally Gunnell, Terry Waite, Nicholas Parsons, Baroness Boothroyd, Lord Carey, Sir Bernhard Ingham, Tom O’Connor, Edwina Currie and Peter Sissons.  Sphere: Related Content