Britannia Club change of conditions

[david05]

As from 1st March 2023 cruises booked through a travel agent no longer count towards Britannia Club membership. Don't know why the change but it is perhaps another reason to book direct, rather than via a travel agent.

[Vivaldi]

It is strange that Saga has done this. I have to say that I always book directly for flights, hotels and cruises, since I never like to deal with third parties when I could be dealing with the service provider directly. On the other hand, the benefits at the lower end of Britannia Club membership are rather modest, the main one (for me) being the bottle of Balfour sparkling wine awaiting us in the cabin. So I was somewhat disappointed to see that someone was, instead, given a bottle of sweet 7% Argentinian wine - that would almost tempt me to book with a travel agent! (Only joking, of course.)

[Windsurfboy]

You need to do a lot of saga cruises for Brittania Club to be worthwhile, but once you get to say free laundry level it can add up

 

On the other hand discounts through travel agents with Saga are rare , not like other cruise lines.

 

So you must do your sums

[Medeba]

1 hour ago, Windsurfboy said:

On the other hand discounts through travel agents with Saga are rare , not like other cruise lines.

I didn't know this so that's interesting.  I normally book my cruises through a travel agent (and usually get a decent discount) but with Saga I decided to book direct because I wanted access to my account to organise shore excursions etc myself.

[Denarius]

3 hours ago, david05 said:

As from 1st March 2023 cruises booked through a travel agent no longer count towards Britannia Club membership. Don't know why the change but it is perhaps another reason to book direct, rather than via a travel agent.

Where did you get this information? I don't recall receiving it from Saga and cannot find any reference to it on their webste.

[david05]

1 hour ago, Denarius said:

Where did you get this information? I don't recall receiving it from Saga and cannot find any reference to it on their webste.

https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/ocean/the-saga-experience/britannia-club.aspx see Terms and Conditions at bottom of page.

[Denarius]

1 hour ago, david05 said:

https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/ocean/the-saga-experience/britannia-club.aspx see Terms and Conditions at bottom of page.

Thank you. Slipped it in the small print, did they?

I should now be a Britannia Club member after my recent (third) Saga cruise but have yet to receive anything from them about it, other than emails with special Britannia Club offers (I only returned two weeks ago)

Edited March 4, 2023 by Denarius

[Mollag]

58 minutes ago, Denarius said:

Thank you. Slipped it in the small print, did they?

I should now be a Britannia Club member after my recent (third) Saga cruise but have yet to receive anything from them about it, other than emails with special Britannia Club offers (I only returned two weeks ago)

We did the 35 nighter over Xmas/New Year and had a letter a few days ago apologising for not being sent our pins and bag tags on joining the club which we weren’t expecting as everything we’d seen said it was over 35 nights before you were eligible 

[david05]

A friend of ours has reached gold on her cruise in autumn last year and she has only received her gold coloured lapel pin in the last week or so. So don't hold your breath!

[Mollag]

15 minutes ago, david05 said:

A friend of ours has reached gold on her cruise in autumn last year and she has only received her gold coloured lapel pin in the last week or so. So don't hold your breath!

I’m not holding anything don’t even know what gold is 🤷‍♂️😂

[Scorpio41]

Is there an advantage of booking using the Britannia Club discount over booking using advance registration?

 

I usually just book the one  cruise a year using AR. Could I save more by waiting and using the Britannia Club offers? I seem to be getting rather a lot of promotional Mail just recently.

[FatBoy20]

It appears that if using Britannia Club Discount it is still cheaper to book at advance registration as this normally gives you 35% off.

[nosapphire]

On 3/6/2023 at 2:10 PM, Scorpio41 said:

Is there an advantage of booking using the Britannia Club discount over booking using advance registration?

 

I usually just book the one  cruise a year using AR. Could I save more by waiting and using the Britannia Club offers? I seem to be getting rather a lot of promotional Mail just recently.

 

On 3/6/2023 at 2:28 PM, FatBoy20 said:

It appears that if using Britannia Club Discount it is still cheaper to book at advance registration as this normally gives you 35% off.

Just to clarify - it is always cheaper to be an early booker with Saga, as the discounts start at 35% for a fixed quantity of cabins (and no, I do not know what the quantity is) and then drop in stages as they get booked.

Advance registration gives you the chance to book before general sale, but it is NOT a guarantee of getting the 35% discount - all depends where in the "queue" you are, and how many before you wanted the same cruise. I have had advance registration and still only got 20% discount (very popular cruise, and I registered late) - but when it went on general sale, the discount was down to 15%, so I was still better off.

The Britannia Club discount is for cruises already on general sale, for selected cruises only (i.e, ones that are not selling too well), usually for cruises sailing quite soon, and frequently based on cabin-guarantee basis.

If you want a particular cruise/ship/destination/date, advance registration is always the way to go.

If you are not bothered what,when,where, advance registration is still usually the best way to get the best price.

If you did not get around to booking when they first went on sale, and you are not bothered what, when or where, then waiting for a last minute offer or a Britannia Club discount (you can sometimes get the two combined) can work well - but will never be as cheap as the first three/four tranches of discounts, and will be pot-luck for date/destination offers.

[Vivaldi]

3 hours ago, nosapphire said:

Advance registration gives you the chance to book before general sale, but it is NOT a guarantee of getting the 35% discount - all depends where in the "queue" you are, and how many before you wanted the same cruise.

 

It's not clear to me whether every cabin is available at 35% discount when the first bookings for those with advance registration become available. Is it possible that some cabins on some cruises are never offered at more than a 25% or 30% discount?

[nosapphire]

A few years ago I would have confidently said that every cabin grade starts off at 35%.

Just looked at the current Saga brochure, and I quote below with the bit that MAY have changed underlined - somebody who can recall what the brochures a few years back said might be along later.

QUOTE:

"How our discounts work: On every cruise we set aside a number of cabins within each grade at a discounted fare, with the highest discount of 35% available on selected grades.These cabins are sold on a first come first served basis. As the cabins are sold, the discount begins to reduce and continues to reduce until those selected cabins are sold. This means that the earlier you book the higher the chance of securing a greater discount......"end of selected quote.

 

I agree with you, reading it through it is not clear whether :

(a) any cabin within a selected grade would be sold with the highest discount (i.e,, each grade has x number of cabins for each discount)

or (b) whether cabins within each grade are pre-allocated for the highest discount (i.e, specific cabin numbers within each grade will get the discount).

So you have made a very good point, which I never thought about before.

Maybe ask Saga directly to clarify it (I think it is probably option (a).)

[Windsurfboy]

I think best is to ask when they phone you what discount you are getting, and if there are any 35% left on other decks or areas

[Truro001]

FYI. I received my call last night. (Registered in June 2022). For the Christmas cruise on the Spirit of Adventure  I was offered a 35% discount for the standard cabins on A deck, B deck, C Deck and D deck. The discount for a standard cabin on E deck was 30%. 

[Truro001]

It would appear to me that as far as the standard cabins are concerned the cabins on each deck are initially offered at a 35% discount. Cabins in E deck are the cheapest and as a “rule of thumb” the price of a cabin on a 30 night cruise will increase by approximately £1,000 for each deck above that. Obviously the 35% discounts for the cheaper cabins on E deck are  quickly snapped up. It therefore follows that a more expensive cabin on D deck still offering a 30% discount can prove to be a better deal than the cheaper cabin on E deck offering only 15%.  Timing is everything. In our opinion there is no appreciable difference in any of the standard cabins so we always look out for the best price offered. That means we can go on more cruises!

[david05]

There is only one single suite and I wonder if this is ever on sale with a 35% discount?

[Windsurfboy]

15 hours ago, Truro001 said:

It would appear to me that as far as the standard cabins are concerned the cabins on each deck are initially offered at a 35% discount. Cabins in E deck are the cheapest and as a “rule of thumb” the price of a cabin on a 30 night cruise will increase by approximately £1,000 for each deck above that. Obviously the 35% discounts for the cheaper cabins on E deck are  quickly snapped up. It therefore follows that a more expensive cabin on D deck still offering a 30% discount can prove to be a better deal than the cheaper cabin on E deck offering only 15%.  Timing is everything. In our opinion there is no appreciable difference in any of the standard cabins so we always look out for the best price offered. That means we can go on more cruises!

 

Exactly right , on our next cruise , a last minute decision,  so we're  not pre registered, discount varied betwee 20% and 30% , ended up with deck B at 30%, cheaper than lower decks .

[FatBoy20]

The L Grade Cabins Aft on E Deck were not available at Pre Registration

[tiggis]

So it seems to me that all these discounts, from 35% downwards, are from a notional price that very few people pay. No doubt a few sales are at full price (perhaps when a vacancy appears on a sold-out cruise) but judging by the regular ads in the press and in Saga emails, discounts seem to be the norm whenever you book.  Having said that, a 35% discount is obviously better than say 20%, but it is surely not quite as beneficial as the headline number makes it appear.

[Windsurfboy]

5 minutes ago, tiggis said:

So it seems to me that all these discounts, from 35% downwards, are from a notional price that very few people pay. No doubt a few sales are at full price (perhaps when a vacancy appears on a sold-out cruise) but judging by the regular ads in the press and in Saga emails, discounts seem to be the norm whenever you book.  Having said that, a 35% discount is obviously better than say 20%, but it is surely not quite as beneficial as the headline number makes it appear.

 

I agree, I  would never pay the zero discount Saga price. That would put it in same price bracket as say Silversea and Seabourn. Saga suites are £1000 a night at 30% discount.  At Zero discount £1400 a night that's premium cruise line price. Saga are very good but not that good.  Once the discount is less than 20% then Saga is over priced.  So 15% discount for very early booking is my feeling of the true discount. Of course some may feel differently and be happy with full price.

[Truro001]

We were once allocated an L grade cabin on E deck when we booked a “Guaranteed” cabin for a cruise on the Spirit of Adventure. We were delighted with the cabin because it was in a quiet area but close to the library (coffee machines) and had easy access to the open area at the back of deck 7. There appeared to be no difference whatsoever to the cabins we had on B deck and C deck during previous cruises. When we next booked a cruise I particularly asked for the same cabin but was told that it was not available because the L grade cabins on E deck are held back in case they are needed for guest entertainers of members of crew. In fact we seem to remember that at least 6 cabins further aft than our own were occupied by shop’s officers or members of the piano quartet. 

[david05]

19 hours ago, Truro001 said:

When we next booked a cruise I particularly asked for the same cabin but was told that it was not available because the L grade cabins on E deck are held back in case they are needed for guest entertainers of members of crew.

This, along with some earlier bookers opting for the cheapest cabins, helps explain why the discount on E deck cabins falls so quickly - basically there are less of them available at the beginning.