Saga Cruises, also known as Saga Holidays is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 based cruise line

Cruise line

A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain,...

, a division of the Saga Group

Saga Group

Saga is a British company focused on serving the needs of those aged 50 and over. It has 2.7 million customers. The company has five call centres. All are in the UK, three in Folkestone, Kent at Middelburg Square, Enbrook Park and Cheriton Park; the fourth at the Eurokent Business park in...

. Only passengers of 50 years of age or older are allowed on board Saga's vessels as they are designed specifically for this demographic's needs.

History

The Saga Group decided to start operations of a holiday branch by purchasing the Saga Rose

Saga Rose

MS Saga Rose was an ocean liner formerly owned and operated by Saga Cruises on worldwide cruises targeted at the senior market out of the United Kingdom. She was built in 1965 by Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée for Norwegian America Line as the combined ocean...

. She would operate generally as Saga's flagship until her fairly identical ex fleet mate the Saga Ruby

Saga Ruby

MS Saga Ruby is a cruise ship owned and operated by Saga Cruises. She was built as the combined ocean liner/cruise ship MS Vistafjord in 1973 by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders in the United Kingdom for the Norwegian America Line. In 1983 she was sold to Cunard Line, retaining her original name until 1999...

 was purchased from Cunard Line

Cunard Line

Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...

 in 2005. The Saga Rose was retired after a final 37 night Mediterranean cruise. She was subsequently laid up at Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 and scrapped in China. She was replaced by the Saga Pearl II. The CDF Croisières de France

CDF Croisières de France

CDF Croisières de France is a France-based, Norwegian-American-owned cruise line which caters to the French cruise market, with French as the only language used onboard their ships. CDF will offer cruises on the Mediterranean and the Caribbean....

 vessel Bleu de France

MS Bleu de France

MS Bleu de France is a cruise ship owned and operated by the French cruise line, CDF Croisières de France. It was originally built in 1981 by Bremer Vulkan, Germany for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as MS Europa. In 1999 Europa was sold to Star Cruises and it was renamed MS SuperStar Europe and year later MS...

 will join Saga Cruises in 2012.

Spirit of Adventure Cruises

Saga formed the brand Spirit of Adventure Cruises in 2005. In March 2006, the Spirit of Adventure, ex-Orange Melody, set out on her first cruise. Unlike Saga's sailings, people 21 and older may embark on a cruise with Spirit of Adventure.

Current fleet

Ship	Built	In service	Tonnage	Notes
Saga Ruby Saga Ruby MS Saga Ruby is a cruise ship owned and operated by Saga Cruises. She was built as the combined ocean liner/cruise ship MS Vistafjord in 1973 by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders in the United Kingdom for the Norwegian America Line. In 1983 she was sold to Cunard Line, retaining her original name until 1999...	1973	2005-Present		Formerly Caronia with Cunard and Vistafjord with Norwegian American with Sagafjord (Saga Rose).
Saga Pearl II	1981	2010-Present		She was Astoria for Transocean Tours Transocean Tours Transocean Tours is a Germany-based cruise line that operates three ocean-going cruise ships on the German and British markets, as well as five river cruise ships on the German market... . Once the Saga Sapphire enters service she will move to Spirit of Adventure fleet to become Quest for Adventure.

Spirit of Adventure

Ship	Built	In service	Tonnage	Notes
Spirit of Adventure	1981	2006-Present		Originally operated by Peter Deilmann as Berlin.

Former fleet

Ship	Built	In service	Tonnage	Notes
Saga Rose Saga Rose MS Saga Rose was an ocean liner formerly owned and operated by Saga Cruises on worldwide cruises targeted at the senior market out of the United Kingdom. She was built in 1965 by Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée for Norwegian America Line as the combined ocean...	1965	1996-2010		Originally passenger/cruise ship operated by Norwegian America Line Norwegian America Line Norwegian America Line , was a cruise ship line, originally an operator of passenger and cargo ships. Founded in 1910, the company ran a regular transatlantic service between Norway and the United States, and later to East Africa as well.... . Sold along with fleet mate Vistafjord (now Saga Ruby) in 1983.
Saga Pearl	1989	Summer 2003		Chartered by Saga Cruises in briefly during Summer 2003.

Future fleet

Ship renamed	Planned delivery date	Currently	Gross Tonnage Gross tonnage Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...
Saga Sapphire MS Bleu de France MS Bleu de France is a cruise ship owned and operated by the French cruise line, CDF Croisières de France. It was originally built in 1981 by Bremer Vulkan, Germany for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as MS Europa. In 1999 Europa was sold to Star Cruises and it was renamed MS SuperStar Europe and year later MS...	2012	MS Bleu de France MS Bleu de France MS Bleu de France is a cruise ship owned and operated by the French cruise line, CDF Croisières de France. It was originally built in 1981 by Bremer Vulkan, Germany for Hapag-Lloyd Cruises as MS Europa. In 1999 Europa was sold to Star Cruises and it was renamed MS SuperStar Europe and year later MS...	37,301 tons