River Cruise Offer As New Ship Is Unveiled

The Spirit of the Danube – Saga’s latest ship – joins the river cruise fleet from 2022, strengthening the provider’s offering to the over 50’s.

With a design inspired by the culture and nature found along the Danube, guests will have access to a range of first-class facilities onboard the ship including a lounge, library, bar and two restaurants.

One of the restaurants will serve a signature dish from celebrity chef Mark Sargeant, who will also join the ship on a number of cruises once it enters service. The new ship will host a range of other celebrities on future cruises including TV presenter and natural historian Miranda Krestovnikoff, antiques expert and regular on BBC’s Antiques Roadshow, Eric Knowles as well as the renowned horticulturalist, Sir Roddy Llewellyn

A keel laying ceremony took place this month in Vahali’s shipyard in Serbia, which marks the official start of the construction of the ship. As per tradition, a lucky penny was embedded into the first piece of the ship’s hull marking the start of construction.

Saga Holidays CEO Chris Simmonds said: “Over the past few years, we’ve been focused on redefining our river cruise range to provide a Saga designed experience for guests.”

The ship will have capacity for 190 guests when it departs on its inaugural cruise from Amsterdam. Future destinations include Budapest, Vienna, Rousse and Tulcea. Once launched, Spirit of the Danube will join Saga’s first river cruise ship, the Spirit of the Rhine, which is currently preparing for its inaugural cruise in May this year.

Saga has a wide range of river cruise and tours designed for people aged over 50 with some exciting new programmes to be launched on Spirit of the Danube later this month.

Guests interested in receiving the new programme when it’s released can register their interest https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/river/our-ships/spirit-of-the-danube.aspx.

The addition of the new ship comes as Saga announced that it would be mandatory for all guests to be fully vaccinated before travelling with the company. This decision was taken with the health and safety of customers as the number one priority. The new vaccination policy will be in addition to the detailed arrangements the company has already put in place for when operations restart.