Saga to restart cruises despite lockdown delay
OVER-50s holiday firm Saga is set to resume cruises in less than a fortnight despite the Government extending Covid restrictions for another month.
Bosses said voyages initially around the UK coast would restart on June 27.
Its new ship, Spirit of Adventure, will start sailing on July 26 with European cruises returning from mid-August.
Saga said it had put in place contingency plans to manage any potential impacts of delays. These include operating with fewer guests for a short period.
Saga was forced to suspend cruises in March last year. But the firm said customer loyalty had been “outstanding”, with 73 per cent of cancelled cruise bookings retained.
Demand for other tours had also picked-up and should represent 60 per cent of revenues targets.
In insurance, Saga reported motor and home policy sales were two per cent down year-on-year for the four months to May 31. Travel policies were also impacted by the pandemic, with year-todate sales 5 per cent below a year ago.
Chief executive Euan Sutherland said: “We are clearly focused on the safe
return to service and ensuring we can satisfy the significant pent-up demand from customers. Saga has made further strong progress, delivering against all the pillars of our turnaround plan.
“In insurance we have continued to support customers and delivered another resilient performance.”
It came as more than 20 per cent of
Saga shareholders voted against the firm’s boardroom pay plans at its AGM yesterday. There had been disquiet beforehand over the £2.1million pay and perks package handed to Sutherland last year. The figure included a near £873,000 bonus.
Shareholder advisory service ISS urged investors to reject the pay report.