Saga Islands of Croatia Holiday 2024 - First and last holiday with Saga

holman123

Here are some of the problems we experienced with our recent holiday.

It started just hours before our holiday started when we had an email at 2.05am in the morning of 6th September from British Airways that flight BA842 (Heathrow to Split) was cancelled due to operational constraints. The flight was due to take off at 9.45am the same morning. We were offered alternative flights which involved flying BA848 to Zagreb at 9.25am that same morning and changing to a Croatia Airlines flight OU380 from Zagreb to Split.

We rang the Saga emergency line as soon as we saw the email from BA to find out what was happening and if we could cancel our holiday.

We were told we couldn’t cancel the holiday but had to accept any alternative flights offered by BA.

When we tried to accept the offered flights on the BA website the accept button didn’t work. However, we were assured by the Saga agent on the phone that we were definitely booked on that flight.

We waited for the taxi that was booked through Saga and then rang the Saga taxi transport team when the taxi was overdue. We were told that the taxi had been recalled as they had been told the flight was cancelled. T our request, the taxi was rerouted back to us and took us to Heathrow terminal 3.

When we tried to check in at Heathrow terminal 3 the BA check in agent had no record of us being booked on that flight and she spent over 30mins on two phones trying to book us onto the BA flight and the Croatian connecting flight.

Her main problem was it was a Saga group booking and she could not check us in directly and had to talk to several departments to arrange the new flight tickets.

As a result of all these hold ups, we very nearly missed the BA flight and had to run a considerable distance to make it to the ticket reader on the floor above. We did catch the flight and then waited 2 hours before it took off.

The connecting Croatia Airline flight was an old smelly propeller plane and the seats were very cramped.

On arrival at Split we found one of our suitcases had been lost in transit.

We met with the Saga representative at Split Airport but she could only direct us to a booked taxi which took us to the Split to Brac public ferry and we were given the ferry tickets and explained that a taxi would meet us at the other end in Brac.

We had to carry our own case (22kg) on and off of the public ferry, up and down many stairs (and also at the hotel instead of the case going directly to our hotel room from the airport as advertised by Saga).

When we arrived at Brac there was no Saga agent. The Saga arranged taxi driver had no Saga sign and it was only by luck that another taxi driver that spoke to us found our driver by asking around in Croatian.

On arrival at the hotel, we had to queue behind to two coach loads of people to check-in to the hotel with our luggage which took nearly an hour as there was no Saga agent present (she was still at the airport awaiting other members of the group).

Because of the lost suitcase we had to spend the following morning shopping for essentials which could only be paid for in Euros cash - none of the local shops would accept credit cards.

Later that day the Saga rep told our group that none of the saga excursions could be paid for by credit card and would only accept cash which upset and surprised the group. Because of this most of the excursions didn’t run as it required a minimum of 10 guests to be booked onto each trip. There was no mention of the cash (Euros) only basis by Saga when we and the other members of the group booked the holiday.

We did book one of the excursions on the second week as there were sufficient people interested. However, when we used the recommended cash machine the value of the euros we had to draw was nearly at parity with the pound which made the trip quite expensive.

The actual day trip to Korcula was very disappointing as the tour guide spoke quietly and the tour only lasted about 40 minutes. This left us with 5 hours spare to explore a town that took only 15 minutes to walk around. We found the daytrip extremely disappointing.

The hotel packed lunch for this trip was inedible and all the party threw theirs away. The water bottle in our packed lunch was 2 x 2 litres and was far too heavy to carry around and had to be left at the hotel. The outing was a total waste of our time and £200.

Whereas the first hotel’s Saga club room was well equipped and comfortable with sofas and plenty of refreshments, the second hotel had a Saga club room which was basically a conference room with a coffee machine. The furniture was just rectangle tables and hard plastic chairs, so the room rarely got used.

Both hotels were all inclusive but neither had a choice of low calories drinks (except coke and water). This was important for us due to diabetic health reasons.

On the last morning the hotel dining room did not open in time for us to have breakfast and the hotel provided another unimaginative packed meal which was to the same standard as the previous daytrip packed lunch.

We were more than surprised and disappointed that from leaving our suitcases outside our room at 5.45am that it took a further 14 hours to arrive home. The flight only took 2hours 20mins a huge amount of time wasted just sitting around waiting.

This was our first (and last) Saga holiday and we were very disappointed with the lack of communication and support by Saga especially when events went wrong. Also, there was no Saga representative at Heathrow to us or any of the other party members. On returning home, Saga would offer no compensation for the lost/delayed luggage and said to claim it from BA. A week later from applying to BA they refused saying we should claim it from Croatia Airlines. By then, we were over the 21 days required to make a claim.

On the upside, Saga did refund £100 for our £4000 disappointing holiday – how generous!

eskbanker

That's a very long Saga saga, is there a question or were you just wanting to share?  If the latter, there's a dedicated board intended for that sort of thing:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/praise-vent-warnings

Bicycleman22

I am struggling to see anything SAGA have done wrong here. Maybe I just missed it but I am not going to read it again.

Caz3121

when your bag was missing in Split you should have been issued a PIR report by Croatia Airlines with a reference. It is not clear from your post whether the bag eventually appeared and you were claiming expenses for a delayed bag or whether you are claiming for a lost bag. It is usual that this is dealt with via the airline not travel agent. Maybe your travel insurance can help...worth checking your policy.

Pollycat

Bicycleman22 said:

I am struggling to see anything SAGA have done wrong here. Maybe I just missed it but I am not going to read it again.

The OP seems to have very high expectations of SAGA, a lot of the problems reported were outside SAGA's control.

I wonder if those expectations are realistic...
Expecting someone to carry cases on a public ferry?
Expecting to queue jump a crowd of people at check-in?

Were those actually promised by SAGA?

If the OP's complaint to SAGA was the same as the original post, it was pretty ineffective.
I wonder what the £100 was for?

I would have asked why excursions had to be paid for by cash when the website says this:

 If you book an excursion in resort, you can pay by any Visa or Mastercard credit card. Local currency may also be used but it'll depend on where you're going.

twopenny

Saga aren't what they were when they were a family firm and held in high esteem by those countries supplying the trips and their customers - but even so, because it's aimed at the older age group and their prices normally reflect that your luggage is dealt with once in transit, that you are comfortably picked up from an airport etc. That's always been their edge in selling holidays.

But of the 5 I've been on, 1 appauling one that the whole group complained vigourously. I spent 9mts trying to get compensation and was the only one. It wasn't as described, we were given the wrong boarding times, the itinerary was changed on arrival to something horendous and we were lucky to get back alive. Nothing was as described by the 'our staff have done this trip' scenario.

They work on the basis that some will take £25 voucher, it will go on so long fighting that some will drop out instantly, some because of other life events and so on.

The 3 when it was a family firm was excellent. The 4th diabolical,  the 5th was years later and Europe so an easy one to sort out.