Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery parent firm goes bust – cruises cancelled

Former_MSE_Faye

All Leisure Holidays Ltd has ceased trading, affecting over 13,000 customers...

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'Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery parent firm goes bust – all future cruises cancelled'

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Pincher

They did a segment on this yesterday on BBC Radio 4, You and Yours.

The people left high and dry are so polite.

One woman was expressing sympathy for the company in coping with difficult trading conditions, and praising her previous trips;
and then expressing her disappointment, and how let down she was.

Sounds like the kind of date I want on a cruise, except she was going with her husband. Grumble :sad:

fabsaver

I have cruised with Swan Hellenic and in general the passengers were really that polite. A rare thing these days, with the free for all associated with the larger ships.

I understand that the Voyager is up for sale and the Minerva was just leased by All Leisure Holidays. I hope that another company will take them over to operate as cruise ships again. The small ship experience has so many advantages for the passenger.

Living_proof

fabsaver wrote: »

I have cruised with Swan Hellenic and in general the passengers were really that polite. A rare thing these days, with the free for all associated with the larger ships.

I understand that the Voyager is up for sale and the Minerva was just leased by All Leisure Holidays. I hope that another company will take them over to operate as cruise ships again. The small ship experience has so many advantages for the passenger.

There's another company with a similar product - Voyages to Antiquity which I book for clients from time to time. Not maybe such a country house hotel feel about it, but a good small ship experience nonetheless. Otherwise it's Oceania, Silversea or Seabourn I think.

fabsaver

Living_proof wrote: »

There's another company with a similar product - Voyages to Antiquity which I book for clients from time to time. Not maybe such a country house hotel feel about it, but a good small ship experience nonetheless. Otherwise it's Oceania, Silversea or Seabourn I think.

I've heard they are good but expensive :eek:

Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery were clearly struggling to fill their ships for some reason. There were some excellent deals for solo travellers in the last few months. I should have travelled more with them while the offers lasted.

On my last trip the ship was at less than half capacity and about a third of the passengers were from Australia or New Zealand. From the comments on the cruisecritic forums, it appears that those countries don't benefit from anything like our ABTA/ATOL protection. There is a report here http://www.smh.com.au/national/all-leisure-group-collapse-retired-couple-lose-37000-after-cruise-company-goes-bust-20170106-gtn6xx.html

northernyokel

I booked using Tesco credit card £600 as deposit but Tesco are refusing to deal with the claim without an invoice and have referred me to ATOL - my memo to ATOL shown below but I feel I am just going through the motions - Tesco know to whom it was paid and I believe are being difficult:
I originally made a claim to Tesco Bank (see attached credit card statement) but they
referred me to yourselves because they say they cannot process the claim without
sight of an invoice; I don't remember ever receiving an invoice, I have searched my
filed documents and emails for any confirmation and searched my downloads and l
have failed to find an invoice. This is strange as I am usually very good at filing
documents. I then approached Grant Thornton who are dealing with administration
but they say they are unable to assist (see attached). Tesco then said I would have to
pursue the claim through you which seems unfair as they clearly know the money was
paid as it is on the statement. Nothing has been received in writing from Tesco

Are Tesco within their rights?

TadleyBaggie

northernyokel wrote: »

I booked ...

Duplicate thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5587343