Fairsky1

When I returned the camera case to Reception that I had found I was informed that someone had already reported it to them as " lost ".

The Chief Purser even made a joke about it and asked where I had found it as other reports that day of lost property had been lodged.

The " found property " report was very intensive, I was informed that I was witnessing the contents on behalf of the receiving Officer making out the report.

I had to sign the report, give all my personal details and cabin number and verify the contents as found.

My understanding was that they had advised the owner to check back with Reception before disembarking the ship for the flight home from Jamaica.

This was disembarkation day for that cruise and there were numerous flights throughout the day.

In hindsight I did wonder why they simply didn't tannoy the passengers name and request they return to Reception, after all they had his / her lost property report, Thomson constantly tannoy for EVERYTHING else!

I doubt if I'll ever know if the owner was ever reunited with his / her camera and money,

Anyway, just wanted to show the other side of the coin

when it comes to reviews re: " lost property "

I was on a Thomson cruise March, 2017, Thomson Dream, Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, Belize etc.

On the day of disembarkation in Jamaica I found a camera case in an empty lounge, fully equipped with camera and multiple accessories, no name inside.

Also the case contained £130 in Sterling!

I took the camera case to Reception where the contents were checked and I had to sign papers and witness the checking procedure by the Officer in Reception.

From my understanding at Reception this item had already been reported lost by a passenger.

I have never been informed by Thomson that the item was successfully recovered by it's owner.

Likewise, the owner has never contacted me, it wouldn't have been difficult as I had to give all my details at Reception and sign forms as the finder.

A simple " thank you " would have been nice, I certainly would have ensured that this was done if I had been the person who had retrieved my valuable lost property!

THANK YOU VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY: Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Brunei, Borneo, Sri Lanka, Burma, Andaman Islands, Maldives, Mauritius, Reunion, Seychelles, Madagascar, South Africa, Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Jordan, Egypt, Sinai, England, Norway, Finland, Russia White Sea and Solovetksy Islands. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THANK YOU

 

I discovered VOD looking for a way to get to Tristan de Cuhna after Michael Palin shared this was his most challenging remote destination on the planet - I had to go, and it looked like VOD was one of the very few ways to get there. I missed that cruise, but saw another one upcoming that was equally tantalizing - poking around the Indian Ocean and its islands. Then there was another great one that went to Brunei, Burma and Aqaba. Then another to the haunting Solvestky Islands in Russia's White Sea. Meanwhile I was just looking at an Atlantic Azores jaunt, but alas now VOS is no more. My world has shrunk considerably with this news.

Nicely expressed OlsSalt, but I'll be even more specific, THANK YOU ROGER ALLARD. I have cruised approx. 50 times with numerous Cruiselines. Just over 3 years ago we took our first cruise with VOD on Voyager, we were then hooked!

When Orient Lines ceased to be I sought an alternative but it was in vain, we tried a number of Cruiselines, it was extremely difficult to find something that in any way compared, then we found VOD.

We've had 5 wonderful cruises on Voyager, our last " Beyond Ceylon " ended on 6th December, 2016 in Singapore. A wonderful cruise as always thanks to the fantastic Staff of Voyager.

When we said our goodbyes little did we know it truly was goodbye!

Thanks to the vision of people like Roger Allard, Gerry Herrod and the late Wayne Heller ( who was trying to re - launch Orient Lines ) we've seen many parts of the world and had many wonderful experiences.

We've met many lovely like minded fellow passengers and have been looked after by the exceptional Staff onboard Voyager.

The welfare of those Filipino Staff and indeed all of the Staff of Voyager is of great concern to me, I'd love some reassurance that they'll be looked after?

As a lover of music I think " Thanks For The Memories " is appropriate, I only wish it was " The Best Is Yet To Come "!

Firstly I'd wish to offer my sympathy to all those who have been effected by the cancellation of these cruises.

I wish you all a Happy New Year, though in the circumstances this news is not really a great start!

My wife and I have recently returned from the " Beyond Ceylon" cruise on MV Voyager, 22nd November - 6th December, 2016.

This was our 5th cruise onboard Voyager. At the end of our cruise Voyager was to enter dry dock in Singapore. The scheduled cruise following ours had already been cancelled to accommodate the dry docking.

I did enquire whilst onboard Voyager regarding the necessity for the dry docking and was told that there was a restriction on engine speed.

Whatever the true problem was we experienced NO problems on our itinerary whatsoever.

For those familiar with Voyager she was at her very best, it was a wonderful cruise, everything was up to standard or on reflection possibly even higher than our previous cruises

Passenger wise she was only carrying 280 passengers, ( just over half capacity of 540 ) of which 120 were single travellers, and of the 280 ( total ) 176 were returning passengers

Like others, my fear is that All Leisure is in financial difficulties.

I feel so so sorry for the wonderful Staff and how this will effect them.

I'm hoping that somehow a solution will be reached but if I'm honest with myself I fear the two brands will most likely disappear.

With ABTA and ATOL membership and normal travel insurance I'm sure no one who had booked and paid will be out of pocket, perhaps a delay in monies being refunded but nothing more.

This is a truly sad situation, I'm also thinking of some lovely people we met on the cruise who were scheduled to remain onboard for further cruises , one couple until early February! Those people had already amended their bookings to remain in the Singapore vicinity ( hotel ) whilst Voyager was in dry dock.

I truly hope All Leisure can overcome this, the loss of these two brands would be tragic.

Got our flight details to go out to Hong Kong from Manchester in February and they are with Emirates, (changing at Dubai), like our return flights. So we have not been put on budget airlines.

 

I do not know what are being used from the London airports though as we were told on Voyager last September that they were tending to arrange charters from London. We had to pay a supplement from Manchester.

Hi Barbara,

Well that's good news about your flights.

Another person I am in contact with has had her flights also confirmed, she is on a Far East cruise this Winter.

She will be flying BA outbound and Malaysia Airlines inbound, both overnight flights.

I think she's flying from London. Anyway the omens are good regarding flights.

It's unusual, is it not, to know your flight details so far in advance? I've not experienced this in my 4 cruises with VOD in the past.

I'm tempted to go again this Winter to the Far East,

Regards

Frank

:)

Hi Barbara,

Our flights were from London/Gatwick, as were the others that I am in contact with.

We flew out to Barbados with Virgin but the return flight from Barbados was a charter that ended up being Euroatlantic.

Two years ago we flew back from Colombo with Sri Lankan airlines and the outbound flight to Dubai was with BA, this was a VOD cruise on Voyager down the west coast of India.

I'm not opposed to charters providing they are reasonable airlines.

I did a Black Sea cruise with VOD and they used Monarch, it was perfectly fine!

I have read VOD are using Thomson on some of their cruises, we did a P&O cruise some years back and they too used Thomson, I rated the Thomson long haul flights better than some scheduled economy flights!

I was amazed at your comments regarding cruise only prices with VOD and NO discount? I've never heard of any other cruise line operating like that, truly amazing!

Anyway Barbara I hope it all works out for you and you have a great cruise.

We were planning to do a Far East cruise with them but we are now thinking of booking with another Company, we'll monitor events with VOD and hopefully see some reviews in the coming months.

Although itinerary is foremost with us and VOD have interesting itineraries we simply wouldn't be prepared to endure a repeat of our last flight experience with VOD.

I have just found this thread and find it concerning.

 

We did a Greek/Turkish cruise on Voyager last Sept and the flights were fine (Turkish Airlines out and Aegean rtn). We have, however, booked a back to back cruise for February 2017, when we will be flying out to Hong Kong and returning from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

 

We were originally told they book flights about ten months out, as schedule flights are released 11 months out, but I was told a few days ago that they were still arranging the summer season for late this year. I am now wondering if all next winter's flight plans are in a state of flux as they look for cheaper flights.

 

We have asked for our return flight to be delayed by 9 days as we have booked an independent land tour in Sri Lanka. This includes 3 nights in a beach hotel at the end, so at least we can return more rested than we would from a cruise. VOD are happy to delay, but there will be an admin charge, which is not an issue. We also asked a few days ago if we can be quoted for premium economy. We do not usually upgrade on schedule flights, because of the high cost, but with two journeys which will probably be overnight it seemed worth thinking about. We will be starting at Manchester, so neither flight will be direct.

 

Fairsky1 - You mention that you have heard of another cheap airline being used by VOD. Do you have any other knowledge of the fights being used?

Hi tring,

Until our last cruise on Voyager we had never encountered any problems with flights with Voyages of Discovery.

I have no complaints re: Voyager having cruised 4 times on her.

We were scheduled to fly back from Barbados on a Company called Privilege Style but ended up returning with a Company called Euroatlantic because Privilege Style didn't have a serviceable aircraft!

I know Voyages of Discovery have also been using a Company called Highfly.

These are all Portuguese, low grade charter airlines, google them and their reviews speak for themselves!

I cannot describe how truly bad our return flight to the UK was with Euroatlantic.

Hopefully Voyages of Discovery have learned that using these low grade charters doesn't sit well with their clients, I would suspect that many of their dedicated clients like ourselves will be extremely wary of booking again if any of these Companies are still being used.

This is quite obviously a cost saving exercise by VOD but it will, I am sure, effect future bookings.

Given the age profile of VOD's clients long haul flights on charters such as these are just not acceptable.

I won't be contemplating booking again until I am satisfied that these low grade charters are no longer used.

I am in contact with several other dissatisfied clients, one who has cruised with VOD over 20 times, she is of a similar mind having experienced all three of these Companies in the last few months!

Hi OlsSalt,

Yes, until our last cruise with VOD in December, 2015 we too had always been happy with their flight arrangements.

We were told we would be flying Virgin when we booked, we flew out to Barbados with Virgin but were then scheduled, after booking, to return with an Airline called Privilege Style ( Portuguese charter flight ).

Privilege Style didn't have an aircraft serviceable so we ended up on a carrier called Euroatlantic ( another Portuguese charter ).

We only learned of this at Barbados airport on check in, the flight was also delayed!

This was the flight from hell! I've had a few bad flights in my lifetime but nothing that compares to this.

The only good thing that I have to say about this flight was that we arrived safely! This was our fourth cruise on Voyager, the cruise itself was great, Caribbean, Colombia and Venezuela.

I complained to VOD, my first ever complaint, I've never had any cause to complain before. Their Customer Service Staff have been less than helpful, I've a feeling that they have been inundated with complaints over this flight.

I know personally of five others who have complained but I think this is only the tip of the iceberg!

Its a shame that VOD head office decisions detract from the great job the Staff do onboard Voyager.

These cost cutting moves by VOD will rebound on them, past satisfied customers will be very wary, this unfortunately is not an isolated incident, several cruises have, and are earmarked, to use these " low grade charters ".

I was considering a Spring cruise, but this experience and my dealings with VOD Customer Services put paid to that.

You mentioned you are in the U.S. and flew back to LAX, do you live in LA or thereabouts?

My daughter and son - in - law were living in Santa Monica and we were out there last year. We did a fantastic road trip up the Pacific Coast to SF stopping en - route then on to Yesomite, Las Vegas and down to Arizonia, what a trip!

We're coming out again very soon and driving down from SF to Palm Springs, we've taken a house there, really looking forward to it.

Stopping off in Solvang on the way down, and SLO on the way back to SF.

As an old " Rat Pack " fan, ( giving away my age! ) it's great for me, I get the chance to visit some of their old haunts!

Anyway OlsSalt, I only hope VOD get their act together and we might be back onboard Voyager sometime in the future, we'll look out for the reviews!!!!

:)

My wife and I have cruised 4 times on Voyager in just over the last 2 years.

Although Voyager is quite basic in her amenities, ( classic small ship ) she is comfortable and the Crew are exceptional.

We are itinerary driven and Voyages of Discovery certainly provide very interesting itineraries!

On each of our cruises there were a high number of solo passengers. VOD appear to target solo passengers with very low, if any, single passenger supplements.

You will have no problem meeting other single cruisers, they have special cocktail parties etc. specifically for solo travellers.

We spent many hours onboard and on excursions chatting to people travelling on their own.

The food is very good, lectures excellent, excursions very good, drinks prices very reasonable, (UK pub prices) and as I said earlier, the Crew are exceptional.

Unfortunately our last experience with VOD was spoiled with horrific return flights from Barbados, I am far from happy with VOD with their use of low grade Portuguese charter airlines such as Privilege Style, Euroatlantic and I now understand they are using Hi Fly.

Each cruise however on Voyager, we very much enjoyed. If you are lucky enough to fly with a decent scheduled airline or a reputable charter Company I'm sure you will have a really enjoyable cruise and meet some lovely people.

I hope you have a great cruise, if you have any queries I'd be happy to help.

Hi folks,

Voyager is getting mixed reviews atm so I thought I would do a review of our recent cruise for those of you who may have a cruise on the Voyager upcoming or are thinking about booking the Voyager in the future.

Ha! Perhaps if people used the correct name for the ship the reviews wouldn't be so confusing, mixed is an understatement!

" Voyager " is the name of the Voyages of Discovery cruise ship!

:confused: