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Voyages of Discovery and Swan Hellenic


tring
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I have received one refund from ATOL, with no deduction. It was for a fly cruise booked directly with Voyages, using a debit card. I am still waiting for another claim with Swan Hellenic, booked through a travel agent with a Credit card. However in my various discussions with Rightpath, at no time did they mention an admin fee. Perhaps time will tell!

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silton 1

 

You do not need a signed letter from a solicitor for the ATOL claim. My husband felt the form was unclear about that, so rang ATOL prior to submitting our claim and they said it was not needed.

 

Sarar

 

We are a bit confused about the "admin" charge which was deducted. Our booking was direct with VOD and we had paid an admin charge (about £56) to VOD to have our flight date changed and that was refunded along with the rest of the claim. What was your friend's Admin charge for?

 

One possibility we are thinking is that the £150 may have been paid by credit card to VOD, (if booking made direct with VOD). If that is the case then the £150 needs to be claimed from the credit card company. The instructions for making the claim (if the booking was direct with VOD or Swan) is that you should claim any money which was paid by credit card to VOD or Swan from the credit card company and it is only non credit card payments that should be claimed from ATOL. That does not apply for bookings via a travel agent as they are not covered by section 75.

 

Also, related payments are not covered. It is only the cost of the cruise and the cruise company excursions that can be claimed. You cannot claim for related expenses e.g. travelling to port/airport, car parking, or hotels that were not booked by VOD or Swan.

 

If neither of these apply, ask what the £150 was paid for and we may be able to help as my husband has some legal knowledge. Could you also find out if the booking was made direct or through a travel agent. If the booking was through a travel agent, could it be the TA who has deducted the £150 charge form the full refund that should have been paid by ATOL?

Edited by tring
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silton 1

 

You do not need a signed letter from a solicitor for the ATOL claim. My husband felt the form was unclear about that, so rang ATOL prior to submitting our claim and they said it was not needed.

 

Sarar

 

We are a bit confused about the "admin" charge which was deducted. Our booking was direct with VOD and we had paid an admin charge (about £) to VOD to have our flight date changed and that was refunded along with the rest of the claim. What was your friend's Admin charge for?

 

One possibility we are thinking is that the £150 may have been paid by credit card to VOD, (if booking made direct with VOD). If that is the case then the £150 needs to be claimed from the credit card company. The instructions for making the claim (if the booking was direct with VOD or Swan) is that you should claim any money which was paid by credit card to VOD or Swan from the credit card company and it is only non credit card payments that should be claimed from ATOL. That does not apply for bookings via a travel agent as they are not covered by section 75.

 

Also, related payments are not covered. It is only the cost of the cruise and the cruise company excursions that can be claimed. You cannot claim for related expenses e.g. travelling to port/airport, car parking, or hotels that were not booked by VOD or Swan.

 

If neither of these apply, ask what the £150 was paid for and we may be able to help as my husband has some legal knowledge. Could you also find out if the booking was made direct or through a travel agent. If the booking was through a travel agent, could it be the TA who has deducted the £150 charge form the full refund that should have been paid by ATOL?

 

 

You could be right, my friend booked via ROL Readers Offers in the Express newspaper.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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You could be right, my friend booked via ROL Readers Offers in the Express newspaper.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Your friend may have tried to claim related payments that would not be covered. If not perhaps the agent has deducted an "admin" charge. Think if that is the case I would try to get confirmation of their reason (if poss) and then give ATOL a ring. I do not know if an agent can deduct a charge like that and ATOL may be the best people to advise on it.

 

I have not seen any reports of that sort of thing happening either here or on TA forums and I have been reading the posts out of interest. I think some agent payments may still be outstanding though.

 

Perhaps those who have had a claim finalised by an agent could advise regards that. Ask your friend if he/she had claimed any related expenses that would not be covered though as that could explain a deduction it as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 7 months later...

According to Travel Pulse, Swan's Discovery seems to have found a new home:

Is Mexico Getting a New Cruise Line?

Latin America luxury resort developer Grupo Vidanta will be adding a cruise line to its portfolio. According to a report in Cruise Industry News, Group Vidanta, based in Mexico, has acquired the Voyager cruise ship from All Leisure Group, which was the owner of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery.

Edited by Jim9310
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According to Travel Pulse, Swan's Discovery seems to have found a new home:

Is Mexico Getting a New Cruise Line?

Latin America luxury resort developer Grupo Vidanta will be adding a cruise line to its portfolio. According to a report in Cruise Industry News, Group Vidanta, based in Mexico, has acquired the Voyager cruise ship from All Leisure Group, which was the owner of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery.

 

That'll be the Voyages of Discovery ship I believe. I had read a while ago that a Canadian company, G Adventures, had bought Swan's Minerva.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Discovery was scrapped a few years ago. Voyager was the ship used by VOD for the last 2-3 years (approx).

 

G adventures had bought the trade name of Swan Hellenic and had said they were to commence cruises in 2018, but I had heard no more since then. Minerva was leased and initially it was not bought by G adventures and I do not think it has been since - but you may have knowledge I do not about Comcox, or perhaps you were thinking of the sale of the trade name to G Adventures early this year.

 

I found a UK tel number for G adventure and have just rang to ask if there are any plans to re start Swan. The reply was that it was still being discussed as there is a lot to be considered, so there are no plans made at present. Seems unlikely to me that anything will be coming out for 2018 at this stage, but I hope something does get off the ground eventually.

 

Their website for Swan Hellenic, which is just a page to collect contact details is:- https://swanhellenic.com/

 

I put my details down some time back and have had nothing to date, though I was told on the phone just now that details will be given out if there are developments.

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Thanks for the update tring. I wonder if the Swan Hellenic cruises, if relaunched, will include Arts Society accredited lecturers as before? We had four

lecturers on our last cruise on the Minerva, and they were all interesting and informative. We took our first cruise with Voyages to Antiquity this year. Their ship, the Aegean Odyssey, is a similar size to the Minerva. There were only 2 lecturers on board but both were good. The ship is not without its problems - we think the soundproofing between cabins needs to be improved - but we enjoyed the cruise and will book again.

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  • 5 months later...

Article in Travel Weekly dated May 2, 2018:

 

Page & Moy and Swan Hellenic brands set for comeback

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/302841/page-moy-and-swan-hellenic-brands-set-for-come-back

G Adventures tends to focus on challenging small-group tours appealing to a young demographic market (e.g. hiking, biking, rafting, or kayaking).

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Article in Travel Weekly dated May 2, 2018:

 

Page & Moy and Swan Hellenic brands set for comeback

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/302841/page-moy-and-swan-hellenic-brands-set-for-come-back

G Adventures tends to focus on challenging small-group tours appealing to a young demographic market (e.g. hiking, biking, rafting, or kayaking).

 

 

...but they specifically say they're not going after the cruising market. :confused:

 

Any idea what happened to Swan Hellenic's ship, Minerva?

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...but they specifically say they're not going after the cruising market. :confused:

 

Any idea what happened to Swan Hellenic's ship, Minerva?

 

 

Yes sounds a bit unclear about what they actually plan to do with the brands. Sounds a bit like they are going to do their own thing and try to target the past passenger group to market it. We spoke to someone on a G Adventures stand at a holiday show this January and they said they were having meetings about the Swan Brand, but they were being cautious as they had not run a cruise brand before, so were taking their time to check out the ins and outs. That is my paraphrasing of what was said, but it basically what I understood.

 

Minerva was not owned by All Leisure (only leased) but not sure what the owners did with it. We tried to search to find who owned it, but could not get any detail - I think it may have been a privately owned company, so no stock market listing. Either that or we came to a stage where we would have had to pay to get information and we did not go any further.

 

I know Voyager was proving a pain to sell and not sure what happened to her either, but I think I had heard something about her going to the Far East or being scrapped. Getting old so I can blame memory problems!

 

 

tgh

 

It was Minerva II that became Royal Princess, then P&O's Adonia, after the first demise of Swan Hellenic. That ship was owned by Carnival so they moved it on to those brands that they own. Adonia no more of course - Carnival have sold it to RCL:-

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/288137/royal-caribbean-cruises-to-buy-adonia-from-po-cruises

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