Vantage cancelling river cruise at the last minute due to "data breach"

[Billybob79]

It will be really interesting when the full story comes out about how Henry Lewis finally met his end after so many close calls. Whether Vantage will survive in another form remains to be seen. In the meantime a lot of people are out a lot of money, which may never be seen.

[CPT Trips]

6 hours ago, Canal archive said:

No off the coast of Main. Crikey how many Yarmouths are there.

Five in the Americas

 

[Canal archive]

Wow there are supposed to be three in England one on the Isle of Wight is supposed to be the smallest town in the U.K. and one tops the lot by putting Great before it’s name so Great Yarmouth.

[pbnjrockette]

 

This is interesting…

Vantage is not a member of the USTOA, so customers are not protected by the Association's $1 Million Travelers Assistance Program. Additionally, Vantage Deluxe World Travel encourages customers to bypass travel advisors and book direct, giving them no one to advocate on their behalf.

[gnome12]

32 minutes ago, pbnjrockette said:

 

This is interesting…

Vantage is not a member of the USTOA, so customers are not protected by the Association's $1 Million Travelers Assistance Program. Additionally, Vantage Deluxe World Travel encourages customers to bypass travel advisors and book direct, giving them no one to advocate on their behalf.

They also encourage people to pay directly by offering discounts for e-transfers, and larger discounts for paying up to a year in advance by e-transfer.

[ural guy]

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

They also encourage people to pay directly by offering discounts for e-transfers, and larger discounts for paying up to a year in advance by e-transfer.

The were sending out 25% discount deals for e-transfers.  

[Canal archive]

Just found a Vantage website that’s still working it says they are working to clear the ransome wear attack and our cruises are sailing and we are ready to welcome you aboard. It says no trips have been cancelled. The website has limited functionality evidently and the phones will be operating from May 1st. It’s Vantagetravel.com.

I do hope it’s right and not a hoax. Good luck Vantage customers.

[Shmoo here]

28 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

It says no trips have been cancelled.

The website states that some tulips cruises as well as 2 Egypt cruises have been cancelled and they are continuing to monitor the Egypt situation.

 

We are aware of the conflicting news reports about Vantage Travel’s operations and trip cancellations following our initial announcement and know you have questions and concerns. To confirm, trips are underway, and no trips have been disrupted or cancelled specifically due to this incident.

 

To confirm, we have cancelled four trips to the Netherlands due to the vessel’s readiness and two trips to Egypt. All impacted guests have been notified. With the recent U.S. State Department Sudan Travel Advisory, given the proximity, we are closely monitoring our trips to Egypt until further notice for the safety of our guests.

Edited April 29, 2023 by Shmoo here

[Billybob79]

What a roller coaster. We are on the South Africa trip beginning May 22 and 2 days ago our flight from Atlanta to J-Burg on Delta had not yet been ticketed and had been cancelled. Now that the website is up, the trip was still listed on My Portfolio so I checked with Delta and the flights have now been ticketed and we are good to go. 

While the cancellations may seem iffy, it does appear that Vantage is not yet out of business. 

The Ocean Exp;orer is currently in Halifax, NS, a regulat stop on the itinerary.

I wish everyone who is booked good luck in not having your trips cancelled and maybe now we can all rest more easily. 

[Canal archive]

Yes the wording has changed ever so slightly. Plus we will call the sheriff back from chasing across the ocean to Halifax. I will keep my fingers metaphorically crossed though for all their customers. Maybe it was the same lot who attacked Scenic.

[Host Jazzbeau]

It does sound like good news after all the anxiety and speculation.  And Mea Culpa for personally participating in that speculation.

[sharkster77]

I think what created the suspicions regarding the Vantage ship is that I believe the cruise normally sailed from Boston to Nova Scotia, not Gloucester.  Did they bus passengers from Boston to Gloucester to begin the cruise?  Who knows.

[Shmoo here]

9 minutes ago, sharkster77 said:

I think what created the suspicions regarding the Vantage ship is that I believe the cruise normally sailed from Boston to Nova Scotia, not Gloucester.  Did they bus passengers from Boston to Gloucester to begin the cruise?  Who knows.

Here's a post I made on the Vantage thread on the Other Cruise Lines forum (post #265) speculating what that stop was:

 

[sharkster77]

Just a footnote to this story.  I was very confused following all this, thinking that I had read that Hank Lewis of Vantage had died, but he has not.  His BROTHER Alan Lewis, who ran Grand Circle Tours/GC Cruise Line did pass away a year or two ago.  His wife Harriet Lewis now runs GCCL

 

Apparently, from reading old stories in the Boston Globe archives, back about 10 years ago the two brothers had some sort of very public feud.  I need to dig more to find out if they had one company that split into two (one for each brother), or if they have had competing companies all along.

 

Perhaps someone on these boards has a better understanding of "the story behind the story" (for those who remember Paul Harvey).

[ericosmith]

13 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

 

 

Perhaps someone on these boards has a better understanding of "the story behind the story" (for those who remember Paul Harvey).

That would be "now you know the rest of the story"

[CPT Trips]

@sharkster77 some of “the rest of the story.” Grand Circle started in the late 1950s, as part of AARP, and was bought by Alan Lewis in ‘85. It later acquired OAT in the early 90s some 15 years after OAT was founded. In the late ‘00s a private equity firm took a majority stake in the GCT companies. 
 

Vantage was founded in ‘83 by Henry Lewis, Alan’s brother, and was a totally separate company. 
 

Neither company worked together until they bought the Paul Gauguin in 2005(?). That venture led to lawsuits against each other.

 

After Alan died late last year, Harriet Lewis became the chair of GCT corporation, Brian FitzGerald is CEO.

[sharkster77]

9 hours ago, ericosmith said:

That would be "now you know the rest of the story"

Oooops--I stand corrected!  You are right.

[sharkster77]

8 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

@sharkster77 some of “the rest of the story.” Grand Circle started in the late 1950s, as part of AARP, and was bought by Alan Lewis in ‘85. It later acquired OAT in the early 90s some 15 years after OAT was founded. In the late ‘00s a private equity firm took a majority stake in the GCT companies. 
 

Vantage was founded in ‘83 by Henry Lewis, Alan’s brother, and was a totally separate company. 
 

Neither company worked together until they bought the Paul Gauguin in 2005(?). That venture led to lawsuits against each other.

 

After Alan died late last year, Harriet Lewis became the chair of GCT corporation, Brian FitzGerald is CEO.

Thank you, @CPT Trips,  I found it interesting that both were based in Boston, run by brothers, and wondered what the story was.

 

We used to have, in a neighboring town, 2 farms across the street from each other, run by brothers.  Apparently they inherited the family farm but couldn't work with each other, so they split the property each did their thing.  One is still a farm while the other has had several reincarnations, including a paintball course--no longer farmed.

[CPT Trips]

@sharkster77. You might find the stories of The Albrecht brothers (ALDI North and ALDI South) and the Dassler brothers (Puma and Adidas) interesting. 
There are a host of other family business feuds you can find with a web search.

[Canal archive]

Caster & Pollux, Romulus and Remus, Warner, Wright, Brooks, Brake. All brothers but not all together till the end.

 

[dmrbmr]

Any up to date news about VANTAGE river cruises?

[Shmoo here]

2 hours ago, dmrbmr said:

Any up to date news about VANTAGE river cruises?

The website is back up and running, as well as the Call Center.

[dmrbmr]

Anyone booked on the Passage to Eastern Europe on Vantage's  river Splendor ship 6/19/23 ?