More Cruises Cancelled by Voyages To Antiquity !

Have we got some news for you about Voyages to Antiquity and its treatment of customers like us who have had cruises booked with VtoA for over 3 months for cruises scheduled for July 22, August 3 & August 13 2012.

We have been left high and dry by David Yellow's company who suddenly yesterday advised all customers on these 3 cruises next year that according to their undated letter received yesterday..........

Read as per letter received below:

"Important Information Aegean Odyssey sailing August 03rd 2012

Dear Valued Guest

This letter is to advise the recent chartering of Aegean Odyssey's "...To See The Shores of the Mediterranean" August 03rd 2012 cruise program. We apologise for the disruption to your holiday plans and appreciate the inconvenience this change may cause."

How cold and unprofessional is that for a company in the tourism cruise industry?

We were then offered 2 alternatives:

Choice 1: Either choose an alternate summer 2012 or winter 2012/13 departures offering a discount of 25% per person off the published price.

From our discussion today with the Customer Services Director even if we booked one of these cruises or one on the summer 2013 sailings she is unable to guarantee that this company will not privately charter over the top of the very many bookings they already may hold such as happened in our case.

Choice 2: Cancel the booking and receive a full refund PLUS receive a 20% discount off the published price of a summer cruise in 2013.

Why would anyone book a cruise with this company ever again after this has happened to them. They must be kidding to think anyone can now ever trust this company again.

The private chartering of the Aegean Odyssey occured only recently this year also when again a number of cruises were not officially cancelled but were chartered by the very same company that has re chartered the vessel next year with complete disregard for loyal past passengers such as us and new passengers who paid their deposits in good faith to have our cruises stripped from us with scant regard to these passengers such as us.

VtoA has agreed to refund any items already paid for but is not offering any further compensation for all the hours that these customers have spent arranging other land and air itineraries around Europe before or after their cruises.

This company does have a great & unique product but if they throw paid up passengers off cruises they have had booked for months when they were all the time negotiating with this private charter company but still taking deposits right up until the 3 cruises that have been pulled on 19 October 2011.Voyages to Antiquities preference to grab the cash from a private charter is appauling and anyone considering booking a cruise books at their own risk.

This company did not have the courtesy to even contact these affected passengers until a day later after we had noticed they had withdrawn the 3 cruises from the VtoA's 4 different countries websites.

As you can imagine we are outraged in the manner in which we have been treated by Voyages to Antiquity and have advised David Yellow and their cruise agent here in Australia a company called Cruise Traveller who to say the least have been less than sympathetic and even aggressive in now refusing to deal with our bookings in the future. This decision was emailed to us from the Cruise Traveller Managing Director. Frankly we would never deal with that company ever again either even if we could.

We are now looking to book our next cruise in 2012 with a reputable company and believe we will have a much better experience than what has happened with Voyages to Antiquity.We are positive we will.

We would like to hear any posts from other passengers that also have been affected by the withdrawl of cruises for this 2011 season and for the cruises in 2012 that have been withdrawn as stated above by Voyages to Antiquity.

:mad:

Thank you for posting about this. It is so disappointing for you and very frustrating after the time you have spent on making pre- and post- arrangements.

Can you tell me the name of the company who have chartered the boat?

We considered Antiquity's Black Sea voyage in early July, but not organised enough to make a booking.

Thank you for posting about this. It is so disappointing for you and very frustrating after the time you have spent on making pre- and post- arrangements.

Can you tell me the name of the company who have chartered the boat?

We considered Antiquity's Black Sea voyage in early July, but not organised enough to make a booking.

Sorry HDS we have not been able to find out which company has chartered the Aegean Odyssey but it was confirmed that it is the same company that chartered it this 2011 season.

I would suggest that you write to www.***************** with this info. The posting director has an ongoing thread about the status/woes of this ship and has had contact with the management. You might get some additional information but certainly will be able to publicize the problem.

Darn, look at cruising talk, etc.

I got bumped off my August 2 cruise but am sticking with my grand voyage that starts Dec. 27/12. I'm retired but I do realize how d***** annoying and frustrating it can be for someone who has to book time off work far in advance - been there and glad I now have far more flexibility. Shar

While we have not been affected by this news, it is disheartening to hear and may change our plans for our vacation in 2012.

We were considering booking one of VtoA's Greek cruises in 2012 and in doing some research I found that The Smithsonian, Road Scholars and AIA (American Institute of Archaeology) all offer their own tour/cruises on the Aegean Odyssey. It made me wonder how many berths are taken by their respective clients and how many would be left to people booking directly with VtoA. If we decide to make a reservation I think we will consider going through one of the institutions I mentioned as one or all of them may be the reason for booking cancellations.

Although I have found that on my 3 previous cruises there were a lot of people with one of the above groups, there were also lots of us who were not. Road Scholar and Smithonian groups do 'travel in packs' though and they often get their own guides, busses and extra excusions because that is how the indiviual companies prefer it. I've never had an issue getting a cabin on my preferred deck though.

HDS - The Black Sea cruise is still a go and I enjoyed it alot this July.

Hi Ontariotrekker/LovesSicily/ariellejesse & HDS

Thanks for all for your kind words of support.

We just hope that those cruisers seriously thinking of booking with Voyages to Antiquity think carefully before thay book so that you do not have to go through all the hassles of trying to find a cruise that fits in with the dates we have already booked holiday leave for as we now try to find an alternative cruise itinerary now 3 1/2 months later when most early bird deals have gone.

It now appears that most cruises of similar nature and style of ship are at a premium rate well above the VtoA special past passenger discount pricing. It looks like we now have to find at least another $4,000 to $5,000 to book a cruise equivalent to what we had booked with VtoA only due to VtoA's decision to charter the Aegean Odyssey in preference to passengers who had paid their deposits in good faith that VtoA would supply the product that we all had paid deposits for.

It still makes us wonder why Voyages to Antiquity even bothered promoting their new destination cruises for 2012 when they now have guaranteed most new itinerary's will not go ahead as has been the case with the August 2nd or 3rd 2012 Rome to Rome which was the only cruise in the season that was to visit Barcelona etc.

We hope that we are compensated by Voyages to Antiquity so that we can now achieve the cruise holiday that we feel we deserve.

Cruiser Downunder,

I hope you find and enjoy an inspiring european cruise to fit the travel time frame you have planned.

Keep posting. I'd like to hear about other companies who offer similar small ship experiences to V2A.

Cruiser down Under...you gave me a heart attack. I am booked on the Sept 24th cruise and have all sorts of other stuff booked around it plus flights to from Australia..canal boat in UK, accommodation in Rome and Hong Kong etc. etc. This would totally stuff my major travel for next year...how dare they!:mad:

Cruiser down Under...you gave me a heart attack. I am booked on the Sept 24th cruise and have all sorts of other stuff booked around it plus flights to from Australia..canal boat in UK, accommodation in Rome and Hong Kong etc. etc. This would totally stuff my major travel for next year...how dare they!:mad:

We were all pleased to hear you weren't affected rugbypopsie!

Cruiser down Under...you gave me a heart attack. I am booked on the Sept 24th cruise and have all sorts of other stuff booked around it plus flights to from Australia..canal boat in UK, accommodation in Rome and Hong Kong etc. etc. This would totally stuff my major travel for next year...how dare they!:mad:

Hi rugbypopsie

Sorry for the shock news but it appears you are one of the lucky travellers not affected by VtoA's decision to charter the Aegean Odyssey in 2012.

Like you we too had all sorts of other stuff organised to which we now have had to rearrange and try and sort out from scratch.

We have almost organised another cruise alternative on a more reputable company but just have to finalise the details then re organise flights, accom. etc.

Good luck with your Sept 24 cruise next year and we hope you do not get pushed off your cruise just because VtoA treat private chartering in preference to paid up past passengers and new passengers alike.

Fingers crossed all works out for you.

Although I have found that on my 3 previous cruises there were a lot of people with one of the above groups, there were also lots of us who were not. Road Scholar and Smithonian groups do 'travel in packs' though and they often get their own guides, busses and extra excusions because that is how the indiviual companies prefer it. I've never had an issue getting a cabin on my preferred deck though.

 

HDS - The Black Sea cruise is still a go and I enjoyed it alot this July.

It is a little disconcerting though, to think they do this - always some controversy!! Black Sea appeals to me - another year.

I know we are not supposed to name a travel agent on the boards; however, I read on other VtA threads that folks who booked through agents believe they received better air arrangements or upgrades and such. So would anyone be amenable to contacting me (or allowing me to contact them) off line and let me know the name of their agent? I will also post this on the other threads.

thanks

jan

Just an update to these recent cruise cancellations by VtoA

Basically the message from David Yellow in his phone call to us on Tuesday 25th October 2011 was that his company Voyages to Antiquity will in the future take the 'commercial' decision to privately charter the Aegean Odyssey to any company just as it has done this year and now again in 2012 to an organization promoting the private charter to the Japanese market who he stated spent over $2 million with them this year. These ‘commercial’ decisions are made in preference to supplying passengers with their cruises that they have booked well in advance on clearly advertised cruise itineraries via the company’s brochures & websites.

According to David he stated that his company had not actively promoted the 3 cruises now affected by next year’s charter/cancellation in both the US or the UK markets due to the fact that the same company was still negotiating with them to charter again in 2012 and that as the company chartering the Aegean Odyssey was a ‘Past Customer’ as such his company would give them preference over and above all of us individual past passengers booked for several months. This being the case it has meant that all the time that Voyages to Antiquity were taking customer deposits for their 2012 cruises they were well aware of that fact and never actually intended to provide the cruises to passengers who in good faith had paid their deposits.

Surely under any country’s laws Voyages to Antiquity’s is acting in a deliberately deceptive and misleading manner by taking deposits from passengers for these 3 advertised cruises whilst all the time never actually ever intending to provide the cruise product and all the time earning interest on our cash deposits held in their trust.

Then Voyages to Antiquity’s audacity to only offer a 20% discount for any future cruise with them as compensation is laughable as no guarantee can be given that ANY cruise with their company will not be cancelled should they receive a better offer to charter the Aegean Odyssey that is commercially more attractive to them than their past loyal passengers. Why would anyone trust Voyages to Antiquity ever again and book another cruise with them?

So it now appears only money talks to David and his company!..... And it is just too bad for the many disgruntled passengers who will now find alternative cruises on company's who appreciate that everyone has a right to their next dream cruise holiday. Something obviously Voyages to Antiquity cannot understand!

The almighty dollar will always affect a company's decision. It's in your cruise contract that they can change itineraries and cancel your voyage due to a charter. I have been bumped off mass market lines due to a full ship charter, however, it's easier to be bumped from a smaller ship because a full ship charter in their case is 300 cabins as opposed to 2,000 cabins. I am sorry this happened to you but it can happen to any of us on any line. What line have you ended up booking with that has a similar product and itinerary?

My husband and I had just begun looking at the cruise with VoA for next year but after reading this we will look elsewhere. Whenever we cruise we always make lots of plans in advance--airline, pre or post cruise stays, shore tours. . . No way would we tolerate suddenly finding all that time and money was wasted.

I am so sad to hear this. Since we are both still working at a university, our vacation time is limited, and we could not change plans at the last minute. We really enjoyed our cruise on VTA this July, but probably won't book another due to the uncertainty.:(

Just an update as I received an email response on 3rd November from David Yellow, Managing Director at Voyages to Antiquity.

Apart from repeating to me what he had already stated in our recent phone conversation, his email, like our discussion had a lot of sugar coating of how he sincerely apologises for the inconvenience and disappointment caused by the cancellation of our cruise.

In his email he states "While the cruises affected were included in our brochure we did not promote these sailings specifically and only about 40 passengers were booked out of a potential capacity of over a 1,000." and that is for all 3 cancelled cruises.

If that is the case with only 40 passengers booked (which we find it hard to believe considering our party of 4 we had booked consisted of 10% of that number)then it would appear this company is in trouble with such low booking numbers.

This is even more concerning especially considering the new itinerary for the "Shores of the Mediterranean Cruise" which was scheduled for August 3rd 2012 and was to be their first cruise to Barcelona, the French Riviera returning to Rome etc and was promoted widely here in Australia and in particular via the VtoA's Odyssey Club August 2011 newsletter posted to all past passengers (which David Y signed on the front cover) and in their brochure which is still being handed out by travel agents here in Australia.

David has made it blatantly clear that his company Voyages to Antiquity will charter the Aegean Odyssey to the highest bidder claiming it is commercially beneficial. It is clear that he and his company are not concerned with the carnage that his company creates for the passenger's who were booked on these cancelled cruises next year in 2012 or whenever in the future that he again makes another commercial decision to charter his one and only ship in his company's stable.

It would appear David prefers to stick his head in the sand rather than tackle the hard issues which is probably why his company has to look to chartering the Aegean Odyssey to keep VtoA afloat.

We have now found and booked our replacement cruises for next year with a great cruise company with a highly respected name that fits roughly around the time we had originally planned and it is definitely not with Voyages to Antiquity!

My question is why you only have 9 posts and suddenly found the board to trash VTA

Many Australians organise pre and post land travel around overseas cruises, because we have to fly so far long haul on expensive air fares.

Like many, I was attracted to this cruise company because of its unique itineraries.

However, the trend towards cancellation of cruises, with booked passengers, by both this company and the mass market cruise lines, makes it foolish for us to book cruises far in advance.

My question is why you only have 9 posts and suddenly found the board to trash VTA

Hi Patseacruiser

In answer to your question why I have only had 9 postings previously here on cruisecritic as I have only used as cc as a way of researching new cruise operators such as Voyages to Antiquity last year prior to booking our cruise with them after my research.

Yes I did book a cruise with Voyages to Antiquity last year and as per my posting on Sept 16 2010 had a fantastic time. Feel free to read that posting! So I not only post negatives as you will see from my posting back then but I also give credit where it is due.

You ask now why only after 9 postings have I found this board to trash VtoA is ridiculous.

I have used this board only to warn those contemplating booking a cruise with this company of the dangers in doing so as according to VtoA's Managing Director there is no guarantee at all that any other cruise that I or anyone else may book in the future will go ahead due to that company receiving a any future proposal to Charter their one and only ship.

I understand that from time to time some cruises are withdrawn for a number of various reasons but this company deliberately took deposits from unsuspecting passengers whilst having no intention at all in supplying the cruise product they had advertised as they knew that the chartering in 2012 was all the time being negotiated.

If you think that is acceptable conduct and you want to risk having all your long planned overseas itinerary and travel plans thrown into disarray by this company you go ahead and book.

These boards exist not only to help people look for their next cruise but they also allow passengers such as us to warn any future passengers of the risks of booking a cruise with Voyages to Antiquity and that company's policy now to accept any charter no matter how many passengers, past or new, that have booked cruises with them.

Many travellers such as us travel great distances from Australia to join cruises in Europe which requires a great deal of planning for travel and accommodation both before and after cruises and have a limited window to schedule in holidays with our employers. The last thing we need is a company like VtoA out of the blue cancelling an integral part of our planned overseas holiday through Europe so please be warned.

Hi Patseacruiser

 

In answer to your question why I have only had 9 postings previously here on cruisecritic as I have only used as cc as a way of researching new cruise operators such as Voyages to Antiquity last year prior to booking our cruise with them after my research.

 

Yes I did book a cruise with Voyages to Antiquity last year and as per my posting on Sept 16 2010 had a fantastic time. Feel free to read that posting! So I not only post negatives as you will see from my posting back then but I also give credit where it is due.

 

You ask now why only after 9 postings have I found this board to trash VtoA is ridiculous.

 

I have used this board only to warn those contemplating booking a cruise with this company of the dangers in doing so as according to VtoA's Managing Director there is no guarantee at all that any other cruise that I or anyone else may book in the future will go ahead due to that company receiving a any future proposal to Charter their one and only ship.

 

I understand that from time to time some cruises are withdrawn for a number of various reasons but this company deliberately took deposits from unsuspecting passengers whilst having no intention at all in supplying the cruise product they had advertised as they knew that the chartering in 2012 was all the time being negotiated.

 

If you think that is acceptable conduct and you want to risk having all your long planned overseas itinerary and travel plans thrown into disarray by this company you go ahead and book.

 

These boards exist not only to help people look for their next cruise but they also allow passengers such as us to warn any future passengers of the risks of booking a cruise with Voyages to Antiquity and that company's policy now to accept any charter no matter how many passengers, past or new, that have booked cruises with them.

 

Many travellers such as us travel great distances from Australia to join cruises in Europe which requires a great deal of planning for travel and accommodation both before and after cruises and have a limited window to schedule in holidays with our employers. The last thing we need is a company like VtoA out of the blue cancelling an integral part of our planned overseas holiday through Europe so please be warned.

I can totally understand why you are so upset..I have had the same thing happen to me on a land based tour..where a lot of other things were organised around a central part.

I does make you concerned that booking so far out from a cruise could leave you high and dry..so to speak...so disappointing. Does travel insurance cover any part of this...the cancellation was totally unforseen on your part?? Just wondering.

I can understand you being upset, however, the big lines will cancel you also - the $ is the bottom line it's just that smaller ships tend to be chartered a lot easier than the Oasis would be chartered. It's just not a VTA problem. That is my only gripe with what you are saying. I would like to know the name of the cruise line you did end up booking with because you said it is comparable and I like to stay abreast of these things.