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Author

Topic: Cruise Control

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 09-30-2005 06:46 PM

I notice that the UK's biggest independent Cruise TA see to be in some sort of trouble.

Most of the major cruise lines have dissapeared from there web site. There list has now been halved. This is all that they are now selling:

» African Safari Club » Cruise Egypt » Island Cruises » Louis Cruises » MSC » Peter Deilmann River Cruises » Radisson Seven Seas » Silversea » Star Cruises » Thomson » Travel Renaissance Holidays » Travelscope

www.bookmeacruise.co.uk

I do not think that there is any offical word?

[ 10-01-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 10-01-2005 06:51 AM

Any news?

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

Meldrew of the Seas
First Class Passenger
Member # 5298

posted 10-03-2005 08:10 AM

Having experienced first hand their appalling standard of customer care, I am hardly surprised that they are in trouble.

I am currently seeking a refund of a charge to my credit card of some £300+ after they booked me a duplicate cruise, some 4 weeks after the original enquiry.

Posts: 71 | From: Southport, UK | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 10-03-2005 08:15 AM

There are so many good TA's out there, but firms like CC have a higher profile. Shame!

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

Tom Burke
First Class Passenger
Member # 5238

posted 10-03-2005 11:20 AM

One or two people here already know that I booked with them at their Manchester Roadshow. At that time, just two weeks ago, their relationships with all the major lines was obviously intact as all they all had representatives present. This included Carnival in several guises (Carnival, P&O, Princess, Ocean Village), RCCI (both as itself and as Celebrity), and I believe NCL. If you wanted to make a booking the cruise line staff were pointing you towards the CC bookers, who were also there in force. So the relationship between CC and the cruise companies was close and co-operative as recently as two weeks ago.

We're obviously a bit concerned about what has happened, though not as much as those who are due to cruise shortly. According to other boards some of these people have been contacted by the cruise lines and been asked to pay the line direct rather than pay CC. In our case we have a number of months to sort everything out.

Frankly, I'm a bit suspicious of the way everything has happened so fast and so much in unison. I'm frankly surprised that the cruise companies would be so co-operative one minute and all of them severing all connections so quickly thereafter. This looks like 'hard negotiation' as much as anything.

[ 10-03-2005: Message edited by: Tom Burke ]

Posts: 1469 | From: Sheffield, UK | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 10-03-2005 06:12 PM

They have lost 'Thomson' now!

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

sslewis
First Class Passenger
Member # 3649

posted 10-04-2005 05:17 AM

Ooops

Brace for a crahs

It's not the firts time a major TA does so as many new ones appears all the time in the weekend papers.
Stiff competition!
Travelscope is now offering 10 days cruises from £240 on Van Gogh, but worryingly, Sovereign cruises offers the QM2 South America for £1000(was £3000), and transatlantique on BOS for a mere £700!
It might cost more to stay home!

Posts: 2513 | From: Shipspotting Solent shores when weather allows.... | Registered: Feb 2003 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 10-04-2005 03:31 PM

Now have now lost 'Island Cruises '.

They will be selling rowing boat trips soon!

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

mec1
First Class Passenger
Member # 4287

posted 10-04-2005 03:39 PM

What is BOS????

Posts: 1675 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2003 | IP: Logged

Ernst
First Class Passenger
Member # 5369

posted 10-04-2005 03:50 PM

quote:
Originally posted by mec1:
What is BOS????

I guess BOS stands for Brilliance of the Seas in this context.

Posts: 9746 | From: Eindhoven | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

sslewis
First Class Passenger
Member # 3649

posted 10-05-2005 08:02 AM

Thanks Ernst!
Have anyone heard of Sovereigncruises?
It is not the company that used to aim at the Saga market.

Posts: 2513 | From: Shipspotting Solent shores when weather allows.... | Registered: Feb 2003 | IP: Logged

Tom Burke
First Class Passenger
Member # 5238

posted 10-07-2005 07:31 AM

Phew - I have today received a receipt from CC, together with some booking documentation from Celebrity that seems to match up with the CC paperwork! So even if we have to switch we've now got a documented basis on which to do so.

And on another board it is being suggested that there will be developments in the CC saga 'late next week'....

Posts: 1469 | From: Sheffield, UK | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

Steve Read (sread)
First Class Passenger
Member # 788

posted 10-10-2005 09:09 AM

Cruise Control (including their Egypt subsidiary) have ceased trading - official.

Posts: 926 | From: Locksbottom, Kent, England | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

PamM
First Class Passenger
Member # 2127

posted 10-10-2005 09:34 AM

"Cruise Control, which has 250 staff and a customer database of around 250,000, is believed to be £8 million-10 million in debt, with up to £50 million in forward bookings."

..from Travel Weekly. There were a couple of rescue packages last week that fell through, but really once companies withdrew due to non-payment of funds they didn't stand a chance. £50m [if the figures are correct] of fwd bookings is not going to cover their debts, which will have mounted more with interest too, before payment.

PSARA has a list of contact numbers on their website. As far as customers are concerned there shouldn't be any problem with bookings thankfully, unlike when the previous Book 'n Go [father's Co.] went down. It's sad to see any company fail & CC have done an excellent job in 'promoting cruising' in the UK in general. Perhaps that was their downfall, & the hard sell come on this year, which put a lot of people off them. I will certainly miss their monthly magazine.

Pam

Posts: 12176 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Jun 2001 | IP: Logged

Tom Burke
First Class Passenger
Member # 5238

posted 10-10-2005 10:09 AM

There's a press release on the ABTA site confirming the news:-

http://www.abtamembers.org/press/

Posts: 1469 | From: Sheffield, UK | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

Tom Burke
First Class Passenger
Member # 5238

posted 10-10-2005 01:09 PM

And now the Cruise Control website has been withdrawn and replaced by a simple advisory notice with cruise line phone numbers.

Posts: 1469 | From: Sheffield, UK | Registered: Dec 2004 | IP: Logged

Malcolm @ cruisepage
Cruise Director
Member # 301

posted 10-10-2005 01:34 PM

quote:
Originally posted by PamM:
Perhaps that was their downfall, & the hard sell come on this year, which put a lot of people off them.

I once phoned them for a quote on a particular ship and date. The guy said that "It didn't not work like that". He said he would put my dates into his computer and see the range of available cruises. I said goodbye!

I then phoned another TA and booked that very cruise I wanted all along.

[ 10-10-2005: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Posts: 19210 | From: Essex (Just Outside London) | Registered: A Long Time Ago! | IP: Logged

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