What the Folding of All Leisure Holidays Means for Cruising

United Kingdom tour conglomerate All Leisure Holidays Limited has officially gone out of business resulting in the immediate collapse of its Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery brands.

According to BBC News, that means almost 150 people have lost their jobs and 13,000 future reservations have been canceled. The business shakeup includes refunds for those travelers affected and the protection of 200 shoreside workers under a partial sale to a subsidiary of G Adventures.

As for the remainder, Grant Thornton's Eddie Williams is quoted as saying, "The cruise operations have been significantly loss-making over a number of years and the ongoing cost of funding these operations by the tours operations has created significant cash issues for the entire group, which has ultimately led to the administration of all businesses.”

READ MORE: Voyages of Discovery Unveils New Packages, New Look

The websites of both Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery now point to a static administrative message indicating that operations aboard the former’s Minerva and latter’s Voyager have ceased.

Swan Hellenic historically dates back to the 1950s and was even owned by P&O Cruises starting in 1983, eventually becoming a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation through 2007. During its ownership, the ship that currently operates as Fathom’s Adonia was Swan Hellenic’s Minerva II, but a return to the original smaller Minerva did not sustain the company.

Even Voyages of Discovery has a link back to P&O Cruises as it deployed the Discovery from 2002 to 2014, which was formerly under P&O's Princess Cruises as Island Princess from 1974 to 1999. By 2012, the Voyager joined Voyages of Discovery and eventually became the cruise line’s sole ship.

READ MORE: Swan Hellenic Announces Slate of Guest Speakers

Now, the brands will likely cease to be resurrected, but the 350-guest Minerva and 540-guest Voyager will most certainly be purchased by another company—either together or separately. In fact, there are several brands recently looking to expand such as Paradise Cruise Line and Windstar Cruises, but neither ship may fit the bill for what those are seeking.

That might leave other UK operators such as Cruise & Maritime Voyages to step in for a purchase. After all, that line jointly operated Voyages of Discovery’s former Discovery at the end of its career before being scrapped in 2014. Others still that might consider the two leftover ships are Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines or Thomson Cruises, which both deploy a mix of previously owned ships.

The bottom line for the industry is that while newer ships are deployed it looks to become more challenging for much older vessels to stay on pace competitively. However, aforementioned larger operators remain profitable by building a solid model on broader existing fleets as well. Now there are just more ships and fewer cruise lines.

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