All Leisure Holidays (ALH), the UK-based operator of Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery cruises, has been put into administration.
Eddie Williams, David Dunckley and Matthew Richards of Grant Thornton have been appointed joint administrators of the companies today.
Earlier in the week the two companies cancelled January sailings of their two cruiseships, citing operational reasons for pulling the voyages of the 15,400-gt Voyager (built 1990) and 12,900-gt Minerva (built 2004).
All Leisure said the move had been made due to the group’s adverse financial position and that “the business has ceased to trade resulting in the majority of employees being made redundant and the cancellation of all future voyages”.
Voyager, operating under the Voyages of Discovery brand, was due to leave Malaysia on a 15-day trip this week, and Swan Hellenic’s Minerva was scheduled for a 15-day cruise in the Canary Islands.
Customers who have booked or paid for package holidays inclusive of flights are being advised to contact the Civil Aviation Authority with claims for compensation while others are being told to contact ABTA, the association of travel agents and tour operators.
All Leisure axed 40 of its 280 staff at its head office in February 2016 after admitting that its cruise operations were making losses, and in June it was de-listed from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).
In recent months the company has been carved up, with its land-based tour operations sold off, and its other cruise brand Hebridean Island Cruises being sold last month to a new company headed up by All Leisure chairman Roger Allard.
