'Voyages of Discovery - M/V Discovery severe engine trouble fixed (at last) - Page 3

**neil** · 07-12-2008, 11:28 AM

Hi

It would seem that this company could do with another ship.

One which may be available shortly is the ' Original Love Boat ' which was the first ' Sun Princess ' ex ' Spirit of London '.

She has been on charter as an accommodation ship in the Noumea area and is due to return to her owners next month.

On some websites she has been advertised for sale.

Photo of her below as ' New Flamenco '.

Neil

**Ally** · 07-12-2008, 11:36 AM

New Flamenco could also be viable for Orient Lines too, Neil. They are about to name their first ship...Maxim Gorkiy is the favourite for the role so far, but Flamenco might be on the shortlist too.

**Ally** · 07-14-2008, 02:32 PM

I honestly do not know what VoD think they are playing at but they are surely going to go out of business unless they change their attitudes pretty damn quick.

First you had the engine fault in March. Cruises in March/April were compenstated with decent OBC/percentage off future cruises. Then that vanished and was replaced with nondescript letters sent out 3 days prior to departure telling passengers that the cruise had completely changed and without any OBC/percentage as compensation.

Then we have at least one couple forced to cancel due to what is, on the face of it, a contrived surcharge amount...just under the legal percentage for full refund.

Then we have a cancelled cruise to fix another engine that had been doubling for the original engine which was out of action.

Now I am getting various reports that anyone who writes and complains about what is going on and how it has been mishandled are sent extremely terse replies effectively removing them from mailing lists for future cruises.

This is not the way to win over people who are understandably angry over the mishandling of the mechanical problems and the surcharging.

Telling clients to either like it or lump it just is not good business.

What the hell are VoD doing....apart from committing business suicide?

Disgraceful behaviour from a company whose reputation was until now untarnished.

**neil** · 07-14-2008, 03:17 PM

Hi

' Voyages of Discovery ' are part of the All Leisure Holidays Ltd group.

This group now includes the new ' Swan Hellenic Discovery Cruises ' company which was set up by Lord Sterling.

He was the Chairman of the P & O group when that group was sold to Carnival !!

He is now Chairman of the Swan Hellenic Discovery Cruises company and bought the Swan Hellenic company off of Carnival but without any ships as they chartered in the ships they used !!

With someone like this mixed up with this group it does lead one to wonder how Voyages of Discovery can be so poor at customer relations.

At present Harwich port information is showing the mv Discovery cruise which should have departed today with no ports of call listed and also the next cruise as well !

The ship is still berthed tonight at the passenger terminal at Harwich.

Does anyone know when Swan Hellenic introduced the word ' DISCOVERY ' into their company name as I think it is a recent addition and was not used when the company was part of the P & O group !

Perhaps if the mv Discovery is to be disposed of, due to her engine repairs costing too much, she could be replaced by Minerva of Swan Hellenic !!

mv Discovery could then become a hostel for illegal emigrants at the Felixstow container port or head to Alang !

Neil

**Ally** · 07-14-2008, 03:23 PM

Well if there is any connection to Swan hellenic, Neil, the current behaviour by VoD is doing no favours to the newly 'reborn' company.

It is a mess and Swan Hellenic need to distance themselves from it as it could easily damage their future too.

As for m/v Discovery...well if she is beyond economic repair, I cannot help but wonder if VoD had taken her out of service sooner instead of effectively shortening her life by forcing the engines to work overtime, would she have cost so much now to repair? I somehow doubt it, tbh.

She is a lovely ship, that had at least 2 more years service...maybe this is VoD's way of taking her out of the picture before SOLAS 2010...if it is, its pretty shortsighted and very damaging to their reputation.

**neil** · 07-14-2008, 05:51 PM

Hi

Bearing in mind that cruises on the Minerva cost more than a cruise on the Discovery it would be more profitable for the company to operate one ship.

As I mentioned before it is possible that the parts have to be made to repair the Discovery and the time required for this is anyones quess.

Neil

aprilschild · 07-14-2008, 10:21 PM

I recently found an article that said they had been having engine troubles in March when one engine had failed. We were due to sail on the 14th but our TA rang on the 10th to say the cruise was cancelled. I have spoken to them and they tell me that a second engine failed, one was in dock awaiting repair but was not ready to be re fitted. I have re arranged to sail on the 25th July but am really not holding my breath!!!!!!

**Ally** · 07-15-2008, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aprilschild

I recently found an article that said they had been having engine troubles in March when one engine had failed. We were due to sail on the 14th but our TA rang on the 10th to say the cruise was cancelled. I have spoken to them and they tell me that a second engine failed, one was in dock awaiting repair but was not ready to be re fitted. I have re arranged to sail on the 25th July but am really not holding my breath!!!!!!

Welcome to the family

I am not surprised that you are not hopeful on the next cruise. The fare for the next one has dropped dramatically from what it was originally....

I hope that you do manage to get going on the cruise, please keep us informed as to what happens

**neil** · 07-16-2008, 07:18 PM

Hi

Discovery moved off the passenger terminal at Harwich about 10.30 tonight, Wednesday 16th July 2008.

She has headed out into the North Sea at about 12.4 knots but it is not know if this is a engine trial trip or if she is going somewhere else.

Two cruise ships are due to berth at the Harwich terminal tomorrow.

Neil

**middy** · 07-16-2008, 08:01 PM

Will be interesting to see where she heads to.