'Voyages of Discovery - M/V Discovery severe engine trouble fixed (at last) - Page 8

**neil** · 08-04-2008, 11:52 AM

Hi

When have you booked to travel on her again ?

Can you row ?

It could be useful !!

But do not go catching any crabs !

Neil

hayley67 · 08-04-2008, 12:09 PM

Well it will be a novel way of keeping fit

Not too sure about catching crabs though

Not booked on until next Summer now so hopefully she will be patched up by then..if not it's Argate again!

**Ally** · 08-05-2008, 10:56 AM

Discovery was due into Alesund this morning, departure was at 2.30pm. As you can see from the photos, Fred Olsen's Balmoral is berthed right across Alesund quay...so not quite sure if Discovery actually made it or not....She would have left about 90 mins ago if she reached the port, however the way Balmoral is tied up, I cannot see where Discovery would have gone. The quay can take two ships and in the past a larger ship has been tied up with the bow hanging over in order to allow the second ship to dock.......

Where was Discovery and where is she now?

**neil** · 08-05-2008, 11:26 AM

Hi

I checked the webcam at the port about 10.00 am this morning and she was not there !

I have no information about an AIS system working in that area, although there is one for Oslo, so it is not possible to try and trace MV Discovery if she had her own transmitter turned on.

As there was a change of schedule earlier in this cruise, it could have happened again !

There is always the chance that the passengers may be rowing her back to Harwich, if those new rubber bands broke while she was cruising around during the eclipse, and they could not afford a tug !

Regards

Neil

**Ally** · 08-05-2008, 11:29 AM

Hunt the Discovery time again, eh, Neil?

It's not really funny...least not for those who have paid to be on board her....VoD are going to have to come clean at some point and withdraw the ship untill fully repaired, surely?

**neil** · 08-05-2008, 12:18 PM

Hi

If mv Discovery is still not running to schedule she should be taken out of service and repaired.

They may then be able to transfer some of the bookings to the Swan Hellenic ship mv Minerva as both companies belong to ' All Leisure Holidays Ltd. '

On the mv Discovery cruise, due to depart on the 7th August from Harwich, the fares for the eight day section of this cruise, which finishes at Copenhagen, were shown in their brochure at from £1,279.00p.

With the early booking discount of 31%, shown in the brochure, they were on offer from £ 879.00p.

On their website today, this fare has now been discounted to £ 599.00p !

There still appears to be various grades of cabins available for this eight day cruise !

On their website today Swan Hellenic also have an offer of up to 25% discount off their original cruise fares for the 16 day cruise due to depart on the mv Minerva on the 7th August !

I should not have long to wait for my free cruise !

Neil

**Ally** · 08-05-2008, 12:25 PM

The VoD situation is certainly getting worse. I cannot help but wonder what their profit margins are like on each cruise...they have to be nigh on non existant when you take in the foreign guest OBC's and so forth.

I definately feel that the time has come to take the ship out of service and either repair her properly or sadly, get shot of her to the breakers. I am still not entirely sure of her 2010 compliance.

**Ally** · 08-05-2008, 12:36 PM

You know, this is sad. Here is a company which had one of the best reputations around, who offered quite extraordinary itineraries on what is a basically standard but older ship for many years. They have built up a huge repeat cruiser following too.

Yet for reasons known only to themselves, they have thrown all that hard work down the drain for the sake of a crankshaft bearing/seal in March this year.

I really do not understand why they have pretty much committed business suicide like this. OK so Swan Hellenic is back up and running and offering similar itineraries under the same parent company...but the two have been around together before and they could still work alongside each other long into the future.

The only thing that I can put this strange behaviour down to is that Discovery is not 2010 compliant and they had hoped to wind her career down slowly...barring anything mechanical happening.

Good reputations take a very long time to nurture and can be destroyed so very quickly. I know the TA's are really not happy with how VoD are handling the problem with the ship and they are certainly not happy with foreigners getting OBC and British guests getting nothing.

I honestly am starting to think that 2008 will be the last year for VoD unless they buck up their ideas damn fast and get that ship sorted out.

**neil** · 08-05-2008, 01:08 PM

Hi

You want to have a look at the All Leisure website !

Their profits to April this year dropped to .02 of a million pounds against 1.7 million profit for the same period last year !

Neil

**Ally** · 08-05-2008, 01:13 PM

That makes it look bad for Swan Hellenic's future too then. Unless they only want one company to survive, of course...ie Swan Hellenic.

If that is what they are doing, I find that truly disgusting...not just for the loyal guest following VoD had but also to those in VoD's offices who have probably had an absolute gutful of the bad phone calls & letters of recent months.

If the parent company is struggling...and many will be this year with the economic woes going around every business, not just tourism...then why did they start up SH again this year...although even their ship cancelled 2 cruises due to mechanicals at the start.

It beggars belief, it really does. Have you ever come across anything like this before, Neil...I don't think I have.