Wow what a week that was

Over the last week there has been a few announcements that have taken place within the travel industry which has shocked not only customers but also me – and i have been in this industry for 19 years now.

Obviously the sad news which broke at 3.30am this morning that Monarch Airlines and Monarch Holidays have ceased trading – I have flown with Monarch myself a few times and it is sad to see they have entered into Administration. Here at Cruise.co.uk if you have a booking through us flying which involves Monarch flights then we will be in touch (if we haven’t already) with new flight options. If you have booked direct then best to go to the https://monarch.caa.co.uk/ and follow the advice on the website, if you are currently overseas a return flight will be arranged and you will be contacted to advise when this will be. Not only has this had an impact on customer and holidays, but also 3000 people are now out of jobs.

Still in the airline world, last week saw Ryanair cancel a further 18,000 flights this winter over 34 routes, which then saw the CAA have to step in and point out that under EU261 passengers were entitled to be rerouted on another airline – which is not what Ryanair was mentioning to customers.

In the Cruise world last week P&O announced they had sold the ship Adonia and its last cruise would be on the 23rd February from Barbados, she will then head over to Azamara where she will be refitted and renamed the Azamara Pursuit.  The handling of the news could have been much better from P&O as they first announced this on social media, then instead of emailing customers a letter to let them know – they sent letters to our head office which then was sent out by our admin team and has delayed the process in customers finding out. P&O have given customers the option of rebooking another cruise and getting a £100 off the nexr cruise with them if booked by the 27th october, and if not booked then the bookings are cancelled and full refund of monies paid back. Some people like the smaller ship Adonia and are now struggling to find something else as the other ships in the fleet are too big – however Fred Olsen have stepped in and anyone affected by the Adonia cancellation and wants a smaller ship can rebook to go on Fred Olsen and they will receive £100 pp for 7-11 night sailings and £200 pp for any sailings over 12 nights.  Which I think is a great move by Fred Olsen.

Last week also saw Cunard announce they will be launching a new ship in 2020 – but what will she be called? Could it be Queen Camilla if Prince Charles is on the throne then?

I found out last week that not only am I off on the Celebrity Eclipse for 5 nights on the 18th October (hoping for a better Celebrity cruise than my last trip on the Eclipse), I am off to Hong Kong to do some research for our tailor made holidays for 4 nights at the begining of November, and if that wasn’t enough i am sampling the 6 star Silverseas experience in December and sailing the UAE which was on my to visit list. So exciting times over the next 3 months for me.

Have you been affected by Monarch, Ryanair or Adonia in the last couple of weeks? Have you managed to get rebooked?

Have a great couple of weeks

Kerry

xx