New luxury small ship line, Haimark

[lilpfef]

Travel Weekly posted an article in mid December indicating that a Colorado judge allowed Haimark to transfer funds from a bank account to an escrow account to satisfy the needs of the Maritime Association. Their president continues to be optimistic that they can get through Chapter 11 in a few more weeks, but that is what they have been saying since October.

 

It seems like a messy situation with multiple parties involved and Haimark Line hanging out there on a string. It appears that Haimark is working this day to day and maintaining their cruise schedule and only cancelling cruises within days to 2 weeks of departure. This is understandable otherwise the chances of a full recovery would be non-existent.

 

With hesitancy, we recently cancelled our June '16 Great Lakes and St Lawrence Seaway cruise, but have not been guaranteed the return of our deposit.

 

I hope those of you getting ready for February departures will receive good news soon.

[emmy]

Total accident looking for another ship I see that St Laurent is on her way to Jacksonville Florida.

 

This was from 2 minutes ago Jan 22/16

 

[PCruzer]

Total accident looking for another ship I see that St Laurent is on her way to Jacksonville Florida.

 

This was from 2 minutes ago Jan 22/16

 

 

Well that seems to be some good news!

[bxny]

I used Vantage to book the cruise on the St Laurent. i didn't know about all the events until I read this forum. Hope the cruise happens. i didn't like the itinerary on Carnival's Fathom.

[pbnjrockette]

We are booked with Vantage for the March 26th sailing.

[pbnjrockette]

The company has now been sold. Hopefully all will move forward successfully...

 

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Private-equity-firm-buys-Haimark

[PCruzer]

The company has now been sold. Hopefully all will move forward successfully...

 

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Private-equity-firm-buys-Haimark

 

Hi Pat. That's good news! Hopefully the Cuba trips will all depart. We are booked through Vantage next month! Keeping our fingers crossed!

 

Pam

[pbnjrockette]

Pam, please send me all the details about your trip! We are looking forward to this one!!! My email is pbnj00 @ gmail dot com I want to hear everything!!! We just got our flights.

[bxny]

Pam, please send me all the details about your trip! We are looking forward to this one!!! My email is pbnj00 @ gmail dot com I want to hear everything!!! We just got our flights.

 

How did they route you? I am assuming JFK or EWR? They would be our departing airports.

[johnr15]

My wife and I are booked through Vantage on the Feb. 29 sailing. I called Vantage but they couldn't tell me anything so I called Haimark. Their rep said the Feb. 11 and 20 sailings have been cancelled. No decision yet on the Feb. 29. He said the Cuban government has not yet given permission to call at Cuban ports. It doesn't look good.

[PCruzer]

I agree. It doesn't look good. Haimark also told me that the Feb 11th and 20th departures have been canceled and will not be reinstated. I just wish I would hear from Vantage as to what the plan is. I'm assuming that if they cancel, we will get a refund. From what I understand, Vantage should know more by February 2nd. We are between a rock and a hard place...if we cancel, then we lose the trip cost. We would like to start looking at other options if this trip will not be going.

[pbnjrockette]

How did they route you? I am assuming JFK or EWR? They would be our departing airports.

 

We're routed through Philadelphia since we live about 30 minutes away.

[pbnjrockette]

I agree. It doesn't look good. Haimark also told me that the Feb 11th and 20th departures have been canceled and will not be reinstated. I just wish I would hear from Vantage as to what the plan is. I'm assuming that if they cancel, we will get a refund. From what I understand, Vantage should know more by February 2nd. We are between a rock and a hard place...if we cancel, then we lose the trip cost. We would like to start looking at other options if this trip will not be going.

 

 

Oh, darn... that does not look good at all... Vantage will have to refund all if it's cancelled.

[PCruzer]

We're routed through Philadelphia since we live about 30 minutes away.

Hope they sort this whole thing out so you can go on this trip, Pat! As for us, it looks like it will be canceled. They don't even have authorization from the Cuban government to go there yet! Edited January 29, 2016 by PCruzer

[Benjy]

We were booked on February 20 departure through Vantage. I have become increasingly suspicious due to postings here and not seeing the ship on the Miami Cruise schedule published by the port.

A call today to Vantage could not be confirm the cancellation, but I was told to expect a call from Vantage tomorrow or Thursday to let us know what was happening.

A call to Haimark did indicate that it was cancelled, and Vantage was so notified last week.

I will let you know what they offer.

Disappointed with their customer service. We are long term travelers with Vantage.

[pbnjrockette]

We were booked on February 20 departure through Vantage. I have become increasingly suspicious due to postings here and not seeing the ship on the Miami Cruise schedule published by the port.

A call today to Vantage could not be confirm the cancellation, but I was told to expect a call from Vantage tomorrow or Thursday to let us know what was happening.

A call to Haimark did indicate that it was cancelled, and Vantage was so notified last week.

I will let you know what they offer.

Disappointed with their customer service. We are long term travelers with Vantage.

 

Certainly hope you hear from them ASAP with a total and complete refund! We are also longterm travelers with Vantage and will not accept anything less!! I can't imagine that any of the tours planned for this spring are going to sail since the Cuban government seems to not have issued the authorizations. Disappointing.

[pbnjrockette]

I just spoke to a Haimark representative. According to her, the delay is being caused by incomplete paperwork filing due to Haimark's Chapter 11 filing and that they have cancelled the Feb. 11 and Feb. 20 sailings. She stated that they expect everything to be complete and will sail as scheduled on Feb. 29 and all following dates.

 

We shall see....

[PCruzer]

We were booked on February 20 departure through Vantage. I have become increasingly suspicious due to postings here and not seeing the ship on the Miami Cruise schedule published by the port.

A call today to Vantage could not be confirm the cancellation, but I was told to expect a call from Vantage tomorrow or Thursday to let us know what was happening.

A call to Haimark did indicate that it was cancelled, and Vantage was so notified last week.

I will let you know what they offer.

Disappointed with their customer service. We are long term travelers with Vantage.

We are also booked on the February 20th Cuba sailing. I called Vantage yesterday and the reservationist I spoke to was not even aware of any problem with this trip. Why would she be??? The Vantage website is offering cabin upgrades for Feb. 20th!!! After she put me on hold and spoke to the Operations Dept., she came back and told me to expect a call on Wednesday. Now they told you it could be Thursday. I can't imagine why they are not notifying us that the cruise is canceled, since so many of us already are aware of this fact from Haimark. I am hoping they are not thinking of substituting a land tour for the cruise. We specifically booked this trip because it was a cruise. We do not want a land tour. We did our own air, so we will probably lose that money. We purchased independent travel insurance, and I think I can transfer that insurance to a future trip, since we should get a full refund from Vantage. Not worth the cost of insurance to just get back the air costs. I would definitely be interested in hearing what Vantage offers you as compensation for this soon to be canceled trip. I will let you know the same. Very disappointing!

[PCruzer]

I just finished an online chat with Vantage. The person I spoke to said that the Operations Dept is awaiting confirmation of one portion of the trip, which is why I didn't receive a call from Vantage today. She did say that, right now, the trip on 2/20 (Vantage departure 2/19) should run as scheduled. She could not give me any further information, such as whether they lined up a different ship to replace the St. Laurent. I told her that we didn't want a land tour of Cuba...if we wanted that, we would have booked their land tour. Again, she could not offer any other information to me. She said that I should receive a call tomorrow, but her closing to me was, "If you don't receive a call by Friday, call Customer Service." Guess we are just stuck waiting.

[Benjy]

Just got off the phone with Vantage Customer Service, as per usual they were clueless.. A long wait while they checked with operations. I was told they were still coming up with details and we would hear from them tomorrow. We then spoke to a manager who did not seem to know about the situation but promised to get to the bottom of it, and call us about it.

 

I am very disappointed and discouraged. Vantage over the years has provided excellent tours, and River Cruises. This was the eighth one I have booked. The Boston Office has always been

difficult to deal with. I guess a chain is as strong as its weakest link.

Stay tuned.

[PCruzer]

Still waiting for my call from Vantage. How about you, Benjy? Any word?

[Benjy]

Still waiting.

[PCruzer]

If I don't hear something by 3:30 pm today, I'm calling them again. We have never had such a terrible experience with Vantage before...Grand Circle, yes...but never Vantage. We are leaving for Florida in 2 weeks, going a day early. 2 weeks! Normally I would be starting my packing routine already. I don't want to begin that process until I know for sure that we are going. Will let everyone know what happens.

[Benjy]

Finally heard the news officially.

They offered us a 7 night cruise on a smaller yacht called Panorama I or II run by Variety Cruises to Cuba leaving on 2/19. As another option, they offered us credit toward another small boat tour during 2016.

We decided to ask for a full refund back to our credit card, and they agreed without hesitation.

The delay apparently was in trying to set up something to substitute.

We winter in Miami and the air situation was not an issue.

Good luck to PCruzer and any one else on the boards involved.

Please keep us updated.

[pbnjrockette]

Finally heard the news officially.

They offered us a 7 night cruise on a smaller yacht called Panorama I or II run by Variety Cruises to Cuba leaving on 2/19. As another option, they offered us credit toward another small boat tour during 2016.

We decided to ask for a full refund back to our credit card, and they agreed without hesitation.

The delay apparently was in trying to set up something to substitute.

We winter in Miami and the air situation was not an issue.

Good luck to PCruzer and any one else on the boards involved.

Please keep us updated.

 

 

Looks like a good choice.... I would not take a substitute cruise either. Did they make an offer for the same cruise for 2017??