The mood at the cruising ventures of All Leisure Group is one of uncertainty. There are rumours that at least one, if not two of their ships, could be going to other operators.
A one-line message on Swan Hellenic's website announced that the 352-berth mv Minerva’s “Gateway to the Atlantic Isles” cruise due to leave Marseille on January 3, had been cancelled, with apologies to all its passengers.
A similar message on the website of affiliated Voyages of Discovery announced the cancellation of the 556-berth MV Voyager’s “Riches of the Orient” cruise due to start in Malaysia today, January 4.
Unconfirmed reports say that potential buyers inspected the Voyager during a recent dry-docking at Keppel shipyard in Singapore. Meanwhile, representatives of Sea Chefs, who operate the vessel’s hotel services, are said to have flown in from Germany to address crew members.
These announcements follow a long period of uncertainty at All Leisure Group. It has emerged that All Leisure Group has sold off its Hebridean Island Cruises brand. In further development it also emerged that other All Leisure brands Travelsphere and Just You are now operating under G Adventures Atol licence, suggesting they've also been sold.
In late November 2015, All Leisure Group sold the 50-berth Hebridean Princess and certain related assets for GBP 2,9 million in cash to the company HP Shipping, from which it is chartering the ship back on an 8-year lease. HP Shipping is owned by a syndicate of private investors led by Roger Allard, chairman of and shareholder in All Leisure Group.
In late August 2016, All Leisure Group sold its specialist operator Discover Egypt (Nile cruises) to its own management team. Discover Egypt is now part of Platinum Holidays (established May 2016) and includes Roger Allard and All Leisure Holidays’ commercial director Philip Breckner and director David Wiles.
At the time, All Leisure Group said that All Leisure Holidays would “continue to meet the demands of the growing tour and cruise markets with its brands Travelsphere, Just You, Swan Hellenic, Hebridean Island Cruises and Voyages of Discovery.”
Preceding these changes, All Leisure Group had also announced 40 staff redundancies.
In its end of year results for October 2015, the group said demand for tours to Turkey and Middle East was “sharply down” but that Discover Egypt “continued to maintain its historic position as a leading holiday and cruise operator.”
All Leisure Group left the the stock market in 2015 after months of tough trading conditions. Its turnover for the year to October 2015 was GBP 127.3 million, down from GBP 138.9 miillion a year earlier, but the group did make a GBP 500,000 profit compared with a GBP 7.5 million loss the previous year and a GBP 13.2 million loss the year before that.