One of the industry's small cruise lines - Voyages to Antiquity officially ceases operations at the end of October 2019. The news follows the company announcing it would charter its only vessel (Aegean Odyssey) to Road Scholar from April 2020 for a 3-year period.
Voyages to Antiquity was forced to cancel 10 sailings on Aegean Odyssey because of engine problems earlier in 2019. The final 4 voyages of the 2019 season will go ahead.
In a letter to partners, Jos Dewing (Voyages to Antiquity's Managing Director) said:
“Since the announcement [of chartering the ship] was made, the executive management at Voyages to Antiquity has been looking at various alternative options to continue the company and serve our loyal clients.
“However, this process was severely impacted by the unforeseeable engine failure that occurred in April this year, forcing the company to cancel most of our remaining 2019 summer cruises.
“While we are pleased to advise that the ship has now been fully repaired and that the final four cruises of the 2019 season will go ahead as scheduled, this serious issue has had an impact on the future plans for Voyages to Antiquity and repairing the ship has been the absolute priority for management and the focus of the company during this difficult period.
“It is therefore with regret that we have taken the difficult decision to close Voyages to Antiquity at the end of October 2019, at which point our office in Oxford will also close. It is very much business as normal until this point and we have staff answering calls and supporting those passengers still travelling with us in 2019.
“We would like to thank you for your support and partnership over what has been a very successful decade for Voyages to Antiquity.”
In a tweet, Jos Dewing praised the agent partners of the line and explained that “VTA was a strong and secure business” but that an “engine situation on a single ship is a big problem”.