Vantage Travel is negotiating a sale of the company amid cancellations

“Our primary goal is to obtain the best outcome for our customers. Confidentiality agreements governing our negotiations prevent us from disclosing additional information at this time,” she wrote.
“At this time, Vantage Deluxe World Travel is engaged in sensitive negotiations for a sale of the company,” Rossella Mercuri, Vantage general counsel, said in the email.
Vantage Travel, the Boston-based company that has canceled numerous cruises since April and come under fierce criticism from customers for long-delayed refunds, is negotiating for the sale of the company, the company said in an email to the Globe on Tuesday morning.
Vantage, a Boston travel mainstay that has run luxury ocean and river cruises around the world for 40 years, made the statement in response to repeated inquiries from the Globe after a new raft of cruise cancellations.
Advertisement
On late Monday afternoon, the Globe sent Vantage a copy of a purported internal memo saying the company was suspending trips for three months. The Globe asked three top company executives to confirm the memo’s authenticity and explain what was going on at Vantage.
Vantage did not comment directly on the purported internal memo, but acknowledged this morning that it was responding after the Globe had “reached out regarding our company.”
The purported internal memo surfaced on June 2 on Consumer Rescue, a consumer advocacy website. Michelle Couch-Friedman, who operates the website, sent a copy of the five-sentence memo to the Globe on Monday.
The purported internal memo, apparently sent to Vantage employees on June 1, said the company had to postpone departures over the next 90 days “in light of our impending transaction.”
“The departures through 8/28 will be postponed,” it said.
The purported memo also said Vantage had decided to dock two of its ships — “the Ocean Vessels” — in Caen, France, “until we have a better idea of the timeline for restarting operations.”
Advertisement
Large windows for ocean viewing on the Ocean Explorer, a cruise ship owned by the Boston company Vantage Travel. Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
The purported memo was signed by Deirdre Dirkman, Vantage executive vice president for operations and marketing.
Two of Vantage’s ships, Ocean Explorer and the Ocean Odyssey, are now docked in Caen, France, according to the online cruise tracking website cruisemapper.com.
Jim Terry, of Concord, said he was scheduled to board the Ocean Explorer on June 12 in Ireland for a now-cancelled cruise circumnavigating Ireland. He sent the Globe a copy of the June 3 cancellation notice he received from Vantage.
“Unfortunately, Vantage has to cancel your upcoming journey due to operational reasons,” the notice says. “We understand this is not what you had planned and we deeply regret having to cancel it. ”
The notice goes on to provide several options for jilted would-be travelers like Terry to choose from, including rebooking trips with a “$500 per person future trip credit” or accepting a refund.
Another would-be traveler, Pat Allaire, of New York, said she was scheduled to board the Ocean Odyssey on June 18 in England for a now-canceled cruise to France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Scandinavia.
The cancellation notice she received from Vantage on June 3 was virtually identical to the one Terry received.
During the pandemic, Vantage came under heavy criticism from travelers for long delays in receiving refunds for canceled trips, according to a 2021 Globe story.
As of late April, the office of Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell had received more than 700 complaints about Vantage, mostly for refunds after cancellations stretching back three years.
Advertisement
Since late April, more than a dozen people have complained to the Globe about last-minute cancellations of trips long planned and fully paid for.
“We were very much looking forward to the trip,” Allaire said on Monday.
Got a problem? Send your consumer issue to sean.murphy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @spmurphyboston.