People booked to cruise on Hebridean Spirit, just sold by Hebridean International Cruises, have become hot property.
We've had Swan to the rescue offering them a 5% discount, Silversea to the rescue offering a 10% discount and now SeaDream Yacht Club has stepped in offering 15% off the "book today" prices for 2009 and 2010.
Decisions, decisions.
SeaDream's two 112-passenger vessels are closest in size to Hebridean's 98-passenger Hebridean Spirit (and they have the added advantage of being all-inclusive, as was Spirit) but they only sail in the Med and Caribbean.
Silversea's Prince Albert II, with capacity for 132 passengers, is also pretty close, and also all-inclusive. But at the moment it only sails in the Arctic and Antarctica.
If passengers want greater choice of exciting destinations, it has to be Swan. Minerva is bigger - 350 passengers - and unfortunately you have to pay for drinks on board, but you do get to visit places such as North Africa, the Black Sea, South Africa, Turkey and Mozambique. And that's just the sort of thing that Hebridean Spirit did too.
The way things are going, though, the best thing is probably just to sit tight and wait for the next "rescue package". Judging from past experience it will be offering an even bigger discount!
Jane Archer
