Boston-based Vantage Travel, a troubled luxury cruise company that was the subject of hundreds of consumer complaints and at least one lawsuit, brought its chapter 11 bankruptcy case to a federal courtroom, WCVB reported. The company announced last week that it had filed for chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts and agreed to be acquired by United Travel Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of Nordic Hamburg and Heritage Expeditions. A dense and lengthy hearing for creditors in the bankruptcy case was held at the Moakley courthouse. Prior to that hearing, the U.S. Trustee for Region 1 submitted an objection to the court in which he sharply criticized Vantage's actions, including the timing of their bankruptcy filing during the holiday week. According to the Trustee's document, Vantage fired all but five of its employees and had just $4,207 and liabilities totaling more than $170 million as of the petition date. The company used $80.3 million in customer deposits to fund prebankruptcy operations, borrowed $35 million in 2023 and owes an additional $28.5 million in customer refunds and cancellations. As of last week, the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office said it had received at least 1,120 consumer complaints against Vantage since Jan. 1, 2020, including 478 filed this year. Of those, a total of 108 complaints came from Massachusetts residents, including 50 this year.
