The cruise company went into administration on Monday evening with Paul Williams, Phil Dakin and Edward Bines of Duff & Phelps appointed as joint administrators. The administrators are currently evaluating SQTL’s financial position.

SQTL traded under the Cruise & Maritime Voyages and Smile Travel Group brands in the UK, as well as Transocean Kreuzfahrten in Germany, and Croisières Maritimes & Voyages in France.

The company sold mainly cruise packages which are protected by ABTA. It also sold a small number of flight-inclusive packages which are protected by the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CCA) ATOL scheme.

All future bookings with the company are cancelled.

Advice for SQTL customers

As there are a number of different companies involved, and different types of arrangement, what customers should do next depends on who they booked with, and what they booked.

Customers that booked a package holiday provided by SQTL through a travel agent should contact the travel agent in the first instance.

Those who booked a non-flight package directly with SQTL are protected by ABTA and should visit www.abta.com/failures for further advice on how to claim.

You will need to have all of your booking information and documents to hand when submitting a refund claim.

ABTA says that if a customer was due a refund for a cancelled package but hasn’t received that money yet, they will also be covered by the ABTA scheme, as will customers who had been sent refund credit notes.

UK customers who booked a package holiday with flights will need to contact the CAA as your booking is protected by the CAA’s ATOL scheme.  Your ATOL certificate will say ’Package Sale’ in the bottom right hand corner.