American Queen Voyages shuts down, cancels future cruises

American Queen Voyages has ended its operations as of Feb. 20, 2024, cancelling all future cruises.

The news, first reported by Travel Market Report, comes after several major travel trade groups suspended sales of the brand in January due to problems related to commission payments and customer service.

A pre-recorded message left on American Queen Voyages’ reservations line appears to confirm the shutdown. PAX rang the company Tuesday night to re-confirm the news.

"American Queen Voyages has made the difficult decision to shut down and all future cruises have been cancelled. Guests and customers should expect to be fully refunded for cancelled cruises,” a message says.

The recording directs impacted guests to a claims site at www.aqvrefunds.com (however, the link, as of Tuesday night, leads to an access denied message).

The message says that additional information is available at www.aqvinfo.com (this website, at the time of this writing, is also blocked).

In October 2023, American Queen Voyages, which is owned by the Hornblower Group, let go of its president, Cindy D'Aoust, after she was just one year into the job.

Cancellations at the Fort Lauderdale, FL-based cruise line have also taken place in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, the company announced that it was cancelling select February voyages aboard its American Queen the American Countess vessels.

In a statement, the cruise line said it had to extend its layup schedule to ensure it could deliver “the best possible customer experience."

PAX has reached out to the company for further comment. 

This is a developing story.

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