sc.cruiser

5 minutes ago, Viv0828 said:

 

wow! some people here sound really bitter when a person doesn't want to sail into asia at this time and they would like the cruise company to take some of the responsibility.

Thanks for the support. I do understand his point. I should have started commenting on the many great experiences that I have had. Like the Christmas Cruise on the Westerdam, or the back to back Australia/New Zealand cruises last Christmas on the Norwegian Jade which was absolutely a great experience. Then there was the excursion to Pompeii where our tour guide took us through the back entrance so for the first half of our tour our group was alone, no crowd. 

I will be for diligent in tell of the good things that happen not just the bad experiences. No longer will I be a lurker, but a contributor. 

I want to thank everyone for their comments to my post. I wish this wasn't my first and I hope it won't be my last. The post was the result of over a week of phone calls trying to find a way to select another HAL cruise with some consideration for the trouble. 

I have found a wonderful substitute cruise from Portugal to Buenas Aries which combines Europe, a trans Atlantic crossing, with South America at a reasonable cost on another cruise line.

Finally, I too have experienced having a port of call switched after missing one port and another port canceled due to weather. The cruise line involved over night set up a call to Crete which turned out to be one of the most memorable ports I've visited.

The whole point is that customer service is the key to customer satisfaction and retention.

I just canceled my March 14 sailing on the Westerdamn. After days of discussion, Holland America would not in anyway try to help in this unprecedented event. They offered $100 on-board credit per person,  a 20% future cruise credit, but only if you took their revised cruise mostly of uninteresting Japanese ports of call. The original sailing included Nagasaki the revised does not, nor does it sail to Hiroshima. Any good sailing for Japan should include either of the these two ports of call.

My only option was to cancel the cruise and loose 10% of the money I paid.

The management of Holland America and the Carnival group in general should look more closely at their response to the corona-virus pandemic. Their current response is totally unacceptable. They have lost a three star mariner.The Carnival group has lost a customer.