we135b

6 hours ago, BillGray said:

It took a long time, but we did finally get the reimbursements meal and lodging from HAL.  The action occurred after I sent a letter explaining our situation to the President of HAL.  Someone in his office researched and found that though the reimbursements had been approved,  they had never been forwarded for reimbursement.  The president even offered us a couple of free exclusive meals on our next cruise.

That’s great. Glad they came through. Seems like there might be some sort of performance issues with customer service if the leadership is going to respond like that.

39 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

We are still waiting for our payment, too, from our September 2022 Alaska cruise.  It's not a lot, the ship made arrangements for us to rent a car and drive home to isolate, so car rental and ferry.  Our PCC did manage to get our FCC expedited some months later, but we've heard nothing more.  

I mentioned to a previous responder, that it's possible that the company might have changed internal  policy or something that's freed up their reimbursement budget (of course, I have no idea what I'm talking about. lol). so it might not be a bad idea to remind them that they owe you via email or phone. Good luck. There is still hope.

53 minutes ago, cartervan said:

Oh wow--I should have realized that we were not the only ones dealing with all this COVID reimbursement hassle!  We also were on an Alaska Land/Sea cruise in July of 22, and, just like another person's story, got as far as Denali before my husband tested positive for COVID.  After two days in isolation at the lodge we were bussed back to Anchorage where we were put up in a (supposedly $400 a night) hotel room with kitchenette but no nearby restaurants in an industrial part of town, and told to order food from Walmart. However, HAL gave us the (apparently standard) letter saying we would be reimbursed for meals and for the cost of the room. Since we did have travel insurance, we first applied for what they were supposed to pay.  I won't go into all the painful details of the year-long struggle with insurance (which turned out to be worthless--our lawyer says it's a clear case of fraud) and with HAL.  No reimbursement yet. We have twice mailed in all the required paper work. ( The first time HAL says they never received it). After I pushed for it, we did get Cruise Credit posted to our account, and so booked another cruise for February to cash in on that.  However, in our continuing efforts to get what was promised us, HAL suddenly decided that only half of our Cruise Credit was owed to us and added another $900 or so to what we owe for our February cruise!! Hours and hours on the phone. Dozens of e-mails and letters. Unbelievable! 

Ugh. That's so painful to hear. Before I got reimbursed recently (15 months later), I had begun the process for small claims court (magistrate court). You might consider either filing suit with HAL or your insurance company. For my state, CA, the process was very simple. I was to send a letter to my state's HAL office and send a form into the courts and that's it. There is some nominal court fee and lawyers are not allowed to get involved on either side of the dispute in CA so, no cost there. The case of suing HAL was tricky for me. I couldn't find any documentation where they committed to reimbursement prior to purchasing my cruise which is probably no coincidence. So, my plan was to sue them for promising reimbursement and failing to do so when I could have found a much cheaper accommodations (I could have stayed in AirBNB's for almost nothing). I was going to sue them for the difference. The case with the insurance company seems straightforward if they are not honoring their contract. While I'm happy to finally get reimbursed, I feel like HAL really let us down, This is not how an honest company does business. Best of luck to you.

41 minutes ago, trtog7 said:

I wrote the President for a different refund that I was having trouble getting and got a larger amount as OBC.

That's awesome. I guess they know we're getting pretty upset if we're writing the president. lol. Great to hear.

3 hours ago, Suzy Bell said:

I'm so happy for you and you have given me hope for my outstanding claim which was submitted on December 20, 2022.

 

Thanks Suzy. Maybe it might be a good idea to try calling again as futile as it might feel sometimes. Maybe there were budget policy changes or something. Good luck to you.

😃WHATTT?!!! After 15 months of waiting, I got my COVID reimbursement check from Holland America for the full amount! Thanks all for the comments and positivity. While the experience was not a good one, it was nice to develop a relationship with this forum. I look forward to more discussions with you guys!

15 hours ago, floridababa said:

We filed the claim with the insurance company and got reimbursed within 3 weeks.

I guess we got lucky

That's great to hear. My insurance company was not so generous. Lol. I really thought that HAL would meet their commitment though so, at the time, I wasn't concerned.

20 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

I really question why HAL would have any legal responsibility.  It was disembarkation day.  The cruise had ended.  Are you trying to blame HAL for your Covid?  The fact that you tested at a time when you were supposed to be getting off the ship raises a question of your purpose, which appears to have been made solely for getting HAL to pay for a post-cruise excursion.  Not sympathetic.

I hate when people try to take advantage of companies for their own gain also, however, I don't think that is my case. HAL made the commitment to their customers to reimburse COVID related costs so their customers could cruise without exposure to high cost risk. At the time, Canada required 10 days of isolation before you could leave the country. I wouldn't have gone on the cruise if I knew this was my risk to finance. To be clear, HAL made this commitment and I'm expecting them to honor it.  Regarding contracting COVID, feeling symptoms on disembarkation day suggests that I contracted COVID some time prior on the seven day cruise. Regarding my intentions, you are correct.  As I indicated in the comment your quoted, had I tested after I got off the ship, I was concerned that HAL might not have felt obligated to reimburse my isolation. I didn't write this for sympathy. I wrote this to understand how my situation compared to others and to warn others that HAL did not fulfill their commitment. Hope that clarifies.

7 hours ago, flgus said:

I've been trying for months to get HA to recognize that I've emailed them a claim (3 times).  I've called the 800 number twice and both have "not been able to find it".  Here is the last email I sent them.

__________________________________

Hello,

 

I've been trying for several months to submit an out of pocket expense form.    My booking ID is XLMXVV.  I've called the 800 number several times to check on status but the emailed form hasn't made it to my account.

 

Can you help me figure out why my emails appear to not be going through to you?  I appreciate the help.

 

Thanks

 

Gus Deibner

__________________________________

 

At this point I'm not expecting a reply....

 

I used US postal in addition to email to deliver my reimbursement form. Even at that, I had to go on hold for three hours to verify on the phone that the form had been received. Otherwise, it's questionable if they would have ever acknowledged receipt. Clearly, standing by their commitment to reimburse is not a high priority.

6 hours ago, blkadr08 said:

Take heart!  We were isolated in Vancouver in April 2022 and ran up a $7000+ tab, which Holland promised to cover.  Like you, no amount of calling, texting cajoling or threatening for almost exactly a year got so much as a response from Holland.  Sat on hold for two hours on three occasions before giving up.
 

 The good news:  We just got a check from HA for the entire amount!  So, don’t give up hope!

That is great news. I'm very happy for you and, you are right, it does restore a smidge of hope for me. Thanks for sharing and happy cruising!

10 hours ago, BillGray said:

Ditto for my wife and I.  We have been waiting for six months for a $4500 quarantine reimbursement that HAL has said will be mailed to us. 

It's sounding like there are more people not getting reimbursed than those who have. Not sure what the discriminator is. Fingers crossed that they'll come around. Prior to this thread, I had given up all hope.

9 hours ago, flyer79 said:

We were supposed to be on the same Alaska cruise as the OP.  Made it to Fairbanks and Denali and got covid there.  Got to do a couple days of quarantine in Denali and then they bussed us to Anchorage to finish it.   Our reimbursement was not lightning fast but was within 120 days as I recall.    TA did most of the communicating for us.   Maybe that made a diff.

 

 

TA sounds like the way to go. TA might have known better which people to approach and might have had some leverage. I never thought of using one.

11 hours ago, blkadr08 said:

This has to be hurting HAL’s bottom line.  Like many others here, we have been promised (in writing) close to $7000 in reimbursement for the isolation in May 2022, but, because HA has been so completely non-responsive about this, we refuse to cruise on any Carnival line ship until this is resolved .  We cruise every summer, and have booked cruises on both NCL and Windstar already out of our Holland America cruise fund ( yes, we really have one - We are 4 Star HA Cruisers).  Really sad, because we love HA otherwise and wouldn’t have considered another line, but for this problem.

Sorry to hear. I agree completely. They've not been up front about this either. Nine months on, it's clear that they've been either not able or not willing to meet their commitments. I would have preferred the truth that they were unable to pay rather than the repeated empty promises month after month. As it is, the sight of a HAL advertisement or commercial evokes nothing but this aggravating memory so there's no way I could sail with them. I've switched over to RCCL and will try others. Celebrity is a new favorite of mine.

44 minutes ago, BSinPNS said:

Positive news for a change.  DW came down with COVID on our Oosterdam Antarctica trip in January.  She received the standard letter from the ship promising a FCC equal to the amount of the per diem for the five days she was isolated.  After reading this thread, I was not optimistic we would ever see it, certainly not without a lot of follow-up.  Final payment was rapidly approaching for our July cruise.  Our TA checked with HAL and said I would need to contact Guest Relations to get the credit since it wasn't on DW’s Mariner account.  I was pleasantly surprised to talk to an agent overseas (Philippines) within a minute after getting through the phone tree selections.  After a few minutes search, she was able to locate the data and said that she would process my request.  (I was speechless and thanked her profusely.)  A few hours later I received an email stating the amount that would be applied to DW's Mariner account within 24-48 hours.  My TA checked after 36 hours and her HAL contact applied it to our July cruise and paid the rest with my card.  The amount was the total cruise cost (not including port fees, etc.) divided by 22 days and multiplied by the five days she was isolated.  So, a very happy ending.  I wonder if part of the problem may be in individual ship's providing data to Seattle.   

That's interesting. Sounds like they paid for both the cruise as well as the isolation in FCC(?). I'm expecting cash as my relationship with HAL may be irreparable. Glad to hear some people are getting reimbursed. Gives me hope but also makes me wonder what is different about my case.

9 hours ago, eggemon said:

Getting refunds, credits, etc., is definitely a struggle… but it is not hopeless…

 

Our story: We planned an Alaska/Yukon/Denali land-sea cruise tour for 2020. Due to COVID, that was cancelled and we rebooked for 2021. That was cancelled as well, and we rebooked for 2022.

 

Off we go, finally, in 2022… only to come down with COVID at the very end of the land portion of our HAL trip. We quarantined, following HAL’s guidance, then (fortunately) were able to proceed with the non-HAL part of our vacation after that – so we just missed out on the cruise itself.

 

Our reimbursements were slowed in part due to my delay in submitting the requests, and I cannot fault anyone else for that.

 

When we did file, our travel insurance proved to be nearly worthless – it paid for a flight we needed to take in lieu of the cruise, but covered almost nothing else.

 

As for HAL, they told us we would get credit for our cruise in a few weeks, but, in fact, it was early March (approximately 8 months post-cruise) before we received credit. I was also VERY disappointed that the future cruise credits they provided expire in March 2024, which means that they can only be used for Alaska in 2023 – and it came so late that we could not book exactly what we wanted. (However, we were ultimately able to find something that fit well enough, so we will be taking our Alaska cruise this summer.)

 

I will note that HAL did refund our shore excursions immediately (while we were in quarantine, in fact!). However, we STILL have not received the Mariner credit for the days we were on the trip. (Inconsistency abounds...)

 

And then we have our other COVID-related expenses – including the expensive quarantine lodging that HAL promotes. We waited to file our claim with HAL until the travel insurance was resolved, per HAL’s direction. But here we are, still awaiting whatever payment HAL will grant us. We believe we are due a few thousand dollars (based on their published policy) but we will see what HAL decides to reimburse.

 

I an truly sympathetic to HAL’s situation – a lot of requests, coming at a time when revenues were lower due to pandemic conditions and cautious travelers. BUT, those of us who DID travel felt confident in doing so, in part, due to HAL’s commitment to cover the unexpected expenses if we did come down with COVID. I am hopeful they will come through for us, eventually, but sure wish it did not take so long.

 

 

Gary

Sounds like a similar story. I wish I had your graciousness such that I can have sympathy for HAL's situation. To add insult to injury to my story, HAL directed me to the Delta hotel in Vancouver (an unspectacular business hotel) and after my stay, when it was too late to do otherwise, said that they would be reimbursing only $3000 of the $4000 hotel bill because it exceeded their conveniently arbitrary and undocumented limit. Of course, they made this experience so painful that I would love to see any amount of money at this point. Thanks for the positive thoughts. I guess we need to remember that while we'll have to negotiate around these sort of companies, we are still very lucky to be able participate in this lifestyle. Best of luck on your reimbursement.

2 hours ago, 00649 said:

 Cruise lines are bleeding red, Carnival was the worst performer on the S&P 500  index last qrt.They can say they have full ships but when so many are on cruises that they havent paid for the future doesnt look good for cruise lines.

Very true. A lot of people cashing in their FCCs.

11 hours ago, terrydtx said:

My wife got Covid on the Oosterdam last August and spent the last 5 days in isolation plus 3 nights in a hotel in Venice. We got the same letter about getting a per diem FCC for the missed 5 days and reimbursement for the hotel and food.  When we finally got home my TA filed with our travel insurance company for the missed 5 days and all of our out-of-pocket expenses. The travel insurance reimbursed us for the 5 days of isolation on the ship for both my wife and I plus the expenses for food and hotel in Venice. The only expense not covered was the $42 for a bottle of cough syrup for my wife on the ship. We were totally satisfied with the insurance settlement.

 

On January 31st, this year, we received an email from HAL saying that we had been given a FCC for the missed 5 days for my wife and the 3 days of hotel cost in Venice. The total FCC was over $3600, but had to be used by January 31st, 2024, so, we used it to book a 7-day cruise in November on the Koingsdam. The FCC covered the cost with HIA, so we are looking at this as a free cruise from HAL, and it restored our faith in them enough that we also booked a NE/Canada Volendam cruise for August 2024. The unexpected, and unasked for FCC kept us as a customer of HAL.

 

BTW for the OP, since it was my wife who was in covid isolation the FCC showed up in HER HAL account, not mine. When we looked in her account the reimbursement for the hotel in Venice was posted to her account on Dec 20th over a month before we got the email about the credit.

I just checked our accounts and no luck but a good thought. I'm glad to hear things worked out for you. The amount of stress and frustration that HAL has given me will make going back to them a very difficult. I'm really loving this community. It's been very nice hearing other's stories. So, thanks.

4 hours ago, Tangocherie said:

It took me over 6 months after many emails and phone calls to get my reimbursement. Submitted my request in May 2022 and received the check in December! Hang in there. 

Thanks very much for the vote of confidence. I will keep my hope alive. The stress and frustration has been difficult but will have been worth the effort if I ever get my reimbursement.

1 hour ago, CafeBruno said:

Don't give up hope, I believe you will eventually get your reimbursement. 

 

My wife and I caught Covid on a HAL Alaska Land & Sea trip, and I submitted my reimbursement form to HAL on June 26, 2022. HAL emailed me in September 2022 stating my claim had been approved and a reimbursement check would follow soon. I didn't receive the check until March 20, 2023 - that's just shy of 9 months from the day I submitted the forms to HAL. Before finally receiving the check, I contacted HAL numerous times, including with the Office of the President, and like you were only given vague assurance that it would be paid but they couldn't tell me when. It's incredibly frustrating, especially hearing that some people received their reimbursements in "only" 3-4 months, while others like you and I have to wait 9 months or more. 

 

Anyway I don't know if it will help speed things up, but I do recommend you start emailing the Office of the President if you haven't done so already. No idea if that helped me or not but I don't think it can hurt. Best of luck to you. 

officeofthepresident@hollandamerica.com

 

 

Wow. That's great news for you and for my confidence that I'll one day be reimbursed. Lol. We were the lucky few caught in the short window of time after the hotels billed HAL directly and before the isolation restrictions were loosened so you would think they could afford to pay these debts. Thanks for the feedback and advice. These are the responses I was hoping to hear so I didn't feel like I was completely alone on this.

8 minutes ago, syesmar said:

Can you imagine when marketing the Worry-Free Promise, HAL having a footnote, “Note: it may take around a year to reimburse you, and cause you to lose so much confidence that you don’t actually use the FCCs, but we will eventually get around to it!” Is that “Cruising with Confidence?” 

I am glad to hear reports of passengers finally getting their reimbursements. I remember during the re-start so many passengers reporting a lack of information on some ships, while others were efficient. You would think fleet-wide, they would have had at least a standard information sheet with clear details of what to expect once isolation or quarantine was entered.

 

@we135b  I hope things work out for you soon!🙏

Haha!!! I wish they'd been up front with their actual policy, at least. I think they were very careful about documenting their commitments. I received a very clear process document but only after I contracted COVID. It sounded so supportive, it never occurred to me to do anything other than what they recommended. Had I know they had no plan to reimburse, I would have done things very differently, that is, things that would not amass a $4000 hotel bill. Back when I sailed, the thought of being somewhat protected from financial catastrophe was comforting. I never imagined that a big company like HAL would be so dishonest. Lesson learned.

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Seems to me that working out a problem by any cruise line should  be attainable . We wish you all the luck 

Thanks for the positive thoughts. I’m hoping you’re right. 

23 minutes ago, we135b said:

Sorry about your situation but misery loves company so thanks. Adversity like this reveals the true colors of a company. We represent a minority of their customer base and they probably feel like they can afford to lose us. I just hope their prospective customers understand what they're getting into.

I think the best we can do at this point is to share our experiences with all who care as a way of holding the company accountable to their commitments. Otherwise, they can afford to ignore all of the unusual cases like ours knowing the number of people they alienate will be low.

5 hours ago, flgus said:

Similar thing with me.  Have sent reimbursement package in 3 times and it has never made it into my file.  Phone reps ask me if I need another form ….  
 

I did get the cruise credit, but it will expire before I get reimbursed, I’m certainly not going to book anything until this is resolved.

Sorry about your situation but misery loves company so thanks. Adversity like this reveals the true colors of a company. We represent a minority of their customer base and they probably feel like they can afford to lose us. I just hope their prospective customers understand what they're getting into.

2 hours ago, sciencewonk said:

I was isolated with COVID for 6 days on a cruise ending in the middle of November 2022.  I got a letter stating I would receive FCC for the 6 days and that the FCC would have to be used by November 2023.  I didn't hear anything from HAL for a long time.  Finally, I had my TA look into it for me.  It took her 4 weeks but we finally got the FCC applied to a November 2023 cruise.  This just came through about a month ago, so it took time and effort (by my TA).

 

Interesting thing.  I booked my previous cruise in the US before we moved to Australia.  When my Australian TA looked into it for me, she said because the FCC are in US dollars, she can't book the cruise for me.  I had to contact our US TA to get things done.

Glad to hear that you were able to get some FCC from them and maybe a good data point that they sometimes meet their commitments given enough arm twisting. My problem is definitely not from a shortage of effort. I've spent hours trying to get my reimbursement always followed with the guarantee that I would be reimbursed soon. Of course, after nine months I'm starting to lose hope. 

Thanks HappyInVan. HAL customer service is really horrible. It takes 1-3 hours on hold to talk to someone who recites the same patronizing script. It has been repeated aggravation and stress for months now. For sure, HAL cannot be trusted to keep their word so sending them money in advance for a cruise is definitely out.