Poor Communication Regarding Cancelled Cruise

[ithaca gal]

By reading CC, I found out (on Tuesday) that our 24 day cruise to Iceland on the Rotterdam next year was cancelled, due to the sale of the Prinsendam.

 

I contacted our TA to ask about it, Wednesday evening and she informed me that she had heard nothing from HAL regarding the cruise.

 

Today she called HAL (Redeployment Department) and was told that our cruise had NOT been cancelled. When this was relayed to me, I sent her a screen shot of the email that HAL sent to someone on our roll call on MONDAY, saying that our cruise was cancelled. Our TA then called the Redeployment Department again and was told that our cruise WAS cancelled. When our TA asked why she had to hear this from a client, she was told they would send her the info right away.

 

Not impressed with HAL's handling of this.

[WisRiver]

Not sure where the fault lies, with HAL or your TA. On Tuesday, July 3 we received an e-mail from our travel agency in Issaquah, Washington saying the Rotterdam cruise was being cancelled, and that cabin reassignments would be made after July 4. The e-mail said that HAL was offering a $75 per person on board credit for those who rebook. This afternoon we rebooked a cabin of our choice (we did not like the cabin assigned by HAL) at a reduced fare and kept the earlier promotion of free gratuities. I spent a couple of hours working with the agent, but I am satisfied that the big box agent did their job.

[bUU]

If you use a travel agent, the fault, if any, is with the travel agent. However, don't jump to conclusions. It is possible that the cancellations will be processed over a period of time rather than overloading the system by handling of the cancellations all at once.

 

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[cbr663]

I agree OP, very poor client service from HAL.

 

Cruise ship sells do not happen overnight. There would have been plenty of time for HAL to make all suitable changes and to contact all affected passengers and TAs. By not supporting your TA, HAL has chosen not to support you. The situation is made worse by HAL providing incorrect information.

[Andi Land]

My October 2019 cruise on the Rotterdam has also been cancelled. Booked direct with HAL. I still haven’t heard anything from them directly.

[ithaca gal]

Not sure where the fault lies, with HAL or your TA. On Tuesday, July 3 we received an e-mail from our travel agency in Issaquah, Washington saying the Rotterdam cruise was being cancelled, and that cabin reassignments would be made after July 4. The e-mail said that HAL was offering a $75 per person on board credit for those who rebook. This afternoon we rebooked a cabin of our choice (we did not like the cabin assigned by HAL) at a reduced fare and kept the earlier promotion of free gratuities. I spent a couple of hours working with the agent, but I am satisfied that the big box agent did their job.

 

Actually, it's pretty clear that the fault lies with HAL. They admitted that they had not notified all TAs or passengers of the cancellation. AND, the first employee contradicted the information that the cruise was cancelled, giving us false hope that our cruise was not affected. In our case, there is no re-booking option. We can switch from our cruise (which was to be 24 days) to a 35 day cruise. Not exactly a good substitute.

 

My agent did her job. Got the info from me, called HAL, called me and found out that the HAL employee was wrong, called HAL again and was told that the cruise was cancelled and they would (finally) send her the info.

[Traveling Dot]

Does anyone realize that there are hundreds of reservations that HAL has to change with the sale of the Prinsendam which is not something that can be done overnight. They need to contact different TA's all over the world (not just the US) and also those who have booked through their PCC. Give them a break.

 

I have worked doing travel arrangements for a private company and it is not an easy task to have to make a lot of changes at once and that was with less that a hundred people. There is only so much a company can do when something like this happens. They have to find the reservations that need to be changed, then contact the TA's or PPC to let them know what is happening, then the TA or PPC has to contact the customer. Nothing like this can be done overnight, it takes a while to contact everyone.

 

Your reservation is not the only one being affected by this sale. Just think of how many different sailing dates there were after July 1, 2019.

[Stratheden]

We have just received advice that our Zuiderdam cruise on 25th June, 2019 has been cancelled. We were offered 3 other cruises to choose from with similar itineraries. When our TA rang to book us on one of the cruises, she was told they were not yet open for booking.

 

It is getting quite ridiculous - we have other things booked that we have to now change to fit in with the change of cruise date.

 

Why offer cruises but not allow bookings.

 

HAL needs to get their ducks in a row before creating a most disorganised mess.k

[Sopwith]

Cruise lines are becoming more and more like the airlines every day. Not a good direction to be headed in when potential cruise customers have so many other options.

[KirkNC]

Cruise lines are becoming more and more like the airlines every day. Not a good direction to be headed in when potential cruise customers have so many other options.

 

Sad but true.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Do agree that it is HAL's responsibility to contact their clients and TA's. It is a big job considering that it is involving 5 ships with many reservations that have to be adjusted.

I feel sorry for everyone who has been caught in this situation. It has happened to us a couple of times.

Hope you all get what you want.

[*Miss G*]

I don’t know whether it’s the fallout from this or whether there is something else going on over at HAL corporate but my PCC has suddenly left to pursue other interests. :o

[bUU]

Does anyone realize that there are hundreds of reservations that HAL has to change with the sale of the Prinsendam which is not something that can be done overnight. They need to contact different TA's all over the world (not just the US) and also those who have booked through their PCC. Give them a break.

 

I have worked doing travel arrangements for a private company and it is not an easy task to have to make a lot of changes at once and that was with less that a hundred people. There is only so much a company can do when something like this happens. They have to find the reservations that need to be changed, then contact the TA's or PPC to let them know what is happening, then the TA or PPC has to contact the customer. Nothing like this can be done overnight, it takes a while to contact everyone.

 

Your reservation is not the only one being affected by this sale. Just think of how many different sailing dates there were after July 1, 2019.

Well put. Consumers have become so myopic in their consideration of circumstances, believing that they are the only person who matters and everything should be immediate for them. Only the people they personally don't know should have to wait any amount of time for anything.

 

This isn't about giving anyone "a break" though. It's about having reasonable expectations. We paid for a service aboard our cruise this week which the cruise line couldn't deliver on, and our cruise is now, not next year! Which matter should prompt the cruise line to cancel the Independence Day holiday for their staff? Answer: neither. Cancellations of cruises next year can wait until staff and systems are in place to handle them ... and here aboard ship, they can just give us back the money for what they couldn't provide us and say, "Sorry it didn't work out."

 

 

 

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[Cruise Junky]

Well put. Consumers have become so myopic in their consideration of circumstances, believing that they are the only person who matters and everything should be immediate for them. Only the people they personally don't know should have to wait any amount of time for anything.

 

This isn't about giving anyone "a break" though. It's about having reasonable expectations. We paid for a service aboard our cruise this week which the cruise line couldn't deliver on, and our cruise is now, not next year! Which matter should prompt the cruise line to cancel the Independence Day holiday for their staff? Answer: neither. Cancellations of cruises next year can wait until staff and systems are in place to handle them ... and here aboard ship, they can just give us back the money for what they couldn't provide us and say, "Sorry it didn't work out."

.

 

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I would think it`s a reasonable expectation for HAL to know if my cruise is cancelled or not. That was all the OP needed. Only a twit would think that was an unreasonable request

[paganwoman]

I had two cruises affected by the sale of the Prinsendam. I received an email a few minutes apart on July 2 stating that each cruise was canceled (one was on the Prinsendam the other on the Rotterdam) and that we were being rebooked and would get additional info within a few days. I dealt directly with HAL on booking both these cruises with no TA or PCC involved. Perhaps that is why my experience was relatively smooth. The rebooking on one of the cruises I received a day later with the second one arriving on July 4th. I had to call the rebooking number they gave to correct something on one cruise and change my cabin on the other one (different style of ship so my options were greater). I called at 7am on July 5th, got right through and they could not have been more helpful. I thanked the person on the phone and she laughed and said she had not received too many thankyous the last few days. I always find dealing direct with HAL the best way to go. I used a TA once and it was a real bother if I wanted a question answered or something changed. Just my opinion. But my process went fairly smoothly.:)

[bUU]

I would think it`s a reasonable expectation for HAL to know if my cruise is cancelled or not. That was all the OP needed.

Consumers are going to think whatever they want but inter-company commissions about new protocols is not instantaneous. It takes time to discuss what those protocols should be and then time to deploy them. Companies don't want their staff saying anything until they have been informed what to say and more importantly what to say NEXT. Consumers finding out online can expect to wait for a time before practically any mainstream company is ready to respond to questions about things they have not yet communicated to the those customers. What is reasonable is for customers to practice mature restraint when setting their expectations for how rapidly mainstream mass market suppliers prepare for and response to changes.

 

And I would expect here, in this forum, that would be natural... here in this forum that is so fixated on status and number of stars someone has, one would expect to wait until the cruise line can PULL TOGETHER OPTIONS for rebooking it's 5 star Mariners, then time to contact them, process their rebooking requests, then going onto 4 star Mariners, etc. I can just imagine the frantic chest-beating responses to this thread if people were being told that yes the cruises are cancelled but the decisions are STILL BEING MADE about what to offer in compensation, to whom, under what circumstances, and so forth.

 

Only a twit would think that was an unreasonable request

Being rude just demonstrates the lack of mature restraint that I discussed above.

 

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[*Miss G*]

Hahahaha this thread. :') 🍿

[fatcat04]

I would think it`s a reasonable expectation for HAL to know if my cruise is cancelled or not. That was all the OP needed. Only a twit would think that was an unreasonable request

 

Agreed.

[shrimp56]

Consumers are going to think whatever they want but inter-company commissions about new protocols is not instantaneous. It takes time to discuss what those protocols should be and then time to deploy them. Companies don't want their staff saying anything until they have been informed what to say and more importantly what to say NEXT. Consumers finding out online can expect to wait for a time before practically any mainstream company is ready to respond to questions about things they have not yet communicated to the those customers. What is reasonable is for customers to practice mature restraint when setting their expectations for how rapidly mainstream mass market suppliers prepare for and response to changes.

 

And I would expect here, in this forum, that would be natural... here in this forum that is so fixated on status and number of stars someone has, one would expect to wait until the cruise line can PULL TOGETHER OPTIONS for rebooking it's 5 star Mariners, then time to contact them, process their rebooking requests, then going onto 4 star Mariners, etc. I can just imagine the frantic chest-beating responses to this thread if people were being told that yes the cruises are cancelled but the decisions are STILL BEING MADE about what to offer in compensation, to whom, under what circumstances, and so forth.

 

Being rude just demonstrates the lack of mature restraint that I discussed above.

 

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I thought "twit" was kind, considering...

 

I must congratulate you though, on the most thorough and skillful wielding of the "self-sealing" argument, as we call it in logic, that I have seen in many years.

[bUU]

And what name would you apply to arguments that the whole world should array itself as a single passenger sees fit?

 

In the end, the reality is that in the mass market such expectations as expressed by the op are not reasonable. Holding to such expectations is a decision to subject yourself to regular and continual disappointment.

Edited July 6, 2018 by bUU

[shrimp56]

And what name would you apply to arguments that the whole world should array itself as a single passenger sees fit?

 

In the end, the reality is that in the mass market such expectations as expressed by the op are not reasonable. Holding to such expectations is a decision to subject yourself to regular and continual disappointment.

Which I gather you enjoy.

Over and out.

[RocketMan275]

I don’t know whether it’s the fallout from this or whether there is something else going on over at HAL corporate but my PCC has suddenly left to pursue other interests. :o

Turn over is rather high with PCC even in the best of times.

[bUU]

Which I gather you enjoy.

That's an interesting thing to say... Do those who hold to unreasonable expectations enjoy their regular, continual disappointment and how their unreasonable expectations poison the pool for others?

 

 

 

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[Fouremco]

In the end, the reality is that in the mass market such expectations as expressed by the op are not reasonable. Holding to such expectations is a decision to subject yourself to regular and continual disappointment.

When numerous passengers have been advised by email several days earlier that their cruises have been cancelled, the OP's expectation that the Redeployment Department should also be aware of the cancellation is eminently reasonable.

[bUU]

By reading CC, I found out (on Tuesday) ....

When numerous passengers have been advised by email ...

What is reasonable is that when the redeployment department sends out email about the cancellations, at that time it's reasonable to expect those at the phone number provided in the email to know about the cancellations. Unless, of course, they are unique people who like being upset.

 

 

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