Holland America Line Pauses Ship Operations Through June 30

[mkkao924]

It's now posted on their website: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/news/coronavirus-travel-advisory.html

 

Looks like it's not posted on social media yet.

[DFD1]

Thanks for posting this. It was unavoidable. It's a tough time for everyone involved, including the passengers who want to cruise.

[cruisemom42]

As anticipated. 

 

I expect that the return of cruising will depend on two things, at this point:  the course of the pandemic (including potential therapies/vaccine), and the cruise lines'response to the CDC announcement made last week.

 

[PROCRUISE]

Guess I feel sorry for the HAL representatives. Our TA inquired YESTERDAY about our June 6th Alaskan cruise and was told, yes, that cruise is still a go!

[ger_77]

1 minute ago, PROCRUISE said:

Guess I feel sorry for the HAL representatives. Our TA inquired YESTERDAY about our June 6th Alaskan cruise and was told, yes, that cruise is still a go!

Really, the Canadian government issued its ports closed to cruises up to and including July 1st in the middle of March.  Both the TA and the HAL rep should have known that.  I'm sorry your cruise isn't going to happen; let's hope for better days ahead.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[Oakman58]

I am so glad they cancelled our May23rd cruise.  This way I will get a 100% refund.  The 125% future cruise credit plus $250 onboard credit was very tempting but if Holland declares bankruptcy I don't know if they would honor those credits.  I'm a bird in the hand kind of guy.

[St Pete Cruiser]

HAL is cancelling ALL Alaska cruises for Maasdam, Volendam, Oosterdam, Westerdam and Noordam.  What will they do instead if cruising begins July 1?  Sounds like the Alaska season really is in doubt.  Just watched Arnold Donald, Carnival CEO, on CNBC.  He seems to be bracing for an extended shut down, but is confident when it is safe to resume, the cruising public will return.  We always have in the past.

Edited April 14, 2020 by St Pete Cruiser
spelling

[Bramcruiser]

Well I might as well kiss my July Norway cruise goodbye as I am finding it harder and harder to believe that will still be going given the latest round of cruise lines extending the shut down to June 30. I'll wait for the cancellation but I will likely be asking for the refund and get what I can get out of my airline tickets. A future credit is useless if one is not going anywhere. Oh and the tours and hotels. What a mess. Oh I am sure it was the right thing to do from a health perspective but I may not have a vacation at all in 2020. Will I return to cruising. Yeah perhaps but not going to jump into 2021 just because I missed out on 2020. There has to be a reason to go!

[PROCRUISE]

26 minutes ago, ger_77 said:

Really, the Canadian government issued its ports closed to cruises up to and including July 1st in the middle of March.  Both the TA and the HAL rep should have known that.  I'm sorry your cruise isn't going to happen; let's hope for better days ahead.

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

 

We and our TA have known for quite sometime that our cruise would never happen! I think the HAL representative just read from a script.

[Sir PMP]

32 minutes ago, PROCRUISE said:

Guess I feel sorry for the HAL representatives. Our TA inquired YESTERDAY about our June 6th Alaskan cruise and was told, yes, that cruise is still a go!

How could she/he has said that without knowing what's going on?

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, Bramcruiser said:

Well I might as well kiss my July Norway cruise goodbye as I am finding it harder and harder to believe that will still be going given the latest round of cruise lines extending the shut down to June 30. I'll wait for the cancellation but I will likely be asking for the refund and get what I can get out of my airline tickets. A future credit is useless if one is not going anywhere. Oh and the tours and hotels. What a mess. Oh I am sure it was the right thing to do from a health perspective but I may not have a vacation at all in 2020. Will I return to cruising. Yeah perhaps but not going to jump into 2021 just because I missed out on 2020. There has to be a reason to go!

We already cancelled our Norwegian fjords cruise for July. I have already seen that some Norwegian ports were already closed. Plus we wondered about our flights between Newark and London. Since we only had a refundable deposit at stake, this was an easy decision before we actually had a lot of money laid out.

[kennystwin]

That leaves only the Eurodam and Konigsdam doing the 7 day round trips this shortened season. These are the 2 largest ships planned for Alaska this season. Seems like a maximize revenue/minimize expenses strategy. I imagine they will be trying to move cruisers from the cancelled ships to these cruises.

 

No northbound/southbound cruises so no Land+Sea journeys. I've been expecting problems with the land portions which are heavily dependent on seasonal workers who likely won't make the shortened season.

 

It is still wait & see for the July cruises. Canada will be open (assuming they don't extend their port closures), but the CDC 100 day closure might impact them.

[VermeulT]

23 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

HAL is cancelling ALL Alaska cruises for Maasdam, Volendam, Oosterdam, Westerdam and Noordam. 

 

I just got the notice that my Maasdam 14 day Alaska in August is officially cancelled.

I understand I guess. Onto booking same cruise in 2021 then.  And will look to see what might hold me over until then.

 

[calebandjess]

We were supposed to sail from Civitavecchia for a Mediterranean cruise on June 27. Now we’re having to decide if we take a risk and book the same itinerary in October or hold off until summer 2021 to take the trip. There are so many unknowns, and I’m not sure what the best choice is. I’m hopeful that things will be improved enough by October to take a trip then, but I also know there’s a lot of unpredictability going on right now. Of course, everyone has a lot of opinions...but those are just that - opinions. No one has the facts we need to know what things will look like come fall, or even next summer, for that matter. Definitely doesn’t make decision making easy. 

[ChinaShrek]

11 minutes ago, Bramcruiser said:

Well I might as well kiss my July Norway cruise goodbye as I am finding it harder and harder to believe that will still be going given the latest round of cruise lines extending the shut down to June 30. I'll wait for the cancellation but I will likely be asking for the refund and get what I can get out of my airline tickets. A future credit is useless if one is not going anywhere. Oh and the tours and hotels. What a mess. Oh I am sure it was the right thing to do from a health perspective but I may not have a vacation at all in 2020. Will I return to cruising. Yeah perhaps but not going to jump into 2021 just because I missed out on 2020. There has to be a reason to go!

 

Do you think the Norway cruise season is shot? I have a 7-night cruise of Amsterdam booked for August and final payment is due in May. Would you cancel or pay the cruise off? My TA thinks I should make payment. 

[NMTraveller]

So how do we get our refunds?  Call HAL directly or through a TA.  

[SuzieQ521]

As expected unfortunately...we booked for a big group through Costco.

 

Does anyone know if we go through Costco for a refund or have to fill out a HAL form for each booked room?
 

My husband just contacted Costco Citi card and they said they can just refund but not sure if that HAL form was needed.

 

Will try to get a hold of HAL also to ask...thanks

[Crazy For Cats]

We have an August cruise out of Boston that goes to some Ports in Canada.  Final payment is in about a month.  I’m thinking it best to cancel before I turn over more money.  Then book it again if ships start sailing.

[SilvertoGold]

38 minutes ago, kennystwin said:

That leaves only the Eurodam and Konigsdam doing the 7 day round trips this shortened season. These are the 2 largest ships planned for Alaska this season. Seems like a maximize revenue/minimize expenses strategy. I imagine they will be trying to move cruisers from the cancelled ships to these cruises.

 

No northbound/southbound cruises so no Land+Sea journeys. I've been expecting problems with the land portions which are heavily dependent on seasonal workers who likely won't make the shortened season.

 

It is still wait & see for the July cruises. Canada will be open (assuming they don't extend their port closures), but the CDC 100 day closure might impact them.

 

Hope these ships will sail, but it doesn't look too good.

Edited April 14, 2020 by SilvertoGold

[kennystwin]

8 minutes ago, SilvertoGold said:

 

What about the Amsterdam and N. Amsterdam?  They were both scheduled for Alaska.  Hope all 4 will be able to sail, but it doesn't really look good.

Amsterdam is doing Canada/New England this summer and N. Amsterdam is in the Mediterranean.

[utahtea]

38 minutes ago, VermeulT said:

 

I just got the notice that my Maasdam 14 day Alaska in August is officially cancelled.

I understand I guess. Onto booking same cruise in 2021 then.  And will look to see what might hold me over until then.

 

Were you booked directly though HAL or somewhere else.  We also have a Maasdam  14 day Alaska for June 1st booked though HAL and haven’t received an email yet.  We knew that we would be canceled after Canada closed the cruise ports....just waiting to get officially canceled.

 

utahtea

[boze9999]

All major cruise lines are now starting a new "re-set" for the summer (and some fall) cruises. As they do so, at least it allows cruisers to make necessary travel changes and move forward with plans for the future.  

 

Some of the other changes just starting to hit the news include:

Norwegian Cruise Line -Norwegian Sun's has cancelled it's entire Alaska season 

Carnival is beginning a lot of its North American sailings beginning the end of June, however four of their ships: Sunrise, Radiance, Miracle and Legend won't start sailing until October -November time frames. 

 

Meanwhile, for those who still BELIEVE, HAL extended through June 30th for their HAVE IT ALL promo (SBP, pre-paid gratuities, Signature Dine Around & internet (for suite guests).  

[1ANGELCAT]

38 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

So how do we get our refunds?  Call HAL directly or through a TA.  

If you booked thru a TA contact them, if booked direct with HAL go thru them. 

[boze9999]

3 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

If you booked thru a TA contact them, if booked direct with HAL go thru them. 

If you booked through HAL, you don't need to wait for them to contact you. Your cruise is cancelled and the easiest way to process your credit/refund is through this link: 

 

https://book2.hollandamerica.com/cp/

 

 

[boze9999]

23 minutes ago, kennystwin said:

Amsterdam is doing Canada/New England this summer and N. Amsterdam is in the Mediterranean.

Not sure about HAL. If it's any insight into what HAL might do, the news reports are indicating Carnival cancelled all cruises in/out of NYC for 2020.