Holland America Line Pauses Ship Operations Through June 30

[wyobean]

I had booked through Costco. They sent me a form to use.

[Bramcruiser]

58 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

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. 

Let's put it this way....certain ports in Norway have banned cruise ships at this time and the latest round of cancellations to June 30 on most lines includes Europe. So unless things change dramatically I am expecting cruises to Norway will end up like the Alaska season. Of course it would help to have a crystal ball and be certain but..........

 

Anyway, whether to cancel now or wait for the cruise company to cancel is really a personal decision. I paid my amount fully in advance of the deadline on the hopes I would be going. Even if I am feeling that the cruise is a no go at this point I figure its better now to wait and let them cancel and recoup what I can. I am not sure what I would have done if I had yet still to pay the cruise off?

[boze9999]

I would make the final payment (as we did for our Alaska cruise). Look at Alaska - If you're on some ships you're sailing, others you're not. We were on an Alaska non-sailing ship, and made our final payment even though it didn't really look like we would be sailing.  Should you do so, the upside is you get some extra benefits for a future cruise - and I'm an optimist, so I'm ok with that. 

[ChinaShrek]

3 minutes ago, Bramcruiser said:

Let's put it this way....certain ports in Norway have banned cruise ships at this time and the latest round of cancellations to June 30 on most lines includes Europe. So unless things change dramatically I am expecting cruises to Norway will end up like the Alaska season. Of course it would help to have a crystal ball and be certain but..........

 

Anyway, whether to cancel now or wait for the cruise company to cancel is really a personal decision. I paid my amount fully in advance of the deadline on the hopes I would be going. Even if I am feeling that the cruise is a no go at this point I figure its better now to wait and let them cancel and recoup what I can. I am not sure what I would have done if I had yet still to pay the cruise off?

 

Thank you for your thoughts. I only owe around $2000 (so not that much compared to some people). 

[POD49]

We got the email at 7:01 tonight from Holland America.  Our cruise was from and to Venice in May.  Last night I was looking at our trip and the "Flight Ease" was showing that the flights had been changed but I could not see what they were.  I figured that this message from Holland America was coming.  This is the second time we had our Mediterranean cruise cancelled.  Maybe next year if they get a cure or vaccine.

[1ANGELCAT]

Really strange , I just received an email from Orlando about the cancellation extending until June 30th , but it references my booking for this Sunday which was canceled on March 30th. 
I guess I need to try to contact my TA again. 

[SuzieQ521]

43 minutes ago, wyobean said:

I had booked through Costco. They sent me a form to use.

Oh, how long did it take for Costco to send you the form? Today our cruise was automatically cancelled  since we had the Alaska June 7 one. Haven’t received the Costco email but got one from Holland

[2inSETexas]

16 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Really strange , I just received an email from Orlando about the cancellation extending until June 30th , but it references my booking for this Sunday which was canceled on March 30th. 
I guess I need to try to contact my TA again. 

Same here. We got the email on cancellation, but referencing the booking for our already cancelled April 6th cruise. We have a booking on the Volendam in October, but it isn’t an Alaska cruise; repositioning from Vancouver to San Diego. Very confusing.

[baggal]

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

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. 

 

I'm sure your TA is a wonderful person, but I just read that Princess is going to continue to PAY COMMISSIONS to TA's if the cruise is canceled but fully paid for by the guest.  HAL will probably do the same.  So if you make the payment, your TA gets to keep the commission.  I would definitely hold on to my money and cancel.  

[richwmn]

44 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Really strange , I just received an email from Orlando about the cancellation extending until June 30th , but it references my booking for this Sunday which was canceled on March 30th. 
I guess I need to try to contact my TA again. 

I got the email about my Nieuw Statendam leaving in 5 days which I had previously filled out the form for. I filled out and submitted the form again and got a reply that it had already been submitted and was being processed.

 

[Boatdrill]

2 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

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

Because the reservation agents aren't authorized to give out info that hasn't yet officially come from HAL.

 

[Cruising-along]

2 hours 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

Both ships also have Pacific Coastal cruises at the end of the Alaska season.....interesting.  

[Boatdrill]

2 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

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

From the HAL announcement:

"All bookings automatically will be cancelled through June 30. Guests do not need to call to cancel, however they should visit hollandamerica.com to indicate their preference for the 125% Future Cruise Credit or 100% refund, no later than June 1."

 

There's a form to submit...you can do it, or your travel agent.    

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Boatdrill

[Seacruise]

I am not sure how HAL figures they can go to Alaska with just 2 ships.

Princess may "have" 2 ships as well.

First off places like Skagway have about 2500 "southerners" that come for the summer for work. So far no one is hiring for this summer because of the big unknown.
How many people will take work in Skagway for the few ships each week. The expense out-ways the gain. 
The next question since Carnival now owns White Pass Railroad and all Land and Sea Journeys are cancelled does this fall into it. What about Gray Line of Alaska which does HAL/Princess Tours, they are not hiring right now either and it takes about 6 weeks to train a driver.
I am just trying to be realistic here. I don't see much being open that needs southerners to work for them.

I have heard that cruise lines will not sail at full capacity to start off with because they can ill afford  to have 1 Covid19 case. If 1 case does show up the 400+ ships in the world may as well be sunk and turned into reefs at the bottom of the ocean.
There is the question of where the crew will come from.
In order to get crew to where the ships are you need airplanes to fly. That isn't happening in the short order because many pilots will need check flights and medicals (medicals have been extended for 3 months and are required for pilots over 45 every 6 months). Since that can't happen anytime soon there will be a backlog.
Remember that Alaska attracts people from all over the world. What restrictions will be placed on people from those places or from parts of Canada and the USA. Each place is in its own stage with Covid19 and as I see we all need to be on a level field before I want to be on a ship or have people visit this part of the world.

Too many hurdles to cross as I see it.

[Janet76]

What's the point of sending out just two ships to Alaska for the month of July-August and first week of September.

[Cruising-along]

7 minutes ago, Janet76 said:

What's the point of sending out just two ships to Alaska for the month of July-August and first week of September.

Not to nitpick, but it's almost the whole month of September, to be exact.  The Koningsdam is scheduled to return to Vancouver on September 26 (IF all goes well.....)

[NMTraveller]

1 hour ago, Boatdrill said:

From the HAL announcement:

"All bookings automatically will be cancelled through June 30. Guests do not need to call to cancel, however they should visit hollandamerica.com to indicate their preference for the 125% Future Cruise Credit or 100% refund, no later than June 1."

 

There's a form to submit...you can do it, or your travel agent.    

 

Thanks.  I submitted the form.  I received an e-mail from HAL about an hour after the announcement here.

[rotjeknor]

Option 2 does NOT apply to guests who paid in euros.... our june cruise can therefore only be converted into FCC . I’m not happy with this . This is the third cruise cancelled this year....and have more than enough FCC.

I had a CPP on this booking and the agent I spoke with this morning told me I can’t even apply the CPP to get at least 80% back. I’m extremely disappointed and dissatisfied the way HAL is handling this. 
According to Dutch consumer laws they have to give you a choice between a voucher which FCC is and money back. I’ve asked them also by email, so I have proof, if answer is negative I guess I will start legal action. Last resort , I hope it doesn’t get that far. To be cont’d.....

[KidCruze]

13 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

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.

I'm thankful HAL finally made it official, but the 125% FCC will not be a savings. I looked at my same week next year, and it is more than 25% price increase. This is over the original price I booked at, not the  very low fares posted recently.

ETA: didn't realize next year's fare includes the "Have it ALL promotion". That's part of the large price increase.

Edited April 15, 2020 by KidCruze

[jeremystevens]

I'd like to get a refund on my 3rd June cruise but as it was booked via a TA, I'm not sure whether I should cancel using the form provided by HAL, or wait until my TA gets in touch - but my TA is only taking calls from people whose holidays were due to commence in the next 72 hours. My concern is that HAL says they'll put the refund on the original card, but I'm not sure whether my original payment on my card went to HAL via the TA, or to the TA themselves (who then subsequently paid for the booking from their own account). All balance payments have also gone via the TA. I don't want to complicate things/add further delay if HAL never actually received the original payment directly from me.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am not surprised.

 

Many of us may still be under the "stay at home" rule with nothing open until the end of May.  No planes to take us anywhere.

[VermeulT]

13 hours ago, utahtea said:

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

13 hours ago, boze9999 said:

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/

 

 

 

I was booked through an online TA.  I got their email first.  This morning I got one from HAL, which included the link @boze9999 provided.

[cruisemom42]

18 minutes ago, jeremystevens said:

I'd like to get a refund on my 3rd June cruise but as it was booked via a TA, I'm not sure whether I should cancel using the form provided by HAL, or wait until my TA gets in touch - but my TA is only taking calls from people whose holidays were due to commence in the next 72 hours. My concern is that HAL says they'll put the refund on the original card, but I'm not sure whether my original payment on my card went to HAL via the TA, or to the TA themselves (who then subsequently paid for the booking from their own account). All balance payments have also gone via the TA. I don't want to complicate things/add further delay if HAL never actually received the original payment directly from me.

 

Couldn't you check your previous credit card statements to see whether the payment went to HAL or to your TA?  That way you should know whether you need to contact them or not.

[VermeulT]

1 hour ago, KidCruze said:

I'm thankful HAL finally made it official, but the 125% FCC will not be a savings. I looked at my same week next year, and it is more than 25% price increase. This is over the original price I booked at, not the  very low fares posted recently.

ETA: didn't realize next year's fare includes the "Have it ALL promotion". That's part of the large price increase.

 

Same cruise same cabin for me next year is $200 more pp. I already had whatever-it-was-called promotion that included free gratuities.  The drink package isn't really worth extra to me in Alaska... maybe a glass of wine and a specialty coffee a day.  That's not worth another $200 or 10% to me.

FWIW - I also didn't book 15 months out last year so that could have something to do with it also.

[strickerj]

1 hour ago, KidCruze said:

I'm thankful HAL finally made it official, but the 125% FCC will not be a savings. I looked at my same week next year, and it is more than 25% price increase. This is over the original price I booked at, not the  very low fares posted recently.

ETA: didn't realize next year's fare includes the "Have it ALL promotion". That's part of the large price increase.

 

18 minutes ago, VermeulT said:

 

Same cruise same cabin for me next year is $200 more pp. I already had whatever-it-was-called promotion that included free gratuities.  The drink package isn't really worth extra to me in Alaska... maybe a glass of wine and a specialty coffee a day.  That's not worth another $200 or 10% to me.

FWIW - I also didn't book 15 months out last year so that could have something to do with it also.

FWIW, the equivalent cruise for me next year (Alaska Glacier Discovery Northbound on 5/30) was already $300 more per person than this year even before the Have It All sale was announced.