Hellish Treatment -- Vacation Totally Wrecked

[newtongirl]

Just got back from a horrible experience. Several months ago we booked a a cruise on the Veendam for a Carribbean cruise from Tampa. We booked through a a large well known cruise agency that we've used several times. Upon arrival at the cruise terminal, we presented our documents which we received from HAL and to our shock we were told that our S deluxe suite reservation had been cancelled! They claimed it had been cancelled by our cruise agent. We had no knowledge of this. In fact, I had been in touch with her a couple of weeks ago and she told me to enjoy the trip. We called the agency and they got in touch with her (they called her on her cell phone at a wedding she was attending). She was adamant that she never cancelled our trip and that another department at her agency does cancellation --she said she never does them. The agency said they will be in touch with Hal and go to the highest rung. HAl did finally find a tiny poorly located cabin for the three of us and we agreed to take it. A couple of hours after being taken to the cabin guest relations called and wanted to see me with my credit card. I thought they were going to refund the difference between the deluxe suite and the tiny cabin. Instead they had the nerve to ask for payment. I was furious and said we already paid -- in fact we overpaid. They paged my husband and suddeny police and security guards came into the office. My husband asked why they called in security and they said because the ship was leaving in three minutes they had to have them in case they needed them to escort us off the ship. And we chose to leave because we certainly weren't paying more money. It was embarrassing to be treated like criminals. They didn't even have anyone carry our luggage. We had to carry our own bags off the ship! So rude!

 

I feel we should get total reimbursement. Also we had to pay for a hotel and meals for one night. We paid for our own air, taxi transfers and boarded our dog which is costly. I feel we should be paid back for all these expenses and get a free cruise. My husband needed a vacation badly, my son was devasted and we are limited to school vacation weeks.

[Cruizin'theSeas]

That sounds awful. We're booked on Veendam on 3/4/06 -- I guess I'll be calling to confirm our reservation each day until then! I agree, a full refund, plus a free cruise -- in you S Suite.

 

Cruizin'

[rucruizin]

You poor thing, I am so sorry that this happened to you. I can't even imagine.:(

 

Without knowing the whole story it sounds to me like your TA and her agency is at fault and shoud be held accountable. While it seems Hal should have been a little more lenient I'm not sure that it's their fault. Again I don't know that, I would certainly write them a letter letting them know how it impacted you and your family.

 

Good luck and I hope you don't let this terrible experience keep you from cruising in the future. I'd simply choose a different TA.

[Bramcruiser]

Wow! Now that is a horrifying experience! I think this was a bad case of paperwork gone bad and its unfortunate that you had very few choices left by the time you showed up - either take a smaller cabin and pay for it again or go back home. Either way you are out money!

 

I say fight it! You obviously had tickets in your hands so how can they claim that it was cancelled and you - the original ticketholders - showed up with your identification and everything. If they did any refunding of a cancellation I would immediately ask who the hell got the refund especially since your travel agent even backed up your story.

 

This is definitely a letter to head office in Seattle. I truly don't believe this is the norm but this was a bad stunt and I don't think HAL handled any of this properly at all.

 

If it happened to me I would be livid. I haven't had a day off all this month - worked 19 days straight through - on top of 230 hours of work in January. If I was to show up for my cruise after all that and without proper down time I would be not a happy camper feeling I sacrificed for nothing.

 

When the Cunard people screamed over the loss of ports of call and a delayed trip to Rio I felt no sympathy simply because it was an accident and they paid for a cruise and the others were simply extras. This however is a straightforward case of them screwing you up. YOu paid your expenses on good faith so they should be held accountable. YOu showed up.

 

Also ask for a big-time apology from the company over the way they escorted you off the ship. Aren't they the criminals?

 

Still....as much as we are getting upset here.........keep a cool head with your written letter. Do write as a letter carries more weight than a phone call and it usually goes to someone important rather than a telephone operator. Stick to the facts but point out as much as you can how THEY went wrong. Make it so that they have no choice but to investigate and come back apologizing to you.

[the2ofus]

How frustrating and stressful for you all!! Since you already had your HAL documents and apparently had done nothing yourself to cancel, it is obviously an error on the part of the Travel Agency. They owe you full restitution plus something in addition by way of apology.

 

Your first recourse is to contact a member of management or customer relations at the TA, not your agent, and very politely ask that they properly compensate you. Decide ahead of time what you think fair compensation will be.

 

Hopefully, you paid for your flight, overnight stay and cruise with a credit card. If the TA won't come through for you, you can write a letter to the credit card company explaining that you are disputing these charges because of the error made by the TA. The CC company will usually help you with your dispute.

 

BTW, what happened with your luggage? How did they find it among all the mountains of luggage loaded onto the ship? Or did your luggage get to take the cruise?

[Bramcruiser]

Without knowing the whole story it sounds to me like your TA and her agency is at fault and shoud be held accountable. While it seems Hal should have been a little more lenient I'm not sure that it's their fault. Again I don't know that, I would certainly write them a letter letting them know how it impacted you and your family.

 

Good luck and I hope you don't let this terrible experience keep you from cruising in the future. I'd simply choose a different TA.

 

Okay! So after my ranting I read this. OOPS! Well I guess where rucruizin may be right is that it shoudl be investigated further. I am not so sure that the TA is at fault here but maybe she was just covering her butt. However, without knowing the whole story we are only on the side lines.

 

Thanks ru for bringing me back to reality. I got to stop and think before posting.

 

However, I do think a stern letter to HAL and a cc to the travel agent is in order. Somehow this poor soul showed up with her tickets and proper identification. You would think someone somewhere would have figured out something wasn't right. Unfortunately some boob somewhere filled something wong on a computer and the service people only blindly follows "what the computer tells us". That is a big beef in business these days that I have (a lack of intelligent decision makers on the front line) but back to the cruiser's problem. HAL, in my opinion, handled this badly. No sane person who never got a refund and showed up with documents would want to pay a second time to take a trip.

 

I think the thing to do now is to have HAL show proof of the cancellation and to where the refund, if any, went. I don't think the person here should have to prove she didn't cancel.

 

THis isn't HAL's style so I hope this lady gets the situation sorted out. We'd be interested to hear how it proceeds and what becomes of it.

[HeatherInFlorida]

I would think that if this reservation was cancelled, HAL would be able to provide a paper trail. I know everything is done in cyberspace now, but there has to be a record to show this was cancelled and by whom.

 

Unless there was a computer glitch, there is no reason HAL would have cancelled you so it does sound like the TA made an error, but not necessarily.

 

The whole thing is a puzzle. Once you're in possession of documents, there would be no reason for you to think you have to confirm further.

 

So somebody definitely owes you ... either the TA or HAL. The first thing you need to do is to find out where the glitch occurred and go from there.

 

I've never heard of anything like this! I feel so badly for you.

[peaches from georgia]

We had a similar thing happen on our first cruise, Royal Caribbean to Bermuda rt NYC. We had all our docs, flew into La Guardia and when we got to the pier, RCCL very discreetly called us aside and told us we would have to make final payment. Huh? Of course he already had, to the TA, but RCCL had never gotten it. Our reservation and cabin were still being held, but payment had to be made before we could board.

 

(Don't ask me why docs had been sent to us. This was probably 20 years ago and I don't know how it worked then.) Anyway we paid and on the Monday we returned home we were at the TA's office at 8 AM demanding a cashier's check from them, not even a business check from their agency. They said they had mailed the payment on Friday thinking it would arrive in NYC from NC on Sat. We sailed on Sunday. :mad:

 

This, too, sounds like a TA screwup and not necessarily your agent.

[Grumpy1]

Under the circumstances, I'm not sure HAL could have done anything different. If your cruise was, indeed, cancelled by the TA, even if accidentally, HAL most likely sold the cabin. I can see a circumstance where someone could cancel a cruise at the last minute, well after receiving the documents and then show up at the dock, tickets in hand. It has probably been tried, thus they have a procedure for handling such cases.

 

If the cancellation was recorded close to the cruise date, there would be no refund, so it's not likely the TA is holding your money, and they aren't going to want to pony up the money either.

 

All of that said... Someone messed up big time, and you are right to expect reimbursement AND compensation. I hope you are able to straighten out this mess to your satisfaction, and I suspect that it will be resolved. The front desk on the ship doesn't have a lot of authority to deviate from the procedures that have been laid out, and Seattle sometimes gets the job of cleaning up the messes caused by inflexible procedures.

 

I hope you will keep us informed about the outcome. For now, though, it may be best to not say much more. If it's necessary to get an attorney involved, his first advice would most likely be to not discuss it on the boards.

 

This situation sounds eerily similar to what was posted last week by the person that was denied boarding in Australia, ostensibly because post cruise package payments had not been properly credited.

[flashdog_1]

And there must not have been any travel insurance?

 

If indeed someone cancelled the trip (which is doubtful! Sounds like a cyberspace problem) since the tickets had already been issued, the cancellation would have been during penalty period, so there'd be no refund.

 

How awful an experience.

[sail7seas]

I am very sorry you have had a terrible upset and missed your vacation.

 

But, I am the type that always wants to know the.......Rest of the story before I form opinions.

 

Of course, we all know that HAL and the TA have comments which should be evaluated before judgments are made.

 

JMHO.....

 

[newtongirl]

We are regular first class HAL customers. Our records with HAL would show that we would be unlikely to pull a fast one! We are honest people with no pror record of cheating in anything. In view oif our recoid, they could of let us on the ship and straightened things out during the week. After all where would we escape if we were on a ship!

[Grumpy1]

We are regular first class HAL customers. Our records with HAL would show that we would be unlikely to pull a fast one! We are honest people with no pror record of cheating in anything. In view oif our recoid, they could of let us on the ship and straightened things out during the week. After all where would we escape if we were on a ship!

Yes, in a perfect world that is how it should happen. But there seems to be a policy that states that no one boards unless there is proof that the cruise has been paid. The records onboard showed that you were cancelled, so guest relations probably felt that they were doing you a favor by allowing you to purchase any cabin at the last minute. Of course, that wasn't the way you viewed it.

 

I'm not sure what I would have done undere the same circumstances. My initial reaction would be to pay for the cabin and take the cruise, knowing it would get straightened out later, but then there is the huge difference between the accomodations you expected and what you would have gotten.... It would be a tough decision.

[SueSea]

Did HAL tell you when the booking had been cancelled? Did they give you the name of the agent who cancelled? If they documented everything properly, it may well be a mess up on your agent's part. When you paid for your cruise, was your credit card charge from HAL and not your agent? Or if you paid by check, was that made out to HAL? If your check or charge was made to the travel agent, they may have never passed along your final payment to HAL.

 

If indeed someone cancelled the trip (which is doubtful! Sounds like a cyberspace problem) since the tickets had already been issued, the cancellation would have been during penalty period, so there'd be no refund.

 

I received my documents 8 weeks prior to sailing. You can cancel after you receive your documents with a partial refund. I believe it's just the last week that you receive no refund at all.

[newtongirl]

We paid on time by credit card

[capnjoe]

I totally agree with you newtongirl, there is no reason if you have your documents in hand they could have thrown you off the ship. Your tickets are a contract, HAL needs to also abide by their own contract. I agree it wasnt handled at all correctly, but what comes to my mind is, maybe you should have called your credit card company and had them send hal their own confirmation of receiving the funds, or if it were you travel agency that got the money hold them totally liable. None of this makes a difference now that your trip was ruined, but prove to hal you did nothing wrong and demand that someone compensate you for all the trouble you have gone through.

That being said I do believe HAL is a topshelf company, although dont agree with how the handle the situation, but I would have to play 99% of the blame on your travel agency.

Please keep us posted as to how you make out with this, Im very sorry this has happened to you, and hope things will be rectified.

[Captain Crunch]

You poor thing, I am so sorry that this happened to you. I can't even imagine.:(

 

Without knowing the whole story it sounds to me like your TA and her agency is at fault and shoud be held accountable. While it seems Hal should have been a little more lenient I'm not sure that it's their fault. Again I don't know that, I would certainly write them a letter letting them know how it impacted you and your family.

 

Good luck and I hope you don't let this terrible experience keep you from cruising in the future. I'd simply choose a different TA.

 

Without knowing the full story and the evidence it's impossible to tell whether the TA or HAL is at fault. Unless I recieved a satisfactory explanation from both, not only would I choose a different TA, but a different cruise line as well.

 

I'm so sorry this happened. May your next trip provide double the memories.

[boards]

I wonder if Newtongirl is going to still take the Alaska cruise they have booked this summer after the way they been treated.

[Navy_Chief]

1. If you paid by Credit Card, refute the charges with the Credit Card company.

2. Let a lawyer review the matter for legal action.

 

That's about all you can do. As it was stated earlier, there are two sides to every story and not hearing both, the above statement is all I could possibly offer. Sorry for your trouble with your vacation.

[sail7seas]

NewtonGirl:

 

 

 

:confused: What do you, deep down, honestly, personally think happened?

 

When you boil it all down, what is left as to how this happened?

[SueSea]

We paid on time by credit card

 

Did your charge card show Holland America or your travel agency as the vendor?

[rucruizin]

I have to agree with several of the things that other posters have said. Even if it isn't HAL's fault I think that a carefully worded letter to corporate is absolutely required. You were treated terribly by them and if nothing else you should receive a very sincere apology from them for the way you were treated by the ship authorities.

 

Contact your TA's office...a manager or higher and let them research it.

 

Unfortunately you may end up having to cantact a lawyer but I would try to resolve it with the involved parties without a lawyer first.

 

I certainly think that a full refund plus compensation is within the realm of possibilities. If Hal is indeed at fault, I don't think that a free, make up cruise is unreasonable. Especially if they want to keep a potential future cruiser.

 

I realize that all the sympathies of every CC member on this board can't make up for what happened to you but certainly know that our thoughts are with you and we hope for the best outcome for you. Please keep us posted.

[newtongirl]

At this time, I do not know what actually happened. Obviously the travel compamy or HAL made an error. I just located my receipt from the travel agency which confirms that they received my final payment 11/10/05 with $0.00 balance due.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I am very sorry you have had a terrible upset and missed your vacation.

 

But, I am the type that always wants to know the.......Rest of the story before I form opinions.

 

Of course, we all know that HAL and the TA have comments which should be evaluated before judgments are made.

 

JMHO.....

 

 

Sail7seas,

Very well said. I agree wholeheartedly. How can anyone here assign blame without knowing all the facts?

 

Now I know why your an Ambassador!:)

 

Bill

[Copper10-8]

Very sorry you had to experience this, an obvious screw up by either your TA, her company and/or HAL that put you and your family in a very bad position! You'd think the whole thing could have been handled differently by HAL on embarkation day but I have a feeling timing or better yet, lack thereof, played a big factor that day in being able to sort things out. I sincerely hope that HAL, your TA and her company will get together ASAP and come to some kind of solution that you will feel happy about. I would put everything on paper while your memory is fresh and send it to the GM of that travel agency and to HAL in Seattle attn. Mr. Stein Kruse. Talk about a lawyer is great but we all know lawyers don't come cheap! Hope you can work it out satisfactory without one. Good luck to you!