Nieuw Amsterdam - Mar. 12 - Anyone else missed the boat?

[Boatdrill]

21 hours ago, richwmn said:

one would have to wonder where the 'lovely woman' got her information from. Could it have been speculation on her part?

As some one who was once a "lovely woman" working at the Reception/Pursers' Desk for  a major cruise line, I can tell you that we only knew and relayed to passengers what we had been told. If I didn't know the answer,  I'd ask a supervisor, or call the bridge (depending on the question and who was working the bridge at that time). However, It wasn't unusual for us to be told of revised plans AFTER guests had already asked, and thus we had inadvertently given out wrong information.  Giving wrong or speculative info was the last thing we wanted to do, because we would certainly hear about it on the the post cruise guest surveys. 

 

Case in point: our ship sailed from a west coast port for a Mexican Riviera cruise. On the second day out, many passengers began inquiring about a hurricane in our path, and if the itinerary would be altered.

As far as we knew, nothing had changed. Our supervisor (Chief Purser) knew nothing about changes, nor did the Hotel Director. The next day, the captain held a meeting for all available hotel department staff where he addressed the hurricane, and our revised itinerary.  It was clear that this wasn't a last minute change, and had been in the works. Someone from our department bravely asked him if in the future, could we have this news earlier, so we don't mislead the guests who ask. 

The captain replied that HE is the captain,  and only he will decide WHEN and HOW the information is given to the passengers. Lesson learned. 

 

 

 

          

[cccole]

Boatdrill, I think in this case the "lovely woman" was at the hotel in Key West not on the ship at the Reception/Pursers Desk.  Really unfortunate that your captain was unwilling to keep you and passengers  informed.  Cherie

[rkacruiser]

31 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

I can tell you that we only knew and relayed to passengers what we had been told. If I didn't know the answer,  I'd ask a supervisor,

 

Too many guests don't understand that the Front Office staff only know what they know.  If they or their supervisor have not been properly informed, it is not their fault.  Yet, I have observed guests taking their frustrations and angst out on these good people trying to do their best.

 

32 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

Our supervisor (Chief Purser) knew nothing about changes, nor did the Hotel Director.

 

33 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

The captain replied that HE is the captain,  and only he will decide WHEN and HOW the information is given to the passengers. Lesson learned

 

Hail Caesar!  Such a Master who must have failed PR 101.  Cruise guests are cattle. I have sailed with such as I have related on CC.  Thankfully, only once.  But, this "gentleman" still commands a HAL vessel as I understand.   

[Brucefan]

23 minutes ago, cccole said:

Boatdrill, I think in this case the "lovely woman" was at the hotel in Key West not on the ship at the Reception/Pursers Desk.  Really unfortunate that your captain was unwilling to keep you and passengers  informed.  Cherie

You are correct here....the "lovely woman" that I wrote about was not connected to HAL whatsoever.  She was the front desk staff at the hotel where we eventually found a place to sleep.

[Wakepatrol]

What time did you finally arrive at the the port?. We were late leaving because the Apex was behind us and he had to leave first

[Brucefan]

4 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

What time did you finally arrive at the the port?. We were late leaving because the Apex was behind us and he had to leave first

I think it was around 6:15 when I go back to look at my phone log to our TA....

[syesmar]

 

@CBfan and @Brucefan thank you both for sharing your experiences with us. It’s beyond disturbing that the emergency line was not accessible. It sounds like you had everything well thought out, backups in place, but at the end of the day HAL didn’t follow their own protocols. I hope your travel agent has been able to work something out for this situation to your satisfaction.

All the Best!

[steve4031]

IMHO the only appropriate outcome for the OP is a refund of the cruise that they did not go on, and a credit for a 7 day cruise in the future.  If I was in their place anything less would strongly discourage me from booking with HAL in the future.  

[Brucefan]

11 minutes ago, steve4031 said:

IMHO the only appropriate outcome for the OP is a refund of the cruise that they did not go on, and a credit for a 7 day cruise in the future.  If I was in their place anything less would strongly discourage me from booking with HAL in the future.  

The calls to Guest Relations have started....awaiting a return call as both myself and our travel agent had to leave messages.  This is EXACTLY the outcome we are looking for.  A refund and a credit for everything we lost:  drink package, wifi,gratuities, OBC and upgrade to suite (that we had paid for). Anything less is unacceptable.  Am still hopeful for a positive outcome to share on this thread!🙂

[puppycanducruise]

Good luck getting the result you want.  Please let us know.

[canadianbear]

I wonder if we all contacted either our PCC or HAL asking what their policy is and how we’ve heard of the story of 60 people missing their ship and it’s not what we’ve come to expect with their promise and no help?   

[Brucefan]

11 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I wonder if we all contacted either our PCC or HAL asking what their policy is and how we’ve heard of the story of 60 people missing their ship and it’s not what we’ve come to expect with their promise and no help?   

I am truly hopeful that this is going to end with a positive outcome.  We want to give HAL a chance to do right by us.  My travel partner and her family have had MANY long and successful cruises with HAL and have only had positive experiences.

 

We will be sure to update on the outcome as things unfold!

[canadianbear]

21 minutes ago, Brucefan said:

I am truly hopeful that this is going to end with a positive outcome.  We want to give HAL a chance to do right by us.  My travel partner and her family have had MANY long and successful cruises with HAL and have only had positive experiences.

 

We will be sure to update on the outcome as things unfold!

I hope for your sake it also works out well.  We are 4* and 98% of the time cruise with HAL and have had very few issues and if we did they were resolved.    

[Brucefan]

A bit of an update…..Guest Relations returned our TA’s call and has promised a letter to follow…..stay tuned….

[canadianbear]

49 minutes ago, Brucefan said:

A bit of an update…..Guest Relations returned our TA’s call and has promised a letter to follow…..stay tuned….

I am hoping HAL makes it right for you and the others.  Thankfully you still had a decent vacation but who knows about the others.  

[Brucefan]

We have now received a letter from Guest Relations from the Office of the President.  We are not happy at this point.  We will be sending a response which clearly outlines our disappointment with lack of customer service and support.  Our travel agent feels that HAL does not know our entire saga and perhaps once HAL understands the multiple times they failed to help us during our ordeal, their reply may change.

 

The story continues....still hopeful for a positive outcome.

[Sea42]

7 minutes ago, Brucefan said:

We have now received a letter from Guest Relations from the Office of the President.  We are not happy at this point.  We will be sending a response which clearly outlines our disappointment with lack of customer service and support.  Our travel agent feels that HAL does not know our entire saga and perhaps once HAL understands the multiple times they failed to help us during our ordeal, their reply may change.

 

The story continues....still hopeful for a positive outcome.

I am really impressed with your calm, positive attitude! I hope everything turns out to your satisfaction.

[RedIguana]

I was actually following this sailing, as I was on the Rotterdam that left the next day, due to hit KW on the 19th. The OP's sailing was to be the first Key West stop for Hal this year. I am assuming the hotel clerk was postulating the ship would not dock due to weather forecast, as the ship actually made it pretty far into the channel to KW before turning around according to the ship tracking site I was watching. I saw some posts on the role call that it was only cancelled 30-60 minutes out.

[CBfan]

That would make sense as I received the call from the ship telling me they wouldn't make it around 6:30 am.  

 

Again, I repeat that TO THIS DAY (including countless hours on hold on that day, our travel agent escalating our complaint and the OP and I both leaving messages with our specially assigned President Office Guest Relations contact this week) we have spoken IN PERSON to exactly two HAL employees.

 

The first was the person on the ship who answered my satellite call near midnight on Saturday March 12 and called me back the next morning and the second was someone working on the emergency "Air Sea" desk (at the same emergency number we'd used the day before) who finally answered the phone around 8 am Sunday March 13 to begin the discussion of the offer to chase to the ship when it docked in Jamaica on Tuesday (Day 4 of a 7 day cruise).  By that point we assessed our situation (sitting at the southernmost point of the USA, shipless, about to be homeless and without means of transportation) and were starting to make new plans to salvage our holiday.

 

If we seem to have a calm, positive attitude I can assure you that it is only out of mental health and well-being.  At this point I want someone from the cruiseline to simply LISTEN to our story.  

 

 

[cccole]

Is this something that can be disputed with your credit card?  Services promised were not provided.  You have plenty of support info to back up a claim. At this point I would choose to deal with anyone but HAL.  JMO. Cherie

[Mary229]

I reread this thread and it prompted me to find the contractual provisions for flight ease.  It should be included when you buy your airfare but instead it is covered in three or four paragraphs in the cruise contract.  I am glad I refreshed my memory.  Of note, that may have been helpful in this situation, is they recommend that the passenger ask the airline to contact Holland America in addition to your own efforts 

[Boatdrill]

On 3/20/2022 at 5:14 PM, Brucefan said:

You are correct here....the "lovely woman" that I wrote about was not connected to HAL whatsoever.  She was the front desk staff at the hotel where we eventually found a place to sleep.

I'm sorry I misunderstood who it was that you asked, and I'd delete my post if I could.

It didn't occur to me that some one would ask a front desk clerk about a cruise ship's schedule. 

 

[Brucefan]

6 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

I'm sorry I misunderstood who it was that you asked, and I'd delete my post if I could.

It didn't occur to me that some one would ask a front desk clerk about a cruise ship's schedule. 

 

Not a problem at all....  🙂

 

We didn't ask her.....she offered this information up when I was very close to tears explaining why we so desperately needed a place to sleep for the night.

[Brucefan]

Another update to our ongoing saga with HAL….

 

Our amazing TA advised us to write a letter to HAL to share the “big picture” of our terribly disappointing experience - explaining exactly what happened and how things fell apart.  We did just that.  6 pages long.  Not because we embellished ANYTHING but that is how long it took to explain the whole unbelievable hot mess of a story.  People who we have shared it with cannot believe that all of it is true because it sounds so crazy when you read it all beginning to end.

 

This letter has been shared with the District Manager of the larger parent company of the Travel Agency who then shared it with their direct contact (Business Manager I believe) at HAL as well as the contact person in Guest Relations in the Office of the President who had replied earlier with HALs original unacceptable offer to us.

 

We are still awaiting a reply from HAL.  However, our TA has been reassuring that the more time it is taking, the more positive the outcome may be…..

 

The drama continues…..

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the update.  Hope you get adequate compensation.🤞