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Westerdam Problem??? is this true

Kelownabccan

By Kelownabccan,
in Holland America Line

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted

Sometimes, s%*t happens = guests' unhappiness.  That's part of the "travel adventure":  the unexpected.  If one does not want to possibly experience the "unexpected" during one's travel, one ought not be traveling.  

 

 

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StLouisCruisers

StLouisCruisers

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@ChitoFigginshow much more could you have seen in Victoria in 3 hours instead of the 1 hour?  Knowing a lot of selfish cruisers, they would have had half of them be no shows at sailing time.  It would have served them right in that case to leave them behind and let them pay for their transport to Vancouver.  

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Torquer

Torquer

Posted
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Very unfortunate situation.  Although HAL certainly has the legal right to cancel ports, according to the T&C in the contract, I have to agree with the OP that $100 compensation is completely inadequate.  This is also very different than ports being cancelled due to weather or for other circumstances beyond HAL's control.  This is a maintenance problem; when I book a cruise I fully expect the ship and my cabin to be in perfect working condition.  The compensation that was offered here is a joke and seriously hurts people's desire to book a future cruise with HAL.

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Boatdrill

Boatdrill

Posted
Posted (edited)
37 minutes ago, ChitoFiggins said:

In Sitka: if you were staying for 2 and a half hours extra at the port, why not let the passengers stay outside for more time?

 

In Victoria: Cruise is making a 1 hour port  call just to avoid possible Jones Act issues, but will return to Seattle two hours early. Why not return to Seattle as scheduled and allow the passengers to visit? It gives the impression that having the ship ready for the next sailing is more important than givin the passengers already on board a reasonable experience under the circunstances.

 

 

 

Sitka: If the port call was extended by 2 1/2 hours, and pax and crew  were still required to be back on board at the original time, that sounds like an issue where the ship wanted to sure everyone was onboard in case the ship was able to sail before the 2 1/2 extra hours had passed. Of course it could have been something else. 

 

Victoria:  ".....making a 1 hour port  call just to avoid possible Jones Act issues...".  HAL stops at Victoria because it's the law. Period.

 

As for safety at sea (which apparently you were reminded of by staff),  watch the video of the Viking Sky foundering off the coast of Norway in 2019. The ship lost engine power in high seas because of a maintenance issue: low engine oil levels.  Passengers were airlifted off the ship by helicopters. Go to YouTube and look it up. Chances are those passengers would gladly exchange their experiences with you.

 

If the Westerdam, during it's southbound trip back to Seattle, became even more disabled and was then a navigational hazard, what would you say then ?

I hope you never have to learn the hard way about the importance of safety at sea. It's the #1 priority on a ship. 

 

 

Edited by Boatdrill
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twodjs

twodjs

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I would agree that $100 is low for missing two ports (heard that free alcohol was also offered), but getting back to Seattle quickly is crucial to getting divers in the water to assess the full extent of the damage. It may very well be that the Captain or anyone else could not fully answer questions without the azipod inspection. Bottom line, they lost one azipod. They only have two. And with one azipod, they simply could not keep their original schedule. I can only imagine how easily the "ask the Captain" could have gotten out of hand, given the power of rumor and group mentality. They're not kicking you off the ship in Seattle early. And it's not just your cruise but the following cruise that will be negatively affected. I believe HAL has made proper decision to return to Seattle asap.

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Boatdrill

Boatdrill

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, Torquer said:

 This is a maintenance problem; when I book a cruise I fully expect the ship and my cabin to be in perfect working condition.  

All passengers do as well. But a cruise ship is first and foremost a motorized, mechanical sea going vessel. Everything revolves around that.  Being a floating hotel is a distant second.  

Edited by Boatdrill
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chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
Posted
41 minutes ago, ChitoFiggins said:

In Sitka: if you were staying for 2 and a half hours extra at the port, why not let the passengers stay outside for more time?

Let's pick this post apart.  They stayed extra in Sitka to allow divers to examine the azipod.  They likely didn't know how long this would take, so if it was going to be completed before the decided extra 2 hours, how long would it take to round up the passengers all over town?

 

43 minutes ago, ChitoFiggins said:

In Victoria: Cruise is making a 1 hour port  call just to avoid possible Jones Act issues, but will return to Seattle two hours early. Why not return to Seattle as scheduled and allow the passengers to visit? It gives the impression that having the ship ready for the next sailing is more important than givin the passengers already on board a reasonable experience under the circunstances.

Not sure what you want here.  If you wanted to visit Seattle, the ship arrived 2 hours early, which is 2 hours more time to visit?  So, did you want more time in Seattle, or more time at sea on a ship you don't feel is safe?

 

45 minutes ago, ChitoFiggins said:

The “this is all for your safety” explanation: rings hollow. If it is unsafe to sail the ship, why expose the passengers to a three day at sea trip to Canada just to avoid a possible Jones Act  violation argument? (Which I am sure could have been defended under an extenuating circumstances justification)

Let's see.  Last time I checked a map, Victoria was "on the way" between Sitka and Seattle.  So, you would have had a 3 day sea trip to Seattle, at the very least, though because it is further to Seattle, you would be more likely to have 3-1/2 or 4 days at sea.  And, you do know that the ticket contract you signed gives the line the right to pass the PVSA fine along to you, so if they didn't stop in Victoria, you would have seen a $715 charge on your onboard account.  Is that what you want?

 

They did not say that it is "unsafe to sail the ship", they said "for your safety, we are returning to Seattle, since we cannot make the scheduled ports given our current speed capability".  I realize its "all about me", but your rants are really difficult to justify.

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chengkp75

chengkp75

Posted
Posted

I see that I may have misunderstood the part about Victoria and Seattle, and the poster wanted more time in Victoria.  That may have been driven by tides, which control the under keel clearance and the air draft under bridges that the ship has to contend with, and could also be due to the maximum currents that the ship is allowed to transit under, also driven by tides.  These ain't pleasure boats, where every idiot on the water thinks they can go wherever they want, whenever they want.

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted
38 minutes ago, Torquer said:

This is a maintenance problem; when I book a cruise I fully expect the ship and my cabin to be in perfect working condition.  

 

You have lived a charmed life with regard to traveling experiences with such expectations of perfection.

 

Allow me to provide some doses of reality:

A Virginia Beach stay in a quality property during August, my room's  A/C broke.  It took a couple of days to fix.  I survived.

 

A Business Class Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore to Hong Kong to SFO:  my entertainment system froze during the first segment; rebooting in HK, it froze again.  I survived.

 

My room key would not work to allow me to re-enter my room in the Sheraton Hotel in Xian, China.  I had to go to the Front Desk, twice, to get the lock to unlock.

 

When one travels, one ought to expect challenges during their travels and be most appreciative when one's trip has been a smooth one.  

 

 

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liketraveling

liketraveling

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29 minutes ago, twodjs said:

I would agree that $100 is low for missing two ports (heard that free alcohol was also offered), but getting back to Seattle quickly is crucial to getting divers in the water to assess the full extent of the damage. It may very well be that the Captain or anyone else could not fully answer questions without the azipod inspection. Bottom line, they lost one azipod. They only have two. And with one azipod, they simply could not keep their original schedule. I can only imagine how easily the "ask the Captain" could have gotten out of hand, given the power of rumor and group mentality. They're not kicking you off the ship in Seattle early. And it's not just your cruise but the following cruise that will be negatively affected. I believe HAL has made proper decision to return to Seattle asap.

Usually Seattle makes the decision about the compensation.  I was on the Veendam in 2015 on a Panama Canal Cruise from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego.  I can’t remember what happened but there was something wrong with engine that just jugged along.  We were late to the first port and the only there 3 hours and missed 3 other stops.  I believe besides the canal only 3 port stops were made out of 6.   The sad part the majority of the passengers were first time Hal Cruisers and allot of older people who would probably never get a chance to see the canal again.  For Compensation they offered 25% of the base cruise fare that was paid.  Allot of passengers were upset about that.  Six month after we got home we got a letter that they increase the compensation to 50% of the base fee.  From the time we got on the ship the ship was not very operational.  The crew were great.  I think it might have amounted to dollars in this situation.  I am sure allot of people wrote to Hal about the situation.  This was a cruise that my Dad and I booked at the last minute at a really good price and 25 to 50 percent was not a big deal to us.  To those that paid about 3,000.00 it was a big deal.  This was pre Covid also.

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BetsyS. Holiday Sharing Rare

BetsyS.

Posted
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Years ago on the Veendam, the Captain would sometimes make an announcement 

that we would skip the next day's port due to weather or if the icebergs were too big.

At dinner that night the waiters served glasses of champagne. I said we didn't order

it and were told that "it's from the Captain."   The port taxes for missed ports were 

deleted from our account. The cruise director made an announcement that more

activities were being added on to schedule because we would be at sea the next day.

I miss the Veendam.

 

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RD64

RD64

Posted
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25 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

Years ago on the Veendam, the Captain would sometimes make an announcement 

that we would skip the next day's port due to weather or if the icebergs were too big.

At dinner that night the waiters served glasses of champagne. I said we didn't order

it and were told that "it's from the Captain."   The port taxes for missed ports were 

deleted from our account. The cruise director made an announcement that more

activities were being added on to schedule because we would be at sea the next day.

I miss the Veendam.

 

Agreed - totally miss the  Veendam.

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rubytue

rubytue

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59 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Westerdam arrived in Seattle at 04:13 local Pacific Time (11:13 UTC).

Oh lookit that. Right about the time this east coaster woke up naturally. 😂 It’s now 5am, and I still have yet to find coffee in this coffee town. 
 

The point was, I’m here. Planning to board her in 7 hours. I hope she goes and we don’t lose any more port times, we’ve already lost and hour here or there since I first booked a month ago. Please keep your fingers crossed for Juneau for me. A dear old friend I haven’t seen in 20 years lives there and I’m so exited to spend the day with him. 

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rubytue

rubytue

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Have you received any messages regarding delayed boarding or anything like that?

 

Nope. It’s 5am. My boarding time is noon. At app itinerary still says we sail at 3pm. 

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