The Importance of writing to a Cruise Line

[sambamama]

I've sailed with Celebrity, RCLL, Princess, NCL, but primarily with Holland America. I am a 4 star Mariner with them, have sailed over 130 days, and started sailing with them back in 1983. Over the years, there have been some issues with cruises, and I've written to the line. Mostly I've received compensation for the problems. 

However, I booked a 15 day Asia cruise in 2019 that was to sail in 2021, paid in full early and it has been postponed twice. Each time I had already booked award flights, non award flights and some hotels. Each time, I got absolutely no compensation as a result. I've lost money as a result. I realize I am not alone in this and many people lost money as a result of COVID. However, HAL also canceled 6 other cruises and sent out an email canceling a TA cruise I was booked on, and then sent out an email three weeks later saying they didn't cancel the cruise and it was a mistake. By then I had canceled my flight. 

So I wrote to HAL and got the rudest letter back I've ever gotten from any company. I replied to this letter, and got an actual call from a concerned HAL employee. We spent 70 minutes on the phone, and at the end, he gave me $85 in shipboard credit, and upgraded my cabin to the best remaining ocean view on the ship (I was booked in an inside guarantee.) So sometimes cruise lines listen. (My letters to Princess fell on deaf ears-no one ever responded about a serious safety concern.) 

[Honolulu Blue]

23 hours ago, sambamama said:

I've sailed with Celebrity, RCLL, Princess, NCL, but primarily with Holland America. I am a 4 star Mariner with them, have sailed over 130 days, and started sailing with them back in 1983. Over the years, there have been some issues with cruises, and I've written to the line. Mostly I've received compensation for the problems. 

However, I booked a 15 day Asia cruise in 2019 that was to sail in 2021, paid in full early and it has been postponed twice. Each time I had already booked award flights, non award flights and some hotels. Each time, I got absolutely no compensation as a result. I've lost money as a result. I realize I am not alone in this and many people lost money as a result of COVID. However, HAL also canceled 6 other cruises and sent out an email canceling a TA cruise I was booked on, and then sent out an email three weeks later saying they didn't cancel the cruise and it was a mistake. By then I had canceled my flight. 

So I wrote to HAL and got the rudest letter back I've ever gotten from any company. I replied to this letter, and got an actual call from a concerned HAL employee. We spent 70 minutes on the phone, and at the end, he gave me $85 in shipboard credit, and upgraded my cabin to the best remaining ocean view on the ship (I was booked in an inside guarantee.) So sometimes cruise lines listen. (My letters to Princess fell on deaf ears-no one ever responded about a serious safety concern.) 

Thank you for sharing your experiences.  If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions:

 

1) Who did you write to at HAL and who responded to you?  I can't say that I've ever gotten a rude response from any corporate office that I've ever written to (and I've done a few).  Direct, yes.  Disappointing, sometimes.  Hard to understand, also sometimes.  But never rude.  Most often they're fluffy, feel-good stuff that's designed to make me happy about the solution (or lack of solution) to the matter that irritated me enough to write to them.

 

2) Who did you write to at Princess?  I've written to President John Padgett in Santa Clarita twice on relatively unimportant matters and both times I got replies back from his office - once by e-mail and once by phone.  

 

Thanks again, and I agree with getting in touch with the cruise line in writing whenever there's a problem.

[sambamama]

I wrote to the Office of the President, as I always have.  Always before, it was answered by the Assistant to the President, or the Vice President in charge of Marketing, or someone like that.  This time, it was simply answered by a "resolution specialist" who didn't even give a last name and in so many words called me a liar.  Yes, I know, I was shocked to get a rude letter.  I've written to many, many companies, and never, ever gotten a rude letter.  I've gotten letters not agreeing with me, but never accusing me of stating a lie.  (She said I was not telling the truth about being offered a large amount of shipboard compensation to rebook my cancelled cruise for 2023 ($800.) ) She said that maybe at best $100 had been given.  

 

It was another resolution specialist who called me (and he gave me his first and last name.  He told me she used a template and did a terrible job of reading my letter and responding to it.  

 

I can't remember who I wrote to Princess, but it was one of the executives.  There was a MAJOR problem on the Panama canal tours.  It was a stop where you had to tender.  They did not have enough tenders.  There was not nearly enough adequate shade, and people had to stand an hour or more in blazing sun.  There were many, many elderly people, and people in wheelchairs.  There were only a few crew there, and one junior officer.  People were fainting.  There wasn't any water either.  The crew did nothing.  Tour buses would return and drive up, or taxis return, and people would cut the line, causing even more problems.  We (the passengers) started policing the line ourselves and moving elderly and wheelchair people out of the sun.  We also started telling crew members to get water and wet washcloths to these people.  I have never seen such chaos, and I don't know how they avoided having a major medical incident.  

 

No one ever replied.  It wasn't something I myself was looking for compensation.  I just happened to be one of the first people who began policing the lines, and getting the elderly people into the shade.  I also started talking to the crew and to the officer. (I was a Naval Commander's wife-I have no problem exerting authority!) 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, sambamama said:

I wrote to the Office of the President, as I always have.  Always before, it was answered by the Assistant to the President, or the Vice President in charge of Marketing, or someone like that.  This time, it was simply answered by a "resolution specialist" who didn't even give a last name and in so many words called me a liar.  Yes, I know, I was shocked to get a rude letter.  I've written to many, many companies, and never, ever gotten a rude letter.  I've gotten letters not agreeing with me, but never accusing me of stating a lie.  (She said I was not telling the truth about being offered a large amount of shipboard compensation to rebook my cancelled cruise for 2023 ($800.) ) She said that maybe at best $100 had been given.  

 

It was another resolution specialist who called me (and he gave me his first and last name.  He told me she used a template and did a terrible job of reading my letter and responding to it.  

 

I can't remember who I wrote to Princess, but it was one of the executives.  There was a MAJOR problem on the Panama canal tours.  It was a stop where you had to tender.  They did not have enough tenders.  There was not nearly enough adequate shade, and people had to stand an hour or more in blazing sun.  There were many, many elderly people, and people in wheelchairs.  There were only a few crew there, and one junior officer.  People were fainting.  There wasn't any water either.  The crew did nothing.  Tour buses would return and drive up, or taxis return, and people would cut the line, causing even more problems.  We (the passengers) started policing the line ourselves and moving elderly and wheelchair people out of the sun.  We also started telling crew members to get water and wet washcloths to these people.  I have never seen such chaos, and I don't know how they avoided having a major medical incident.  

 

No one ever replied.  It wasn't something I myself was looking for compensation.  I just happened to be one of the first people who began policing the lines, and getting the elderly people into the shade.  I also started talking to the crew and to the officer. (I was a Naval Commander's wife-I have no problem exerting authority!) 

Thanks for sharing.