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Holland America Cruises Complaint - Holland America... cold, heartless and unfair!
Complaint
We wanted to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on a cruise to Alaska, our first cruise. We chose Holland America but were terribly disappointed by their uncaring and unreasonable policies. We found out an immediate family member was dying weeks before the cruise. We explained the situation and requested re-booking on a later sailing but since they already had our $4000 they were not one bit interested in doing one little thing to help us....all they could say was "sorry, you didn't purchase cancellation insurance." If we wanted to cancel I could understand...but we didn't want to cancel...never once asked for money back, we only wanted a later sailing but they were unyielding and totally uncaring. Even the way they dealt with us during this heartbreaking time was cold and uncompassionate. In contrast, Alaska Air was stellar, allowed for a change with a minimal change fee..reasonable and very, very caring. We offered to pay Holland a re-booking fee which we would have expected, but they refused. So when Holland would not give us a later sailing I requested at the very least to be able to give our paid cruise to our adult children...they even refused this request. This was a cabin we paid over $4000 for and they wouldn't even let us give it to our children! I would never recommend them and my "cruising" friends are equally apalled by their callous and unfair attitude. We didn't wait until days before sailing, we called them weeks before ....and they wouldn't even allow us to give our paid cruise to our adult children??? When I wrote them about how unfair we felt they had treated us, I received back a form letter..does that tell you something?
Comments:
Posted by goduke on 2009-08-20:
You might want to contact your A/G's office. I'd think that Holland would have to show that they left the cabin open for the cruise. But that's just a guess.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-20:
'Name changes and departure date changes are considered reservation cancellations and are subject to cancellation fees.' Go to their web pages and read the Cancellation Policies for detailed information.
Call again and maybe you will talk to a more sympathetic rep. Do note that if you can rebook they will assess cancellation fees.
Call again and maybe you will talk to a more sympathetic rep. Do note that if you can rebook they will assess cancellation fees.
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-08-20:
All they did was follow the procedures that you agreed to when you booked with them. You can change one of the two names of the passengers but not both. Alaska Airlines didn't do anything special, they just rebooked you with their change fee, this applies to everyone. It's unfortunate what happened but it is not Holland America's job to be caring or sympathetic, they are in business to make money. Cancellation insurance is for situations like yours. Unfortunately, no one wants to pay the extra fee for that benefit.
Posted by travel bug on 2009-08-21:
Actually Alaska did do us a big favor since we had a non-refundable ticket but beyond that, they bent over backward suggesting ways to help us out. If we would have had a new travel date they were willing to waive the fee entirely. We were treated like people, not dollar signs even though they are in business to make a profit.
Posted by Tc on 2011-06-21:
We had a similar situation and lost $10000. Be careful with HAL.
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