Our 3rd cruise with Holland America was our last. They've completely lost us.
On an 11-day cruise on the Maasdam, it took nearly half the cruise and three rooms to be able to sleep through the night in comfort. In our first we were awakened each morning by noise, probably supplies being moved up to the restaurant for breakfast; and the air was so bad my wife consistently got a headache within 20 minutes of coming into the room. Our second room was so warm that sleeping naked with no sheets I still was soaked in sweat; once we finally found a front desk staff person who would take us seriously, she measured the temperature 82 degrees.
The most annoying thing was how uncommitted to helping most of the staff seemed to be. People were much more concerned about explaining why it wasn't their fault and they were limited in what they could do than saying "I'm sorry. I will try to make this better."
The clincher was that upon return from the cruise I wrote a detailed letter of complaint to the guest services department at their US headquarters. That was over 4 months ago and I have never received even an acknowledgment of the complaint. This confirms what we felt during the cruise: no commitment to customer satisfaction.
Since then, our next cruise was with Royal Caribbean. Further cruises will be with anybody but HAL.
Your first two cruises with HAL were good and your third wasn't so you just want to say "That's it"? Why not give them a chance to redeem themselves?
We did. That was the reason for the letter of complaint. If they'd responded with even a mild expression of regret and expression of the importance of customer satisfaction and their hope that we would continue to cruise with HAL -- let alone some offer of compensation for spoiling half our vacation -- we might be tempted.
But nothing. Nada. Zip. Deafening silence.
My wife was brought to tears by lack of sleep and frustration at the staff's lack of response. We were seriously considering getting off at the next port of call and flying home. That's how bad it was.
If someone doesn't value my business enough to care whether I'm satisfied, I can bring it elsewhere.
I'm glad you didn't sail on NCLA! Letters get lost or tossed, especially lengthy ones. A phone call, a conversation goes farther. So you want an appology. I don't work for HAL but, I'm sorry? Hal really isn't known for being loud and obnoxious.
I'm sure the noise will be much lower on RCI with almost no activities except for climbing walls, miniature golf, some sort of surfing pool, lots of kids and 30 something's. Happy nude sailing, I mean sleeping!
Thank you for your post pm54. We were considering a HAL cruise to Alaska this summer but if this is the kind of service that they dish out to people who have paid good $ to relax and have a good time, then this is not the kind of company that I care to deal with.
Originally posted by mickeyd:
Thank you for your post pm54. We were considering a HAL cruise to Alaska this summer but if this is the kind of service that they dish out to people who have paid good $ to relax and have a good time, then this is not the kind of company that I care to deal with.
HAL is a premium cruise line with a history of over 130 years sailing. They have been serving Alaska longer than any cruise line. You would be missing out on a great experience if you listen to just one persons view. Go here to read more about Holland America and which ever ship you were looking at for Alaska.
Originally posted by Cruise Fanatic:
Did you call anyone to ask if they even got the letter?
No I didn't. Never occurred to me to do so. By the time I spent a significant amount to time writing the letter (which contained far more details than I've posted here), I felt that I'd done my job and it was in their hands.
I surely don't mean to tell you how to handle your affairs, but if your letter went into even more detail, and was of the same tone as what you posted here, well forgive me, but they probably just wrote you off as a disgruntled customer.
The phone, from my experience, works much better, then follow it up with a letter. On the phone you can get names, speak to supervisors and managers, you can make them get involved in your problem. A letter like yours gets read and then tossed. I'm not saying it's right--it's just the way it is!
And mickeyd, Cruise Fanatic is right--don't let this one unhappy person influence your decision. You'll only be cheating yourself.
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