Eastern Caribbean switch...

[jfishe]

I know this has been a topic of discussion, the Eastern Caribbean Zuiderdam itinerary regarding St. Thomas and Tortola. We are going the end of August and currently, the HAL website is still showing St Thomas on Tuesday and Tortola on Wednesday. How soon will we know if it's been changed to Tortola on Tuesday and St. Thomas on Wednesday ? Has anyone sailed with this recent change and how soon were you notified of the change ?

[Stevesan]

Don't wait. Either call HAL or have your TA do it. The last itinerary change we had was on Maasdam. We were notified Thursday evening for a Saturday sailing! I had to scramble to reschedule my independent snorkel trips.

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

Have your TA get a fax from HAL. Hopefully it may or may not show a schedule change.

HAL made a schedule change for one of our cruises for 2005. We booked the cruise in April. HAL's website never showed the changes until the middle of June.

:)

[srpilo]

I finaly today recieved a e-mail response from HAL after 3 try's and over a month of waiting..

First off in classic cruiseline "hyperbole" they stead fastly refused to admit any past or future itinerary changes of Zuiderdam eastern itinerary and INSISTED that the July 3rd sailing when off as scheduled with Zuiderdam calling on St Thomas on Tuesday the 6th July from 8am to 11pm... Bla, Bla
Bla ... Incredible!!!!

My original intention when emailing was to request a truthfull answer to the recent (the last 6 easterns) itinerary changes on Zuiderdam, and the posiiblity of this being a permenant change. Though while not thrilled, I was prepared to accepted the switched days and the early departure from St Thomas as a informed customer.. But , I was NOT prepared to be treated as a fool and lied to like an child.

So you know what.. You all may think that HAL's a premium cruiseline... but for me after this a disrespectful FLAT OUT LIE , in writing no less!! Its my opinion that, any public company that use lies and deciet as offical business policy, should not be dealt with, or supported with my hard earned money. So , yes I'm stuck with this Zuiderdam cruise and HAL til September (Already Paid in Full :confused: ), and we'll probably enjoy the cruise, but after this, its back to Celebrity for us.. I don't need to pay good money to wonder and stress out pointlessly for lack of truthfull information, and then be BLATENLY LIED TO, I can get that unethical treatment from any number of other disreputuble companys for free.

Srpilo

Yea Yea, I know " Ports are subject to change without notice" so save your breath....

[Bubba_59]

Want to hear a good one? I'm leaving THIS COMING SATURDAY on the Zuiderdam Eastern Caribbean and it still shows the original itinerary even though St. Thomas and Tortola have been switched and our time on St. Thomas has been reduced by several hours.

[superstein61]

srpilo - I agree with you.

after at least 8 emails, I finally did receive a reply that was IMO less than straightforward. Right now they say there will be no change on my cruise date and denied that this has become a frequent occurrance.

How they can say the latter is beyond belief whne you look at all the cruises affected by this change in the last several months.

I am holding my breath that nothing will change on mine - because as you know, the reason I booked this specific cruise is due to the port times in St Thomas - but I expect based on HAL's past history I will be notified of a change close to our boarding date.

AND the ports are subject to change rule really does not apply here - I completely understand changing based on weather, or an occassional unusual circumstance. But consistent changes (while still gleefully advertising the old itinerary) is plain BAIT and SWITCH by HAL - and I will file a complaint with the state's Atty Gen'ls office if it impacts my cruise.

Til then, I continue to encourage people concerned over this to email and call HAL about it. I would email several dept's right from HAL's website

[peaches from georgia]

You wonder sometimes why people/companies lie when the truth is so easy to tell. We left Boston on the Maasdam on a Saturday at 5. Sunday noon, during our at- sea day, ice cream in the Lido was no longer available. Every crew member you asked in the Lido said the ship 'had run out of ice cream'.

This, of course, made no sense as we had left Boston less than 24 hours before. Pax were furious and 'damming HAL up one side and down the other for their inability to order ice cream correctly.

That night in the dining room we asked about the ice cream situation. We were told by our steward (and it was confirmed by the head waiter and maitre d') that the truth was that the freezer broke Sunday morning, the ice cream had to be thrown out, and that the freezer would be fixed in Martha's Vineyard and ice cream restocked. And as promised it was.

Now tell me why the HAL crew was told to lie to the pax about why there was no ice cream! Pax can understand and forgive a broken freezer, but not poor ordering of inventory. People were mad and HAL brought it all on themselves. Stupidity!

[Shirt-man]

We are just off the Zuiderdam on Saturday 7/10 and we also had a ports reversed. Tortola was first and then St Thomas. Trip was okay but the ship was extremely hot. Even the crew were complaining at times.

Enjoy

[scluvsrain]

What do you mean by "the ship was extremely hot"??? No air-conditioning, or the weather was really hot? I'm leaving on the 17th for the EC on the Zuiderdam so am interested in this!!!

[MandyGirl]

I've been on vacation the past several days, so I read with interest the replies HAL has sent regarding the eastern switch of Tortola and St Thomas, reducing the times in port. I, too, emailed HAL, but have yet to receive a reply... as I am also one of those who specifically booked this cruise based on the extended port time in St Thomas so that we could enjoy St John without being rushed (cancelled a trip to St John this summer, so I was hoping that by booking this cruise I'd be able to enjoy at least one long day of St John this year!)

We have yet to pay in full, but as it stands on the internet itineraries, this is still our best cruise for long port time in St Thomas for Thanksgiving week (I can only take cruises when school is out). Like you guys, we could also go back to Celebrity or other lines we have previously cruised on.

If I were dishonest with my math students about what a test would cover, I'd probably be in hot water. Sure would be nice if HAL would be honest with Customers.

[drk]

This one has me concerned. We also booked the Zuiderddam for 12/11 based on the extended time in St. T so that we could enjoy St. Johns without being rushed. I will also start emailing HAL for confirmation.

[MandyGirl]

Here's the new thread that superstein started showing the email received 7/14 of the itinerary change for the rest of the year for Zuiderdam :mad:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=54327

[iluvcruzin]

As far as being "lied to", unfortantely this doesn't happen just on HAL. Celebrity & RCCL gives mis-information too. So far 2 things I've called about for HAL were incorrect. One was Soda cards don't have grautity added (this is false) and a Promo for AAA can be used regardless of TA (this is false too). I realize these are minor incidents. However, Celebrity and RCCL use the same customer service department. I was told incorrect information about the cabin I booked on the Mariner next year. It's a long story but boils down to whether the corner aft balcony cabin has a glass door or glass sliders. Repeatedly via e-mail and phone calls I was told sliders. Proof was in the pudding when a friend took a picture of the cabin and FINALLY someone admitted they were wrong.

OK.. what does this all boil down too? That the customer service departments of all cruiselines need to get their act together on what information is to be provided to customers. Giving multiple answers for the same questions is really a poor way to do business. It really can be frustrating.

[MandyGirl]

One way they could really help in customer service is to have an updated website to reflect actual itineraries you are booking. It doesn't take too terribly long to update a website, yet it reaches thousands of customers. The web is such a powerful communication tool. And... if you've already filled out HAL's immigration forms online, they have your email address in their database (and itinerary) so they can send out a mass email to notify of the itinerary change (or we can just want until it trickles down from the TA).

Ex: as a teacher, I email the parents of my 150+ students each day during the school year - takes me maybe five minutes to type the email and click send after selecting the "classes" of parents I am emailing (love using 'groups' and HAL has that same data when you input Immigration data I would hope!).
I understand changes happen. Celebrity changed a "sea day" to a port day at Margarita Island on our second cruise, and we learned about it in advance from the company we booked through. It didn't change the cost of the cruise since we had paid in full, but it was nice to know in advance that we'd have an additional port so we could begin researching it. :)

[Florida Lady]

JUST RECEIVED THIS RESPONSE FROM HAL RESERVATIONS

7/15/2004 2:20:26 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: Hal_Reservations@HollandAmerica.com

Thank you for your inquiry regarding the ms Zuiderdam departing August 14, 2004.

Currently, the ms Zuiderdam's schedule is as follows:

DAY | DATE | CITY | ARRIVE | DEPART
---------------------------------------------------------
SAT 08/14/04 FT LAUDERDALE 5:00PM
SUN 08/15/04 HALF MOON CAY 8:00AM 4:00PM
MON 08/16/04 AT SEA
TUE 08/17/04 ST THOMAS, US V.I. 8:00AM 11:00PM
WED 08/18/04 ROAD TOWN, TORTOLA 7:00AM 6:00PM
THU 08/19/04 AT SEA
FRI 08/20/04 NASSAU, BAHAMAS 12:00PM 7:00PM
SAT 08/21/04 FT LAUDERDALE 8:00AM

*****Please be advised this is subject to change.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us. Our valued Mariner's comments or suggestions are always welcome and very much appreciated. For over 130 years Holland America has upheld a reputation for five-star service and unequaled cruise itineraries. Our award-winning fleet sails to Alaska, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Mexico, Europe, Canada & New England, South America, and Around the World. We look forward to welcoming you onboard again in the near future.

Thank you for your continued patronage!

Kind Regards,


Teresa
Internet Department
Holland America Line, Inc.
(877) SAIL-HAL