**Charleston, SC 10/18/07** On Board Veendam NOW 1:05 PM**

[Hal&Rob]

We are presently docked in Charleston, SC where it is damp hot and humid. The Veendam seems to be having a serious problem with it's AC system. Last evening in our cabin it went from 67 degrees to 80 degrees in less than four hours.
At about 10:00 we went to the pursers desk, for the third time this day, to submit another complaint. An engineer came to the cabin, took apart our unit and made an adjustment. By 11:00 pm it was down to 76 and never got any lower.

After being a-shore for a couple hours we came back to the lido cafe where it is hotter and more humid than on the streets of Charleston ... obviously there is something wrong on the entire ship.

The cruise from Montreal (sailing on 10/9) has been very pleasant. We are happy to say the food in the dining room is acceptable, and our waite service has been excellent.

The cabin steward is doing a good job other than forgetting to put ice in the bucket everytime he does the cabin. Thank goodness the ice machine is directly across the hall from our entrance door.

The composition of passengers is typical Holland America 60 and ancient (just before death). With only four children on board it is extremely quiet. Trivia is the big activity of the day; very well attended and extremely competitive.

The shows are typical, the casino is very slow and the slots pay terribly. The "Bridge" lecturers are very good, but the duplicate players are a little stuck on themselves.

So, if you are on the Veendam beginning the 21st or the 28th we hope the AC is back up and running.

We sail on the "Westerdam" the 28th of October 2007, and the "Amsterdam" on the 11th of December 2007 and plan on doing the "Zuiderdam" on the 15th
of March 2008 from Lauderdale to Rome. Hopefully the AC will be in working order.

We are using the Wifi here in Charleston and had connections in most all the ports. The ships cellular phone service and wifi are turned off in port and we were told that they are actually disconnected 15 miles before docking.


We will not be back on line until the 22nd when we are off the ship.

[blueboro]

My in-laws just got off of the same cruise and said they were without AC for about 2-3 days and when it came back on it was only slightly better than none at all. Apparently the entire ship was without AC...not just some cabns. I was surprised that HAL did not provide some type of small credit on a future cruise or an on-board credit...something for the extreme inconvenience. This was their first cruise on HAL and, after our praise of the line, this and several other things have made them reconsider if they would cruise again with HAL.

Living on a ship from Charleston to Tampa with no AC for several days would be hell for me. For those of you seasoned HAL cruisers, how would you handle this? Would you suggest they write a letter to someone at HAL and do you think this is something they normally provide some sort of small compensation for?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the information.

[earl_m]

i hope you have better luck with your next cruise

[hammybee]

I am so sorry that the AC was out of order. I think I would have opted to create tent city, in the LIDO or aft deck. You sound like you made the best of a sad situation. Better luck to you on your next cruise.

[TKandKK]

I (we) were on the same cruise, and can confirm the AC problems. To their credit, the Captain did make an announcement with full disclosure about the issue.

(Apparently, under "normal" circumstances, they use 3 of the 4 AC units to cool the ship. But they lost something like 3 of them due to some issue that they claimed was fixed sometime after that one horrid night. However, the temperature never really got down to a temp that was comfortable for me and the Mrs.)

Our fantastic dining room steward, (we wanted to kidnap him), told us that the crews quarters were even worse....he slept on the bare floor hoping to find some coolness, and every door was open on the crew deck in a vain attempt to get some air flow.

Hey, we all survived....and as the saying goes, "S*%$ happens". :)

[Chetsky]

H&R Travel -

Good report - and very accurate. I would have paid money to see Rob "persuading" the Front Office to change cabins.

We really enjoyed our morning "chats" and hope you have a great cruise (with AC) on the Westerdam this weekend.

Chet & Jean

[terrydtx]

Between the endemic plumbing problems with the Statendam and the A/C problems on the Veendam, it makes you wonder about the rest of the maintenance aboard HAL ships. HAL’s standard compensation of $150 shipboard credit for these kind of problems seems far short of what should be demanded by the passengers affected by these chronic problems. There is no excuse for no AC or flushing toilets when we pay on average $2000 per person to sail with HAL, We can go camping and be without AC and working plumbing by choice, but to book a cruise for large sums of money and have to put up with these conditions in unconscionable. The Veendam will be in the Caribbean for the winter and those of you booked may want to rebook on other ships. :eek: :eek:

[OldCodger73]

...

The Veendam will be in the Caribbean for the winter and those of you booked may want to rebook on other ships.

Isn't recommending that people may want to rebook taking a "sky is falling" attitude for what may be a problem that will be repaired shortly?

[terrydtx]

Isn't recommending that people may want to rebook taking a "sky is falling" attitude for what may be a problem that will be repaired shortly?

If I was booked on the Veendam this winter and having read about the ongoing AC problems I would be looking at other ships, no fun spending 7 days in a sweat box cabin and only getting $150 to $175 ship board credit for my “Inconvenience” The AC problem on the Veendam has not been limited to its current cruise according to posters in this forum but has been on going for some time.

[hammybee]

I wonder if the AC problem impacts all or some cabins. So often when we hear problems like this or the plumbing issues as bad as they are, a perception is created that it's the entire ship, when reality it may be a substantially less number of cabins.

My sense is that giving a standard OBC satisfies the majority of passengers, who might be inconvenicned by an out of order elevator and/or the curiosity of a delay in toilet flushing.

Those who experienced more serious issues, are of course free to make their case with HAL headquarters. Those that do, will most likely prevail, dependent upon the facts of the onboard experience.