Saying goodbye to Holland...Veendam A/C problems

[karenj4546]

With a snail-mail received yesterday, I'm breaking my silence about the A/C problems on Veendam. Stay away from cabins 406,408,410 and 416. None have any a/c or air movement (until they put a fan in your room). Holland America has sent me their final offer for 7 sleepless nights in 2 cabins and it's absolutely unacceptable.
Karen

[inverted1]

What was the offer?

[Crusing Bob]

so why not take two cabins on a Vista or Signature rather than just leaving with nothing.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Try the Vista and Singature ships -- newer and better air conditioning.

[sail7seas]

Sorry for your disappointment. Adequate air conditioning is a necessity for many (most) of us.

[canadianbear]

Originally Posted by karenj4546

With a snail-mail received yesterday, I'm breaking my silence about the A/C problems on Veendam. Stay away from cabins 406,408,410 and 416. None have any a/c or air movement (until they put a fan in your room). Holland America has sent me their final offer for 7 sleepless nights in 2 cabins and it's absolutely unacceptable.
Karen

What a shame and it can sure spoil a holiday that you have paid dearly for. I'm sorry that HAL will not offer you something that you are happy with so that you will continue to sail with them. There is lots of competition out there to try but you shouldn't have to-they should make it right as long as it is reasonable.

[helenp2]

Originally Posted by karenj4546

With a snail-mail received yesterday, I'm breaking my silence about the A/C problems on Veendam. Stay away from cabins 406,408,410 and 416. None have any a/c or air movement (until they put a fan in your room). Holland America has sent me their final offer for 7 sleepless nights in 2 cabins and it's absolutely unacceptable.
Karen

YIKES!!!!! We are leaving on 9/12 and have friends who are booked on the Lower Prom deck mid-ship. I have been watching and reading about all of these A/C problems and I am more than concerned. One of these couples has recently (6 months ago) had a triple bypass and his wife is over 70 and has had hot flashes for over 28 yrs. The other person on that deck is in an inside J Cat and also has respiratory problems.

When I contacted ship services their answer to me was not to believe everything I read on CC and just put it out of my mind.

I only wish I could put this out of my mind but something tells me when there are this many complaints about the A/C there must be some truth to the matter. I am holding my breath to see what kind of comments we will see after tomorrows cruise ends.

[SwissMyst]

What was the offer? It may have been adequate in some eyes, so best we don't decide whether it was or not until we know what it was.

Maybe it is based upon an average time one is expected to be in full use of their cabins, let's say 50% of the time for sleeping and changing for meals, but not for the hours one is in port, or during meals, or a reasonable expectation of on deck activities in public areas.

So would a 50% compensation be appropriate for lost enjoyment of the actual numbers of hours impacted by the failed A/C cabin, because I agree A/C on a ship is really important. This is not a trivial complaint.

But what is fascinating in general about this type of very real complaint is how an assessment of damages/inconvenience would be put into monetary terms.

Should a damage assessment be made on objective or subjective temperature requirements. Let's say the cabin could be reduced to 72 degrees with the operating A/C, but not to 68 degrees which was more of a personal comfort requirement, should the compensation offered be based on some objective temperature comfort scale?

HAL should be objectively assessing the actual cabin temperatures when complaints like this are made. There must be some sort of temperature measuring device if they are going to truly understand what is going on.

Maybe the ship needs to carry some stand alone evaporative coolers as back up for some of its balky cabins or for more individual comfort needs not met with its standard A/C capacities.

No one should pay full price when A/C is not functioning. But let's be objective about what temperature range is appropriate to expect first, how many hours should you consider the cabin be available at that temperature and should there be a sliding scale for damages according to hours and temperature experienced.

Does one sign up expecting to stay in their cabin 100% of the time and have the cabin be within a certain temperature range or else there is a sliding scale of compensation if this is not available? That would be at least one place to start.

[Two@Sea]

Originally Posted by SwissMyst

... snip...No one should pay full price when A/C is not functioning. But let's be objective about what temperature range is appropriate to expect first, how many hours should you consider the cabin be available at that temperature and should there be a sliding scale for damages according to hours and temperature experienced... snip ...

I would consider 24/7 to be the appropriate hours for operable air conditioning. No one should have to adjust their cabin occupancy to arbitrary hours because of intolerable temperatures.

[IRL_Joanie]

Karen, I am sorry that HAL did not come up with a compromise that yo could agree to

Everyone on a cruise should expect to be able to have their stateroom at a temperature that is comfortable for them 24 hours a day!

I have read so many complaints on this board regarding the lack of A/C or to much A/C throughout the Veendam these last few months. This is unacceptable to anyone!!

I do hope though that before you switch permanently to another cruise line, that you might consider a newer ship. You have the offer from HAL for the seven (had to be absolutely miserable) nights and days, please use it to try another bigger and newer ship. Do not let this one week sour you forever.....

Whatever you do decide, I wish you happiness and a FANTASTIC cruise!!

Joanie

[IRL_Joanie]

Originally Posted by Two@Sea

I would consider 24/7 to be the appropriate hours for operable air conditioning. No one should have to adjust their cabin occupancy to arbitrary hours because of intolerable temperatures.

I'd have lasted a couple of hours max!! Then I would have taken my body, oxygen concentrator, white noise machine, pillow and comforter to the Atrium lobby and slept there. I'm pretty confident they had A/C...

Joanie

[helenp2]

Originally Posted by IRL_Joanie

I'd have lasted a couple of hours max!! Then I would have taken my body, oxygen concentrator, white noise machine, pillow and comforter to the Atrium lobby and slept there. I'm pretty confident they had A/C...

Joanie

Joanie, This is exactly what I think we may be reading about if this A/C problem continues. Atrium Lobby, Crows Nest, Explorers Lounge could very well end up becoming sleeping quarters for some. Not too funny.

[CowPrincess]

HAL should be objectively assessing the actual cabin temperatures when complaints like this are made. There must be some sort of temperature measuring device if they are going to truly understand what is going on.

Maybe the ship needs to carry some stand alone evaporative coolers as back up for some of its balky cabins or for more individual comfort needs not met with its standard A/C capacities.

No one should pay full price when A/C is not functioning. But let's be objective about what temperature range is appropriate to expect first, how many hours should you consider the cabin be available at that temperature and should there be a sliding scale for damages according to hours and temperature experienced.

Does one sign up expecting to stay in their cabin 100% of the time and have the cabin be within a certain temperature range or else there is a sliding scale of compensation if this is not available? That would be at least one place to start.

Someone came to our cabin to measure the air temp with some sort of hand-held device. IMHO the cabin was around 90 or 92F. The person doing the measuring would say only the temp was "outside of acceptable range". After our a/c was fixed, the person said the temp in our cabin had been 78F. Uh, no. So in my personal experience only, the measurement of cabin temperature on HAL leaves a lot to be desired.

As for a percentage? Seriously? If I'm not sleeping because the cabin temp is too hot, that affects 100% of my life onboard and ashore. We need to remember, too, that not everyone has unlimited vacation days. A non-sleeping cruise could conceivably be the only vacation a person gets for an entire year. I'd be wild if that happened to us.

JMHO, the OP has no obligation to disclose what HAL's offer was -- that is between her and HAL, and IMHO is really none of our business.

[sail7seas]

I think some people would be surprised to know how many hours some cruisers spend in their cabins. Everyone wants something different from their cruises and there are those of us who don't run around doing lots of ship activities. We book a comfortable cabin so that we can be comfortable in it. I cannot 'roll with it' if our cabin is too hot. Some medical conditions make air comfort mandatory. If it became extreme, there is every chance we would have to leave the ship.

Our comfort in our cabin is far more important to us than shows, trivia, casino and other activities aboard ship.

[TracieABD]

If there were no heat in the cabin on a colder climate cruise-- everyone would be up at arms.
Not having adaquate A/C is just as unacceptable. My mom has a heart condition, and does very poorly when she gets too hot.

If HAL cannot resolve the A/C issues in these rooms, they need to cease selling them until they can get the problem resolved.

[3rdGenCunarder]

The OP also mentioned "no air flow." That would worry me even more. I know you aren't going to suffocate, but inside and oceanview cabins have no source of fresh air other than the AC. Our cabin (main oceanview) on Veendam was a bit warmer than I'd like, but not really bad. However, it was also somewhat stuffy (due to poor airflow?). When a room gets stuffy, I get uncomfortable.

[cruisin'girl]

A/C working 24/7 with a capability of a temp of 66 degrees.

Obviously HAL isn't going to fix the A/C permanently ship-wide until it costs them serious 'dam dollars not to fix it, either in compensation, decrease in bookings or bad publicity which starts to hurt the bottom line. The cost of not fixing it has to be more than the cost of fixing it. Or sell the ship. I give karenj a lot of credit. Too many people have been complaining for years about this but doing nothing.

It darn well better be working on our upcoming Maasdam cruise. We are in an S port cabin.

[travelmatron]

We were on a Princess Cruise many years ago where the noise level in our cabin kept us awake night and day. Until you've experienced sleep deprivation it's almost impossible to understand how truly miserable it is. It can permiate your entire experience. Instead of a relaxing break from work we felt we were being held captive. On a 14 day cruise we were finally moved to an upgraded cabin (due to the other cruiser's medical emergency) on about day 6. While we don't blame the cruise line for our 'bad' cabin, we've never cruised Princess again. Too many other choices. I'm sorry the OP had such a bad experience, and hope future cruises are much better. If Karen never cruise HAL again, I'd completely understand her feelings.

[IRL_Joanie]

Originally Posted by cruisin'girl

A/C working 24/7 with a capability of a temp of 66 degrees.

Obviously HAL isn't going to fix the A/C permanently ship-wide until it costs them serious 'dam dollars not to fix it, either in compensation, decrease in bookings or bad publicity which starts to hurt the bottom line. The cost of not fixing it has to be more than the cost of fixing it. Or sell the ship. I give karenj a lot of credit. Too many people have been complaining for years about this but doing nothing.

It darn well better be working on our upcoming Maasdam cruise. We are in an S port cabin.

From other posts and threads regarding these severe A/C problems... To completely fix the problem the ship has to be completely gutted. It cannot be fixed here and there

I think I remember reading one of our HAL CC experts making a statement in reply to the question of, "What would it take to fix the A/C problems on the ship?" and the reply was, (NOT VERBATIM!!) "It would take selling the ship."

Unfortunately, it is my belief that since HAL just spent a few $$$$ to fix the ship..... They will not be selling her anytime soon. UNLESS enough people go to the media, send Stein Kruse (spelling?) snail mail and/or flood HAL's corporate offices with their complaints

It is just intolerable that so many cruisers have to suffer in the meantime

Joanie

[helenp2]

Originally Posted by TracieABD

If there were no heat in the cabin on a colder climate cruise-- everyone would be up at arms.
Not having adaquate A/C is just as unacceptable. My mom has a heart condition, and does very poorly when she gets too hot.

If HAL cannot resolve the A/C issues in these rooms, they need to cease selling them until they can get the problem resolved.

At the very least they should offer all future cruisers an opportunity to back out and cancel with no penalties.