komo

Right. It would have still shown the goodwill of the agent towards its child passengers - if they did not warn them (or their parents) about the possible loud works beforehand. Don’t you agree?

Thank you very much for your comments. It is not their first cruise but they were really scared by the loud noise of banging and shouting that has awakened them. We have talked to them, explaining what was happening, but indeed, HAL should have informed us beforehand or really should have compensated the kids by sending them some treats for the « inconvenience » (as the supervisor of the Front Desk addressed the whole situation). It might sound as a First World Problem, but if you are on holiday, than you want to offer the best experience for your kids and not return home with some bad memories. The whole management of the issue is what bothers me. We cruised HAL several times before, but clearly never experienced the handling of issues in such a manner.

We are currently cruising on HAL’s Oosterdam. We have obstructed view cabins that have lifeboats in front of them. Today morning, at 7.55 Am we were awakened by banging, welding and the sound of steel being cut. My kids - 8 and 12 - started crying as they thought the ship was sinking. After opening the curtains we found out that mechanics started some kind of maintenance. The kids continued crying saying that most probably they were cutting off lifeboats in order to lower them. We tried - with my wife - to calm them and called the front desk instantly who reassured us that it was « only planned maintenance and that they instructed the colleagues to stop the loud work ». I inquired a couple of hours later as what type of remedy HAL offers in such cases - our kids don’t want to cruise anymore. The kind reply was that they could offer their sincere apologies. I drew their attention on the fact that prior information could have been given before planned works that cause such a noise and might frighten and shock kids, moreover, it was quite strange for me that no compensation policy exists for such cases (eg. a bowl of fruit or some candies for the kids) besides their apologies…