drdagor

Hi. We are on the same cruise as you and we're looking at Danny as a way to get up to the UNESCO site at L'A des Meadows. If that's a stop on your planned tour, count us as passengers 3 and 4 on the bus. Richard D

It's not unusual for Holland America to confuse its guests. The documents it sends out are often incomplete, unclear, or not timely. Add to HALs problems the tremendous confusion created by Greece regarding Covid testing, and it is almost guaranteed that misinformation will arise. Greek government notices online say that all cruise ship testing requirements and Covid restrictions were removed in May, but we know that not to be true. The cruise lines touching Greece this summer, and now into the fall, require pre-embarkation testing. Check policies at NCL, MSC, Costa, Seaborne, and others to see this. But here's a new low for HAL... Travelers embarking Oct 10 and Oct 22 on the Oosterdam (Civitavecchia and Trieste respectively) have been exchanging information. To get the gospel truth, two Oosterdam passengers called Holland America on about the same day this week to ask if Covid Testing is required for boarding on Oct 10 in Civitavecchia. One caller was told YES and one was told NO. YIPES! The amount of stress evident in the Cruise Critic Roll Call entries for these cruises is evidence that HAL is failing its loyal customers (many of us are 3 and 4 star Mariners). Consider this an open letter to HAL. (If you know how to get this to people at HAL, please forward it.) 1. Stop your phone support people from spreading misinformation. I believe we are down to just the Oosterdam for the Eastern Mediterranean season. 2. Send out an email to Oosterdam passengers embarking in Civitavecchia and Trieste to tell them what's going on, and to apologize for misinformation. Hope HAL clarifies this soon. We embark in less than 4 weeks.

I fully understand and appreciate the frustration and bad feelings. Here's the straight stuff on CoVid test requirements for the Oosterdam at Civitavecchia. 1. All cruise lines with ships touching Greece, even those in one port for one day, require testing -- not just Holland America. That's because of confusing guidance from Greece. And this is for guidance published since Sept 4. 2. Holland America's published notices are CONFUSING. But a call to Holland America customer support got me this statement: All passengers boarding in Civitavecchia require testing as described in HAL's documents. Simply put... You wanna sail? You needa test. 3. What is completely unclear is what happens in Trieste. Do people who boarded in Civitavecchia need to be retested in Trieste? Does it make a difference whether you booked the 26 days from Civitavecchia to Barcelona as one cruise or two? Nobody knows--not even HAL customer service. I was told that all would be explained by the medical team on board Oosterdam. Well... good luck with that. Richard