HAL Cancelled My Cruise!! Options?

[CTOM]

Just got very disheartening news from our travel agent that HAL has cancelled the cruise we were booked on.   May 2020 Alaska on the Noordam.   This is awful, since we planned our work schedules and other family events around this, and every single thing except the airline tickets were all set.   😡

 

I'm also angry at the fact that HAL itself did not reach out, but rather we had to hear it from our travel agent.  Poor customer service.

 

The travel agent gave us some other HAL Alaska cruise options, around the same time.  They also offered us $75 each shipboard credit.  I have a few questions please:

 

  $75 does NOT seem like a fair offer for all of this hassle.   For anyone who HAL cancelled a cruise on, were you able to get additional compensation or anything else at all?    I wanted to complain to HAL themselves.   

 

I can't rebook anything yet, because I have to re-coordinate work schedules for all the people in our group, but I'd like to talk to HAL in the meantime.  I just don't know what to say.   Any tips?  thank you

 

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by CTOM

[kazu]

4 minutes ago, CTOM said:

Just got very disheartening news from our travel agent that HAL has cancelled the cruise we were booked on.   May 2020 Alaska on the Noordam.   This is awful, since we planned our work schedules and other family events around this, and every single thing except the airline tickets were all set.   😡

 

Sorry to hear this, but this is in 2020 so you do have lots of time to change plans, thankfully.  I’m guessing the ship has been chartered or HAL has changed itineraries.  I’ve had it happen too.

4 minutes ago, CTOM said:

 

I'm also angry at the fact that HAL itself did not reach out, but rather we had to hear it from our travel agent.  Poor customer service.

 

If you book with a travel agent, then all communication from HAL goes through them.  It’s not poor customer service, it’s the way it is.  Your travel agent is taking care of your cruise so it’s their job to give you the news, not HAL’s.  Had you booked directly with HAL, then HAL would have contacted you via email.

 

4 minutes ago, CTOM said:

The travel agent gave us some other HAL Alaska cruise options, around the same time.  They also offered us $75 each shipboard credit.  I have a few questions please:

 

  $75 does NOT seem like a fair offer for all of this hassle.   For anyone who HAL cancelled a cruise on, were you able to get additional compensation or anything else at all?    I wanted to complain to HAL themselves.   

 

I can't rebook anything yet, because I have to re-coordinate work schedules for all the people in our group, but I'd like to talk to HAL in the meantime.  I just don't know what to say.   Any tips?  thank you

 

 

 

I think the OBC depends upon the category booked, length of cruise and amount of notice.  I’ve never been able to figure it out.

 

Just call and say you are disappointed and ask if the OBC will be transferred to any cruise or only the ones that your TA gave you as an option.

 

I’m guessing your TA sent you an email that outlines the conditions.

 

There is usually an expiry date to book by so take care that you either get it done or request and extension if there is not enough time.  (Your TA can take care of that for you).

 

Good luck.

[bEwAbG]

This is not an unusual situation on any cruise line.  May 2020 is 14 months away, so the additional OBC is a courtesy for the "hassle," but you're really not out anything at this point.  $150 for the cabin (assuming double occupancy) seems like a fair offer to me considering that they don't have to offer anything.  If you book with a TA, you have to deal with the TA.  That's the point of having a TA.

[RocketMan275]

The $75 seems to be consistent with what I've seen in the past when cruise lines cancel a cruise for a charter this far in advance.   

Yes, I understand your frustration.  I've had it happen as well.

[VennDiagram]

Joining the chorus of "If you book with a TA, all communication is done through the TA".

 

Were you going 7-day northbound or 7-day southbound?  Would you consider a 7-day RT?  If not, why  not?  Just curious, before I start making suggestions.  If you were doing a 7 north + 7 south, definitely look at the Maasdam 14 day RT Vancouver in May.

 

[Alberta Quilter]

My Sep/19 cruise was cancelled; we were notified on Jul 2/18.  In fact, I found out here on CC first.  We were offered $50 in OBC.  This was a one off cruise and while HAL thought there were some comparable cruises, for various reasons for us, they were not comparable.  Fortunately, like you, we hadn't been able to book flights so there were no funds lost.  It's just a PITA!

 

I hope you get it all sorted out.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Alberta Quilter

[Cruising-along]

Interesting...what was the date of your Alaska cruise?  Yesterday HAL contacted us (booked with a HAL PCC) that our Noordam Australia-NZ cruise date was changed.  It will now be 1 week later, from March 26, 2020 to April 2, 2020.  It will be interesting to hear how many Noordam cruises are affected and why. 

 

Sorry, I see now that you did say your cruise is in May 2020.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Cruising-along

[knittinggirl]

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon.  We've had cruises cancelled by cruise lines three times now.    We actually had two cancelled last year during the Prinsendam mess.  I consider $150 a bit bad, especially when they told us it was only applied to their substitute.

 

When Royal Caribbean cancelled the Rhapsody , we got $400 OBC for ANY CRUISE.  We were supposed to start in Hawaii and go to Vancouver, but they redeployed the ship to Asia.   There were people on that ship that had booked three cruises in a row and got all of them cancelled.

 

With all three incidences, we found out about the cancellation on CruiseCritic first.  Royal Caribbean pulled the cruise from their website, then waited two months before announcing the redeployment.

 

I'd do a search and see if you can find any cruises on other cruise lines during that time period.  If it's Alaska, we usually see five ships in any given port.

[foodsvcmgr]

Unfortunately compensation is usually minimal.

Princess offered me a whopping $15 when a 2020 Europe cruise I was booked on was cancelled!

[bennybear]

Agree about the TA and disappointment.   We had it happen when we already had international air booked,  very upsetting, but HAL did compensate.  

Edited March 12, 2019 by bennybear

[Cruising-along]

Mystery solved, DH just talked to our PCC.  The Noordam is chartered March 26-April 2, which would have been the first week of our cruise.  Making our 39-day cruise a week later and must be changing a lot of others.  Our PCC said they canceled one or two Alaska cruises. 

[jenp123]

Sorry you are disappointed but if you book through a TA, Holland will not contact you directly.  They won't even answer questions if you call them.  The TA has to call.  In the future if you want direct contact with them, you must book directly.  Make sure you know the positives and negatives of booking with various sources before making a choice. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have had this happen to us as well -- a couple of times.

 

We were notified through our TA -- that is whom we had booked the cruises through thus that is why she called us and not HAL.

 

We were given a little more than $75 -- due to the fact it was a 14 day cruise and a 21 day cruise and we were staying in the PS.  We were given a choice of about 4 cruises to choose from -- not much choice.

 

Sounds like HAL has chartered your time slot.  

 

Hope you can make the changes. 

[iflyrc5]

Yes - Stuff happens.  We were booked on the Prinsendam for this fall and then HAL sold the ship.  They switched it to the Rotterdam but didn't reduce the fair when the Prinsendam always had you paying more.  In 2018 they cancelled our cruise on the Koningsdam - we replaced it with one on the Eurodam - then they cancelled that one - so we moved the dates on the Koningsdam and then low and behold they brought the Eurodam back.   Yes we all feel your frustration.

[sevenseasnomad]

5 hours ago, CTOM said:

Just got very disheartening news from our travel agent that HAL has cancelled the cruise we were booked on.   May 2020 Alaska on the Noordam.   This is awful, since we planned our work schedules and other family events around this, and every single thing except the airline tickets were all set.   😡

 

I'm also angry at the fact that HAL itself did not reach out, but rather we had to hear it from our travel agent.  Poor customer service.

 

The travel agent gave us some other HAL Alaska cruise options, around the same time.  They also offered us $75 each shipboard credit.  I have a few questions please:

 

  $75 does NOT seem like a fair offer for all of this hassle.   For anyone who HAL cancelled a cruise on, were you able to get additional compensation or anything else at all?    I wanted to complain to HAL themselves.   

 

I can't rebook anything yet, because I have to re-coordinate work schedules for all the people in our group, but I'd like to talk to HAL in the meantime.  I just don't know what to say.   Any tips?  thank you

 

 

In 2011, we booked a B2B New England/Canada cruise because we wanted to begin and end in Boston.  We had the same cabin for both segments.  A few months before the cruise, our TA called to tell us the disheartening news that a corporation had purchased the entire ship for our first week; therefore HA cancelled everyone who had booked.  We still had the option of cruising that second week.  It didn't appeal to us, so we booked a 7-day to Bermuda, when HA was still sailing to Bermuda.  In no way did it take the place of our original itinerary or the two weeks we'd planned to cruise.  Like you, we were so disappointed.  Sadly my husband died two years ago.  We never enjoyed that particular itinerary together.  

 

As to what to say to HA, I doubt if anything will do any good, especially if a huge group has booked the entire ship.  A letter would carry more weight, I believe, but you should also call and follow up with a letter, referencing the phone call.  In your letter, be sure to mention to whom you spoke, the date and time of the conversation, and any resolution that is offered.  I also doubt if you'll receive additional compensation.  We were offered nothing.  I hope you can get this resolved to your satisfaction.  Let us know the outcome, please.

 

Oops!  In reading back through the thread, I see that you booked with a TA.  HA might not discuss any aspect of your cancelled cruise with you.  Your TA will have to handle it for you.  Our TA wrote a nice letter for us when ours was cancelled and allowed us to add a letter of our own to hers.  Unfortunately, it was a wasted effort as nothing was going to induce HA to give us back our cabin on that Canada/New England segment.

Edited March 12, 2019 by sevenseasnomad

[CTOM]

Thank to all who replied.   I've calmed down somewhat, now that I see this is somewhat common (but still unfortunate).

[canadianbear]

We were booked on the NA in a Signature suite for a 21 day cruise and were informed by our TA our cruise was chartered out.  We were given several options to rebook and luckily are retired and could choose another one.  They moved us at the same price we paid on the NA to the Kongingsdam which was a much higher price so we were very happy.  They also gave us OBC more than $75.  It’s the first time that has happened to us.  

 

Glad you’ve calmed down somewhat but It is unfortunate for those that have schedules and have to cancel.  

[ontheweb]

At least you have some time to figure out what you want to do.

 

We once had a river cruise cancelled after it was chartered out. And it was after we had made our final payment. We were also contacted by the TA who we had used to book the cruise. We were offered an upgraded cabin on what was I am sure considered if not  a better cruise, one that was more expensive. But the original itinerary was what we wanted.

 

We eventually got our money back (and believe me it is more difficult getting a refund even when it is the cruise line that cancels than paying them) and flew to Amsterdam where we wanted to go and did a land vacation. And we let the river cruise line we wanted nothing to do with them, and asked them to stop sending us both e-mail and snail mail.

Edited March 13, 2019 by ontheweb
spelling codrrection than not then

[78232]

We experienced a similar situation.  Our cruise was chartered several months after we booked.  All communication went through our travel agent.  We were given approx. four new cruises from which to choose and the complimentary addition of the Explore 4 package.  After the initial shock it worked out fine.

[OlsSalt]

Look at it this way, they don't charge you if you cancel unless it is much closer to the sail date and you are under contract cancellations terms. That might be your best guideline - when they charge you to cancel, is when they need to also be more generous in return when they cancel. But when a cruise is well over a year from now, things can change beyond their own ability to make adjustments..

 

So can your own plans, so this far out is really in a twilight zone of mutual contractual responsibility.  If a passenger cancels on them outside the contract refund zone , then they have to find someone else to fill that space too so it is also an expense to them.  They want to know they have a full ship too, so this far our everyone is at risk. Hence the clear contract terms upfront about changes and cancellations. 

 

There are so many ships that go to Alaska, chances are very good you will still have a happy ending.

Edited March 13, 2019 by OlsSalt

[VMax1700]

18 hours ago, CTOM said:

Thank to all who replied.   I've calmed down somewhat, now that I see this is somewhat common (but still unfortunate).

 

Hi, what date where you sailing?  I can use the info to update the DryDock and Charter thread!

thanks

[CTOM]

Hi, it was May 3-10, 2020.   Vancouver to Alaska back to Vancouver round-trip

Edited March 13, 2019 by CTOM

[VennDiagram]

2 minutes ago, CTOM said:

Hi, it was May 3-10, 2020.   Vancouver to Alaska back to Vancouver round-trip

 

What about the Koningsdam May 2?

[Cruising-along]

22 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

 

Hi, what date where you sailing?  I can use the info to update the DryDock and Charter thread!

thanks

 

13 minutes ago, CTOM said:

Hi, it was May 3-10, 2020.   Vancouver to Alaska back to Vancouver round-trip

May 3 is when our Noordam Sydney-Vancouver 39-day cruise would have ended in Vancouver.  Now the week of March 26-April 2 is a charter for the Noordam (per our PCC), making our cruise start on April 2 instead.  I don't know if there's another charter on May 3, or if the charter affecting our cruise is also affecting everything down the line.  

[FlaMariner]

First World Problem.  There are lots of other alternatives and the OBC is a bonus.  

 

Relax and enjoy picking another cruise and enjoy a few drinks compliments of Holland America Line when you sail!