Alaska Group 12 - The Lost 29 - Holland America (Combined Threads)

[Stringreen]

My travel companion and I traveled with Holland America on Tour 12 which left 8/16/06. All flights, tours, etc. were arranged by Holland America. There was a rail bridge and motor road washout which affected our train to Anchorage. H/A brought us to the airport but neglected to provide our names to the airline and about 20 of us couldn't get on that plane. H/A reps were totally incompetant (they got us to the ship 3 1/2 days after it sailed), they were rude (H/A rep Adam at Fairbanks told us to get a car and go somewhere else), we were awakened at 4 and 5 in the morning only to wait all day sitting around in a hotel room to await our names to be called - which didn't happen for days after list after list of our names were lost or forgotten. Not only did we loose 3 1/2 days aboard the ship, but we lost upgrades, optional already paid for tours, etc. that weren't reimbursed. We lost those postcard views of the glaciers and fjords that prompted us to choose to go to Alaska, we lost our dignity as we were talked down to like we were so much cattle, etc. We were offered 500 dollars shipboard credit by Holland America for the thousands of dollars we lost due to their incometance, and we lost our once in a lifetime dream of an Alaska vacation. BOO to Holland America. I would caution anyone thinking of traveling with them to Alaska to rethink their decision. I am a long time traveler with H/A, but have never experienced such poor treatment as with Holland America Alaska. If anyone wants to contact me for a complete listing of H/A failures in this regard, its SgreenT@Att.Net.

[Krazy Kruizers]

So sorry to hear that your dream Alaskan tour and cruise were ruined.

I assume that you will be writing a letter to Seattle and have everything documented.

[grannynurse]

Let's see if I understand this. You never got on the ship at all? IF so how did they expect you to use a $500 shipboard credit? Is it for a future cruise or was your cruise supposed to be 7 days instead of 4?

Did you report "Adam" for his nasty attitude? Have you had any communication with HAL since you've been home?

I'd write an open letter to The CEO and publish it publicly. Make sure you include all details including dates and times of events, and peoples' names.

What a nightmare!

[localady]

I believe the one thing that the writer mentioned, is that it was pouring in Fairbanks and everything was flooded out.

I have taken a cruise tour, and I agree, HAL's summer hires can be difficult to deal with, but I suspect this situation may have come about due to the reported flooding in Alaska.

I am sorry the poster had that experience, we also were in Alaska during floods and the scenery was less than spectacular.

[hammybee]

You may want to check out " Treatment by HAL" posted by "Home at Last".

Not sure if you were on the same cruise or tour but the "wash-out" and HAL's response to it, seems to have ruined some vacations. " Home at Last" is still missing luggage.

 

HAL, or any carrier for that matter, is not responsible for weather or "wash out" conditions that may impact sailings or tours.

 

This is no different than any airline operating flights or hotels offering lodging, in areas impacted by nature.

 

HAL, and all carriers, are however, responsible for the way they react to situations, beyond their control. In this case, it seems as though HAL and/ or its agents, missed several opportunities.

 

My advice to you and " Home at Last" is the same. Figure out what is reasonable restitution and go for it.

[Copper10-8]

The best way you can learn about any organization is when things go wrong, Mr. Murphy makes an appearance and/or the proverbial "droppings" hit the fan. HAL has always been one of those companies (at least in our experience) that rose/will rise to the ocassion when "ship happens", sometimes beyond anyone's control (weather, I'm pretty sure, is part of that;) ).

There is usually a lot of scrambling going after these types of incidents and sometimes, solutions are not always easy to come by in a timely manner. People get stressed out (on both sides). Sounds like in this incident, based on what the OP is telling us, HAL didn't come through, sorry to hear that! (I believe this is the second thread written about the same weather-related problems in AK).

 

It's already been suggested; the best thing you can do, Stringreen, is to document all the problems encountered and send that letter to the president of HAL, Stein Kruse. You will get an answer.

[drdaddy]

The response you get may not be what you are hoping for. This is typical of HAL in situations llike this. The response usually is typical "thanks for the input".

 

We had a similar situation a couple of years ago with HAL during hurricane season. Instead of changing itinerary we traveled towards the hurricane and then just diverted around it and ended up doing very little because most of the ports were either closed or all the water excursion craft were out of the water. Wrote to Mr. Stein and the response was garbage. I was not looking for money back but some kind of incentive to book again with HAL if they still wanted my business. Nuttin'.

 

Having said that, we are booked on our third HAL trip. HAL has an excellent product when things go well. The price is reasonable compared to RCCL, the itinerary seems better than Celebrity (at least for us) and the service is a whole lot better than NCL or Carnival (or so I hear). When things hit the "ship", they miss the ball pretty bad. I am not sure any cruise line would be of much help with this problem y'all had in Alaska. Sounds awful. And I thought they were just a problem because being out of Seattle, they did not care too much for their Caribbean trips. I guess they just have some poor customer service overall.

 

Let us know the outcome and hopefully they will come forth as they should.

[hammybee]

We had a similar situation a couple of years ago with HAL during hurricane season. Instead of changing itinerary we traveled towards the hurricane and then just diverted around it and ended up doing very little because most of the ports were either closed or all the water excursion craft were out of the water. Wrote to Mr. Stein and the response was garbage. I was not looking for money back but some kind of incentive to book again with HAL if they still wanted my business. Nuttin'.

 

Cruiselines are not responsible for weather. There are X ships and Y ports and sometimes the best that can be done, under the circumstances, is to give passengers more days at sea. This is an obvious risk when sailing in hurricane season. In exchange for the risk of port disruption, most cruises are deeply discounted and are able to capture passenger business they might not otherwise. BTW, I am sailing in October and know that the intended ports may or may not be realized.

[BumperII]

They tell me that an exageration is a truth that has lost its temper. I sure can understand anger at having a cruise vacation spoiled by an act of nature. But things do happen, and in the face of problems, it seems to me that HAL scrambles pretty well.

If there is anything I don't want to do, it would be to sail into a hurricane to get to a port that has been knocked out of commission so I can look at the wreckage. Personally, I'm glad they sail around those things, and extra days at sea don't bother us a bit. For us, a ship like the Statendam or Maasdam, the ship is a destination in itself, and no matter what happens, we try to have a good time anyway. And we have always noticed that the ship staff on board is much more professional than anything we find ashore.

In MHO a tour is an entirely different kind of experience than a cruise; one is on TOUR, not on vacation! One is always on someone else's schedule, waiting for someone else to arrive, etc, and the stress is significant. The point I'm trying to make, is that we are not big fans of cruisetours or group tours to begin with. When we want to tour, we usually go by car and make our own arrangements, or fly into a city and take the day trips. The more one loses control over the situation, the more frustrating it is.

We are going to cruise again in late October, and we are going with our eyes wide open, expecting changes to be made as necessary for the saftey and comfort of all the people on board.

[the2ofus]

I am surprised that no one suggested that Stringreen ask the TA to go to bat for him/her. The TA should have more clout than the OP alone. Certainly, no one should have been left waiting at the airport until someone found the lists of pax to be transferred. HAL shore staff should have gotten their act together. From the several threads about this particular problem, it is clear that the HAL Shore Staff in Alaska needs new management.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Hello Stringreen:

 

I certainly sympathize with your plight. I hope you are able to salvage something from this fiasco. Not that it's going to make you feel any better, but there's a thread on the Princess board about this same natural disaster. Apparently, more than one cruiseline was left scrambling when the mudslide/washout occurred. Here's the thread (in case anyone might like to know of it):

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=405088

 

I guess sometimes when it's humans vs. nature, nature wins, unfortunately. Stringreen, please let us know how things work out for you, if you're able to. Thanks for bringing your situation to our attention. Again, I'm really sorry to hear about what happened to you.:( I honestly don't know how I would have managed in such a debacle.

[Jemima]

, but we lost upgrades, optional already paid for tours, etc. that weren't reimbursed. SgreenT@Att.Net.

 

Optional excursions that don't take place are reimbursed. The reimbursement which might be part of the shipboard credit. Are you certain you weren't reimbursed in some manner?

[Lightsluvr]

How many threads will OP start on this issue?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=406790

 

 

LL

[Bramcruiser]

Oh Oh, do I see hints of defending HAL again? Actually, its nowhere as bad as in the past. Yes, while I agree that HAL cannot be blamed for weather-related conditions I do think the lack of customer service and the losing of customer names and the leaving off of passenger names on the flight out seems to be something that the cruiseline mishandled. So once again the potential though for the proverbial miscommunications begin again as the newbie poster blames HAL on everything and we could easily see the return of some saying "It couldn't possibly be HAL's fault!". The reality is somewhere in between.

 

To the OP, I wholeheartedly understand why you are upset. Sit down and write a letter to head office. Can't guarantee they will do much but say thanks for the input. However, point out exactly where they went wrong in terms of customer service. Do not blame them for the washout. I am not sure you can blame HAL for being late catching the cruise because you would have been late leaving anyway due to the weather-related problems. However, mishandling the passengers at the airport is just another sign that HAL did not appropriately handle the rescheduling of people and bags anywhere near well during this incident. All the previous posts seem to point to the same thing. The people on the board aren't going to be able to help other to listen but a nicely worded letter to head office does more wonders than any posting.

 

I've had a similar mishap with an airline once before. Couldn't blame the airline for the snow storm in another city cancelling flights in the originating city but the inept airport staff who never made more than one bad announcement (hardly heard by anyone) and many gate agents who wholeheartedly lied made my day. I ended up playing airline employee and walked around one gate where about a hundred passengers were waiting for a flight never going to be boarded and were unaware of the cancellation. Needless to say I didn't flip but I did write a strongly worded letter to head office and got a huge apology from them. To this day I am still flying that airline although I believe that particular airport has inept staff.

 

Glad to see some of the long-time posters being realistic this time. Maybe we are actually finally crossing the bridge of communicating with each other. HAL screwed up on some parts but this is not exactly indicative of how HAL operates either.

[newmexicoNita]

Customer service seems to be lacking everywhere; you can read any board about cruises, air, hotels, restaurants, internet companies, banks whatever and hear the same thing: they were nice to me. i think if a little more time was spent teaching good customer relations many of our complaints would become just minor annoyances. AS for the weather, no cruise line, airline or resort can be held responsible for natural disasters.

 

I know a long anticipated vacation that is ruined can leave any of us pretty upset, but we also have to remember these things do happen.

 

NMnita

[the2ofus]

How many threads will OP start on this issue?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=406790

 

 

LL

 

Stringreen is clearly stressed-out over this situation, and rightly so. If it helps to post on the Alaska board as a way of getting it out of his/her system, why not? People can choose to read or skip the thread.

[kryos]

HAL, or any carrier for that matter, is not responsible for weather or "wash out" conditions that may impact sailings or tours.

 

This is no different than any airline operating flights or hotels offering lodging, in areas impacted by nature.

True, HAL can't be held accountable for weather problems, but the point is that they agreed to provide a comprehensive tour package and thus have a responsibility to get those passengers to and from the ship, revising their tour destination if necessary. If the weather made the contracted for tour impossible, then HAL should have had a plan B and shared it with their passengers. Then they should have had the competence to make sure that plan B was carried out, with minimal impact on the passengers.

 

I get really sick of companies that hide behind the fact that they use independent contractors or "summer help," and use that as an excuse for incompetence. Tough. You want to save money by farming out certain tasks to independent contractors, then you have to make sure they are properly trained and up to your standards. So many corporations are doing this ... having their customer service functions farmed out to call centers in India or wherever. They save a bundle doing this, supposedly. Well, that's fine. But that doesn't mean they don't bear the responsibility if something goes wrong. While those employees may be independent, they are still representing your company ... and thus it is your responsibility to ensure that job is done right or else bring the function back "in-house."

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Bramcruiser]

Stringreen is clearly stressed-out over this situation, and rightly so. If it helps to post on the Alaska board as a way of getting it out of his/her system, why not? People can choose to read or skip the thread.

 

Agreed. I didn't mean to actually say don't talk to us about it but re-reading what I wrote I did sound like that that. It helps to get stuff off your chest but HAL itself will never change until HAL itself is aware of the situation.

 

Quietly crawling back into my hole.:rolleyes:

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Hi Bramcruiser:

 

You can come back out of that hole:). 2ofus was responding to a post by Lightsluvr, not a post of yours.

 

Karin

[Tinknock50]

Thanks Karin,

 

I thought I was loosing my mind (well I am but thats another matter).

 

I re-read Bramcruisers post 3 times and didn't see the problem.:)

[bplazo]

If you lost a few days of your cruise would your travel insurance reimburse you for those days? We lost a couple days of our cruise with a hurricane and we received some compensation from insurance.

[Bramcruiser]

Hi Bramcruiser:

 

You can come back out of that hole:). 2ofus was responding to a post by Lightsluvr, not a post of yours.

 

Karin

 

 

OOPS! Thanks Karin and Tinknock50. I guess I read it into my own post then. Bad David! Okay, will come out of my hole and keep myself quiet.

[Bramcruiser]

If you lost a few days of your cruise would your travel insurance reimburse you for those days? We lost a couple days of our cruise with a hurricane and we received some compensation from insurance.

 

You know what? That is such an obvious question. If someone is being compensated then why complain. Could it be that someone didn't have insurance? Its a reality that not every traveller takes out insurance so that could be one scenario.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Hi again, Bramcruiser (David):

 

Your resolution to keep quiet didn't last very long:D ;)

 

Please, keep up your excellent posts. This is a public forum, and you are as entitled to your two cents as anyone else here.:) Only in your case, I'd say your thoughtful posts have considerably more value than that.

 

Karin

[Robin7]

This is a public forum, and you are as entitled to your two cents as anyone else here.:)

 

At least y'all didn't resort to name calling like they did on that Princess thread you posted the link to. The offending posts have been removed now, but I was AMAZED at the tone when I read them earlier.:eek:

 

What I can't get over about the OP's situation here is it took THREE-AND-A-HALF DAYS for HAL to get them to their ship! Three-and-a-half days of sitting around waiting. How could it have taken them three-and-a-half days to make arrangements to get them out of there? According to the OP on the Princess thread, the Princess staff had their people to the Princess ship by the wee hours of the next morning, and the ship waited for them! I'm just dumbstruck by HAL's seeming incompetence in this matter.

 

Robin