Holland America Cruises

I booked a cruise over a year in advance, and made a deposit. I was told that I could cancel four months prior, and receive all my money back. I cancelled 10 months prior, and received my money back, except "cancellation protection" of $538. They didn't tell me about this exception when I booked or when I cancelled. Princess Cruise adds the "cancellation protection" when booking, and you can decide whether to keep it or not 4 months prior to sailing. I assumed this was common practice, but not so with Holland America.

I was told they sent me the information in an email that it is non refundable. The strange thing is, you can decide to buy cancellation protection up to two months before sailing. Why would anyone purchase cancellation insurance at the time of booking, and risk losing the money if you can buy it later. Their policy doesn't make any sense. It doesn't seem legal to me that they can keep any money, when they have 10 months to resell the booking. Finally, they agreed to credit the money, if we book within a year. I would rather have my money back, and book with another cruise line.

We had a cruise scheduled with Holland America to Alaska on August 28. Hurricane Irene caused the airport to be closed and our flight was cancelled. Travel Guard insurance returned the cost of the trip. We had booked cruise/air through Holland America. Delta refunded the cost of our flight but they refunded it to Holland America since we purchased it through them. Holland America is keeping the money that Delta refunded to them. Delta did not penalize us for the airfare since they had cancelled the flight. Holland America is penalizing us, even though Delta returned the money, the money that was supposed to be ours. I have had numerous conversations with them. They refuse to return the money. Even my travel agent has tried to deal with them. They are stubborn and nasty and are being unjustly enriched by keeping the money that Delta refunded. That money was ours and they kept it.

Their 14 day South American cruise was a terrible disappointment, from check-in to disembarking, and no one seemed to care about customer satisfaction. The trip was a big disappointment from check-in at Fort Lauderdale on November 21, 2011, to disembarking 14 days later in Lima. No one really cared about people's poor conditions, or poor attitudes of the personnel on board. This is my 5th cruise, and will not travel HAL again.

In the course of trying to book 2 different cruises in 2012 I was asked to pay a deposit equivalent to 58% of the total cost of the cruise. This seems to be excessive compared to other cruise lines who charge approximately 20%. How can they justify this amount? They must be running out of cash and chasing the short term money investment market! I always enjoyed traveling with HAL in the past.

I recently took a cruise on the Holland American's Zaandam to the Mexican Riviera (10/12-10/24) and want to express my disappointment with the lack of accessibility that was offered me. I traditionally use an electric wheelchair but I specifically rented a manual wheelchair so that I could access tenders on this trip. Originally, this cruise was supposed to stop in Acapulco and Manzanillo, but both were canceled due to violence and a hurricane. That left four remaining stops (Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatenejo, Huatulco and Cabo San Lucas). Of those remaining four, two needed tenders to access the ports.

In Zihuatenejo, the ship denied me access to the tenders because they did not want to lift my chair up several steps on the dock. In Cabo, the ship again denied me access due to swells. However, from my view the water appeared calm. My caregivers were able go get off and enjoy the ports, yet I was held captive on the ship. I originally booked this cruise because I wanted to visit Zihuatenejo and Cabo specifically. I have been to both ports before, once using the Holland American line, and have never been denied access up/down stairs or into/out of tenders. If I had known prior to booking that Holland America will not lift manual wheelchairs anymore (not in any HAL literature), I probably wouldn't have booked.

I spent approximately $1200 for this cruise expecting to visit six ports. Of my previous eight cruises, all ships accommodated me, lifting my chair up/down stairs and into and out of tenders, and I have the same right to be accommodated as the rest of the passengers who were able to deboard. This ship didn't seem to care, it was easier to say "no. " It was also very disappointing to have to stay two days in Puerto Vallarta due to rescheduling. There is very little to do there for a wheelchair user due to inaccessibility. It would have been much nicer to stay in Huatulco for two days because everything is right there by the dock. I heard this from multiple passengers as well. So I basically booked this cruise expecting 6 stops but only visited 2 and yet paid $1200 for 6. Does that make sense? Where is my refund?

I wish that I had read this site before I booked. Some years ago, we took a cruise to Alaska, with Holland America, and enjoyed it tremendously. Times have changed however, although, my wife and her niece took a cruise with Royal Caribbean this Summer, and were very happy with their trip, so not all cruise lines have decided to go for the quick buck. We booked a cruise from Chile to Rio de Janeiro, and called Holland America to inquire about flights.

The representative told us that, there was only one flight free from Rio to Washington DC, on our planned return from Rio (amazingly enough, Holland America has scheduled the arrival for the middle of Carnival, so all the hotels and many of the flights are full). I told him to go ahead and book the flight, which involved: an internal flight from Rio to Brasilia with a Brazilian airline (check-in in Rio, collect baggage in Brasilia, check-in again in Brasilia); then an overnight flight to Atlanta (collect baggage in Atlanta, clear customs and immigrations, check in for DC); wait several hours in Atlanta and then fly to DC.

Being of a suspicious nature, I subsequently checked with Kayak online. To my chagrin, I found that there was a direct flight with United at a lesser cost, flying the same day. I called Holland America, and was told that indeed, there was only one flight available with Delta, and that Holland America only deals with Delta (and gets kickbacks from them, I am sure).

I told the representative that at no stage was I told that they had not checked other airlines, and that they were referring only to their "special arrangement" with Delta. They then tried to insist that I could not cancel the flights (scheduled three months ahead), then they offered to charge us only $1600 to cancel (the far better flights that I booked myself, saved $1400 over Holland America's "special" rates. Of course they didn't explicitly say "special" for whose viewpoint).

In the end, after threatening a lawsuit, I am being charged only $350 for canceling the scheduled trip from hell, but it certainly leaves a bad taste were Holland America's honesty is concerned. I am going on the trip but I am apprehensive, having seen the other comments about Holland America's behavior, and I shall return to post here after the trip. It cost me only only $350 so far, but I don't have high expectations that the cruise will live up to its promise.

In June, I booked a 7-day Mexican Cruise for November 5 to 12. Today is November 2 and I just received a phone call telling me that the ship is delayed one day and that I don't need to come until Sunday, November 6.

Holland America was not extending the trip by a day, but only giving us 6 days not the 7 we paid for. In dividing the price I paid by 7, it comes out to $708 per day. Now comes the rip offHolland America will only give $150 to the first two passengers and $75 to the third by "on board credit." I booked this cruise to take my elderly parents and thought it would be a wonderful timenot so.

So, the bottom line is that Holland America is charging me $708 a day for a 7-day cruise, but they are only giving me 6 days and $375 for onboard credit in return. That means they profited $333 by ripping me off one day. Not badcharge for 7, give 6. I talked with our travel agent from Cruises Only and Becky from Holland America and there is no other option. Oh yes, they did offer a discount on a future cruise. That will never happen!

How can a cruise line charge for a 7-day cruise and cut it short by one day?

We are not getting what we paid for and not getting reimbursed for the day they are taking away. What is our recourse? Do not travel Holland America nor use Cruises Only as your booking agent.

My husband and I received approval from Holland America to board a 35-day cruise in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on 10/19/11 and disembark in Buenos Aires, Argentina 11/20/11. Two weeks ago, Holland America sent us (not our travel agent) an email stating they were changing the itinerary and the dates we would be in Buenos Aires. That would result in additional fees for changing our hotel stay and over $4000 to change the air flight from Buenos Aires to Tampa, FL (and it was not available). Holland America told our travel agent that they had no responsibility for their actions. We canceled the cruise and sent an overnight letter to the CEO of Holland America on 10/5/11.

In September 2011, my wife and I boarded the Holland America ship Noordam for a 10-day cruise to Greece. This was our 19th cruise, but our first on a Holland America ship. We had been upgraded to a suite and were happy about the spacious accommodations. In fact on the first day, we were talking about becoming regular Holland America cruisers.

On either the second or third day, we began to notice the smell of sewage in our room and in the passageway outside our room. It seemed to get worse as time went on. I began to make sure that the bathroom door was closed at all times thinking that the smell was coming from there. It did not help and I became nauseous from the smell. I called the room steward and he said the smell was coming from the AC unit and he would notify engineering. Engineering came and said that they would notify housekeeping.

The odor seemed to go away for a day and then came back as bad as ever. Once again, I called to complain. Some people came to investigate, but I got no relief from the problem. I was only able to tolerate being in the room by using a chair to hold the door open to the veranda. On the last day, before we docked, the odor went away.

We took a land tour and sat at a table with another couple that were on our ship. We all said we were having a nice time on the cruise until I said that I had only one problem: the smell in our room. With that, the man went into a rant about how awful the smell was in his room and that he would never go on another Holland America cruise. I asked if he had complained and he said no. I told him that I had and it did no good.

I know that there is a tendency to blame the cruise staff for these problems and I want to say that I place no blame on any of the crew. In fact at all times, they were friendly, courteous and respectful. Clearly, the blame for our terrible experience rests on top management for allowing such conditions to continue.

No one has ever contacted us concerning our complaints.

I'm writing you today to inform you of an experience that my wife and myself had on our Alaskan cruise honeymoon on the MS Westerdam. My wife and I were married last September, late enough in the year that there were no running cruises to Alaska. We have been together for nine years, and one of the things we had always planned on doing was taking our honeymoon on a cruise to Alaska, so that we could go whale watching, see and take pictures of the glaciers, and experience the northern lights. Earlier in the year, we purchased our tickets for Voyage W152, a cruise that disembarked on Saturday of September 17th at 1:00 PM, to return on Saturday September 24th at 7:00 AM.

The beginning of our problems was on Monday, when the captain (for our safety, and the safety of other Cruise passengers, which we understand) removed the port of Sitka from the travel plans, due to weather concerns. As expected, the captain informed the boat that this had been done due to bad weather and that he did not want to change the port, but in the interest of safety, it was the best choice. I want to be very clear in the fact that my wife and I understood the safety concerns of this decision, and we also understood that it was the right choice. The boat had been rocking for sixteen hours, extremely heavily, so everyone on the boat wanted a change of course. This specific happenstance is not why I'm writing you, but is more a piece of the overall situation that I wanted to make you aware of.

The situation worsened significantly on Tuesday morning. My wife and I had signed up for a five-hour excursion off the port of Juneau that began at 1:15 PM, and included both Glacier navigating and whale watching. We made our way to the Vista Lounge on the Westerdam, and arrived around 12:30 PM, a half an hour early for our departure time. We watched several groups of people doing similar things being taken to their tender ships; however, at approximately 12:50 PM, members of our group were called to the front to speak with the shore excursions staff. When we arrived at the front of the lounge, we were informed that our shore excursion had been cancelled and that since it was so late in the day the only remaining shore excursion was a six-mile glacier trek. As our excursion had been a maximum of 0.75 miles, we did not feel that the six-mile trek was an acceptable replacement for the excursion. My wife being very upset, we retired back to the state room.

This is where the situation went from bad to worse. We were leaving the boat today, and flying home. I called the front desk and was connected with a lady named Michelle, who was very polite and apologetic. I informed her that we were on our honeymoon and that the change in port and the cancellation of our shore excursion had truly negated the entire reason that my wife and I had chosen to take an Alaskan cruise. Michelle told us at the time that the best she could do was put a call in to the shore excursions manager and that we would receive a return call from him the following day. As the following day we would have left Juneau, I was not pleased by this answer. As Sitka was no longer a port we would be visiting Juneau was going to be the only port with shore excursions that allowed us to do what we had come there to do. I politely asked if we could meet Michelle at the front desk to discuss the situation, and she accepted.

My wife and I went down to the front desk; we met with Michelle and discussed the situation with her. She was very understanding and apologetic, and did try to work with us. She made a few calls and said that the best she could offer was for us to meet a gentleman named Joe, who was the shore excursions manager and that to do that we need to take a tender and that she would be willing to walk us to the tender. Before making any commitment, I wanted her to provide more information about the purported shore excursion that could be available to us, so she had attempted to call Joe several times and was unsuccessful in getting any information regarding it. The more questions we asked about the shore excursion, the more it became apparent that it was not whale watching, nor did it involve any amount of glacier visibility. At this point, I thanked Michelle for her time and for attempting to help, and asked her if she could get her manager. Had I known what was about to happen, I would never have made this request. Michelle, bless her heart, even tried to warn us by telling us that she guaranteed that speaking with her manager would not help make the situation better. Little did I know that five minutes of speaking with her manager were going to be so upsetting to me and my wife, that we would be unable to envision spending even another hour on the boat. I let Michelle know that I appreciated her letting us know that the manager would be unable to help but that I would still like to speak with her.

I want to make it clear that at this point, we still were very understood of the situation. The weather can have a strong impact on cruises, and my wife and I had been on four cruises before, one of which was on the MS Zuiderdam with Holland America, we are very understanding of the fact that things can and do change on itineraries. I knew immediately upon seeing Marion ** that she was not going to help us. She stormed out of the door with her arms crossed. Before my crying wife and I even had a chance to get a word out, she had barked at us that, "I don't know why you even bothered getting me out here. There's nothing I can do for you." She glared down her nose at me and my wife. What followed below is the conversation we had, word for word:

Marion (barking): I don't know why you even bothered getting me out here. There's nothing I can do for you.

Me: I understand that. However, I wanted to speak with you as these changes have effectively ruined what we came here to see, and my wife and I are on our honeymoon, and these are the reasons we came on this cruise specifically.

Marion (aggressively): There were fifty other people on the cancelled shore excursion you were on, do you see any of them here right now?

Me: No, however, I'm not certain that any of them was on their honeymoon.

Marion (matter of fact): I don't think you can know that! People get married at any age. It's not fair for you to assume they're not on their honeymoon, as well.

Me (sensing that this aggression from Marion was upsetting my wife and not getting us anywhere): Fine, can you please tell us what, if anything, you can do for us? This discussion is not about any of the other passengers; it's about our honeymoon being ruined by the removal of the Sitka port, the cancellation of our shore excursion, and your inability to work with us to provide any sort of compensation other than a refund for the excursion. I want you to see that you have caused my wife to start crying, and I want you to work with us to find some kind of solution to the problem we have here.

Marion (barking): Sir, I've already told you. I can take you to the tender right now, and you can go talk to the manager there like Michelle said.

At this point, my wife was so upset by Marion's uncaring, unprofessional, discourteous and rude demeanor that she walked away in tears, unable to even look at her. I truly cannot believe the attitude that Marion gave the both of us. She walked out of the door looking down at us, as though our problem meant absolutely nothing but a delay for her, and treated us as though we had no choice but to accept her decision, and treated us as though we hadn't paid a dollar for our cruise. I paid $4,500 to be on that boat, and I will NOT be talked down to by a customer relations manager after they have systematically destroyed the things on our cruise that were the reasons we actually came.

I knew after Marion's tirade that if she was in-charge of customer relations, there was absolutely nothing we were going to get beyond what had already been offered, so I politely asked her to then make good on her offer of walking us to the tender, so that we could go see Joe, the shore excursions manager. She walked us to the tender, and thirty minutes later we were on shore. Imagine our surprise when three different Holland America employees told us that Joe had actually left the shore, and was back on the MS Westerdam. We got back on the tender, and thirty minutes later returned to ship to find out from several other employees that Joe had not actually returned to ship, but was still on the shore.

My wife and I were now so upset by how we had been treated by Marion, and the fact that we had been sent on a wild goose chase that we looked at each other and immediately decided that instead of spending another moment trapped on the cruise ship outfitted with an uncaring staff, that was going nowhere we wanted to go, that we would much rather go home. We never saw Marion again. We spoke with Michelle again, who told us that it would take at least two hours for their staff to work with us on plane tickets. So, I walked to the side of the boat where I got phone signal, and bought plane tickets home in ten minutes on my phone. I returned to the front desk and was then informed of the obligatory customs visit we would have to make, also the $300 per passenger Jones Act of 1886 fee that we would be liable for; due to leaving a foreign ship at a US port, after leaving a US port without visiting a foreign port.

I reminded Michelle that airfare should be refundable and that our return flights from Seattle to Atlanta. Michelle smiled and said she would talk to the travel department, but that she didn't think that there was anything she could do. Michelle provided us a sheet of paper that she said we did not have to sign, explaining that by electing to leave the boat, we were unable to receive a refund, and as such, I refused to sign it. Michelle led us to a security officer who walked us to the tender, took us to the shore, and walked us to customs. We went through customs and the gentleman who had taken us there was kind enough to drive us from there to the airport. Strangely enough he didn't work directly for Holland America; he was a contracted employee. It struck both of us that the person who had been the most helpful and understanding throughout the whole thing was someone who didn't even work for Holland America.

At this point, my wife and I have returned home and are doing our best to enjoy having wasted $8,000 on the worst experience of our lives. Admittedly, $2.200 of that was our choice, as it was the $600 Jones Act fee and the $1,800 return flight home. However, after being treated like nothing more than cattle by someone, whose job is the customer relations manager, there was absolutely no way we would even spend another minute on the ship.

I do not know who thought it would be a good idea to put an aggressive, argumentative, combative, accusatory, uncaring and unprofessional woman as the customer relations manager on a boat, but I'm writing you now to tell you Marion ** herself was the reason that we were unwilling to spend even another minute on the boat. We spent less than five minutes with her, and she turned what was a somewhat workable situation into a complete and total nightmare, where my wife and I felt like we had absolutely no control over what was being done to us.

Marion did not care that it was our honeymoon. She did not care that we had planned on this for a long time. She cared only about the fact that we had bothered her and pulled her out of her office, and she was going to ruin us for having done it. I noticed it immediately in her body language when she stormed out with her arms crossed, and she spent the entire rest of the conversation proving to us that we should never have bothered her.

We arrived in Rome two days early, in anticipation of a 20-day Mediterranean Cruise on the MS Noordam. The day prior to boarding, my retina detached and I was seen by a doctor in Rome who told me I needed to fly home for eye surgery and the cruise was not an option at the time. With retina detachment, time is of the essence to hopefully prevent blindness in that eye. Because I could not afford Holland America's travel insurance, they are not willing to offer me a cruise at a later date, even though I had never even boarded the ship. I am not asking for a refund, simply a voucher to take our dream vacation at a future date. My wife and I are both retired and used our savings to go on this adventure, we can't afford to simply rebook and pay again.

I booked a cruise in Australia, Veranda for $2799. They now reduced the cabin to $2499 and they refused to refund the difference to me.

I received the latest cruise brochure named Paradise, Carribean getaways on the horizon. The number printed on the back is HAL12763_CAD. My ID # is 393630314.

In the brochure my wife and I and one other couple were very interested in the criuse listed "6-7-Day Eastern, Western or Southern Carribean" out of Ft Lauderdale.

The actual cruise listed was the Eastern cruise on the Niew Amsterdam departing on Feb. 19, 2012. The cost listed for an interior room is $529.00. When I called and spoke with Jason Myers in Seattle he pointed out to me in small print at the lower right corner of the ad "Fares based on ms Westerdam 11/27/11 and said the $529.00 cost was for this cruise only and if we wished to go in February on the Niew Amsterdam, the price was $799.00. I was stunned!

We feel your ad is deceiving, confusing and most of all false and misleading.

It is hoped that someone who can make a decision will agree with me and consider this complaint. Jason just passed the buck to upper management and said he had to explain the same situation that came up many times when he spoke with other clients. I would regret having to not sail with HA again.

I was a marketing manager with a major US corporation for 20 years and when my department made such a mistake, we would discuss it with our customer with a satisfactory solution. HA, the "ball is now in your court".

I booked a Mediterranean cruise; all flights and transfers between ship and airport through CAA and Holland America.

After travelling through Toronto airport, with stopover in Frankfurt, I arrived at Barcelona airport. Holland America employee took delivery of large luggage; walked me to the bus, which was to take me to ship.

Upon arrival at the dock in Barcelona, I retrieved my carry-on only to find out upon check in on the ship that my money, credit cards and any personal identification were missing.

After initial response, Holland America sent an employee with me to seek new passport.

My wife and I took a seven-night Alaskan cruise from Seattle on the Westerdam.

From day one, I noticed some dirty dishes in the dining areas and I mentioned this to the staff. By day seven, nothing had changed and the dishes were still dirty. Three times I saw lipstick on a glass/cup at my dining table. Once, I found a Sweet n Low wrapper stuck to the bottom of my spoon. Several times I saw dirty cups on the Lido deck where the buffet-style foods were offered, and on several occasions, plates and bowls were dirty.

On my last day of the trip, I brought some of the evidence to the front desk and they basically argued with me and refused to do anything about the problem. I wrote to Holland America's Office of the President, but to date I'm still waiting for a response.

This cruise line is overrated and I would not recommend it to anyone. Not only were the dishes dirty, the food is the worst I've ever had on any cruise, and I've been on several. Avoid Holland America.

On May 7, 2011, my wife and I flew from Detroit to Montreal to meet the ship. However, upon arrival at the Montreal airport, we were greeted by your representative who informed us that because of the high water level on the St. Lawrence River, it was impossible for the ship to reach Montreal.

We were then shuttled onto buses for a three-hour trip to Quebec City. I know that you had no other recourse but to start the cruise in Quebec City, but I felt that Holland America treated its 1,250 some cruisers in a most inappropriate manner. My wife and I began our day, as did many others, having breakfast at 6:30 am in Detroit so I requested that the bus driver allow us to stop so we could get some food for our trip to Quebec City. This was refused. Holland America offered us a cookie, an apple or some peanuts and water...period. Since my wife is a celiac, she had no food from 6:30 am that morning to 6 pm. when we dined on the Maasdam. Me...I got a cookie! Totally disgusting service!

The following morning, we dined in the main dining room and when my wife inquired if the hash browns were gluten/wheat-free, we were told they had no idea since the potatoes were shipped in plain unmarked bags, therefore they were unable to determine. We finally got our breakfast ...stone cold. Another morning, my wife ordered gluten-free waffles...that didn't happen!

Prior to the cruise, my wife filled out and returned the Holland America gluten/wheat-free products form listing those foods you offered to her on the cruise. When we met with our dining room staff, they had no knowledge of this situation so we had to explain everything about the gluten-free diet that my wife is restricted to. We ordered gluten-free bread for the second day. We didn't get it. I must say, however, that the dining room staff went out of their way to accommodate my wife thereafter and she did receive some of these foods on five of the seven days of dining on the ship.

The dining experience was a disappointment in both the main dining room and the Lido. The menu, in our opinion, was substandard compared to the other cruise ships' that we have been on. And one was never sure what was going to be served. For example, one night I selected banana crisp...I got blueberry! Another night, I ordered peach crisp...I got strawberry. No explanation. I then gave up as I was afraid of ordering the other nights. God knows what I would have gotten!

On Monday, May 9, we had to vacate our balcony room as it filled up with diesel fumes and both of us became nauseated. After four or five hours, the fumes dissipated. This happened again on Thursday, May 12. No explanation...no apology. We couldn't even go out on our balcony as it was too cold. Disgusting.

On Tuesday, May 10, we experienced high turbulence when leaving Sidney, Nova Scotia. It was so bad that the majority of those in the main dining room left prior to eating. Glasses were tossed about along with the cruisers. Again, no blame on the part of Holland America; however, I would suggest that the captain failed to deploy the stabilizers as quickly as needed. Might have had a lot less sick people!

I tried to use the washrooms on the main deck...both were closed. I had to go back to our cabin at the other end of the ship.

We have cruised with Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and this was our first experience with Holland America. I have always heard that Holland America was like a seven-star cruise line compared to five star for the others. Our experience rates you at a one star...and I am being overly generous at that. We spoke to numerous people on this cruise, many of whom had sailed with Holland America in the past, and all, without exception, were disgusted with the Maasdam.

We had so looked forward to cruising with your company after hearing all the great things about your service but I can honestly say we will never cruise with Holland America ever again.

I'm writing regarding our cruise with Holland America that sailed from NYC to Bermuda starting May 8th 2011. Being my second Holland America cruise I am very disappointed in how the enclosed situation was handled. We were in room 515. On May 10, I noticed a strong chemical smell in the cabin and called the front desk. They came down to the room and said they were working on it. I could at this point not stay in the room due to the odor and symptoms from being in an enclosed space breathing toxic chemicals of marine paint. The symptoms were as follows: breathing issues, headache, sore throat and watery eyes, to name a few.

May 10, 2011 returning again to the room, I called the front desk for an update and was told a fan would be brought to my room. We left the fan going went to dinner and upon return the fumes/smell were still present, both my husband and I do not sleep.

May 11, 2011 upon waking about 8:00 a.m. I smell the fumes again and it is horrible. I call the front desk and am told they are again painting and that it is necessary maintenance! It is then suggested that I leave the room. I am at the front desk trying to resolve this issue and I spot the Captain Peter **. I stopped him and asked for a minute of his time to get a resolution to this issue and I am told by him that he is busy and he walked off.

I have no choice but to leave the room because of the fumes and my health, my husband's health and the symptoms that come along with being in an enclosed space with zero ventilation. There is a voice mail on my phone saying that painting was done at noon. I called the front desk and am told painting stopped at 3:00 p.m. [Not sure when painting stopped]. I again left the cabin and when I returned there is yet another toxic smell. This time it is room deodorizer. This is after I have told countless staff that I have sensitivity to smells. The staff then brings a large exhaust fan to the hall of level 5. Which is placed in the hall and we have to leave the door to our cabin open. Late at night, we received a note under our door saying they will move us to another room. No offer is made to move our items, Sam] [cabin steward] offers on his own to help. The note [enclosed] says the situation was unusual and regrettable. I find that odd since the painting maintenance was planned all along. I was told this many times. I was also told that your staff on board have been subjected to the odor and there has been exhaust fans in their rooms and many complaints of symptoms. I was also told on future cruises that you still plan to paint.

May 12, 2011, I see many workers that are painting and they all have masks on. Maybe we should have been offered masks to protect our health and lungs. I spent too much of the cruise experiencing symptoms associated with being enclosed with fumes in an unsafe environment and with out proper ventilation not to mention my time spent trying to get a resolution to this issue and enjoy my vacation.

My husband and I worked hard and were really looking forward to a nice relaxing vacation and our experience on Holland America was anything but that. I feel your on board staff from the Captain on down were not the least bit sympathetic to our situation. Liz ** is very unprofessional and not very good at handling major issues.

I also know that the cabin next door has received compensation before disembarkation. This would be cabin 509, Mr. & Mrs. **. I know Mr. ** is an attorney in Hudson Massachusetts and I believe due to this he was given special consideration. I know they plan to sail Holland America again in October and compensation was given fro this cruise.

I boarded the November 7 cruise to Hawaii. It was a round trip from San Diego, California on the MS Zaandam. From day one, the toilet was working; it won't flush and sewage was leaking from the toilet wall. I had to use the common area restrooms. We complained of the problem, and we just received a bunch of lip service. Also, letters were left on our dirty bedding, stating that they are having problems with their plumbing onboard and et cetera. The room steward said that the pipe was broken in the wall. We had to deal with the rotten smell from this toilet. After ten days of complaining to the front desk, the ship's plumber came into our room, with a flush valve as he called it, to repair our toilet it. This bathroom was very dirty from the leakage with stains from it.

We took photos of it and also of the dirty bedding, pills and other medicines left behind in and around the room by a previous guest. We made the front desk aware of the mess, but they did not seem to care. We have asked them to change the bedding; they just made the bed and brushed it off. The sheets were never changed, and there were yellow stains in the same place (photos were taken). We ended up sleeping on the couch on our clothes on.

Here's the best part of this nightmare. On the second night of this cruise, at about 1 AM in the morning, we were awakened by a noise in the hallway. Coming from the door was smoke; thinking it was a fire, I woke up my wife and ran to the door in my underwear. As I opened the door, I was sprayed on the face with chemicals by two guys wearing space suit like gear with a mask-respirator on them. I was covered with this fog/film chemical. They would not tell me what they were doing or spraying for. On the next day, we were both very sick; with bug like bites all over, we could not sleep for many nights. We complained over and over to the front desk. They would not tell us what they have sprayed on me. We finally went to the ship's doctor, and we were given Benadryl and Calamine lotion.

After three trips to the medical office for more Benadryl to help us sleep, photos of the outbreak on us were taken. On the third visit to the ship's medical office, I had talked to two other ship crew members being seen for the same conditions we had. The ship's doctor or nurse would not acknowledge these issues. I overheard another crew member telling two other infected crew not to talk about this to any of the guests onboard. There was a lot of this spraying going on all over the ship; no one would tell us what was being sprayed.

I have been on many cruise ships and cruise lines, and I never experienced anything like it before. We also had personal items removed from our room. Our luggage was damaged, and an upper level staff was very snotty when we asked that they investigate our concerns and other events that took place onboard. I would not recommend a Holland Cruise to anyone. This ship is a rundown fitly vessel, with bugs and crews who lack of concern or training.

As I type this letter, I am still in disbelief of what has happened with our family and your cruise line in the past 48 hours. The story begins this past summer when my wife and I decided to take our family on a cruise after Christmas for my youngest daughter's birthday (Dec 29th) and for all the kids as their only Christmas present. We chose your cruise line because of its reputation for customer service. My children live in Florida so we decided to have them drive to Tampa on Dec 23rd. Even though it was a 3-hour drive, when they flew to our home in Ohio, their cars would be in Tampa when we got back to drive over to the ship (Delta flights during Christmas were $3000)

On Dec 26th, we were getting ready to drive to the Cincinnati airport for an 11:15 a.m. flight to Tampa. We received an automated call from Delta stating our flight was going to be delayed to a 1:50 p.m. departure. I tried to call Delta to check on other flights but was unable to get through. I then called the Holland America emergency line and explained our situation. I was told that due to high winds, the ship might be delayed on its departure and we should come down. We arrived at Tampa airport at 4:30 p.m. and called the emergency line again. We were directed to talk to the Holland America agents who were waiting in the baggage claim area for other customers that were on our plane. When we found the Holland America agents they said, the ship has left and if we wanted to meet it in Key West the next day we could board there. We checked for flights with no luck, so we decided to rent two cars ($520) because it was all we could find to transport 5 adults and 7 pieces of luggage to Key West for a one-way car rental. We would leave our cars at the long-term car paring near the ship in preparation for our return ($30/day). My daughter Alexis spoke with an agent Margaret on Sunday evening to confirm our rental cars and venture to Key West. Alexis gave her cell phone number and the agent, Margaret, was instructed to contact us if anything changed.

We decided to drive to our home in Marco Island that Sunday, spent the night, and then left the next morning. We called Holland America on Monday morning around 7:30 a.m. and spoke to Caroline and Margaret from the day before, who told us that the ship would be at Key West in between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. and we should proceed down there to board the ship. We again gave both agents our cell numbers to update us if there were any changes and they said they would call us. The agents also said that they would e-mail or notify the ship that we would be boarding in Key West. About 1 hour later Caroline called us on our cell to tell us that the ship was going to dock at the Navy Mole Pier instead of its usual location. Feeling confident that we were being watched over by your cruise line agents, we embarked on a 5.5 hour drive with both cars (by the way my older daughter is 10 weeks pregnant). When we arrived at the Dollar Car Rental store located at the Key West Airport, we turned in our cars and rented a Taxi Van ($100) to take us to the pier. It took us a while to get there because New Years draws about 70,000 people in Key West. When we arrived at the pier we saw the worst possible sight: there was a Carnival cruise ship that had come in at 1 p.m. but no Holland America.

My heart sunk into my stomach. We immediately called our contacts at Holland America to ask what happened to the ship. They told us the ship decided not to stop at Key West because of the weather (it was flat as a pancake and there were plenty of ships and boats in the water). When we asked them what we were supposed to do and why didn't they call us on the long drive down, we were put on hold and were transferred to another person over and over again. At that point I realized that the cruise was over and we were just another insignificant group of people to your company. I have never felt so small or been treated so poorly in my life. We then had the taxi drive us back to the car rentals. There was no car left that could get us all back to Marco Island for a one-way dropoff. My Crohn's disease was now acting up and my pregnant daughter did not want to do the long drive back along with the rest of us. All the hotels were booked because of New Year so we chartered a private plane ($1300) to fly us back to Marco. I obviously cancelled my trip with your company, and the gentleman I spoke with was quite rude and short with me and said I would still have to pay the 10% since I had the insurance and the cost of the insurance which added up to around $1600 and that he would not be responsible for any of the other costs I incurred. All I could say was, 'yes sir'. Today, Tuesday Dec 28th, I had to get my cars in Tampa and rather than drive 3 hours each way I spent $1200 to fly two of us up there and drive the cars back.

I am exhausted and I feel sick. I am a medical doctor and specialize in plastic surgery. I know that customer satisfaction is as important as performing well during a procedure. Your cruise line dropped the ball on us when they did not update us on our drive down to Key West. I spoke today with Ben **, our personal cruise consultant, and he was the first pleasant person that I have spoken to. He agreed that it was terrible and would look into getting a full refund from the cruise and anything he could do to help us. It was a small token but at least it was something for the cost, and physical and psychological damage my family has incurred. I feel I should be fully reimbursed and your company should cover all the costs I have incurred (I have all the receipts). Once again, if your agents would have given us a simple call like they said they would, we could have turned our cars around and went back to Marco and not wasted the time or money that we did.

I have already spoken with you over the phone and detailed the problems I incurred with my Holland America Line cruise tour. Since I have not yet received a reply from anyone with Holland America, I am writing a letter describing the problems I had on this cruise. I was your customer on Holland America's 14-day Klondike, Kluane, Denali and Inside Passage Cruise Tour - Northbound which sailed on the Zuiderdam Saturday, August 21, 2010. The booking/party number was **** and I paid the full advertised price for this cruise tour. The 3-day shipboard portion of this trip was enjoyable and as described in HAL advertising literature. However, it was HA's cruise tour shore excursions that created a number of unnecessary disappointments and spoiled so much of this vacation that I had planned for years to take.

Problem Number 1, I booked four additional shore excursions over the telephone though Holland America's Excursion Specialists and was very disappointed with the first one, the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest tour booked on August 23rd at 3:00 PM in Juneau. I was directed by HAL security personnel to a covered area on the dock where tour buses were being loaded. A woman wearing HAL logo directed a group of us to a bus with a Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest Tour sign on the window. People from the HAL Rotterdam were also on board that bus. Our driver/tour leader was a very young man who attempted to entertain his passengers with irrelevant anecdotes about his personal life. He had little information about the tour itself.

Although the official HAL shore excursion literature described this tour as 3 hours of whale watching and 1 hour at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center, our tour leader only pulled into a parking lot beside the highway and told us to get out of the bus and take our pictures of the Mendenhall Glacier from there. There was across open fields several miles from the glacier itself. We were then delivered to the whale-watch vessel and spent 2-3 hours on the boat. When the same young man picked us up in the same bus, some of us asked if we would be taken to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center on the way back to the ship. Our driver said no and that he was running late and had to pick up more people. And so we were dropped off at the dock more than an hour early although he did slow down and suggest that passengers get off and visit several shops in downtown Juneau.

The Zuiderdam Shore Excursion desk was closed when we got back to the ship the next morning! I voiced my complaint to Lara at the desk. She at first said that no HA tour director would have done that and that we had been diverted to an unauthorized local tour bus. When she found my name on a ticket in the stack of HAL Menendhall Glacier shore excursion tickets from the day before Lara apologized and said that HA would refund a portion of what I had paid for this unsatisfactory tour and that she would email me.

But a small cash refund cannot make up for the disappointment or the total amount spent to come to Alaska where a close-up view of a glacier is such a well advertised part of the HA Alaskan experience and to date, I have received no email from Lara or refund from HAL. HAL's bus also arrived too late for me to take the Museum of the North Tour I booked at 6 PM in Fairbanks on August 30th. There has been no HA refund for that tour either and again, a small cash refund cannot compensate for the disappointment or total cash outlay to almost have been able to tour the Museum of the North!

Problem Number 2, as we were heading for Dawson City, our tour director said, "I might as well tell you now". She went on to say that there might be a diversion in Dawson due to road repairs. According to the Internet, the road on the Eagle/Tok portion of this tour route had been washed out and impassable for weeks at a time since June 2010. But the tour group was never advised of this delay/diversion until the tour director mentioned it, even though I booked on August 3 and so I was forced to spend three, not two nights in Dawson City and the only souvenir of my much-anticipated Majestic trip along the Yukon River between Eagle AK and Dawson City.

YT is a Holland America Boarding Pass card for the tier cruise trip HAL denied us. Instead, my tour group was loaded on to a bus for a thirteen-hour road trip between Dawson City and Fairbanks. For long portions of the road the bus took, were unpaved and bumpy. Two brown bag meals were served on board both sandwich meals that I could have assembled for less than $5.00 each. Most of the people on this bus were seniors. I am a senior with severe arthritis. Thirteen hours on a bumpy bus with only four short stops was agonizing but even though we were running so many hours behind schedule. The tour director still unloaded us for a final thirty-minute stopover at a tacky Christmas Store and then passed out the store's sales literature as we got back on the bus! This revised schedule precluded my enjoying several shore excursions that were advertised as part of this cruise tour, the Gold Dredge No. 8 visit, the mining exhibits and the opportunity to pan for gold myself. The tour director passed out $100 each certificates to each tour member which were good only at HA properties.

Again, $200 does not compensate for yet another disappointment on what had become a very disappointing vacation experience. My own very personal disappointments with this cruise tour have to do with the fact that this tour route was chosen to be able to follow my ancestor's journey to the Klondike during the 1896-98 Stampede Gold Rush. This was very important to me and I have been planning for several years to be able to make the same trip they made. The loss of the boat trip down the Yukon River was particularly disappointing because family papers describe their experiences on the Yukon River. An even greater disappointment is that I had made plans to see my Alaskan relatives when this cruise tour arrived in Fairbanks. We planned to all when the bus arrived in Fairbanks on Monday, August 30th at the scheduled time of 1 PM.

We had planned to have dinner and go to the Museum of the North together that evening. Since I was not able to get a phone call through while I was in Canada, I tried to reach them when the bus arrived in Tok. They had already left for the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks so I left messages to call the HAL service desk at the Westmark to find out when the HAL bus would arrive. I did not realize that the employees at the Fairbanks Westmark HAL desk were high school students and so my relatives were casually informed by these young girls that we would be in about 5 PM.

My family waited at the hotel until shortly before 9 PM then had to leave Fairbanks before our bus finally arrived at the Westmark. I was heartbroken that we were not able to see each other after so much planning. It has been years since we were last together. With the cost of travel what it is, I do not know when or if we will ever see each other again. This personal disappointment could have been easily avoided if HAL had been honest with me when I booked about the problems with the road that had been going on all summer. I could have easily booked another cruise tour that would have allowed me to see my Alaskan family.

Even though I expressed my disappointment with the Mendenhall Glacier tour as soon as I could find a HAL tour representative then express my several disappointments with our tour director as they happened then finally spoke with you, to date, I have received no reply, no offer of any adjustment, no compensation for the money paid for onshore tours that did not happen. Holland America services thousands of cruise and cruise tour passengers annually. I remain hopeful that I will be treated in a fair and equitable manner and not simply brushed aside.

My parents bought my husband and I a 7 night Mexican Riveria cruise, out of San Diego for our 5-year Anniversary. Imagine our surprise to find the average age to be around 70. When we read about the cruise being for people who didn't want to cruise w/ children, we thought this would be perfect.

When we got to our stateroom, imagine how happy we were to find a dilapidated, ugly, badly need of repairs, emergency boat hanging in front of the window. We couldn't see anything, no matter how far we turned our head, except the ugly boat. And it even got better when I was changing my shirt and looked out to see a man walking onto the boat doing some sort of work.

After crying to the front desk, I paid $270 to upgrade to a balcony. But this room had a toilet which didn't work. I had to call the front desk, being on hold the average of 20+ minutes each call, and was told not to call unless the water goes over the toilet rim! Mind you, the plumber had left 20 minutes ago after having to wade through my fetal matter! I ended up the remainder of the cruise taking the elevator to the Lido deck to do my business!

Holland America lied to us, not once, twice, but many, many times. The front desk people told us wrong dinning times, only to show up to find zero food on the Lido deck. I called the FD back, talked to the same girl, and was told she never gave such hours. I've never been on a cruise that closed down the buffet at 7:45pm.

We were turned away from the formal dinning room, as my husband did not have a jacket, yet I called HA, as well as my mom directly, and was told dress slacks, shirt, and shoes, were fine. My poor husband was put into a three size too small jacket, sat at a table full of Indian people who had a special beef free meal, and felt very uncomfortable. We had open dining too, and both times were put at tables with 2-3 other couples. The night my husband had to put on the small dinner jacket, I counted eleven men not wearing jackets or ties.

This entire saga is documented in detail upon request. Briefly, my husband suffers from severe COPD, chronic asthmatic bronchitis and emphysema (which means his lungs have deteriorated). He travels using a mobility scooter and has an oxygen concentrator. HAL was made aware of his condition from the time of initial contact with them. Upon making reservations, we were told that the ship had been remodeled in late 2000-early 2010. Our reservation documented his condition and that the "suite" was to be deep cleaned before our arrival.

The requirements were reviewed several times with HAL before we traveled to Seattle. The condition of the suite was deplorable, the cabin air was offensive, mold/mildew/urine or whatever; the air quality was unfit for anyone with lung/breathing medical conditions to stay in. The cabin had not been recently remodeled. We reviewed the details with the ship's supervisor. We asked for the ship's doctor to give us some assurance of the air quality being fit, but he was not called. No other accommodations in any category were available on the vessel.

They had HAL personnel escort us off the ship shortly before it sailed. We have recovered part of the cruise expense, but they withheld a "cancellation penalty and the cost of "cancellation and medical insurance." We have asked for reimbursement of the expenses incurred from the time we left home, we did not fly first class from Phoenix to Seattle for dinner and hotels stay. We have only asked directly for out of pocket expenses, however, now we would like compensation for angst, frustration and disability recovery. Stress is one of the biggest exacerbation for my husband's condition. Americans with disabilities; HAL did not provide necessities for a person with these disabilities. Out of pocket remaining, $2900.

It has come to my attention after submitting a few rebuttals that I needed to write a letter in order for my case to be escalated to you as a Senior Advisor. I'm frustrated because my vacation was ruined and now I am taking precious time calling and writing letters to obtain satisfactory resolution. As you read through the detailed list of issues, you may understand why I'm insulted with the goodwill gestures offers dated June 2nd and June 8th. The underlying assumption is that I will sail with Holland America again after sub par service during my past sailing experience. Shouldn't the objective be to first show that Holland can deliver on its promises?

Holland America states that passengers will have once in a lifetime experience. I agree with this, in that this was the worst vacation experience that I've had and hopefully a once in a lifetime. Also, the tagline "what's new on Holland America ships--everything" wasn't the case for my cruise. In a nutshell Holland America didn't hold up its end of the agreement to provide an enjoyable and relaxing cruise.

Before I recap everything, please note that this whole experience is weighing heavily on my mind and I haven't been able to sleep since I returned. This is my first bad vacation in 25 years.

There are 3 main categories of issues from my voyage with my Mom on May 21st: Cleanliness. Dirty bathroom floor (I have pictures plus Lianna physically inspected this). Toilet had a dark ring inside the bowl--wish I would have taken a picture of this before it was cleaned. Dirt around the tub. Dirty floor mat in the room. Dingy carpet. Dirty blankets on bed. Blankets removed by Lianna. Deep cleaned bathroom, steamed floor mat and shampooed carpet.

I felt like Kris from the Neptune lounge was the only sincere manager that we spoke to. Others were just giving us lip service based on what was communicated after our cruise. Filthy windows (first impression is everything). Bird droppings on window in dining room. We could see them from our table #124. Faded window coverings (half were new and the others needed to be replaced). Paul ** comped 2 $99 spa treatments to help us relax. After meeting with him for an hour, he knew that we were frustrated, upset and under duress due to issues on board.

Food quality and taste. There wasn't a notation that my Mother is vegan so no complaints for her food the first night. Drink glasses were spotty--had to ask for clean ones. Re-ordered Rock Cod due to dryness. 2nd piece was still dry so I just didn't have anything to eat. Thank goodness, we brought snacks on board. My mother's breakfast was ruined Saturday morning.

Put bacon on top of her egg beater omelet. Saturday's Indonesian lunch was tasteless. I spoke to a waiter and asked to speak to the chef. He said he was unavailable and wanted to know what my concern was. After explaining to him, he said the food was bad because "the chef isn't from Indonesia. "

Saturday met with Leanna to discuss everything including food quality. I insisted that she visit our room for inspection. It finally sunk in that my mother was vegan after our Saturday night dinner. We were finally presented with a vegetarian/vegan menu so I could pre-order my mother's Sunday night meal. After 2 days of bad meals and hungry, Lianna comped for the Pinnacle Grill. My lamb chops were fantastic; however, my Mother had better options in the main dining room with the vegan menu.

Met with JoJo and Paul ** for an hour in his office. He said "this is unacceptable" to many of the cleanliness and food quality/taste complaints. Because we ate at the Pinnacle Grill Sunday night, my mother's pre-ordered meal from Saturday night was served on Monday. I try to change it, however, I was told that it was already prepared.

She received vegetarian chili without the brown rice and corn muffin. When I asked about these items, our waiter said he would need to check the menu. Came back and said that the brown rice was being prepared. I told him that brown rice takes around 40 minutes to prepare and didn't think they were going to be able to make it.

Brought out white rice colored brown and said it was brown rice. We immediately knew it wasn't and I tasted it to confirm. Asked about the corn muffin since my Mother wasn't able to eat the rice. The waiter said they weren't ready and would deliver to our room. Delivered undercooked muffins about 15 minutes later. Reminder: We were told that we couldn't change the selection because everything was prepared. Was anyone inspecting what was expected since we had reported so many prior issues?

Finally, the dining room manager, Raj **, was instructed to personally serve us and take our pre-orders for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening. Things improved, however, we told Raj that we didn't need him to personally serve us. We just wanted him to ensure that we received what we ordered and that the food was good quality. I didn't mention this before because there were so many issues that we didn't think there would be another major issue.

My mother is a diabetic and was served dessert laced with sugar during the 2nd formal night dinner. Raj took the order and said that they were providing a sugar free mousse. My mother tasted it and said it contained sugar (has eaten very few things with white sugar in 35 years). I tasted it and knew that it probably had 75 grams of white sugar. I ate it because it was my only 2nd great dessert on the ship.

Noise level. Our deluxe veranda suite was below the lido deck/taco bar. We could hear people running, walking and dragging chairs until midnight. We couldn't take naps and my mother was awakened every night several times. I finally used ear plugs. I was told by Lianna or JoJo that this was due to a bad design and other newer ships have staterooms above the deluxe veranda suites. Lianna said that it was due to bad insulation. Flushing of toilets.

My Mother and I aren't the average travelers. We have been to every continent several times and have experienced a once in a lifetime 3-week cruise on Regent. No complaints in 3 weeks. In addition, I'm a foodie. I didn't expect the food to be on par with a Mobile 5 star restaurant, however, based on what I paid for the cruise, I did expect quality food that tasted good.

It's unfortunate that I just finished cruising on Holland America and can only talk about my fabulous experience with Regent. My goal was to find a cruise line that was affordable compared to Regent and that offered good service, quality food and overall great experience. Now, that my Mother is 78, we plan to cruise more (traveling together for over 25 years).

Regarding my first point of contact with guest relations, I told Jennifer ** that my girlfriend said that Princess has great food. Her response was every cruise line is known for something. She didn't say that Holland was known for good food or say what it is known for. This is alarming that a Special Advisor from the Office of the President didn't make a few positive comments about Holland.

Jennifer's tone was condescending and defensive so I wasn't surprise when she insulted me with the gesture of goodwill that is unacceptable. I received the letter on 6/4/10 but couldn't read it. I waited until Saturday, 6/5, so that it wouldn't continue to impact my sleep.

In summary, I have every expectation that Holland America will fulfill their end of the agreement to provide an once in a lifetime experience. Spent $4,500 for a trip and Holland America Line didn't hold up their end of the agreement. Vacation was ruined and my mother's health was at risk based on the food they serve her.

First of all I would like to say the staff on the cruise were extremely polite and friendly. We got up graded a cabin with a window which we absolutely loved. Room service was incredible. We loved the cute little characters they created with the towels. So pretty much that was the ONLY good thing about this cruise! This was my first cruise ever and my friends second cruise. Everyone told me Holland was the best to go to Alaska. I WOULD NEVER EVER RECOMMEND THIS CRUISE LINE TO ANYONE! First of all I payed a hire price so we could spend more time on land. Jueno we were 2-3 hours late but at least they extended the leaving time. The reason for a passport I believe is because we were going to Canada. I was super excited.

The original plan was to get into Canada at 7pm and leave at midnight. We didn't end up getting to Canada til 10pm, got off the boat around 1030 and when we got there, it was 30min to get into cananda!!!!! NOW TELL ME THAT IS A LITTLE MESSED UP!!! I was so mad and everyone around me told me not to compare cruised with Holland because this was by far the worse one. And not only port times were late, there was NO COMMUNICATION, terrible entertainment, the food was a joke, elevators were broke, and so much more. The reason I am letting you know this is because how can anyone fix something if you don't know what to fix!!!!

On the boat we thought that there would be on going entertainment but they hardly had anything and what they had was terrible. All the other cruise lines had comedians, magic shows, and more. I know you can not compare cruise lines but I have never been so disappointed. At the airport I had talked to 2 people who one had gone through princess and the other the "pearl??" Anyways princess they were complaining that they were a half hour late to their port times and I told them my sitiuation and they were shocked!!!! They thought they had it bad until I shared my story with them! Holland was a joke!!!!! As soon as I got home I posted on Facebook how terrible Holland cruiseline was. Maybe I just had bad luck but its something I can't take back but can learn from it! I feel very ripped off and I know I am just one person but I will let everyone know my experience so they don't get disappointed and hopefully have a much better experience then I did!!!!!!

On January 16th, we boarded the Holland America Amsterdam on the 22nd. By midnight, I got very sick. I vomited until morning. When I finally stopped, I started with very bad diarrhea. My wife went to the desk. A nurse came a bit later and checked me over. It seemed to me she was kind of upset with me but I got some pills and the room was quarantined for 24 hrs. Needles to say, my holiday cruise was ruined as I did not eat for three days and did not get over the illness for over a week.

I contacted Holland America. They offered a $100.00 cruise voucher of some kind. The cruise was taken because of my wife's birthday on the 5th and mine on the 23rd. Also, it was our 50th wedding anniversary on the 14th of January. We both got the flu shots and the h1n1 shots well before the cruise.

A Ms. Sydney l. senior advisor responded to my complaint because my cruise was ruined because of poor sanitation aboard ship. Otherwise, I would not have gotten the virus. They sure were careful after the outbreak but, too late for me as my vacation was ruined.

I have done about all that I am able to in terms of trying to get HAL to remedy this bad experience. Holland America, apparently feels like the reimbursement for the upgrade is sufficient enough remedy. HAL apparently, feels that the air conditioning on deck 6 did not affect your cabin and so that is a mute point. They tell, me they do wash the decks and water goes over (as in Joe getting wet out on the balcony). They tell me the water leak was in a hall and not in cabin and so apparently that is also a mute point to them.

There are always 2 sides to every story. We all know that. Apparently, only one side is being recognized. Holland America's Side: I am told by Gary ** that the woman in the next cabin to my clients said that Barbara ** was bragging about what she was going to get. I am also told that the leaking pipe was not in their cabin, but in the hallway and the water never reached their cabin floor. I am told the air conditioning that was out on Deck 6 was only for about 8 days - not the entire cruise. I am told that there is no dispute about the soot and medical problems that occurred.

S.'s Side: The S.'s have been with me for over 8 years now. They have never complained in all of that time - not once - about a trip I booked for them. Nor did they ask me to complain for them about this matter. They are honest people and not prone to "look for freebies" by creating complaints.

The woman in the cabin next to the S.'s that said my client was bragging about what she would get from this problem is hearsay. Are you to take that passengers word over another passenger? It may seem feasible to you, because it works in your favor. Did someone that works for HAL and was on that ship personally hear Mrs. ** say that? Or is that you are right and I am wrong, as in 2 sides to every story?

The leaking pipe was very obvious in the photos Mrs. ** took. If it leaked in the hallway, does that make it less of a poor experience? The S.'s were on Deck 7 and so the air conditioning being out on Deck 6 was not directly related to their own problems. I added it to my complaint only because it shows the ship apparently was not in good working condition over all. Again, the S.'s have not asked me to complain on their behalf. The complaint was made solely by myself, in attempt to remedy an extremely poor experience had by my clients.

There is no dispute by HAL about the soot and medical problems. But yet, how nice is it that due to that problem, my clients were sick at the end of their cruise and couldn't enjoy it and for a week afterwards at home yet. I don't know many folks who look to pay over $10k for dream 40th anniversary cruise - and then wind up sick from it. Yes, HAL paid for the medical exam on-board, as they should have. That's a given. After all, it was soot from Ms. ** that brought the health problems on, not my clients.

HAL's stance is that the reimbursement for the balcony upgrade is sufficient in this case and they intend to do no more. My position is that some kind of monetary (non-voucher or credit) reimbursement should be given to the S.'s. At HAL's own discretion. But something. They are now forced to remember their 40th anniversary cruise on HAL as a very bad time. That personal event ruined, deserves consideration over and above the reimbursement for the add-on upgrade reimbursement. Not to mention that they did both in fact become very ill and arrived home ill from that cruise.

How nice. It was not a cheap 7 or 14 day cruise and they did spend more money while on board. It was something they were anxiously waiting to go on and wanted to be very special. To that end please know, the S.'s will never book with HAL again. I will not book Ms. ** for any of my guests and I will have a very difficult time selling HAL in good faith. Money is money and special events like that can not be recaptured.

Now, is this my imagination too. I'm now thinking of going to a lawyer, because they can give me money back for the balcony because we were getting wet. But being sent to the infirmary by there own Hotel Manager, for 3 days sick on the fumes, for days after means nothing. I do not lie and they are making it worse by accusing me of being one. With all these people they wanted me to file a civil suit and include them, and I was not going to bother. Now it's a matter of my pride and my honesty that is at question here.

I was there when they took the bodies off the tender, I was there when the soot flew into everyone's food and all over our clothes, not once but day after day. I was there when the water was just pouring in. I have proof of everything in writing, people backing me up and pictures to prove it. Those are not my imagination. If there that concern let them get in contact with these people. I have pictures showing leaks, I have overcome along with several others from emission of soot through ventilating system was in doctor's office on ship for 3 days prior to leaving. A lot of problems and pictures to prove it.

I just finished crusing with Holland America, please think 1, 2, or 3 times before you choose this cruise line. The service was HORRIBLE.

Thinking of a cruise on Holland America? Think twice, maybe three times...particularly if it's a Veendam cruise. I KNEW that we were in trouble the minute that we saw Holland America's Veendam last January. She was berthed in a decrepit backwater of Tampa Bay. The ship reminded me of 1960s musty Florida Holiday Inn rooms, welded together and stacked on top of a barge. She was like an old once-proud and beautiful lady, wrinkled with age spots and smeared with cosmetics that could not erase her years of wear. I think she sighed when her passengers boarded. She was like a swaybacked, tired, over-used plow horse pressed into service long after she should be sent out to pasture.

Our cabin was shoddy. The carpets were worn, the bed was broken in the middle, the veneer was peeling off the desk, and there were rust and mildew stains. The halls smelled. Much of the crew was ill-trained, wooden and gave the impression of not caring much about their passengers. They told me that the ship was a year overdue for refitting. Thus begins the cautionary tale of a disastrous vacation, a foiled attempt for reimbursement, and a professed provider of excellent service in deep waters.

Cruise lines have a strict "manage-by-the-day" profit plan and make money on everything, from shore tours to your drinks. The Veendam had too few crew per passenger to render all but minimal services. It makes its money on booze, crummy bazaar-like jewelry stores and the innumerable "extras" that you buy on any cruise. Consider the $90 for a piece of "Jackie Kennedy" jewelry that probably cost $10. The passengers were a generally elderly, some infirm, gray-white hair group. Not that there is anything wrong with being gray. I'm a vital gray-hair of 72, and I felt like a teenager. We found that we were on a $400-$600 cruise of mostly blue-collar retirees from South Florida. My wife compared it to a bus tour to Las Vegas.

It wasn't all bad, however. My wife and I love to talk to people. Where else could you talk to a retired detective who had had a heart transplant, married his critical-care nurse and was born again in a big way; or a man, virtually immobile, on his last cruise and surrounded by his loving family of eight; or an elderly Russian lady, who could not speak English, but laughed with her family when I asked her to dance; or the ship's captain and officers--gracious, fun to talk to and ready to share their tales of the sea. These encounters were diamonds in the rough.

Holland America's major ills are deceptive advertising, poor customer service and no product warranty. The company bills all of its tours as upscale, with fine food and entertainment. It calls itself "The Signature of Excellence." Not. It is trying to appeal to two markets, prestige-upscale one hand and the cheapest common denominator on the other.

It has little customer service, appealing to mass markets. You are a drop in the ocean--hamburger--to it. Getting a good cruise from a "mass-market" company is like an amateur investing in stocks. You might as well throw the proverbial dart at your options and you have 50/50 chance of getting a good cruise.

We booked Holland America because a global mass-market travel agent recommended it. Search the Internet, ask friends and deal with two travel agents to find what you want. Second, book with a local travel agent who knows cruises, has a big stake in getting it right and will fight for you if it's wrong. Third, know what you want. Make sure that you identify your needs to yourself first. Figure out how much money you want to spend. What quality of food, entertainment and other features do you want? Make sure that the passengers are the kind of people that you can relate to.

Did I get my money back? No. Of the $4,700 that my wife and I paid for the trip, we got a cruise credit for $1,750--not that I would ever set foot on a Holland America trip again. It took at least 45 contacts to collect this useless sum. Given the time spent on the cruise and trying to settle this matter, our cruise credits, not reimbursment, was $14.50 an hour for every miserable hour spent on this trip, and trying to get reasonable reimbursement. I should go to work at Home Depot.

Why did I spend so much time on this? First, it was the annoyance of seven rotten days and I felt tribute was due. Then it turned into a merry chase to see how dysfunctional organizations such as this are. It's a pity that this travesty was too late for a new Harvard Business School publication: Executing Strategy. My next book will be Executing the Customer: How to Cheat Your Clients and Make More Money.

We paid for the cruise in April, $1,480.86, plus $161.00 cancellation insurance.. That was suppose to be for the cruise---my wife was unable to go so I got my daughter to go instead of cancelling the trip (which would have left Holland America with NO money from us--They had us pay over $150.00 to change the name---Than this month they charged us $112.00 for the transfers, which were suppose to be included in the original price---After calling our agent he said thats what the cruise line said was for the transfers and after calling the crusie line, the cruise line said it was the agents fault for not telling us there was going to be another charge for that...

Passing the buck on a price that was to high to begin with leaves us with no recourse, but to pay it---The cruise line's are going to be hurting very soon with 'DEALS' like this---Senoir Citzens 'might' want to cruise, BUT when they hear about how you are treated, they will think twice.... and, living in a Senoir Village, they WILL hear about it....

On our cruise july 13 2008,we requested kosher food which we paid for. It did not arrive until four days later on our cruise and when it did it was expired food ONE YEAR AGO! ( 2007 ) Horrible expirience

We asked for a refund due to the most aggravating cruise ever. Food is the basic theme of any cruise and they neglected to provide us with what we ordered, and paid for.

bad food, wasn't able to offer tour to 4 people of totoal over 50 peopel at denali.

costs much higher than booking on the ship, they got incredible fees for booking through same compnaies you could book off the ship at each port. et.c ia will wirte agian when i get home including all the distrubing facts from other clients and passengers i met along the way onthis cruise. they were probably bought out since my last trip about 5 years ago when i was on teh same whip the veendamout of tampa florida to mexico, belize and guatemala.

what a rip!! acomple zoo.. and the staff has heavy turn over i think htye've had it too Lies lies lies talk to the crew they are not paid enought and depend onour tips which are now atutomatically added to the cruise fare. and you have no say or no rebate when you coamplain and these tips are not just going to the cabin steward and teh waiters part of the tips you automatically pay at 10 dollars a dya are foar the cooks cleaners bottel washers and staff ontheisip isn't that supposed to be included in the rpcie youpay cruising?

and what about the fuel charges i o.k.'d they charge me 139dollars for fuel increase costs...that should take zcar eof the fule increase in prices , so now they take nmore of your money on board, is it becasue they wer bought out?

anyone out there?

all arrangements, insurance purchas3ed through Holland. carrier late. no luggage. no prior warning virus on ship. contracted virus. left early. insurance paid approximately 20% of cost of cruise. holland offered $400 credit on future cruises.

I have been on many cruises and enjoyed Holland America in the past because they have large suites. However, my 2007 cruise on Holland to Hawaii was terrible. Very geriatric crowd and nothing to do while at sea. Food was not as good as in the past, whole ship seemed depressed and a bit dirty.

I am planning my next cruise so I spent hours pouring over on-line cruise offers and found a Holland America sale, on the Holland America web site. I thought I would give Holland a second chance, so I called to book. Holland would not honor the sale, and the sales rep tried to increase the cost to triple the stated price. Called a travel agent, she tried to get the sale price, but Holland would not honor the sale. Agaent talked to management, but they refused to honor the sale. Same week received post card from Holland with a big sale. I called to inquire, but they also refused to honor the post card sale. I am very unhappy with Holland America.

Wasted time, effort in hunting for a cruise deal.

We researched several cruise lines for our honeymoon. We had each cruised on Carnival, RC and NCL. We thought Holland would be a nice luxury cruise to the Panama Canal for 10 days on the Volendam. We didn't want any kids screaming and running around. We got the opposite. It was like a floating nursing home

Our cabin was dirty. There was something smeared all over the wall (don't even want to guess what it was). The food was the worst I had ever had. First cruise I have been on where I didn't gain weight. There were so many old people on the ship we were the yougest at 43. There was no music by the pool, no fun activites. The employees on the ship would sit in the back of the ship and smoke.

We went to the movie theater every night because there was nothing else to do. The Las Vegas styled shows were horrible. they had the crew do a talent show. They were all philipino. You could understand anything. The food was so bad that we ate at the pool bar everynight. Hamburgers and pizza for 10 days. It was really bad.

They screwed up the stop in the Canal. The ports that we went to were dirty and there was nothing to do. It was the worst cruise we have ever been on. We filled out the survey at the end of the cruise and we are still waiting for someone to contact us.

We will never cruise with Holland ever again. We spent alot of money for this honeymoon that was not romantic or memorable in the least.

I got a job with Holland America during the summer, working as a maid in their hotel in Skagway Alaska. When I got there, the working conditions were far from the wonderful picture they gave when visiting my college. And I had a horrible sinus infection, which I had never had before.

It was early in the season and they had too many housekeepers for that time. Guess what they told me to do? Prepare the lunches for the ship! They were fully aware that I was sick (and obvious to anyone who saw me), and I was too naive to think I could refuse. I had just spent alot of money flying up there, and didn't know if they would get rid of me. So if you're all wondering why you get sick, maybe the person preparing the meals is sick. I didn't even have a food handlers permit.

After that horrible experience (I ended up quitting and sucking up the cost of airfare back home), I will NEVER use Holland America and will NEVER recommend them. And by the way, while working as a maid, they expected 6 rooms to be cleaned in an hour. I tried, but there was no way that could be done. Guess what that means? The rooms might look clean, but they aren't. Look closely at the sheets and rub your finger on the bathtub to check for soapscum!

One way ticket to Alaska. One way ticket home from Alaska. Cost of charter plane from Skagway to Anchorage. Losing the bonus you get if you stay the season (I left because they lied and the living conditions and working conditions were so crappy). As a person who wants to do a good job, it was impossible.

In Sept, 2007, we enjoyed an Alaska cruise on the Holland America Zaandam from Vancouver, BC to Alaska and disembarked in San Diego. We paid Holland America for our return air from San Diego to Tucson. Our return air was by a tiny propeller driven airplane that was noisy and very uncomfortable not to mention safety concerns. We paid HAL top dollar for our airfare and they booked this aircraft because it was cheap and they increased their profit at our expense. We will never again allow a cruise line to book our airfare. We could have booked this airfare on jet service for much less than HAL charged us.

Very uncomfortable and nervous return flight home.

My wife and I researched cruise lines. In September, we discovered an Expedia.com special rate for a ten day eastern carribean cruise on the Noordam, from Holland America Cruise Lines. This cruise is scheduled to depart from New York in January. We noticed that the Expedia rate was exceptionally good and similar to last minute rates that one may obtain when booking a cruise. We decided to pay in full and book the cruise. About a month later, we were notified by Expedia.com that Holland Amercica advised them that they were refusing to honor our reservation for the price paid. Holland America stated that we had one week to pay an additional $710 or elect to receive a full refund.

However, since we had just booked non-refundable air fare from Richmond to New York to catch the cruise, we felt compelled to have to pay the additional money. Prior to booking our cruise,I read a complaint from a prior Holland Amercia customer about them pulling something similiar. At this point, I am concerned that Holland America may be refusing to honor ticket prices as it becomes convenient for them to do so. Beware of their pricing integrity.

I made reservation for a definite cabin and was charged extra to assure that I received that cabin...email stated as such. Have Medical problem and told use middle of ship to avoid sea sickness. The cabin (I was told #756 by email)was in middle of ship.(I have the coppy of it) Get to ship -cabin is not available-they wanted to put us at the very rear of ship. I got sick on a previous Holland voyage and cabin had to be changed-and was.

The main lobby desk on ship told me I had no option, that if I did not take the rear of the ship I could get off-then they proceeded to escort me and my 80 year old husband off the ship with our luggage. Now the travel agent claims he has contacted the main office of Carnival Cruises -the mother company--and they have refused to refund me my $2000. They have not offered a replacement cruise and have not refunded anything to me. We are elderly and only live off our Social Security.

We were traveling on a 12-day land tour/cruise. During our stay at Denali National Park, I booked a jeep tour of the park through Holland America. During the tour, we stopped for a prepared meal. Twenty minutes after eating the meal my son began to vomit everything up. We got him back into the jeep, and began heading back to the starting point of the tour. During the trip back, I began to feel very queasy etc. After returning to the hotel, we boarded a bus for a 10 minute ride to the train station, for the trip to Anchorage. My son was sick again just before boarding this bus.

After boarding the train, both myself and my son began to vomit numerous times on the train. When we arrived at Anchorage, we were told that we would not be able to board the ship until we were symptom free for 24 hours, and that the cruise ship doctor had the last say whether or not we would be allowed to board the ship at all. After being driven to the emergency room we were given a card with representative's name and number and the cab company phone number on it. that is when we were told that we would have to call them to get to the hotel.

When asked about continuing on the cruise since it was food poisioning from a tour booked through them, we were told it would be unlikely. The rep told us she would call in the morning with more information so we would be able to determine the best course of action. The doctor seen at the emergency room determined it was most likely food poisioning, there were other travellers on same tour who were sick on the train as well, and his suggestion was to not continue on the trip, have the cruise line rebook the trip or refund the difference as he said it could be two days before our symptoms would completely disappear.

We tried to contact the rep again to no avail. I will definitely say that after having spent several thousands of dollars on this cruise,2 rooms for 4 people, we got absolutely no information or help when we needed it most. I will not be using this cruise line again.

My wife and I booked a cruise with HAL that advertised a stay in Antigua from 8am to 11pm. We wanted to visit Montserrat for the day and this was the only cruise line that stayed in Antigua late enough for the return ferry from Montserrat (6.15pm). The downside with this particular cruise was that it sailed out of Norfolk VA hence had a long open-water crossing at each end to get to/from the Caribbean. Our tickets arrived mid-February, confirming the times in Antigua.

On boarding the ship we were given a revised schedule showing that the departure time from Antigua had been brought forward from 11pm to 7pm - tight, but still enough time. The night before our arrival in Antigua we received the program for the next day which showed that the departure time had been brought forward another hour - to 6pm.

Due to the bringing forward of the departure time from 11pm to 6pm we were unable to visit Montserrat - a significant reason for going on this cruise. Had we been told ahead of time that the boat would depart at 6pm we could have booked on the helicopter back from Montserrat rather than the ferry. It would have given us less time there but at least we would have been able to visit. We tried to book the helicopter on the day of our arrival in Antigua but, by then, it was full.

We have subsequently found out from HAL staff that (1) that cruise hasn't left Antigua as late as 11pm for many months - so why are they still advertising that time - and (2)the reason for the early departure is so that they can open the shops and casino on board. Changing a schedule for weather reasons etc. is valid. Changing for commercial reasons - and not telling anyone in advance - is not. I have sent two e-mails to HAL but have not received a reply. Had I known that the ship would leave at 6pm - the same time as all of the other cruise lines - I should booked on a cruise out of Miami or Puerto Rico that avoided the three days of open water sailing as I knew I would suffer from sea sickness.

Last August we had a wonderful Alaskan Cruise on Holland America. We traveled from Vancouver B.C. to Anchorage, Alaska. I would rate the Cruise 5 stars. The ship and crew were GREAT!!!The problem was that long after we paid for the entire vacation (Cruise, airfare, etc.) and just a few weeks before sailing (When I understood we could not get a complete refund should we change our minds) I was informed by Holland America that I still owed about $400 to $500 for the vacation package.

I called since I understood the travel agent had charged 100% of the vacation to my credit card which had already been paid in full many months prior. I was informed that there was a forced stay-over for one day in Anchorage and that we would have to stay one night in Anchorage at a specific hotel chosen by the cruise line. I told them that I had not been informed of this by the travel agent. Holland America blamed the travel agent. I told them I thought the price of the hotel was exhorbitant for only one night.

They told me that was what the hotel charged them and they were merely passing the cost on to me. They also told me they were in the cruise business, not the hotel business. It turned out that the hotel was about the quality that one would expect to pay about $65 to $100 for. In addition an employee at the hotel told me they were actually owned by Holland America. I felt taken advantage of. I have to wonder how many other passengers have been treated this way and how much extra money they have had to pay under similar circumstances.