I recently lost $1000.00 with HAL after being forced to cancel cruise due to work related crisis. I was willing to rebook but they took 50% penalty, plus I had to pay to redeposit USAir awards miles. I had purchased travel insurance, worrying about illness on the trip . Never did I dream I would not be able to go.

Anyway, I found Holland America to be rigid and frustrating in trying to work something out. I spent countless hours on the phone and in writing letter, following their alleged procedures to get a "waiver of penalty". Eventually, the Special Asst to the President admitted that they NEVER waive the penalty so I had wasted hours and hours of time on this for nothing. After countless more phone calls and explanations of my position and request for some less onerous penalty.. eg... charge me an administrative fee for cancelling but don't take all of it... etc. , the final 'gesture of goodwill" from Holland America? A $75.00 ship board credit on future sailing.. not per person, per cabin!

I feel this is an insult and a joke as it comes to about 7.50 an hour for my time , not to mention my frustration and aggravation.. And given their inflexibility and incompetence in handling this matter, I would not expect them to be any better in dealing with shipboard problems.
I'm glad their ship got hit with Norwalk virus recently... this is their bad karma coming back to them.

"I'm glad their ship got hit with Norwalk virus recently... this is their bad karma coming back to them."

I can understand your disappointment and frustration but I find your last statement shocking! I wouldn't wish sickness on anyone no matter what the circumstances. The passengers certainly were not at fault because you had to cancel!
Just my 2 cents.......

yes, of course I don't wish the sickness on the passengers... Just happy to see Holland America get the bad publicity. they were so very cocky and uncaring.....

Sorry to hear of your situation Collette, but in fairness, I doubt that you'd get much of a different response from any other line.
Most have very similar language and I don't know of any that would allow you any changes due to work related emergencies (without a substancial penalty).
I'd be interested to hear of the travel insurance you bought was of any help, but perhaps they take a similar position.

I think if you go back and look at your documents you'll find it all spelled out regarding cancellation penalties. You must have been within 45 days or so of your cruise when you cancelled.

I recently went through the same situation when my husband's company unexpectedly decided to close. We were more than 75 days of our Princess cruise (by one day) and were able to get a full refund, however we do face fees to change air tix and no refund Priceline hotels both pre and post cruise. Don't know about your travel insurance -- but ours doesn't cover work related problems...

Good luck -- I sure sympathize with you

Do not blame HAL (inexperienced cruisers would), insurance can be purchased to cover any reason up to the day of the cruise.

And if you had to do hotels and air - that is not HAL's fault as you did not purchase from them.

It really hurts to find out this stuff after the fact-unfortunately you tried but it was not possible. We recently had to cancel 2 Cunard cruises - 6 months in advance ! - and have been charged a penalty - but I did know about this. It was in the brochure as was the HAL thing for you. I would fight the insurance again.

Good Luck.

Unfortunately - most of the mass market cruise lines would treat you the same.

Some insurance policies allow you to cancel for any reason and get a percentage back in future cruise credit (Princess and RCCL offer this) - not sure about HAL.

Did Holland America break an agreement with you or change their policy after you booked? I'm sympathetic to your disappointment in having to cancel a cruise for work-related reasons, but did you really expect they would change their stated policy and make an exception for you? "Beware of Holland America" - You make it sound like it's HAL's fault you had to pay to redeposit your award miles.

Next time you might want to find insurance that covers cancellation for any reason - www.insuremytrip.com is a good resource to compare policies. As a previous poster mentioned, Princess Care insurance will give you a 75% credit for a future cruise (90% credit for their Gold Care upgrade, which Princess cruisers receive as a perk after 5 cruises - a free upgrade, not free insurance).

Honestly, I'm sorry about your situation, but I think your blame is misplaced.

Jasmine, as a matter of fact I bought my insurance from Insuremytrip.com. THe only work-related thing it covered was for layoff and ONLY if you had worked for the company more than three years.

To all, yes, I understand the policies, and I am not a first time cruiser. I thought I did all I could to protect myself again by buying the insurance. THe insurance policies that cover your cancellation for any reason are extremely expensive.

My issue with HAL is that they put me through hell implying that they might waive at least a portion of the penalty. They lost paperwork, sent me tickets after the cruise was cancelled and generally were rigid and unresponsive. I have found other cruise lines to be more responsive and understanding... in the past Sitmar Cruise, and later Princess gave me the impression that they valued their customers. HAL did not. Perhaps if I had felt them to be a bit more sympathetic and their customer service dept less deceptive ( in implying I could get the waiver of penalty)I would not need to post. That's it... I just needed to tell my story..

I guess that the more expensive insurance would have been more expensive than the money you lost - then you blame HAL for not making an exception in their policies because you purchased the cheaper insurance.

Then are you comparing HAL's treatment of you to Sitmar and Princess's because the same thing happened before and they treated you better?

While I'm sympathetic when anyone loses money, we are all in business and have to be up on all the fine print. Why they strung you along is weird, I guess no one wanted to be the one carrying the ax. Sorry.

ColletteR-

While I sympathize with you also=the same thing happened to us last summer for an Alaska cruise on HAL..but it was NOT their fault..

We did cancel in enough time to get our cruise money back, but like the others said---we ,too, bought our own airline tkts (United -which was awful as it is not the typical carrier in our area)...and we were stuck with $1800 in airline tkts that we had to use within the year...

And yes, we did take out trip cxl insurance-but for sickness only-NOT job related...So we knew that going into the situation...Little did we think we would have to cancel...

I am actually MORE upset with United airlines as they are partners with USAIR ( OUR main carrier where we live) and they would NOT let us use the money on USAIR TKTS...that was HORRID and I will never fly with UNITED ever again...
Their reasoning: you did NOT have an e-tkt--only a paper tkt>

Go figure..

But I am sure your attitude towards HAL won't change and as my friends who cruise TONS say-THEY won't do HAL again after 2 awful cruises with bad attitude on the ship from the cruise line itself to the passengers...

I know with customer service it is not an issue of something bad happening, but how it is handled when it does happen. I see that in your opinion you were not given the very best customer service. However, I would like to offer a couple explanations about HAL and other cruise lines as well. While the penalties are strictly inforced, there are times when a cruise line waives a penalty on a case by case basis. I am sure that is why they had you write the letter. In extreme hardships and in a very limited number of cases the cruise line will award future credit on the ship, sometimes in the full amount of the penalty. But, this is usually in extreme cases where they take humanitarian measures. Second, I have often heard the argument that the cruise line could easily find a replacement in the amount of time they notified of cancellation. This is often true, but the cruise line still has one extra cabin in inventory. For example if they had 10 cabins and your cancellation makes 11 left, then your cabin IS sold and so are 3 more in addition, four from 10 is still less than four from 11. Ultimately, the cruise line has these guidelines in place because they know very well the percentages of resale they expect and they have to protect their own best interests.

Andy, sorry about your mess with United and yes, you're so right..The airlines are ridiculous now too with all the penalties they charge for things... this after you and I, the taxpayers have paid millions to bail them out.
Plus, as a manager I KNOW that policies can be deferred at times, or adjusted.

You're so right that although initially the penalty and money lost angered me, eventually what made me go on this rampage was their holier than thou attitude and the run around they gave me in dealing with this. As I said, I spend at least 10-12 hours of my time trying to get a straight answer.

I 'm not suprised that your friends had a problem with HAL attitude on board ship..They certainly left a very strong impression with me that they don't give a hoot about customer satisfaction/relations.

I can understand your anger. BUT this policy is CLEARLY spelled out including your insurance purchase. You are faulting HAL for not making an acception for YOU. And frankly why should they?? They have these cancelation policies clearly spelled out. You agreed to them with your purchase. I don't see any obligation of HAL to make special arrangements.

Sorry- exception.

I agree with you budgetqueen, but it seems that colletteRI has shifted her view. In the original post she was upset that HAL gave her a stinking $75 ship board credit which was equal to $7.50 cents per hour of her time to resolve the issue. It even states that after the asst. to the president told her they never waive a policy she made "countless more phone calls and explanations" trying to receive compensation that she felt she deserved. But, NOW she is saying it was not that HAL owed her anything, it was just that they were nasty and lacked common courtesy. We all learn from these posts. I think Collette has learned something as well and is having a hard time digesting it.

Sorry, wtggirl... It was after I had spent 10-12 hours on this that I learned it was all fruitless. And, it is interesting to me that although "the policy is clearly spelled out" and I agreed to it, blah, blah, blah... No one thinks it is even a little bit wrong for airlines , cruise lines etc to charge all this money and penalities. And I suppose I am guilty of wanting them to bend the rules a bit... I knew they would resell the cabin,and I was ready to rebook another cruise immediately. Forgive me for advocating for myself and trying to get some satisfaction, at least in the form of more responsive customer service if not in dollars. Pehaps that is one of the things that makes life more difficult nowadays... we all take things, like little sheep, ...

Hey, guys, as I said the other day... this post is dead... I needed to vent, tell others of my opinion and perhaps get a bit of sympathy... Some of you did that and I thank you. Bye bye

I do think we are all sympathetic. I have been in a similar situation although I did not have insurance at all. All I can say is that when tragedy strikes such as death, serious illness, etc. the last thing on your mind is travel penalties. It is a real blessing that you had frequent flyer tickets, or you would have found that the airlines are even more restrictive. They would not have asked you to write a letter of mercy. Please excuse those of us who were being the devil's advocate. We just want to inform the general public that while it is your right to be upset, they should not "beware of HAL" based on a penalty being enforced. If they made an exception for you based on a work related issue, it would not be fair to others in similar or even worse situations that do not recieve the waiver, not to mention those who would be mad they purchased insurance needlessly. There are many of us who have traveled on HAL and had wonderful experiences and we are just trying to keep your feelings from hurting the cruiseline's reputation.

Just CANNOT imagine wishing the Norwalk virus on anyone, any ship, or any cruise line. Ships and companies do not get it...people do. And it is brought on board by people.

Collette, you know what is missing in all this: your travel agent. If you had booked with a good agent, she or he may have been able to help you out. I am thinking that you may not have used an agent and tried to use a cheap internet booking site.