A sprinkler system went off in the cabin next to us and our floor was totally soaked for most of our cruise. They gave us a bottle of wine and since the cruise was full, we could not move. I feel we should be compensated more, how do we go about this?

Wow, wine. You are lucky. Our neighbor was confined to a wheelchair and decided to shower while in his chair and thus flooded his room and the hall and everything else. The ship brought out these big fans and it dried the carpet.<BR><BR>This took place every day. i did not get any wine.<BR><BR>Consider yourself lucky and don't waste your time complaining to the cruise line.

Don't some cruises allow you to get off the ship and go home if you are not happy? <BR><BR>If your floor was wet the entire time then you should either have gone home or realized that the ship could not switch you to another room on a FULL ship. Duh.<BR><BR>Be happy with the wine and stop whining.

I disagree. Why is it acceptable for cruise lines to treat their customers like crap. If a hotel repsonded the same way - the same people that say you are whining would have a tizzy. If you are still intereted in cruising the same line they will eventually give you a discount coupon on a future cruise if you are persistent.<BR><BR>Don't listen to the defeatists, and good luck!

Tell me what cruise line Terry.<BR><BR>Paul

Holland America - Amsterdam. I guess as an inexperience traveler, I did not know if I had a case to complain, everything else on the ship was great!

Terry, go ahead a write a letter now to Holland America. We had a problem with a bus breaking down on a transfer a few years ago, and I wrote a letter to HAL and provided the stateroom numbers and names of all the passengers on the bus. They gave all of us a $400 credit and two bottles of wine per stateroom, which we all thought was appropriate compensation and which we appreciated. I did this as soon as we boarded the ship, but its worth a try! Go for it!

Hi, I was on a cruise last month and talk to someone who's cabin had flooded. Full ship. So Carnival gave them a $400.00 shipboard credit. Do write to Holland-America!

Hi Terry,<BR><BR>No problem with Holland America. I would take a guess the hotel manager did not hear of your misfortune or he's a stiff.<BR><BR>Write to:<BR><BR>Holland America, Customer Service, 300 Elliott Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98119.<BR><BR>Give them acouple of months since they have to e-mail the ship and get all the particulars of the incident. When a fire sprinkler lets go it has to be reported to the U.S. Coastguard an be re-sealed. <BR><BR>I would almost guarantee you will receive credits towards your next cruise.<BR><BR>Good luck, <BR><BR>Paul

Thanks Paul, very helpful. Terry

I think Paul is right. Holland America has lots of money and freely hands it out for the slightest complaint.<BR><BR>Go ahead and send them a letter and get a refund.

You're kidding, right, Kevin?<BR><BR>If you are not, all cruiselines do not hand out large amount credits until the complaint is investigated.<BR><BR>I would assume a wet carpet would be considered a valid complaint. <BR><BR>I am really surprised nothing was done for Terry. Once on a Carnival ship I saw carpet and furniture all changed within 2 hours in one cabin.<BR>I do not know what they would do if many cabins were flooded. I presume large fans.<BR><BR>Paul<BR>

Probably you were unfortunate enough to get the cabin that the people who 'pee' in hot tubs were in last cruise. They probably pee in the cabin too. (or let their kids pee....same thing.)

Paul T. !! You got to be kidding. We had a very unfortunate experience with HA and we wrote directly to the Customer service pres. We were not even treated to an acknowledgement of the letter, let alone a response. Bottom line: when they got your money, they got your money!!!

I repeat, valid complaints are always honored.<BR><BR>Paul

always?

Maximize your chances for success by writing a polite, factual letter giving all the details, dates, etc. If you are turned down, appeal several times to different departments, supervisors, etc. If you have a legitimate complaint, you will probably get results. If you are nasty, or if your expectations were unreasonable, they will not give you compensation.

I had a bad experience with Holland America a few years ago, and wrote them a detailed letter; my travel agent wrote one of her own, and we sent them together. Holland America responded to both of us with a form letter saying, basically, "Tough beans." They had screwed up our debarkation time (after asking a lot of questions about the departure time of our flight home), didn't have enough buses to get people to the airport, and the second bus that they finally called got lost on the way and went to the wrong airport. The cruise line rep that was on the bus didn't seem to know what she was doing, and despite the fact that we were getting later and later, she had the bus driver make an unscheduled stop en route because she had to pick up something from a friend of hers. We didn't actually miss our flight, although we had to run to catch it and ended up not being able to sit together on the flight home - none of which was all that tragic, so I guess Holland America figured we were whining. I still would never travel with them again.