Holland America Line
Reviews and Complaints

Hello

I would like this complaint to find its way to Mr. Michael Smith Senior Vice President, Guest Experience & Product Development at Holland America Line.

My wife spent almost two hours on the phone today trying to sort out an issue we have with a shore excursion. I have taken her text which summarizes her experience with shore excursions and customer service. She became too frustrated to continue so I am trying. I called customer relations and although the woman was polite she had me on hold for 28 minutes while she did some research. She came on and told me she was on hold and only had 5 minutes. I assume that you close at 4:30? At 4:30 I got a recording from shore excursions and then the line went dead. Now I am beginning to be frustrated. I relize people are people and not perfect, but I have to wonder how all 4 couples booked the excusion. The money was deducted from our credits in October and today it was back in our credits.

I most emphatically want some in upper management to contact me.

I have to question if I want to continue to use Holland America.

You can reach me at [protected] or [protected]

PeterPrizzio

Mariner ID [protected]

My wife's recap is below

To whom it may concern.

On Oct 29 or Oct30, a group of us, 4 couples, all booked our specialty dining reservations as well as a shore excursion for Limon on Jan 22. We each had $200 for available credit. We picked the excursion, put in the info, after hitting Buy now. Our available credit reduced to $30 after taking the $169.99 off for the excursion. Four women, four different homes, four different computers all did this at almost the exact same time. I even emailed directly the tour asking some questions and had a great response. Fast forward to today, went on the booking and noticed that we all now have the original $200! So I called, spoke to three different people, two of which were pleasant one absolutely was not.!

So, in the end, I had this woman tell me that nothing shows the original purchase. We did not get confirmations from HAL, therefore, she said “you all didn’t buy the excursion right”. Really? Then why would all of our balances of available credit reduce after the purchase? The same time we did dining reservations, those are there! One person I spoke to said it was likely they oversold! Well, I will tell you, none of our 8 people are novice cruisers or travelers. But I will tell you this, your customer service agent that I spoke to around 3:25 pm on Monday Jan 2, was the rudest, condescending person I have dealt with. To try to tell me that 4 different people don’t have enough sense to fill out for an excursion online, was unacceptable.

She offered to put us on the waitlist, for an excursion we booked online over 2 months ago, and of which I can go on and do myself. That is the “courtesy” she was willing to extend to us. I asked her if she would let us use the available credit for something onboard, since we are two weeks out, and the one excursion we all booked is sold out. Nope! “Present me with a confirmation, and I will take to a higher level”, That was her response to that.!

It isn’t rocket science to fill out online for an excursion, and if you could even sell me on one of us doing it incorrectly, you surely will never sell me on 4 different people doing it incorrectly.

I expect much better than this from Holland America!

Teresa Prizzio

I was booked for a European cruise in July 2022. In March I received notice the ship we were to sail on was going to be used to house refugees from Ukraine. Our cruise was canceled. I chose the option for a full refund including airfare. On July 19,2022 I received a letter from Holland America stating my request was granted and I should receive payment of $4280.00 in 6-8 weeks. After the time passed and still did not receive anything I called the Guest Relations Dept. I was told the refund was approved and it would be a little longer. After several (4) calls more, I still haven’t received anything. I have the letter proving the approval. I even submitted the receipts again. Still nothing. I hope you can help. Thank you

Wheel chair assistance suggested I file a damage report. 1 out of 2 suite cases was damaged on route from the cabin to the suite case holding area in the terminal at Port Everglades. Handle has been ripped off. Suite case can not be used any more. Suite case size is

31 in Height

17 in Wide

12 in Deep

I am 75 years old and need the handle to lift the suite case. Any help you can provide will be appreciated

Cruise Date Ended Sept 7, 2022.

Service: JoeCraig Black Label

Order ZUDMV774SR8077

Complaint: I received someone elses 16x20 photo Order number ZU22083IV7748077PR. I am missing my 16x20 photo. Have been emailing [protected]@hollandamerica.com since 09/22/22. I had 1 response stating they were checking into the matter. I have had zero response to any of my follow-up emails. I have now reached out to my credit card company to dispute the $420.00 paid in advance price for this photo. I did receive my photo book $ 2100. HELP! I have tried to upload all documents. It is not letting me. I am happy to mail a copy. Please advise.

I would give them zero stars if I could! Hair (not ours) all over the bathtub when we first entered the cabin. Food fair to average and the staff ALWAYS got the order wrong! Customer service (guest relations) is horrible! Asked how to make the outlet in the bathroom work and was told (in a very condescending manner) to just use an outlet in the cabin (turns out the outlets in the bathroom have minimal electricity!) and even worse? The corporate office does not care about any of it! Buffets close early leaving NO options for breakfast (other than room service that they charge you for and you wait an hour) if you sleep past 10. They will nickel and dime you for everything and even charge a $15 and up fee, IN THE MAIN DINING ROOM fir certain food! Save your money! This is a luxury ship price with sub-par services and offerings! We will NEVER cruise either HAL again! Oh, and don’t bother contacting the corporate office — they simply cannot be bothered with something called customer service!

We were on a land/sea tour cruise with Holland America in late July but due to Covid outbreak on our land tour. 11 out of 27 of us could not proceed with the last part being our 7 day cruise back to Vancouver from Whitter. We had to incur significant Out of Pocket expenses to get home from Anchorage. It has taken months to get back our FCC and On-board credit and approval of refund on our Out of Pocket expenses. However, HAL has yet to send us the check that they approved on September 26th in the amount of $4,141.62 which we are grateful of that approval. In the approval letter we received on September 26th it definitely stated we would receive the check from a Third Party Vendor within 4-6 weeks and they are doing everything in their power to expediate where possible. We are now entering the 13th week. Every week since the 6th week passed we've called to check on status and are continually told the check is in process awaiting the check production batch to be processed by the Refund Department (a.k. a. the Third Party Vendor). Again today we were told it is in process awaiting the batch check production the agent said they would again ask Upper Management to follow up with the Third party vendor and we get an email update. This is the canned weekly response we've gotten since the 6th week passed. Our approved claim number is 1-[protected] for cruise XJ5W3P.

We have used the FCC and applied our onboard credit towards a cruise in the Mid-March and were counting on the Out of Pocket expense check to cover the additional cost of that cruise. Speaking with HAL Guest Service agents has been like hearing a tape recording "it's in process", "no you cannot speak with a supervisor or upper management", an email to the Gus the CEO/President of HAL has never been responded too. All we want is what HAL promised in their letter of September 26th is the refund check. Although the agents are sympathetic they don't seem to have any ability to have anyone move this issue forward. Calling HAL Guest Service is a weekly frustration waiting anywhere from 1 to 4 hours on hold waiting for an agent. Any assistance you can provide with your contacts with HAL would be appreciated.

Best of the Season to you.

I am hoping you can assist me. While I was on the HA Alaskan land tour - one of my excursions was canceled due to dense smoke in the Denali area and my refund has never been issued by Holland American. I contacted HA and I got into a very long voice cue system - that said they were overwhelmed processing hundreds of refunds and just be patient - there was no way to get to a real person following their automated prompts regarding a refund.

In October I emailed HA and got an auto response that I would be hearing back from them. I have not heard one word from them. My travel agent called HA on 12/16/22 and was told the refund has not been issued and she was transferred to accounting with no option to speak with a real person.

The excursion was with Denali Photo Guides ref # 1533376.

My cruise ID was XKXJVW sailing June 26, 2022 from Vancouver.

I want the $199.00 paid as quickly as possible,

Susan Lassiter [protected]

[protected]@alumni. ecu. edu

From: Denali Photo Guides Info

Sent: Friday, August 5, 2022 02:32 PM

To: Lassiter, Susan Sutcliffe

Subject: Re: Refund for Denali smoke cancelation July 5, 2022

Hi Sue,

That is something that Holland will have to take care of. We are emailing the supervising staff of your situation and see if they can get your refund.

I bet it will work out.

Terry

On August 3, 2022 at 5:21:00 PM, Lassiter, Susan Sutcliffe ([protected]@alumni. ecu. edu) wrote:

I am cruising now and got the letter from Reception Office on the boat me and my husband need to stay on the board tomorrow because we are not vaccinated

on Covid 19.

I purchased this Cruise some month ago and I checked all health requirements

for Covid and there is info only about Covid test which we need to bring with us.

No vaccination requirement on this Cruise way.

I also was question about vaccination when we was enter on the boat and also officer which look our information did not tell anything that Turk Islands will not let as in. I checked on Turk Island and those regulation did not change yesterday , Holland knows about from July 22nd when they stay open again after Covid .

I will never purchase this Cruise when I be inform about this regulation. My question is what Holland wants to do with this situation ? I could take any different cruise with different itinerary not to have this kind of problem .

My name is Tianmei Zhan, booking#XN8V3X, and my Marina is # [protected].

My husband and I missed the ship's embark time by less than 5 minutes, which is Fort Lauderdale, Florida, mostly due to our airline having an electric issue, and had to back to the gate to get fixed so we were delayed 1 and half hours. However, the ship stopped in terminal 26 instead of terminal 19 which is on the official boarding pass. This takes us at least 5 minutes to figure out and runs to terminal 26 with our luggage. If the people have enough time and they won't complain about terminal mistakes, we just need these 5 minutes. also, our friends are already in ship customer service and told the front desk we are coming, but the ship is insistent to close the door to us.

Luckily, we find a way to fly to the next port to join the ship. but it does cause us $1500 on airline tickets, 3 nights of hotels, and a rental car to the port which is 5 hour's drive from central Costa Rica.

We have filed a complaint to the Captain on board, but we didn't hear anything so far and that's why I have to do it again right now.

I hope this issue is solved quickly and beautifully because Christmas is near...

Thanks

Dr. Zhan and Mrs Zhan

I have purchase 6 gift certificates last week and attempted to purchase additional certificates with no success. I have made many phone calls to all numbers at Holland America and end up at the same suggestion by all to call the 4161 or 3080 numbers. NO one can offer a management phone number to assist so I have made no progress in a week. One of the phone numbers goes to an overseas third party that accepts my calls and hears my problem but nothing is done. The other number has not been answered.

Holland America offered a gift certificate with a 10% bonus card and I want to purchase the certificates but for some reason you do want to accept my payment.

Is there someone at Holland that will explain why you will not accept my money?

Gary Hane

Mariner #[protected]

To start off, I will say that this was a wonderful cruise up to the day prior to disembarkment. On November 22nd the captain announced that we would be arriving hours late in Sydney. We had a 11:35 flight home and knew we would never make our flight. It was quite chaotic at customer relations with so many trying to reschedule their flights. Once it was out turn, they called Air Canada for us and I spoke to their agent about changing our flight. I was quite surprised when the Air Canada agent said he had some bad news. He told me that our flights had been cancelled by Holland America on September 20th. This was prior to our leaving and we never received anything from HA as to why. I checked my credit card statement and did not see a “Credit” for this airfare. HA booked these flights thru their “Flight Ease”. After speaking with the agent from Air Canada and trying to book return flights, with all the commotion and shock, we walked over to the cruise booking desk and booked the next 13 days. We later went to our room and booked new airfare at the cost of $2.343 over and above what we originally paid thru HA flight ease. I can’t imagine what would have happened had the ship arrived on time, and we would have gone to the airport with no booked flight. I’ve tried calling HA about this several times. Presently on hold for the past 1 hour 50 minutes. I am requesting that I get reimbursed for the $2,343 that we had to put out of pocked for the second set of airfare. I would also like to know why HA cancelled our original airfare without notifying us. Customer Relations was telling everyone that HA would be responsible for any difference in airfare since it was their fault that the ship did not return to port on time for us to make our flights. Now on hold 2 hours and 15 minutes.

I recently returned from a 53-day cruise on the Westerdam and had a problem. We were late arriving in Sidney. We processed off the ship and went to collect our bags and go to the airport. We could not locate my wife's bag. There was one just like hers but belonged to someone else. We were already late and in hurry to get to the airport, so we left without our bag after reporting loss to baggage official. We proceeded to the line for the bus to the airport that we had paid Holland for. After standing in line for nearly an hour there was an announcement that there were no more busses, and we were on our own to get to the airport. We finally got a taxi and arrived at the airport 45 minutes before our flight. We made the flight. I am looking for reimbursement for two fares for the unused bus. That was $29.50 each. Since Holland made it necessary to get our own transportation to the airport, we are asking for reimbursement of $297.01 Australian dollars taxi fare.

We are four-star members and I have been unable to get Holland America in Seattle to answer my email or to pick up the phone and talk to me. I have called at least ten times and on hold over an hour each time and was able to talk to anyone. I am frustrated and probably will not use Holland for future cruses.

Holland America offers a Health Protocol Lookup Tool, specific to your cruise itinerary which states: "Vaccination Requirements: We highly recommend all guests be up to date on their vaccination status. Vaccinations, however, are not required."

Holland America tries to remove themselves from any responsibility by using a blanket disclaimer, but that does NOT remove them from posting incorrect information nor withholding known information to passengers that they were well aware of.

At no time, did they provide this information to me and my traveling companion in spite of the fact that we completed all requested health information as requested in a timely manner.

Furthermore, Holland America collected our names on a list of unvaccinated passengers prior to boarding and again failed to provide this information and preventing us from exploring other cruising options.

It wasn't until after we set sail that Holland America advised us we would not be permitted to disembark at Grand Turk, allowing us no option but to continue our cruise.

We paid for passage to Grand Turk and associated taxes and fees to visit the island which Holland America knowingly

(the latest COVID update to Grand Turks was May 2022), and falsely represented as being able to provide.

Hello,

My wife & I took your cruise from San Diego to the Mexican Riveira from November 12 to November 19, 2022. This was our first Holland America cruise. We have been on 3 other cruise lines which we found very enjoyable and we had a fantastic time however we had many issues with your cruise which I will go into detail. I did get an email from you offering me an upgrade from a state room to a Neptune room which I did take. We were 1st to board which was nice. Everything was going great until we got on the escalator and just as we made it to the top there were people screaming to stop the escalator! The landing was full and we had no where to go! People continued to push into each other and my wife was almost trampled upon by others coming up! In a few minutes we got the people to stop getting on. This was very concerning as there were mostly elderly folks involved and someone could have had some very serious injuries! There was no one of the landing directing anything. We made it into our room and we were so happy we upgraded as it was very, very nice! Quite pleased with it.

1) We only had one card which was in my name and none for my wife. Every time we were asked for her card we told them she did not get one and they said ok. Until we went to get off on our 1st excursion they said she needed a card. We had to go and stand in the line and get a card and then go back and stand in the line to disembark the ship. This took about an hour and used up our shore time!

2) I found a make up case on the bathroom counter and gave it to my wife which she opened and it was used! It must have belonged to the previous passenger! I also found lip stick in a drawer and a tooth pick in another. Most of the drawers were not very clean either. Makes us wonder how sterile and clean the room was.

3) We had the have it all package with free internet. This did not work most of our time on the ship! We could not make calls or text most of the time. I did find out from another passenger one needed to upgrade to the premiere internet, 2 days before we were back in San Diego! That cost me $10 per phone! And this was useless as well!

4) The TV in the room had very bad reception and had a picture with lines through it. When trying to watch a movie it would just stop and the screen said it was unavailable at this time.

5) The chairs in the Lido dining room were all worn and torn and in very bad shape. The carpet was also very dirty and stained.

6) At Cabo San Lucas we were tendered in which was very confusing and unorganized.

7) At Mazatlan we were at the pier and upon getting off to find our excursion we had no idea where to go. There was no one holding a sign to tell us and the gentleman in charge sent us and many others from one end of the dock to the other! It could have been better organized than it was!

8) At Puerto Vallarta they changed it from us docking at the pier to being tendered in. We were loaded and then left the ship. About 3/4 of the way in the tender turned around and went back to the ship, sat there for awhile then took us into the dock. We never found out why this happened.

9) There was a sewage smell in the hallway at various times!

10) I went to the Dive-In to get some food. After my first time I had a 45 minute wait. The second time I ordered online and it took another 45 minutes. The food just pilled up on the counter and it was not being given out. There were folks standing at the counter (should have been roped off to prevent this) and one parent was at the counter and she sat her child on the counter with his dirty shoes right next to the food. I said something to the manager who was trying to hand out food and he looked at the child and never said anything to the parent!

11) Our final night onboard we had dinner at the Canaletto Restaurant. The 3 folks I was with each got their food at the same time. Mine came out 10 minutes later. I ordered lasagna and found the noodles inside to be very hard and not cooked! I sent it back, was offered something else and told them no as I would have been eating in front of the others. When I got my bill I was charged for it and I asked to see the manager and told him this was not right. He took my meal off of the bill. So much as for fine dining as you advertise. We did eat in the Pinnacle which was fabulous and the waiter we had (Dylan) was the best ever! My wife is a vegetarian and is not a picky eater, but she found very few selections at any of the eating venues. The portabella burger at the Dine-in she said was very good!

Now we paid $5,500.00 for this cruise and it was nothing like the previous ones we have taken! We were both very much looking forward to this cruise but it was well below what we had gotten on others! I do not mean to complain but unless we the customer do not say anything then you would never know. This is the first and last time we sail on Holland America.

Thank you,

Robert N

I can only hope this email makes it to the management of Holland.

I have $25,000 credit to use on two of your cruises 3/8/23 and 3/18/23.

I have to put down by 11/8/22. The Guest Relation said they have to waiter, until the Dept. of Future Cruise Credit to release the funds. I've made three attempts, and waited for a returned conformation to no avail. I have three suites on hold to pay for by the 11/8/22 deadline. In order too get around the the Future Cruise Credit delay, I would have to pay out of my pocket for the three suites. There's no guarentee I wold get a refund. I'm not confident for many of the employees are really helping me to resolve the issue. I will be the only on 8/3/23 and guest 8/18/23 2 and 4, in two additional rooms.

Confirmation # XMGK9M Steve H Mercer.

I was charged 6 times for a massage on this trip. When I called to get help from your company, I was told by Darnel and your supervisor Jesse that there was nothing they could do and I would have to contact my bank and dispute all of these charges.

I have cruised many times before on other lines. This is my first with Holland American and after this experience probably will be my last. I spent over an hour of my time on hold talking to your company and getting no help now more of my time fighting charges with my bank with errors that your company did!

I was told that your company was top of the line as far as cruises. I'm not seeing it.

We had booked a roundtrip cruise from Amsterdam to Norway on 9/25/22.

A few weeks before departure this was changed to Rotterdam. Disappointed but that's not all of it. Checking in at Rotterdam was a dissaster. Even your own employees mentioned they had never seen anything like that. But OK we got on the ship and had our cruise. Nothing to brag about. Back in Rotterdam, now we have to get to our hotel in Zaandam. Rotterdam Central Station: have to get to our train. My wife on the escalator falls backwards and is now unconsious and injured. An ambulance is called and we spent the next 7 hours in the hospital.

Just want to let you know what your change of port caused us to have to go through. We have been loyal HAL Mariners but this was disgusting ! And by the way; the Rotterdam is a "cold" ship. The hallways are cold, our cabin walls with nothing. We were spoiled with the Koningsdam, this ship is nothing like it.

Needless to say, we're very upset.

Mr.and Mrs Dirk Bruyn

I was on the last cruise from Quebec to Ft Lauderdale. I had arranged for wheelchair transport on and off the ship. When I arrived to board I requested the wheelchair and was provided with assistance. Was pushed to the open area where the luggage arrives and was asked to sit on the bench. I sat for quite some time and asked the security guard what is the problem? I was freezing as was told was 30F degrees. She asked someone for me and came back with that there were no more wheelchairs. Waited awhile more and asked her again what is the problem and said one will be available soon. Waited again and asked I would love to go to my cabin. She checked again and said they were all at dinner. Swear words. I would love to go to dinner as well. Waited again and finally someone came down to get me. I was taken to the admittance area, all personnel sitting around as no one was there. They were waiting for me i was told being the last person to board. Arrived at my cabin at 6:30pm. I am outraged at such treatment.

At the end of cruise I had booked the Holland America transfer to the airport. I was taken down to my luggage and the person pushing me was going to walk away, no i said I need help to get the bus and said he can’t take my bag, I need someone else to walk next to me, one pushing me and one pulling my bag. Geez. I expected to be dropped off at my departing flight entrance. The drivers English was terrible. The woman next to me and others around could not understand either. The woman next to me was watching the bags taken out from under the bus. She saw mine and hers as well guess we get off there. Asked driver where is my airline, oh is down there pointing to around the bend. He literally just dumped me and others off. He made announcement that he expected a tip. Three tips and am not at my airline. I had to pull my luggage, using a cane was impossible, woman walking next to me was in the same position and we sat on a bench. Had to pull bag and entered a building. Saw a Holland America kiosk and said I just came off the ship and need a wheelchair, we don’t do that. Can’t they just make a phone call for help, no they don’t do that. Walked a bit and sat and someone came by with a wheelchair and grabbed her. I asked if she had a ride because someone had called about someone needing help and she said no she was just walking by. My airline was in another building. So much for Holland America transfers.

The rub is I am scheduled to take another cruise on the Nuiw Statendam again, boarding on Dec. 17 returning Jan 7. I absolutely cannot go through that again. I love the ship, love the food, love the entertainment but getting on and off is a nightmare. Yvette Premeaux [protected].

Due to positive Covid tests on board, we were confined to our cabin. We received a letter on August 14 from John Mark M. Piemonte, Guest Service Manager, Nieuw Statendam stating that you “are providing a Future Cruise Credit worth 100% of the per day cruise fare for the days you are isolated…”. We would have applied this FCC towards a reservation for a cruise from Canada to Fort Lauderdale this Fall, but could not do so because we could not get official confirmation of FCC, in spite of attempting to communicate with you regarding FCC. It is very difficult to get through to customer service. We have waited as much as one hour without success. Recently, placing our call early in the day, we have reached guest relations at [protected]. In each case, they could not resolve the issue and said they are contacting the department to register our needs and that department would resolve our problem. Never received a call or email!

I had called the [protected] guest relation 10am to 4pm pst for last three days and waiting over two hours and hang up. Also, I sent email to [protected]@hollandamerica.com on oct 5, 2022 and no responses.

My booking number is XD6V6T for boston (Sep 24) to Montreal (oct 1). I had paid full amount in cad before Sep 24. And, I understood to pay usd 217 (15.5 x 2 x 7) with my credit card. When leaving the ship, I had no issues that you charged me usd 217.

However, on oct 3, I was surprised there were three charges shown in my credit card. One of them was posted on Oct 1 -usd 217, that is tips. However, the other two were 871 usd on September 24 and 271 usd on oct 1, that still pending. Those two transactions are double charge for tips and ship fee. Please review and take them away.

Please feel free to call me [protected].

Looking forward to having your calls or cancel those two pending transactions from your office.

Ted Kwan