Holland America Line Reviews 

Part 4 When we arrive to the hotel, we book a riverboat excursion as we have not done anything for some time. We have a good day in Fairbanks and the riverboat was very good, something Holland America should look at!. The next day we completed the gold dredge which is good and we head for Denali.
The following day we head throughout the park and have a great time. Next day we head for the train to Anchorage. We are not informed about the meals on the train, I.E. breakfast. We eat at 6.30am at Denali and then board the train, and encouraged for breakfast on the train. If only we had been informed earlier we would have had breakfast on the train as our lunch was very good!!!
Remember our tour director has now gone but did not inform everybody or say a final good bye!We arrive at the Westmark Anchorage and our worst hotel yet, dated ,smelled of mould. There was absolute chaos with people everywhere and the staff were crumbling and grumpy! During the period there was a conversation about baggage costs and the Holland America representative stated “As your tour has ended it is not our responsibility, this part in your hands and nothing to do with us”. Someone replied so what about the Crowne Plaza hotel in Seattle! The same person replied there would be a person to guide you from the airport to the hotel- she had just contradicted herself! Very unprofessional and your guests were not happy. We went on an excursion around the town about its history, which should have been a part of the tour. On the point of baggage why did Holland America just charge in the initial cost to include the 1 piece of checked baggage it would saved a lot of aggravation. I can say many people were disappointed at the above and felt abandoned at the statement.
The next day, the organised Holland America coach, which was expertly driven and gave us a guided tour of the city better than the one we paid for the previously dropped of us at the airport. Good flight to Seattle. Where there was no one to meet as the airport and we waited 45 minutes for shuttle bus, their excuse they were unaware of our group coming in!!! Again very very bad communication!In Summary, there were parts of the XC9LGH that were very good, but in the main very poor.
1/ The beginning experience was very impersonal, you need to welcome people and make them feel valued.
2/The wrong cabin and still no apology , that stinks.
3/ Tour /excursion personnel , treat people as numbers, no communication whatsoever.
4/ A Land tour director, who was young and extremely inexperience individual. She should have had a mentor with her to assist her through her her first tour. She was polite but had no people skills , how did she get the position, I could have done that job with my eyes closed!! She needs to embrace the tourists that is the nature of the beast. No welcome, mixed and little communication and other staff members having no respect for her, not good enough. As an apparent trusted organisation such as Holland America we expected a lot more!! 5/ providing us with false hopes! Your letter of apology was nothing. A further letter which was provided to us regarding the Fairbanks Hotels, Stated the Hotel has an expensive menu instead of Expansive, very sloppy!
6/ Very unprofessional staff member(s) at the Anchorage hotel, your representatives who washed their hands when we arrived, very poor.
7/ Some of tour was arduous sitting on a coach for 8 hours at at time, and other excursions should have arranged in lieu of the others!
For us this has crated a huge doubt for us as we were intending to travel to Scandinavia and a cruise /land tour, but this experience has us now disregarding this idea after our dream holiday was tarnished with some many inconsistencies , poor service and little faith in organisations such as Holland America.

First time with Holland America. We were fortunate enough to have cruised from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale with Cunard. Then transferred to Eurodam. What a contrast. Their app is hopeless. Only able to get boarding passes through their website. Queueing for embarkation there were signs saying you must have a bar code on your boarding pass. Went to one of their agents who said it was not necessary. When we eventually arrived at check in they said we must have a bar code! Eventually allowed on board and it was obvious that, despite being in the same price range as Cunard, the standards are hugely different. Although the ship was launched in 2006 the decor and furniture are straight from the 1970s. The wardrobes in our cabin are too short. My wife's long dresses have to be folded. The hot water tap in the basin has 3 studs missing which makes it almost impossible to turn off with wet hands. The whole ship is in desperate need of a refurbishment. Queen Victoria, launched at the same time, is a really lovely ship.
We had a glass of wine with lunch (no complaints about the food) and it was served in a plastic glass. We waited ages to be admitted to the main restaurant and when we ordered a glass of wine it came in a half pint tumbler. The poor waiter said they were short of proper wine glasses and new ones had been delivered today. After such a long wait to be admitted to the restaurant we expected it to be packed. It was only about a third full. Also people had been admitted wearing shorts, baseball caps and ripped jeans. This despite the on board literature saying these were not permitted in the main restaurant. It was like party time in McDonalds. The food was so disappointing. Every course was tepid. I spoke to the maitre d' and he was very apologetic and assured me things would improve. I'm not convinced. We have another ten days on the ship and we're dreading it.

I booked a Holland America Alaska Cruisetour through the AAA Tour Group. The tour included a flight on Alaska Air from Seattle to Anchorage. The tickets were to be delivered to our hotel in Seattle upon our arrival. They were not there and we had to call AAA to find out where they were. They eventually contacted Alaska Air and arranged for our boarding passes. However we were required to pay for our checked luggage. We assumed that that cost would be included in our tour package. After more than eight months of correspondence with both AAA and Holland America we were informed it was not. At one point Holland American claimed we had purchased the Alask Air tickets, so it was our responsibility to pay for the luggage fees. We obtained documentation from Alaska Air confirming Holland America had paid for the tickets and sent that to Holland America. Holland then claimed it was our responsibility as Holland America does not pay for luggage fees.
The amount of time consumed in this matter as well as the outcome is enough to discourage us from using Holland America in any future travel plans.

I had my applications, flight tickets, visa and all documents in the portal. I had informed them that i will fly back instead of cruising, they did not arrange that and told me you cannot take your flight, you have to sail back with us. This is because they did not care to do their homework and read my application!
My luggage was left on the ship, I tried every single email address on the website and phone numbers, it was either closed or unavailable. To this moment i have not heard about my luggage.
They don't care about customer service after receiving the money.

Shwan Salahi
Booking ID: 2QHRGN

Fellow airline employees, we booked a cruise at an Interline rate via Vacations to Go on Holland America. It was an opportunity to spend time with a close friend who has dementia, so the point of the cruise wasn't about the destination but the time together. It happened to be an inside passage cruise out of SEA to Alaska r/t. Both couples paid in full for the cruise June 7, and booked airfare and hotels. We even bought cruise insurance. The cruise would depart SEA on July 30.

On July 27 Holland America canceled our cruise with no explanation. After many phone calls (my daughter knows the wife of a HA Captain) we think they had overbooked but we aren't certain. They offered our money back or a cruise at a later date none of us could take due to scheduling conflicts.

We were finally able to get last minute cabins on another cruise line out of Vancouver, Canada but at a much higher price for basic rooms instead of the suites we'd reserved with Holland America. We each lost serious money due to multiple reasons: Non refundable airline reservations, having to pay last-minute hotel rates in Canada, having to drive to Vancouver from Eugene Oregon due to the cost of trying to book another flight at such a late date (after already losing $1000 due to losing the first non-refundable flight), having to pay for parking while on the cruise etc. My wife and I had used points to fly; it cost us an EXTRA 100,000 points APIECE (normally enough for 4 r/t flights) PLUS $50 APIECE to reserve seats VCR to SEA at such a late date, in order to preserve our return flights to Orlando. Our cruise insurance has covered none of this expense as of now…still investigating but not holding my breath.

Holland America doesn't care. They don't care that they ruined what should have been a wonderful, effortless experience, cost us thousands of dollars to try to preserve an opportunity to share a friendship that will soon be lost to such a terrible disease, or imposed so much stress upon us that it was difficult to enjoy the time together on the other cruise line. To Holland America, it just meant that they were able to fill every cabin at the maximum price that they could extort from the traveling public. Unlike the airlines, there is no cost to them for overbooking. They just give you your money back or put you on any random cruise where they have cabins that aren't already sold.

I asked the Travel Agent if she had ever heard of a cruise line doing this. She had not. I asked another Travel Agent (the one who booked the cruise for us out of Vancouver) if he had ever heard of a cruise line doing this. He had not.

I've reached out to Holland America via the Travel Agent who booked this Holland America cruise. She has had no meaningful response from Holland America.

So, Interline Cruisers, beware: Holland America cancels cruises after you've paid in full. I have no way of knowing for certain but I imagine that the first suites and cabins to get canceled are those sold at discounted rates such as Interline rates. Remember, we're not in a typical airline oversold situation where we're trying to get this flight out on time, and we offer serious money to anyone to voluntarily give up a reservation for a later flight. This was done days in advance, so logically they bumped those who had purchased the cruise at a discount.

Regardless of how much money you lose due to such a major inconvenience, regardless of how badly they injure you financially or emotionally, they will apparently only refund your money or give you the opportunity to cruise at a later date.

So BEWARE...Holland America has given a new meaning to Dutch Treat!!!

I have a serious issue where my debit card has been blocked by my bank because Noordam has tried to take 0.35p from my account ( after my ship account has already been settled and my holding deposit already refunded!).

They consider this to be phishing and demonstrating a possible fraud attempt. I cannot get thru to anyone in Guest relations ....holding on forever then cut off....emails unanswered.

This is a serious issue but I cannot get any help so I find myself on holiday in another country WITHOUT MY CREDIT CARD !!!

Diabolical customer service.

Is anyone there to help!!!????

This is one of several attempts to contact Guest Relations about other financial issues with their billing. They all go unanswered. Shocking.

We sailed on the Nieuw Statendam and arrived in Israel at the same time as the Hamas attack on 7thOctober. Though this was world news the company allowed passengers to disembark. As we were scheduled to be in Israel 3 days many chose to go far from the ship to stay with relatives or whatever. It was extremely clear that this was not a good idea and passengers were recalled they were all widely dispersed and some out of contact. As a result we were longer in Israel than we should nave been. We ourselves, walked into Haifa and it was only by chance that we found out we had to return. It was very poor on a variety of counts. We were stressed and relatives who rang re our safety got short shrift if they got through at all. I have tried to raise this many times, both on board and since. Holland America have not responded to ANY of my approaches.

JOINED THE WESTERDAM ON THE 25TH OF NOVEMBER.

ON THE 26TH.WE WENT TO A SHORE EXCURSION MEETING IN THE THEATRE. WE WERE INFORMED THAT A SHUTTLE BUS, WOULD BE PROVIDED. TO A SHOPPING CENTRE. ON OUR FIRST STOP.
WE HAD BOOKED A CRAFTCENTRE AND SHOPPING TOUR, THAT DAY.
WE TRIED TO CANCEL THE TOUR BUT THE TOUR WAS THE FOLLOWING DAY. 48HOUR DEADLINE APPLIED.

WE WENT ON THE TOUR.
1ST STOP.
NOT MY WORDS. THE GUIDES WORDS. "A FLEA MARKER". SOME PEOPLE, US INCLUDED, DIDN'T GET OFF THE BUS. I NOTED TWO PURCHASES. FILTHY PLACE.

2ND STOP.
A SHOPPING CENTRE. WE HAD 60 MINUTES TO SHOP. EVEN IF YOU ONLY SPENT TEN MINUTES IN EACH SHOP. THAT'S 6 SHOPS TOTAL. NO TIME FOR ESCALATORS, FINDIND SHOPS, TRYING ON CLOTHING AND WALKING BACK TO MEETING POINT.

3RD STOP.
HUGE TWO SIDES OF STREET SHOPPING CENTRE. ONCE AGAIN, ONE HOUR TO SHOP.
I POINTED THIS OUT TO THE GUIDE, GUEST SERVICES AND FINALLY, THE EXCUSIONS DESK. THE ALLOTED TIME WAS SUFFICIENT TO THEM.

ON THE 4TH OF DECEMBER, WE WENT ON THE ART AND CRAFT SHOPPING.

AT THE SECOND STOP, THE CRAFT SHOP. THE BUS CLIPPED THE ENTRANCE PILLAR. TAKING OUT TWO WINDOWS, COVERING MY WIFE AND SEVERAL OTHERS IN GLASS. THE SLITHERS OF GLASS WERE STICKING TO THE SUNTAN LOTION.
SEVERAL PEOPLE FILLED IN AN ACCIDENT REPORT AT THE SHOP.

WE RETURNED EVENTUALLY TO THE BOAT, ON A NEW BUS.

WE LATER RECEIVED A LETTER.

AS A GESTURE OF GOOD WILL, THE EXCURSION FEE WAS BEING REDUCED BY 50%.

MY WIFE AND I, WENT TO THE EXCURSIONS DESK.
I POINTED OUT. THAT (HAL) HAD A DUTY OF CARE,TO IT'S PASSENGERS. SOMEONE SHOULD HAVE MET US ON ARRIVAL ON BOARD. ASKED IF EVERYONE WAS OK. BUT NO, WE WILL THROW SOME MONEY AT THEM AND THEY WILL HOPEFULLY GO AWAY.

I DON'T WANT YOU MONEY (HAL), HOW ABOUT SHOWING YOUR PASSENGERS THAT YOU CARE. YOU LET YOUR PASSENGERS AND YOURSELVES DOWN. BIG TIME.

WE DON'T INTEND TO GO ASHORE ON THE REMAINING DAYS.

SHAME ON YOU.
NOT EVERYTHING IS SOLVED WITH MONEY.

When the head of guest relations named Brett Swofford won’t even bother to answer your concerns but chooses his secretary to do his dirty work.
We came down with COVID just prior to embarking and canceled so as to not infect the crew and passengers
They would have preferred we had sailed instead by refusing to grant us any kind of credit toward a future cruise
This is a company and Management who only cares about filling rooms and not the welfare of the passengers.
As this was our anniversary cruise we took our losses and booked our next cruise with Cunard instead

Worst cruise line, worst customer service, this cruise line does t care about the passengers. Save your self a headache

After completing a trans Pacific sailing we were finally able to see our final bill when we got home to discover we had been charged for dinner in specialty restaurant the day be fore we disembarked & $200.00 for "Sale of General Supplies" the day we disembarked. After numerous phone calls & 10 days, we will be credited for the restaurant charges but the $200 is still unclear. So, more phone calls & hopefully we'll know in a few days what the charge is about. I don't know how one charges General Supplies on the day they disembark & are off the ship by 08:00. As a Canadian, I have found it almost impossible to find someone to communicate with at HAL. I am very doubtful that we will ever sail with them again.

As others stated, room stewards & other staff are great; the shops are a total rip off as are the excursions. I won't even start about the crazy internet daily charges!

Finally, this is the 21st century...I booked the cruise & used my credit card number yet everything was presented in my husband's name!!! I had to set up an account in his name so I could see our account charges once we got home. Had I not done that I would have never found the charges I've had to dispute as they weren't there the night before we left the ship. So beware & check your account very carefully before you get off the ship.

Our cruise around the Med in Sept 2023 was ok but their guest services before and after the cruise atrocious. For this reason I won’t be using this company again. When I had a complaint on being overcharged on the minibar they initially offered a credit to my account that expires after 12 months. When I complained about this I just got an auto reply saying they were busy due to the effects of COVID and would get back to me which they never did. The cruise itself was overly expensive and their excursions a rip off. We did enjoy the meals in the dining room though due mainly due to having nice food and service there.

The cruise was average. The service from the bar staff and room steward were excellent. Some dining staff service was good. The cruise was aimed at Americans, with American food and the demographics on board were older Americans. The reason we would never book HAL again is that corporately, they really don’t care about the customer.

Holland America is a fraud cruise line! I am with a non-immigrant US visa, when i called the Agents they said I am fine to travel in a cruise trip from Seatle to Alaska, I did mention that I am on US VISA and I cannot choose a trip that have Canadian stop, agent said I am fine to travel in the ship from Seatle to Alaska. After I reached seatle on the trip day, guest services didn't allow us to board the ship as it crosses the Canadian water boarder. They didn't refund the trip cost, as they have a disclaimer in the booking saying that guests are responsible for immigration checks.But their sales agents sell the trip at anycost with wrong information. I asked for re-scheduling the trip, they didn't agree to it. Only Fraud companies take money from customers without providing services!

If I could give it less than one star, I would. If you expect anything more than a 2 star experience, choose ANY other cruise line… the staff is amazing - but the operation is short of smart. This is my first cruise ever and needless to say, this will be my last with Holland America. Anyone who would like details and pictures, please let me know …

Very, very slow to respond to customer complaints.
DO NOT BUY 'so called' Duty Free if you are arriving in Vancouver, CA and then flying from YVR.
Duty Free will clear Customs but it not packaged in an acceptable fashion to clear airport security as a 'carry on'.
It must be checked baggage with the resulting expense!!

Just learnt that our future cruise credit expired 2 months ago! Apparently it was only valid for 1 year but NOWHERE on our cancellation notice did it mention that. They are able to send multiple advertising emails every week but fail to notify their customers when their credit is going to expire!

In 2022, we ended up cancelling a cruise after the itinerary changed so many times with no compensation for the adjustments and no flexibility for changing to a different cruise. We decided to use our HAL cancellation insurance leaving us with a future cruise credit.

We thought we'd give them a chance to resolve this so we emailed them regarding our missing cruise credit on Aug 17, 2023. After over 1 month with no reply, we called them on Sept 26, 2023 and were given a case number and told someone would get back to us in 7-10 days. Then 16 days later and no reply, we called again and they informed us that many customers have experienced this and they are sticking to their policy and offering us nothing!

Very poor customer service and policies in our opinion! How simple would it have been to just put a text line on the original cancellation notice to let people know that the future cruise credit is only valid for one year! Seems like a great way to get people to rebook rather than lose customers instead! This lack of transparency is concerning.

We have many cruise plans in our future but we are done with Holland America unless they offer some form of compensation.

After a few HAL cruises, we will NOT be booking another!

Just learnt that our future cruise credit expired 2 months ago! Apparently it was only valid for 1 year but NOWHERE on our cancellation notice did it mention that. They are able to send multiple advertising emails every week but fail to notify their customers when their credit is going to expire!

In 2022, we ended up cancelling a cruise after the itinerary changed so many times with no compensation for the adjustments and no flexibility for changing to a different cruise. We decided to use our HAL cancellation insurance leaving us with a future cruise credit.

We thought we'd give them a chance to resolve this so we emailed them regarding our missing cruise credit on Aug 17, 2023. After over 1 month with no reply, we called them on Sept 26, 2023 and were given a case number and told someone would get back to us in 7-10 days. Then 16 days later and no reply, we called again and they informed us that many customers have experienced this and they are sticking to their policy and offering us nothing!

Very poor customer service and policies in our opinion! How simple would it have been to just put a text line on the original cancellation notice to let people know that the future cruise credit is only valid for one year! Seems like a great way to get people to rebook rather than lose customers instead! This lack of transparency is concerning.

We have many cruise plans in our future but we are done with Holland America unless they offer some form of compensation.

Money grabbing hard sell all shops.
32 days later still awaiting my money back from the debit card hold, they already took the payment in full.
Customer service can’t help, say e mail quest relation there e mail response is 6-10 weeks response time as busy
Disgusting customer service would never cruise with them again.

Food is very mediocre and about quality of Golden Corral. Examples:
Frozen triangle hash browns, tasteless pastry like you’d buy boxed in a grocery store, unseasoned fish, lasagna with no ricotta, little mozzarella and no herbs! Really ?? Unripe fruit. Lots of food but poor quality.
Room service under staffed and slow.
Rest of staff very friendly and helpful.
Fitness room limited to 4 bicycles ( for nearly 2000 guests.
Just a way to get to Japan without jet lag.