Thread: Will you give a cruise line another chance?

If you've had an unfortunate experience on a cruise line, would you be willing give them another try?

It's a POLL so please vote!

Absolutely!

One thing I've learned in our 41 cruises (soon to be 42) is that every cruise is different, even if you're going on the same ship.

We've been on one ship three times and the first two times we really didn't like it at all. The third time our Business Development Manager was conducting a Seminar-at-Sea for agents and while we really didn't want to do this ship for a third time, the price was very irresistible and some friends of ours were going, so we figure what the hell. The ship had been refurbished since our last visit and the crew was completely different. The third time was the charm and we had a wonderful time.

We went on the NCL Pride of America and almost all the reviews we read said the service was terrible. We found this to be exactly the opposite. NCL has concentrated on improving the service. So had we gone when they first started this cruise, we never would have wanted to go again. But we're so glad we didn't listen to those reviews as we had a wonderful experience. Quite frankly, things change.

Besides, cruises are what you make them. If you want to have a bad time, you can concentrate on all the negatives and you can revel in your despair. Then, of course, you're required to write on all the blogs about your terrible experience. But if you want to overlook the little things and concentrate on those things that you enjoy, you'll have a great time. Of course then there's no requirement to tell anyone that you had a nice cruise.

As I said, we've been on 41 cruises and I can honestly say that we've never had a bad cruise. Yes, some have been better than others, but even the worst cruise was good because we did not concentrate on the few negative things that happened. Had we let the negative experience dictate our overall experience, then it's a certainty that we would have had a bad cruise.

Bottom line is as I've always said; you will always find what you're looking for, so why not look for the best in everything.

In other words, if you want to find negative, you will and it will impact negatively on your experience. But if you let the little things roll off your back and find the positive things, then you'll have a wonderful experience.

And after all, isn't life a wonderful experience?

Pete

Sure , I doubt 1 experience is a characteristic of a whole line. And one can use this forum to gain other views on it.

Pete makes a number of good points.
We have also never has a 'bad' cruise but some really are better than others.
After experiencing Carnival during spring break in the 90's, we avoided then for years but will be sailing on then again next year.





pete

Pete, good points but you missed one important point. If you have a really bad experience, contact headquarters, and all they offer you is a pittance off a future cruise, why would you bother tossing good money after bad? They have shown that they are incapable of making amends at even the highest level which indicates that if there is a subsequent problem, the response will probably be as unsatisfying. With so many other lines out there - many on which you probably had a great time- why bother giving the bad apple a second chance using YOUR money and time?

You know how I feel about HAL right now and while I probably would have given them a second chance if they had offered us a fair compensation, I am not going to give them further business now. And I am going to make it a point to let everyone know about my experiences. Hey it makes me feel better and it is fun watching the lines at the Holland America booking desk during trade shows slowly dissolve as I tell the full story to the poor person manning the booth.

I somehow knew how Neal would respond to this one...

At least I am consistent.

Tried RCI once -- many, many years ago -- didn't like it -- have no intentions of ever going back.

Food was terrible -- to us -- never a lobster night. Limited menu.

When we arrived in our cabin there was a bedspread on the bed -- never saw it after that -- sheets were never changed in 7 days -- towels changed only once even though we put them on the floor when they were dirty the cabin steward just picked them and rehung them dirt and all.

Yes, Neal, I knew how you were going to respond to this question.

You may have stated this somewhere, but I can't remember; were you dealing with them on your own, or did you have an agent working to help you with the problem?

I definitely understand your frustration and I agree they should have handled your situation much better. I think their lack of proper attention is inexcusable and I can only imagine how I would have responded. I know for a fact that I would have been talking to a friend of mine who's an attorney and had him give them a call or write a letter. My next letter would have been to the press. I can be extremely determined when I want to be and I am definitely the squeeky wheel that makes more noise when I'm ignored.

Because of that, in the many years I've been doing this and the many times I've had to contact the cruise lines to help solve problems and obtain restitution, I've only had to escalate my involvement to a VP level on only two occasions. And while once I felt like they could have offered more, I can honestly say that I've managed to get a fairly good remuneration for my clients. It may not have always been as much as the client wanted, but usually it was very reasonable given the particular circumstances. Of course, sometimes it was more difficult than others because some cruise lines are easier to work with, but I've always had pretty good luck. However, with that said, I do have to admit that Holland America is not one of the easiest to deal with. As I said, I can be very persistent, especially when it comes to getting a problem solved for my clients. Of course, it never hurts to have a big company like Cruise Planners behind me - they are one of the biggest players in the game, so their intervention, when needed, usually helps to garner an amicable resolution.

Given the problem you had, Neal, and the lack of proper response, I would probably feel exactly the same way as you do. It's our nature to want to forgive and forget, but they definitely made this one something you can't forget.

Pete

Thank you Pete. What I like about this board is that people can have different opinions but we all discuss things civilly. No, that cruise I had booked on my own directly with the line so I had no travel agent to go back to. As far as getting a lawyer, I thought about it but it would have been more trouble (and money) than it was worth. By that time I had so soured on HAL that I thought I could do more by advertising my adventure and eventually finding an ear in upper management.

My correspondence was all with the office of the President of the company so I don't think it could have gone any higher unless I had gone to CCL corporate and start a series of letters with them. But, each of the lines is independently run, so that would have also been probably fruitless.

So, HAL has lost me as a client, I give them whatever bad press I can, I steer people away from them, and I never will cash in that $200 credit that they gave me for a future cruise! And if I am really, really lucky some day someone from the line will come to me and ask what they can do to make it up to me (hint. At this point I will accept nothing less than a free cruise for both my wife and I)

And the big loss to HAL is that once I was a very strong supporter and recommended the line to a lot of people!