Thread: What changes could HAL make to improve your cruise experience?

HAL's follow-thru from headquaters leaves a lot to to be desired!

What follow through?

I booked a Guarantee - Category H - for my 14-day cruise aboard the Ryndam leaving out of Tampa on February 26th.

I have been checking daily to see if my cabin has been assigned - well - this afternoon I finally found out where I will be living during my 2-week cruise to the Caribbean.

I am not complaining about the upgrade - I was given Category D - I am pleased with my cabin.

So - what am I “bitching” about . . . HAL did not send me or my TA any e-mails that my cabin had been assigned.

Just think of all good PR they could have gotten by merely letting us know that HAL was recognizing and rewarding me, for my Medallion Status by upgrading me.

Tom

About 24 hours after posting the above - I got an e-mail from HAL (as did my TA). It stated in part:



The following change(s) have been made to your reservation: 1) Stateroom or Category Added, Deleted or Changed. Please visit http://www.hollandamerica.com/onlinecheckin to login and reprint your Express Docs with new information today.



I immediately went to their website to see if they had changed by cabin from the day before. After I logged-in, I first check the œannouncements nothing new there, the logical place to put the information about any changes in cabin assignment. Then I went to my reservations and there it was, my cabin assignment that I found the day before.

HAL once again missed a golden opportunity for some good PR. One day HAL will learn, if they are sending you an e-mail about a change in cabins, don't make us go to their website to find out what it is, just tell us in that e-mail.
Tom

I agree! HAL makes everyone (passengers & TA's) have to go to their website to see the changes - in this case a cabin assignment.

Everyone else sends a new confirmation with the email and on the confirmation the changes are shown - all you have to do is open the attachment - makes more sense, makes it easy, and provides a better service.

As you stated, HAL just doesn't get it!!

They have a wonderful product, but their customer service definitely needs a makeover as it detracts from what could make them much better.

Pete

Originally Posted by nealberk

What follow through?

I think Lulu is referring to their response when you complained to the headquarters about how they treated you on the Noordam.

Looking at cabin pictures made me wonder if I even want to take a HAL cruise. I hate to sit on leather couches when I am wearing shorts. In Hawaii, I will always be wearing shorts except when the dress code bans them. The only reason I would ever sail on a HAL ship is their Hawaii cruises out of San Diego have a better itinerary than Celebrity IMO (better hours, only one tender port, and overnight in Honolulu). I don't want to settle for a not-so-good itinerary just to have a comfortable chair and/or couch in my cabin! On a 15-night cruise, I need the couch to be comfortable because I will sit in it a lot, even if for only short periods. I assume HAL will not buy new furniture so asking the X to change its Circle Hawaii itinerary a little bit would be more realistic.