Holland/america
Sleepless on ms westerdam

I booked a cruise to the Caribbean with Holland/America. The first night as I was falling asleep to the rolling waves I was "jolted" wide awake. This continued through out the night. The next morning I asked a crew member what this was and if it was "normal". I was assured that it was choppy waters. The next night one of the jolts that came approximately every fifteen minutes knocked me from the bed to the floor.

I attended an authors workshop that morning and fell asleep during it. Later that day I complained to the Main desk. I was told, "once a cabin has been assigned to a passenger nothing can be done" and maybe I should try a glass of wine at bedtime. To make a long story short, the jolting continued throughout the cruise and the only time I could sleep was during the day in common areas of the ship.

I missed the writers workshop series for which I paid an additional $500.00 and $150.00 worth of shore excursions. This was the main complaint and certainly enough. However there's more. I arrived at the port at 11:00am as instructed for boarding and waited in a line of angry passengers for two and a half hours, because they would not let us board. I do not eat pork or beef and was assured when making my reservation that registering as a "vegan" was not necessary. The on deck BBQ that was offered had only one entree or protein at the buffet; whole suckling pigs.

The BBQ on half moon island consisted of hotdogs, hamburgers, potato chips, and canned watery beans. The food overall was mediocre at best. When I knew that I was too tired to go on my prebooked excursions, advised by HAL, I tried to cancel according to the restrictions on the vouchers. The Main desk told me these were not booked through HAL so HAL could not help me. However my credit card statement said the money paid went to HAL. I was also charged mini bars fees even though I never opened the mini bar. When I contacted HAL regarding these matters I was ignored.

Company: Holland/america
Country: USA

  <     >