My Grandmother, my mother, my aunt and myself went on a Holland America cruise to the western Caribbean in June a couple of years ago. Here are the disasterous events on the MS Westerdam:
Ships cabins were very warm. The ship left 3 hours late and it was soon made clear why... The ship's air conditioning had broken and they were waiting for a part. Either the part never came or they couldn't get it repaired so, without informing the passengers, Holland America allowed a packed cruise ship to head into the Caribbean in June with no air conditioning.
During the cruise, staying in a cabin was unbearable because of the heat and the dessert counters were always fogged up. Probably a good thing because it hid the mess of the melting desserts.
My grandmother called room service for a cup of tea and waited for over an hour. When my aunt got back to the cabin she called to complain and also ordered a hot chocolate. The tea and hot chocolate arrived in pots... No cups though!
The sewer system broke and we spent half the cruise trying to keep from gagging from the odor.
On a formal night, my mother and I rushed back to our cabin to get dressed and found our toilet pulled away from the wall and lying on the bathroom floor. No one was around to ask what was happening so we phoned the purser's office. We'll send someone down right away. 45 minutes... Still no one came. Phoned again. Finally, 20 minutes later, someone came. "Oops. Sorry. We'll get someone to fix it"
These were only a few things that went wrong on a 10 day cruise. Other incidents included very rude and sarcastic remarks from a crew who would rather have been anywhere else but on the ship (who could blame them). Along with a cruise director who spent more time dressing up in gowns than setting up activities for the passengers. Also a crew member died in an accident towards the end of the cruise... Very sad but I really don't think that the captain (who hadn't bothered to talk to the passengers once) should have let an already upset ship load of passengers know this. Just made everyone all the more miserable. Another incident was on the Cayman Islands when my grandmother, who has a bad heart, got overheated and needed to get back to the ship. She was about to board the tender and got a hand in her face saying "stop, we're full!" The tender was not anywhere near full. The crew member just didn't want to fuss getting an 80 year old woman on board. My aunt explained the need to get back to the ship quickly and his very short and forceful answer was, "you'll have to wait". They waited in the hot sun for 20 minutes for the next tender.
I have a 3 page report on Everything that went wrong!
Holland America's response to our complaint... No apology for sending a ship with no air conditioning, etc., etc., into the Caribbean... And a discount on another cruise... Oh... But that is only to be used NOT in conjunction with any other offer, which would have meant that we would end up paying more for their "discount" cruise.
I will never travel Holland America again... Too risky. The cruise may have been a fluke but their response to the disaster was not. Won't spend my hard earned money on Holland America again.
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