Zuiderdam July 29, 2019 cruise to Iceland just cancelled!!!

We have cruised for many years and, except for 2 cruises, exclusively with Holland America.This is the second time that HAL has cancelled a cruise on us in that last 2 years.

Our TA just called to tell us that for an unknown reason Holland America has cancelled our dream cruise to Iceland. We booked well over a year in advance and today it is cancelled. As an alternative, HAL has offered us a similar cruise with a similar cabin choice but the only common ports are 3 in Iceland and one in Norway on the Aug. 4 2019 Niew (?) Amsterdam sailing. In compensation for our upset they have offered us a $50.00 cabin credit. Really??

Our agent is looking for sailings with Celebrity. We are extremely disappointed and our loyalty to Holland America is done.

Your cancelation is domino effect of the Prinsendam leaving the HAL fleet on July 1, 2019.

Several other HAL ships are taking over at least part of the Prinsendam's itineraries, and the Zuiderdam is one of them (Rotterdam and Volendam are the other two). Consequently, the itineraries for those three ships are being canceled/reschuffled.

I had just decided to book a cruise on the Rotterdam that was a brand new itinerary, which I had hoped for years would some day be offered. It, too, was canceled with yesterday's announcement. :(

It has taken me 10 years to get my husband to cruise again- he got pneumonia on the Volendam in 2008. I have always wanted to do the two segments of the Voyage of the Vikings- Boston to Iceland and Iceland to Boston leaving out the rest of the trip. So disappointed.

So instead of canceling the sold ship's cruises, they are cancelling other cruises on several other ships? Yeah, that makes sense. Not. I think this is bad form on HAL's part.

Looks like my Rotterdam Canada NE & Iceland was cancelled, and now I can't pull up Volendam in 2020 either. Are they going to screw up all our bookings?

Talk about major cluster fudge.

I wish they hadn't redeployed so many ships.

Royal Caribbean did something similar when they sold the Legend, and I thought it was stupid then, and I think it's stupid now.

Once they post a cruise online, they should keep it!

Op, sorry for your disappointment. We had one cancelled last year after we had business class flights booked. It was very disconcerting. Hope they will make things right for you.

Aqua hound, excellent point! The Prinsendam has the smallest number of passengers, Perhaps it would be better to upset fewer people?

I can understand your disappointment - it happened to us twice (!) on a Celebrity cruise we tried to book a cruise to Japan - haven't been there , yet.

I looked up the cruises to Iceland in the summer of 2019. Interestingly enough, ALL Holland America cruises are listed as "sold out" right now. I think they are desperately re-shuffling cruises and ships due to the sale of Prinsendam.

I wouldn't give up to easily. If you can change dates , look at the itinerary the "Rotterdam" is sailing June/July - a combination of Norway and Iceland. The Nieuw Statendam they offered is their new one, sister ship to Koningsdam, i.m.O. not ideal for a cruise to Northern Europe as you will miss the smaller ports. P& O cruises as well as Princess also have interesting ships/routes to Iceland next year. Perhaps HAL will also send another one of their smaller fleet to Europe to compensate for the loss of Prinsendam.

Good luck! We're also devastated because we wanted to cruise Greenland again next year on Prinsendam - fantastic cruise, but the chance has gone with the sale...

My Zuiderdam June 2019 cruise was canceled, but for the same price getting two more days on the ship and leaving one day earlier. So for our cruise it has worked into our favor.

For the OP:

When Prinsendam was sold, we were offered this cruise on Rotterdam. Maybe it would be another alternative for you.

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So instead of canceling the sold ship's cruises, they are cancelling other cruises on several other ships? Yeah, that makes sense. Not. I think this is bad form on HAL's part.

And what makes even less sense is that the itineraries they are offering are NOT what the Prinsendam's were. There may some similar ports, but the ships are not doing what the Prinsendam did, so, my best guess is that many P'dam cruisers will not do them.

I think they are making an attempt to please everyone and as a result, are pleasing no one.

My Zuiderdam June 2019 cruise was canceled, but for the same price getting two more days on the ship and leaving one day earlier. So for our cruise it has worked into our favor.

Have you rebooked already? My PCC says that the new Itineraries have not opened up yet.

My understanding is the daily rate is the same, but a longer itinerary will cost more.

Maybe it is time to try a new cruise line:

https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/multi-region/in-the-wake-of-vikings/index.html

Prinsendam leaving Holland has rocked the ship

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The Rotterdam Voyage of the Vikings scheduled to leave Boston on July 30, 2019 has been cancelled. It has been replaced by the Zuiderdam sailing on the same dates and almost the same schedule. The revised HAL schedules after July 1, 2019 (the day the Prinsendam leaves the HAL fleet) has not been announced. We were booked on the Rotterdam, and we were told by our travel agency that re-bookings would not start until July 4, 2018.

When the announcement was made about the Prinsendam being sold, I had a feeling that there was going to be juggling of ships and itineraries.

I feel so sorry for those of you that have had your cruises cancelled.

I'm still waiting to hear from my TA. Sent a few emails, and no response.

I have had two cruises affected for next year. The one on the Prinsendam on Oct 5th 2019 is of course cancelled and replaced by the Rotterdam, same days almost same itinerary. Saved some money as it is cheaper so that is good. The only issue is dining as they have us with open dining and we had booked Early table for 2. Not a big deal since we are over a year out and will wait a few days to call.

The other cruise just a year from now originally on the Rotterdam to Iceland and Greenland is now on the Zuiderdam for the same dates starting on July 13th. Have not gotten any details yet on this one regarding room and so forth. So I am checking my emails frequently.:rolleyes:

Op, sorry for your disappointment. We had one cancelled last year after we had business class flights booked. It was very disconcerting. Hope they will make things right for you.

 

Aqua hound, excellent point! The Prinsendam has the smallest number of passengers, Perhaps it would be better to upset fewer people?

Could it be that more people were booked on the Prinsendam despite it small size? We sail the Prinsendam a lot and know that if you don’t book as soon as the itinerary is released, your stateroom choices aren’t good.

So instead of canceling the sold ship's cruises, they are cancelling other cruises on several other ships? Yeah, that makes sense. Not. I think this is bad form on HAL's part.

They could have done that and just left major gaps in the routes they were planning to cover.

Instead, rather than leave massive holes in their itineraries, it appears that they are shifting ships to cover most of them. The end result appears to be schedules where most of the routes are getting covered, some with changes. Of course to do that it does require other changes. Most of the cancellations appears to have fairly close alternatives.

The good news is that they were all at least a year out from the announcement, so should be no issues with airfare.