Article in AARP Magazine About HAL

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Some AARP members asked the AARP "mediator" to try to get some kind of credit from HAL after their horrendous 16 day cruise on Zaandam out of San Diego recently. The ship was cleaning up from a norovirus outbreak on the arriving ship and the customers were offered a chance to cancel the cruise or board with the warning there would be sanitizing going on. They went ahead and cruised and said several venues such as pools, spas, library, and the arcade never opened because of the sanitizing, and in general the cruise was miserable.

 

When Ron Burley of AARP Magazine asked the HAL PR person, "Wouldn't you say that the Pages' experience was less than ideal?" she replied, "Probably more ideal than explosive vomiting and diarrhea."

 

The Pages said they would have cancelled the cruise if HAL had given any indication of how intense the cleaning was going to be. AARP went on to warn that STANDARD trip insurance would not cover a person cancelling at the last minute.

 

After all the haggling, HAL offered a free meal at a speciality restaurant in the future. They doubt they'll be back to take advantage of the offer.