Veendam failed latest cdc inspection

[Salacia]

Just one point - if people opted not to sail an entire cruise line because of one their ships failed an inspection one time - then there wouldn't be many lines left to sail;) I'm not excusing it - I'm just stating a fact:D

 

Kazu, I agree with you. In fact, I sailed on QM2 both before and after that ship failed inspection. My experience was that the failed inspection really caused management to sit up and take notice - and since then, corrections and improvements were made. The ships' latest VSP inspection score is 100.

 

I think the Veendam has more serious problems, so I'm not making a comparison - only agreeing that one failed inspection doesn't necessarily doom a cruise line for me either. Cheers, -S.

[tomc]

I don't think anyone has posted this yet:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/travel/cdc-cruise-ship/index.html?hpt=hp_bn10

[beirne]

In view of this public relations disaster, does anyone know who, or how many, lost their jobs over this incident? Rumors are that a number of senior officers were relieved of their duties, including some high profile ones.

[E-500]

In view of this public relations disaster, does anyone know who, or how many, lost their jobs over this incident? Rumors are that a number of senior officers were relieved of their duties, including some high profile ones.

 

Interesting question. Maybe Copper 10-8 could weigh in on this one?

[KirkNC]

Just one point - if people opted not to sail an entire cruise line because of one their ships failed an inspection one time - then there wouldn't be many lines left to sail;) I'm not excusing it - I'm just stating a fact:D

 

Given the fact that only five ships have failed an inspection in five years I am not sure this arguement holds (this is per the link here:)

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/travel/cdc-cruise-ship/index.html?hpt=hp_bn10

[Willem Ruys]

In view of this public relations disaster, does anyone know who, or how many, lost their jobs over this incident? Rumors are that a number of senior officers were relieved of their duties, including some high profile ones.

 

Yes, I know and know the men involved. All were high ranking.

[peaches from georgia]

Yes, I know and know the men involved. All were high ranking.

Do you think this was warranted and fair?

[Randyk47]

Do you think this was warranted and fair?

 

Unfortunately with over 45 years of work I've seen good people let go or demoted over relatively minor things and not so good people survive in the face of what were almost criminal mistakes. Sometimes it makes no sense. On the other hand all we know about the Veendam situation is the CDC report. There could a myriad of mismanagement issues from the ship level to the corporate level. This could have been the "straw that broke the camel's back".

[kazu]

Unfortunately with over 45 years of work I've seen good people let go or demoted over relatively minor things and not so good people survive in the face of what were almost criminal mistakes. Sometimes it makes no sense. On the other hand all we know about the Veendam situation is the CDC report. There could a myriad of mismanagement issues from the ship level to the corporate level. This could have been the "straw that broke the camel's back".

 

I think you may have hit another nail on the head;)

[kazu]

Given the fact that only five ships have failed an inspection in five years I am not sure this arguement holds (this is per the link here:)

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/travel/cdc-cruise-ship/index.html?hpt=hp_bn10

 

it doesn't matter if it's five years, five minutes, five decades or five hours. Ships have failed. People sailed on them putting their trust in that cruise line. What I was trying to say is that people are saying they would leave a line (and maybe the entire line = ie. Carnival) because of this.

 

there have been many failures and honestly, if every time someone said I'm not sailing again - there wouldn't be many left to choose from. It's JMO though - and each to their own - here's the link http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx and there are some luxury cruise lines on the list!

 

Again, I am not supporting the Veendam's failure - in fact I am quite upset however it's just a point of view. Smooth seas:D

[Cruzin Terri]

Yes, I know and know the men involved. All were high ranking.

I am so curious, your CC name is so interesting. Did you ever sail or work on the Achille Lauro?

Terri

[cruz chic]

<snip>Unfortunately with over 45 years of work I've seen good people let go or demoted over relatively minor things and not so good people survive in the face of what were almost criminal mistakes. Sometimes it makes no sense.

Is that ever the truth!

[Jade13]

Yes, I know and know the men involved. All were high ranking.

 

Were they on the Veendam's repositioning cruise from South America?

[sppunk]

Yes, I know and know the men involved. All were high ranking.

 

Greetings! I was on the sailing Veendam failed inspection. Any chance you would email me of any senior officers removed?

 

I ask because I wrote a detailed letter to HAL and would like to assess if I should write another. I can be respached if you feel comfortable at sppunk00 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

[timetraveler9]

I was planning on booking Veendam's Nov 19th South American cruise. I had spent hours on this board reading about the a/c problems and plumbing problems. A hearty thank you to all who posted honestly to spare those who came after you.

 

I decided I'd take a gamble since I loved the itinerary so much- more days spent cruising around the glaciers, etc. I planned on requesting a stateroom toward the bow as it was mentioned the a/c problems seemed to be confined to the cabins at the rear of the ship. I had sailed Celebrity Infinity and during the cruise I walked down the corridor of a deck with fans blowing and a foul smell so I knew plumbing problems could happen on any ship if it could happen on the top-notch Infinity ship. Reading about this failed inspection was the final straw. I came here to take a final look before booking the HAL cruise- to see if any new information had popped up. Boy, did it ever!!! Just wish I had visited again before booking the air.

 

I'm unhappy that I'll be losing $400 to change two airline tickets to later dates- now we'll be trying out the Seabourn Sojourn instead. It's a lot more than we wanted to spend but goes where we want and at the approx. dates we want. I'll never book a cruise on Holland America. What a shame because I've been wanting to try out HAL for years. My grandparents loved it.

 

Thank you Cruise Critic and Cruise Critic members for keeping others informed!

[Jade13]

I planned on requesting a stateroom toward the bow as it was mentioned the a/c problems seemed to be confined to the cabins at the rear of the ship.

 

Where did you read that? Our stateroom with an air conditioning issue was forward.

[Jade13]

Greetings! I was on the sailing Veendam failed inspection. Any chance you would email me of any senior officers removed?

 

I ask because I wrote a detailed letter to HAL and would like to assess if I should write another.

 

Did you write a review. Can you fill us in on the issues that you encountered? It does not sound like you were surprised.

[KirkNC]

it doesn't matter if it's five years, five minutes, five decades or five hours. Ships have failed. People sailed on them putting their trust in that cruise line. What I was trying to say is that people are saying they would leave a line (and maybe the entire line = ie. Carnival) because of this.

 

there have been many failures and honestly, if every time someone said I'm not sailing again - there wouldn't be many left to choose from. It's JMO though - and each to their own - here's the link http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx and there are some luxury cruise lines on the list!

 

Again, I am not supporting the Veendam's failure - in fact I am quite upset however it's just a point of view. Smooth seas:D

 

OK, I understand but you said that if no one would sail on a failed ship there would not be any ships to sail but given only five failures in five years there would clearly be hundreds of ships still available that passed inspection. Just trying to keep the conversation intellectually honest. Not trying to irritate :p.

[peaches from georgia]

I'm unhappy that I'll be losing $400 to change two airline tickets to later dates- now we'll be trying out the Seabourn Sojourn instead. It's a lot more than we wanted to spend but goes where we want and at the approx. dates we want. I'll never book a cruise on Holland America. What a shame because I've been wanting to try out HAL for years. My grandparents loved it.

 

Thank you Cruise Critic and Cruise Critic members for keeping others informed!

I'm sorry for your airfare loss, but you are more than making lemonade out of lemons. I have sailed both Veendam and Sojourn and they are not even in the same league of cruising or cruiseships. Sojourn is first class all the way and you will love the ship and I'm sure the whole cruise.

[sppunk]

Did you write a review. Can you fill us in on the issues that you encountered? It does not sound like you were surprised.

 

I did write a review of our experience. You can read my review here.

[timetraveler9]

Thank you, Peaches from Georgia. I am excited by the prospect of sailing on a luxury ship but also a little nervous at spending so much. We have never spent that much on a trip before-- not even skiing in Aspen over Christmas. Too bad about Holland America. We're simple and pretty easy to please and have enjoyed all our cruises but cleanliness is something that cannot be compromised on. Human waste dripping onto dishes isn't something we can take in stride...

[timetraveler9]

Hi Jade,

 

I think it was here but not 100 percent sure. Sorry! I remember reading it toward the end of my hours spent researching the issue. A poster wrote they spoke to someone "in the know" and he said that most of the problems were toward the back of the ship. However, after I read through all the posts here I googled Veendam and spent a brief time at one or two other sites and might have read that at another site. So sorry for the fuzzy memory-- I read oodles of posts.

[peaches from georgia]

Thank you, Peaches from Georgia. I am excited by the prospect of sailing on a luxury ship but also a little nervous at spending so much. We have never spent that much on a trip before-- not even skiing in Aspen over Christmas. Too bad about Holland America. We're simple and pretty easy to please and have enjoyed all our cruises but cleanliness is something that cannot be compromised on. Human waste dripping onto dishes isn't something we can take in stride...

Forget the money and enjoy the cruise. It's already spent and remember you will have very few if any expenses on board other than excursions. And I can help you pay for those!

 

You may not know about the 'Referral Coupon' program that Seabourn has. A past SB cruiser can give a new SB cruiser a coupon to be turned in to SB for OBC- ours was for $400. The first sticky thread on the SB Cruise Critic board is for that purpose. You post the date of your cruise on that thread and ask for someone who has a coupon that would cover the date of your cruise; that person will contact you on the board and will arrange to get your mailing address from you and will mail you the coupon which will also contain his name. You give the coupon to your TA to mail to SB. You and the coupon giver will each get $400 OBC from SB for his and your cruise. (If it sounds complicated it isn't, very easy to do and a longtime SB perk for new cruisers.) Just check out the first sticky thread on the SB CC board.

[serendipity1499]

Yup--headlines on newsprint and tv and then the correction report magically appears. Timing IS everything..............geesh HAL. You are NOT making me feel better if it takes such huge portions of humble pie to get you to come to the table!

 

Who knows, maybe HAL submitted it the morning it was posted? Corrective action is just that.......what HAL "plans" to do or has (allegedly) done. The next inspection will be done with the report in one hand and the checklist for the inspection in the other to verify what has happened and the conditions on board. The reality is that this issue has hit the fan and HAL will be dealing with it for a while.....and for now, the jury is still out.

 

You are not being fair about the corrective action report magically appearing!

If you looked at the CDC WEB site carefully, you will note that the corrective action report was filed with the CDC on Aug 19, the same day of the inspection..If you check each violation, most of them were also corrected the same day!

IMO it only magically appeared because the CDC like many other Government. Agencies did not update their WEB site in a timely manner..

While I too am concerned & horrified that Veendam failed this inspection & will not make excuses for HAL, it behooves those of us on CC to check out things like this before posting..Too many posters don't even read the entire thread before posting & many did not even read the entire CDC report nor did they read the 21 pag corrective action report filed by HAL on Aug 19..

 

Betty

[Salacia]

Thank you, Peaches from Georgia. I am excited by the prospect of sailing on a luxury ship but also a little nervous at spending so much. We have never spent that much on a trip before-- not even skiing in Aspen over Christmas. Too bad about Holland America. We're simple and pretty easy to please and have enjoyed all our cruises but cleanliness is something that cannot be compromised on. Human waste dripping onto dishes isn't something we can take in stride...

 

 

Hang on a second - where did you read it was human waste dripping onto dishes?

 

I was suprised that a collection of the sample of the brown liquid wasn't taken as a sample for further analysis by the VSP inspectors. Or perhaps it was? Maybe medical officers or enginers on the Veendam collected samples to determine where the leak was coming from, or if it presented a serious health hazzard? At any rate, someone with training should have collected samples - it is not enough to report some brown liquid was dripping; leaving it open to conjecture is daming.

 

BTW, my husband and I boarded the Veendam on August 19. Not a voyage we wish to repeat. -S.