Does HAL ever respond to concerns?

[yvonneh]

After deciding to sail our first cruise with HAL, I have been reading reviews about the condition of some of the ships. I was wondering if HAL (or Carnival Corp) ever responds to these or other issues/concerns? I know on the Celebrity boards, they do monitor them and respond.

I just haven't seen it over here on these boards and was curious?? :confused:

[kazu]

After deciding to sail our first cruise with HAL, I have been reading reviews about the condition of some of the ships. I was wondering if HAL (or Carnival Corp) ever responds to these or other issues/concerns? I know on the Celebrity boards, they do monitor them and respond.

I just haven't seen it over here on these boards and was curious?? :confused:

 

I believe some in Seattle read these boards and some on board the ships read roll calls and peruse this board.

 

HAL does not typically reply here on this board though to concerns raised that I can recall.

[Randyk47]

I think HAL monitors posts here but like Kazu I don’t recall them commenting in threads here. If they have it certainly isn’t regularly or often. Now the funny thing is that my wife and I have our own travel website and when we have time we do pre and post-cruise reports. Years ago we were on a nightmarish Veendam cruise and we posted a pretty negative review here and on our website. HAL, using the email from our personal website, actually sent us an apology, a request for more information, and sent us a certificate for a small discount for our next cruise. Not sure if they initially picked up our review here or from our website but they obviously monitor not only here but other sites too.

[take us away]

Have never seen HAL responses here but have always gotten a response when I have sent HAL an email with a question or a concern.

[johnmik1]

After deciding to sail our first cruise with HAL, I have been reading reviews about the condition of some of the ships. I was wondering if HAL (or Carnival Corp) ever responds to these or other issues/concerns? I know on the Celebrity boards, they do monitor them and respond.

I just haven't seen it over here on these boards and was curious?? :confused:

I wrote an email to HAL after our disappointing cruise in April and did receive a letter back.Rather than deal with their systemic problems, they attempted to lure us back with all sorts of perks.Although the offer was very generous, we feel that under current management it best suits us to avoid HAL at all costs.

[yvonneh]

Well, I guess it's good that they have responded to concerns in other ways. I would think being interactive here would be beneficial for everybody.

 

 

Johnmik1 What is it about HAL that disappoints you most? I hope I didn't make a bad decision booking this NA cruise. We love Celebrity, just wanted to branch out for a new experience.

[Randyk47]

Well, I guess it's good that they have responded to concerns in other ways. I would think being interactive here would be beneficial for everybody.

 

Now that I think about it I believe there was a HAL PCC who visited and posted here years ago. Due to CC rules and being here as an “unofficial” HAL representative he had to be careful about what he said. I think he even hinted once that he got in a little trouble at work because of something he posted here. He eventually left HAL to go to work for a travel agency and as far as I know he stopped posting here.

[catl331]

Now that I think about it I believe there was a HAL PCC who visited and posted here years ago. Due to CC rules and being here as an “unofficial” HAL representative he had to be careful about what he said. I think he even hinted once that he got in a little trouble at work because of something he posted here. He eventually left HAL to go to work for a travel agency and as far as I know he stopped posting here.

I think you're thinking of DutchByAssociation (Brad, IIRC) until he left HAL. He still posts under the name InTheWASide and did an extensive early review of the Koningsdam. He still has friends at HAL who give him some very good inside info from time to time!

 

Beside him, I've seen some (maybe 5?) posts from someone identifying him/herself as Holland America PR over the years. I can't locate him/her now because in order to show up in the Members list available to us you have to have at least 300 posts.

Edited October 10, 2017 by catl331

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I hope I didn't make a bad decision booking this NA cruise. We love Celebrity, just wanted to branch out for a new experience.

 

I don't think you made a bad decision. Although HAL is the cruise line, on which I sail the most, I do branch out and also sail on Princess, NCL, and Celebrity. In fact, my most recent cruise was very nice on the Millenium from Seward to Vancouver.

[fshagan]

Well, I guess it's good that they have responded to concerns in other ways. I would think being interactive here would be beneficial for everybody.

 

I manage Facebook Groups for a company and I can tell you replying to any issue on social media is mine field. Companies should always encourage people to contact the company directly and provide a way to do that to get the issue out of the social sphere. It can be an effective way for consumers to get the attention of the company, but the company should resolve it privately and quickly.

 

Because freedom of speech is nearly unlimited for individuals, a person can say nearly anything they want on social media. But a company cannot divulge any information is that "personally identifiable" about that individual.

[Randyk47]

I think you're thinking of DutchByAssociation (Brad, IIRC) until he left HAL. He still posts under the name InTheWASide and did an extensive early review of the Koningsdam. He still has friends at HAL who give him some very good inside info from time to time!

 

Beside him, I've seen some (maybe 5?) posts from someone identifying him/herself as Holland America PR over the years. I can't locate him/her now because in order to show up in the Members list available to us you have to have at least 300 posts.

 

Yup, that’s who I was thinking of. I forgot he came back as InTheWASide.

[sail7seas]

I think you're thinking of DutchByAssociation (Brad, IIRC) until he left HAL. He still posts under the name InTheWASide and did an extensive early review of the Koningsdam. He still has friends at HAL who give him some very good inside info from time to time!

 

Beside him, I've seen some (maybe 5?) posts from someone identifying him/herself as Holland America PR over the years. I can't locate him/her now because in order to show up in the Members list available to us you have to have at least 300 posts.

 

 

Yes, my memory of 'him' is about the same. He posted here not that long ago.

 

There used to be a number of crew from the ships who used to post here but I have not seen any posts from them recently.

[JennysUncle]

At the most recent Senior Management Conference, HAL's new President, Orlando Ashford, announced that HAL now has an automatic computer system that parses complaint messages and then answers them automatically with programmed messages, without any human action or knowledge.

 

This may explain why people writing to the Office of the President to complain about the discontinuance of the Cruise Logs have been getting the same reply -- that it's to save paper.

[navybankerteacher]

I've always gotten (usually effective and responsive) replied to email or regular mail communications with HAL.

 

I would hope that they would not waste the time of responsible staff members by responding to some of the absurd shot-from-the-hip matters raised here. Better to ignore them than to waste responsible staff time responding or risk stupid or irrelevant responses from low level clerical staff.

 

If someone has a serious question or complaint, they should treat it seriously themselves and not just express it as a one line zing on CC.

[johnmik1]

Well, I guess it's good that they have responded to concerns in other ways. I would think being interactive here would be beneficial for everybody.

 

 

Johnmik1 What is it about HAL that disappoints you most? I hope I didn't make a bad decision booking this NA cruise. We love Celebrity, just wanted to branch out for a new experience.

Since you are leaving soon I don't want to taint your experience.We sailed on NA on our second of five HAL cruises and it was the most well maintained of the ships we sailed on.The issues on Noordam would take pages to explain.From water dripping on our heads to filthy flatware in the Lido to certain crew that had no interest in doing their jobs.We saw 2 couples disembark a week early in Honolulu to get away from the ship.Good luck,JMHO

[avian777]

I've always gotten (usually effective and responsive) replied to email or regular mail communications with HAL.

 

I would hope that they would not waste the time of responsible staff members by responding to some of the absurd shot-from-the-hip matters raised here. Better to ignore them than to waste responsible staff time responding or risk stupid or irrelevant responses from low level clerical staff.

 

If someone has a serious question or complaint, they should treat it seriously themselves and not just express it as a one line zing on CC.

 

Well said, navybankerteacher!!! Your experience mirrors ours with respect to HAL's responsiveness to our (very few) serious concerns. Like you, we do not air our complaints on CC (as that is the least likely way of getting a resolution) but go directly to HAL when appropriate.

Smooth sailing :) :) :)

[Sage]

I have had very good luck with HAL responding to concerns over the years. They have been prompt, and reasonable in the actions.

[djhsolara]

I can tell you from recent experience that if you create enough waves, they will respond personally...and this is from the Office of the President.

 

 

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