HOLLAND AMERICA LINE CRUISE CONTRACT

[rajkr74]

Here's a copy of the new HAL Cruise contract.

 

HAL Cruise Contract (Domestic) - Restart 15APR2021.pdf

[rucrazy]

4 minutes ago, rajkr74 said:

Here's a copy of the new HAL Cruise contract.

Thank you! 

[rajkr74]

Just now, rucrazy said:

Thank you! 

Hope it opened for you?  This is the first time I tried to put an attachment in a post.  Fun reading...lol

[rucrazy]

Just now, rajkr74 said:

Hope it opened for you?

IT did! and I was able to save it to my laptop as well.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

8 minutes ago, rajkr74 said:

Here's a copy of the new HAL Cruise contract.

 

HAL Cruise Contract (Domestic) - Restart 15APR2021.pdf 261.23 kB · 6 downloads

This was last updated for April 2021, I believe there will be some changes when it updates on Monday. US Cruises will be slightly different than Europe Cruises. Most of this is correct but there will definitely be some changes.

[rajkr74]

8 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

This was last updated for April 2021, I believe there will be some changes when it updates on Monday. US Cruises will be slightly different than Europe Cruises. Most of this is correct but there will definitely be some changes.

 

You are probably right with all the turmoil going on.  I got this from our TA a few days ago.  Our TA also said HAL is a little slow updating the new drink/wine requirements so the App and some website pages still have old rules i.e. corkage fee. 

 

Looking forward to your "Live" thread in July from Alaska.

Edited June 12, 2021 by rajkr74

[rucrazy]

7 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

. Most of this is correct but there will definitely be some changes.

👍

[Hlitner]

Just wondering how legal and enforceable a contract can be when it is not revealed until long after many folks have already booked a cruise and made payment (consideration) for the promise of a future service.  While I am not a lawyer I do believe it is not generally accepted that one party (to a contract) cannot unilaterally alter a contract after entering into a previous contractual relationships for which there was payment and/or consideration.  Many folks have already booked cruises that are in penalty periods (including 100% of payments) based on the contract that existed at the time they booked the cruise.  For a cruise line to later make substantial changes to the contractual language and coerce folks into agreeing (or else they lose their money) does not sound like an acceptable practice.

 

Hank 

[Hlitner]

Just wondering how legal and enforceable a contract can be when it is not revealed until long after many folks have already booked a cruise and made payment (consideration) for the promise of a future service.  While I am not a lawyer I do believe it is not generally accepted that one party (to a contract) cannot unilaterally alter a contract after entering into a previous contractual relationships for which there was payment and/or consideration.  Many folks have already booked cruises that are in penalty periods (including 100% of payments) based on the contract that existed at the time they booked the cruise.  For a cruise line to later make substantial changes to the contractual language and coerce folks into agreeing (or else they lose their money) does not sound like an acceptable practice.

 

Hank 

[kazu]

8 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Just wondering how legal and enforceable a contract can be when it is not revealed until long after many folks have already booked a cruise and made payment (consideration) for the promise of a future service.  While I am not a lawyer I do believe it is not generally accepted that one party (to a contract) cannot unilaterally alter a contract after entering into a previous contractual relationships for which there was payment and/or consideration.  Many folks have already booked cruises that are in penalty periods (including 100% of payments) based on the contract that existed at the time they booked the cruise.  For a cruise line to later make substantial changes to the contractual language and coerce folks into agreeing (or else they lose their money) does not sound like an acceptable practice.

 

Hank 

 

HAL’s reply will be “they didn’t lose any money as we have given them Future Cruise Credit”.  All cruises until December /21 are under Cruise with Confidence so people will get FCC.  Me? I prefer my hard earned cash back in my pocket but it is an out that HAL will use, I’m sure.  

 

JMO.

 

edited to say - and honestly, I think anyone who is aware of covid which has been around for ages should not be surprised if there are covid protocols.

After all, it’s the only way the ships are going to sail 😉 

[Tennessee Titan]

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Just wondering how legal and enforceable a contract can be when it is not revealed until long after many folks have already booked a cruise and made payment (consideration) for the promise of a future service.  While I am not a lawyer I do believe it is not generally accepted that one party (to a contract) cannot unilaterally alter a contract after entering into a previous contractual relationships for which there was payment and/or consideration.  Many folks have already booked cruises that are in penalty periods (including 100% of payments) based on the contract that existed at the time they booked the cruise.  For a cruise line to later make substantial changes to the contractual language and coerce folks into agreeing (or else they lose their money) does not sound like an acceptable practice.

 

Hank 

You agree to the contract terms when you check in, not when you book....

[kazu]

3 minutes ago, Tennessee Titan said:

You agree to the contract terms when you check in, not when you book....

 

Ahh but lots of people have checked in and now HAL has deemed it incomplete.  So technically, they had agreed to the original contract and HAL has voided it, I guess?

[rucrazy]

3 minutes ago, kazu said:

So technically, they had agreed to the original contract and HAL has voided it, I guess?

That makes sense

[richstowe]

4 hours ago, Tennessee Titan said:

What percentage of our fellow passengers will m isrepresent their vaccination status? Sounds like a mask in public spaces would be a good idea....

I can't disagree more. I am more than happy to have mandatory vaccinations with stringent verifications required. Mandatory masks is a dealbreaker for me. The point was vaccinations so that cruises can be near normal.

BTW, how do you feel about vaccinations?

[boze9999]

4 hours ago, Tennessee Titan said:

What percentage of our fellow passengers will m isrepresent their vaccination status? Sounds like a mask in public spaces would be a good idea....

The financial, medical and civil penalties, not only with the cruise line, but with all governing authorities for lying and perjury are not worth falsifying one's vaccination status.......

[LAFFNVEGAS]

24 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Ahh but lots of people have checked in and now HAL has deemed it incomplete.  So technically, they had agreed to the original contract and HAL has voided it, I guess?

While they have checked in, no one has been issued Boarding Passes, to get those they will have to agree to the new contract, Risk Acceptance Policy and Vacination Attestation. The first Holland America ship to sail with be the Nieuw Amsterdam and eDocs were to have been ready at 45 days prior to sailing which is normal. That would have been last Wednesday. Because of the changes and the legal department basically going over everything they will not be ready to sign and accept till Monday June 14th. There could easily be people not willing to except this. My guess is they may let people cancel with refund if they are not willing to accept.  

[kazu]

16 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

While they have checked in, no one has been issued Boarding Passes, to get those they will have to agree to the new contract, Risk Acceptance Policy and Vacination Attestation. The first Holland America ship to sail with be the Nieuw Amsterdam and eDocs were to have been ready at 45 days prior to sailing which is normal. That would have been last Wednesday. Because of the changes and the legal department basically going over everything they will not be ready to sign and accept till Monday June 14th. There could easily be people not willing to except this. My guess is they may let people cancel with refund if they are not willing to accept.  

 

Thanks

 

My guess is that most people who signed onto this cruise did so with eyes wide open (at least I hope so).  I suspect few will cancel unless their eyes were closed 😉 

 

Your cruise will be an adventure to remember, that’s for sure 👍 

[Cruising-along]

6 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

I would not be surprised to see the website down starting tonight and through tomorrow.

It may have started, I haven't been able to log into my account for the last hour.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

4 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Thanks

 

My guess is that most people who signed onto this cruise did so with eyes wide open (at least I hope so).  I suspect few will cancel unless their eyes were closed 😉 

 

Your cruise will be an adventure to remember, that’s for sure 👍 

Interestingly enough not everyone reserved these Alaska cruises recently. So expectations for some could be totally different than expected.There are a few from our July 24th Roll Call that actually booked the cruise and their interior stateroom over a year ago but on the Eurodam and it was transferred to the Nieuw Amsterdam, probably about the time the pandemic was starting and we all figured by 2021 we would be sailing again. I was actually booked to cruise in September 2020 on the Eurodam and it canceled right at about a year ago and I immediately booked for the same date in September for 2021. We knew nothing about vaccines and even masks in May last year when we booked. So much has changed since then. Many have since canceled that booked last year but I was one that was absolutely certain we would be sailing to Alaska this year. It just ended up being a bonus to also reserve the July 24th sailing. I think those that had reserved these cruises last year may have had different expectations of what this year might be and may be waiting to know more information.

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Interestingly enough not everyone reserved these Alaska cruises recently. So expectations for some could be totally different than expected.There are a few from our July 24th Roll Call that actually booked the cruise and their interior stateroom over a year ago but on the Eurodam and it was transferred to the Nieuw Amsterdam, probably about the time the pandemic was starting and we all figured by 2021 we would be sailing again. I was actually booked to cruise in September 2020 on the Eurodam and it canceled right at about a year ago and I immediately booked for the same date in September for 2021. We knew nothing about vaccines and even masks in May last year when we booked. So much has changed since then. Many have since canceled that booked last year but I was one that was absolutely certain we would be sailing to Alaska this year. It just ended up being a bonus to also reserve the July 24th sailing. I think those that had reserved these cruises last year may have had different expectations of what this year might be and may be waiting to know more information.

 

Very good points.

Covid has been with us for over a year and 1/2 nearly so I would like to think that most realize it is going to impact their cruise one way or the other.

But, as DH reminds me, not everyone thinks like me 😉 

I hope your sailing goes really well and you have a blast in Alaska 🤞 

[YXU AC*SE]

These were pushed out to trade on 27 May.   Scott. 

 

(1)   COVID risk acceptance text 

source: https://gohal.com/app/uploads/2021/05/HAL-COVID-19-Risk-Acceptance-15APR2021.docx

(2)   Contract / OLCI flow FAQ. 

 

FAQ-HAL-Online-Check-In-Flow-Changes_042121 (1).pdf

 

source: https://gohal.com/app/uploads/2021/05/FAQ-HAL-Online-Check-In-Flow-Changes_042121.docx

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jakers]

2 hours ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Interestingly enough not everyone reserved these Alaska cruises recently. So expectations for some could be totally different than expected.There are a few from our July 24th Roll Call that actually booked the cruise and their interior stateroom over a year ago but on the Eurodam and it was transferred to the Nieuw Amsterdam, probably about the time the pandemic was starting and we all figured by 2021 we would be sailing again. I was actually booked to cruise in September 2020 on the Eurodam and it canceled right at about a year ago and I immediately booked for the same date in September for 2021. We knew nothing about vaccines and even masks in May last year when we booked. So much has changed since then. Many have since canceled that booked last year but I was one that was absolutely certain we would be sailing to Alaska this year. It just ended up being a bonus to also reserve the July 24th sailing. I think those that had reserved these cruises last year may have had different expectations of what this year might be and may be waiting to know more information.

We are one of the ones that booked the Eurodam cruise on July 24th in September of 2020. We have an interior cabin. According to my PCC, there are 35 interior cabins booked for this cruise. Although I am the only one who has popped up on these boards. So take that for whatever it is worth. There are a number of reasons that we picked this cruise.

1. We have always sailed on HAL's smaller ships and since there are now so few of them, we thought we better try one of the larger ones.

2. We've been to Alaska many times (April, May, June, and August) but have never seen the salmon run.

3. My daughter wanted to see Fireweed in bloom.

4. We had FCC that we needed to use.

We gave up on trying to determine when Covid would go away, so it had nothing to do with us picking the 24th. Somebody has to be first. The whole family has had Covid and survived. We were vaccinated as soon as our groups came up and survived. We vacationed in Hawaii in March and had to shell out $375.00 for the test, and had a great time. Now we are going on a cruise in July and we will let the rest of you know how it goes. Anything beats sitting at home or going to work with a mask on. 

[mightycruisequeen]

I don't know how HAL can include the requirement to show vax records, since Florida and the CDC are still at an impasse:     

 

[zgscl]

3 hours ago, jakers said:

We are one of the ones that booked the Eurodam cruise on July 24th in September of 2020. We have an interior cabin. According to my PCC, there are 35 interior cabins booked for this cruise. Although I am the only one who has popped up on these boards. So take that for whatever it is worth. There are a number of reasons that we picked this cruise.

1. We have always sailed on HAL's smaller ships and since there are now so few of them, we thought we better try one of the larger ones.

2. We've been to Alaska many times (April, May, June, and August) but have never seen the salmon run.

3. My daughter wanted to see Fireweed in bloom.

4. We had FCC that we needed to use.

We gave up on trying to determine when Covid would go away, so it had nothing to do with us picking the 24th. Somebody has to be first. The whole family has had Covid and survived. We were vaccinated as soon as our groups came up and survived. We vacationed in Hawaii in March and had to shell out $375.00 for the test, and had a great time. Now we are going on a cruise in July and we will let the rest of you know how it goes. Anything beats sitting at home or going to work with a mask on. 

I cannot wait to hear how it goes. I just booked for mid August and can’t wait. I will be happy to wear a mask & take multiple covid tests if needed, show my vaccine card and be flexible in terms of other adjustments (including potentially quarantining at some point). I’m just so happy to be taking an actual real vacation. From what I’ve read of the X and royal cruises that are going the onboard experience is basically back to normal albeit with a longer boarding process, testing, and a much smaller number of people on the ship. 

[Crazy For Cats]

I find this thread interesting.  In the past I would make final payment before penalties kicked in and could see the contract.  If something in the contract didn’t sit right with me I could cancel without penalty.  We booked Alaska based on HAL’s covid policy posted on their web site along with public information provided by them in interviews with Gus.  I actually am not a fan of HAL sharing health information with third parties.  I’m certainly ok sharing it with medical staff and government agencies.  We will most likely accept the terms for this cruise but would like to know our options if we decide that the terms are unacceptable.