Nieuw Amsterdam - Mar. 12 - Anyone else missed the boat?

[Wakepatrol]

We were on the March 12 sailing

The reason the ship was missing Key West was,it was blowing 45 knots and it would have been too dangerous for the Captain to try and get in there. Plus the captain said one of the pilot boats was broken. I’m sorry for all your angst😥

[canadianbear]

9 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

We were on the March 12 sailing

The reason the ship was missing Key West was,it was blowing 45 knots and it would have been too dangerous for the Captain to try and get in there. Plus the captain said one of the pilot boats was broken. I’m sorry for all your angst😥

Was that the weekend of the tornado warning?

[voyageur9]

On 3/17/2022 at 9:29 AM, steve4031 said:

 

This is a complete fail by HAL.   ..... 

Absolutely, and the apologists and cheerleaders brimming with sanctimonious 'blame-the-victim' tut-tuttery doesn't obscure the reality that HAL delivered far below the minimum and -- worse -- lied about a supposed solution which made the mess worse.

[CruiserBruce]

7 minutes ago, voyageur9 said:

Absolutely, and the apologists and cheerleaders brimming with sanctimonious 'blame-the-victim' tut-tuttery doesn't obscure the reality that HAL delivered far below the minimum and -- worse -- lied about a supposed solution which made the mess worse.

They lied about a solution? You are referring to meeting the ship in Key West? You know when the Captain made the decision not to dock in Key West?

[DaveOKC]

2 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

They lied about a solution? You are referring to meeting the ship in Key West? You know when the Captain made the decision not to dock in Key West?

Good point.  Most times the decision to dock at any port is delayed until as late as possible, just in case conditions improve.  Getting to Key West (for the 60 passengers) would be alot easier than the next port I am sure.

[Wakepatrol]

2 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

Good point.  Most times the decision to dock at any port is delayed until as late as possible, just in case conditions improve.  Getting to Key West (for the 60 passengers) would be alot easier than the next port I am sure.

The next port Jamaica was two days away and the weather got better. The wind was howling on Key West morning ( I was on the ship)

Edited March 19, 2022 by Wakepatrol

[Brucefan]

4 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

They lied about a solution? You are referring to meeting the ship in Key West? You know when the Captain made the decision not to dock in Key West?

I do find it odd that when we got checked into a hotel in Key West at 11:00 last Saturday night that the front desk knew that there would be no ships coming into Port.  The lovely woman told us that.  However, when we called the ship itself and spoke to a crew member about an hour later, they told us we could board the next morning between 8am and noon.  Something still doesn't sit right with us......

Edited March 19, 2022 by Brucefan

[Laminator]

39 minutes ago, Brucefan said:

I do find it odd that when we got checked into a hotel in Key West at 11:00 last Saturday night that the front desk knew that there would be no ships coming into Port.  The lovely woman told us that.  However, when we called the ship itself and spoke to a crew member about an hour later, they told us we could board the next morning between 8am and noon.  Something still doesn't sit right with us......

i would be willing to bet that the crew member you spoke to had no clue what the weather situation would be in Key West the following morning and the ship/captain had yet to send out any info regarding missing the port. I am sure many pax on this board have had the ship pull up outside of a port only to hear we would be unable to dock due to the weather. I know it has happened a few times to me. Actually more than a few times. Then the scramble begins as the cruise director is trying to come up with activities for the day.

 

[cccole]

Laminator, The good news was that you were on the ship when the scramble for activities began.  It is amazing how often it has been happening.  Cherie

[richwmn]

1 hour ago, Brucefan said:

The lovely woman told us that.

one would have to wonder where the 'lovely woman' got her information from. Could it have been speculation on her part?

[ON cruiser]

What some seem to be missing is that 60 passengers--60!--were left behind. Why could not the ship have waited in Ft Lauderdale a few hours at least to get some of them?

 

The other key take-away from the original poster's description is the utter fail by HAL customer service. No help from the Emergency line, no help from anyone, misinformation from all.

 

While clearly, operational and navigational decisions are made by the Bridge officers based on what is safe and prudent, heck, if the hotel clerk strongly suspects that no ships are going to make it in, and given that the hotel clerk has likely "seen this movie before", even if speculation on the clerk's part, it was darned accurate. Why then would the person on the ship to whom the original poster spoke not at least add a proviso that "weather may preclude our docking" or even say, "let me check with operations and I will call you back", instead of blithely offering assurances which turned out to be entirely unreliable?

 

This is a fail on many levels, none of which belong to the passengers involved. Sure, I do not travel the day of sailing, but then I fortunately have that flexibility. As these teachers well explained, not everyone has that luxury. That is why they booked their air through HAL, thinking that they had extra protection and help if something went wrong. Their misfortune is an object lesson to anyone considering HAL air. It may get you great prices for one-way flights when the trip is a transatlantic, etc., but, other than that, the promise of help is illusory. The rest of what is offered by HAL air is pure marketing hype. Buyer beware indeed! 

 

I hope not only the original posters, but all who missed this cruise, get proper compensation. 

[Brucefan]

8 hours ago, ON cruiser said:

What some seem to be missing is that 60 passengers--60!--were left behind. Why could not the ship have waited in Ft Lauderdale a few hours at least to get some of them?

 

The other key take-away from the original poster's description is the utter fail by HAL customer service. No help from the Emergency line, no help from anyone, misinformation from all.

 

While clearly, operational and navigational decisions are made by the Bridge officers based on what is safe and prudent, heck, if the hotel clerk strongly suspects that no ships are going to make it in, and given that the hotel clerk has likely "seen this movie before", even if speculation on the clerk's part, it was darned accurate. Why then would the person on the ship to whom the original poster spoke not at least add a proviso that "weather may preclude our docking" or even say, "let me check with operations and I will call you back", instead of blithely offering assurances which turned out to be entirely unreliable?

 

This is a fail on many levels, none of which belong to the passengers involved. Sure, I do not travel the day of sailing, but then I fortunately have that flexibility. As these teachers well explained, not everyone has that luxury. That is why they booked their air through HAL, thinking that they had extra protection and help if something went wrong. Their misfortune is an object lesson to anyone considering HAL air. It may get you great prices for one-way flights when the trip is a transatlantic, etc., but, other than that, the promise of help is illusory. The rest of what is offered by HAL air is pure marketing hype. Buyer beware indeed! 

 

I hope not only the original posters, but all who missed this cruise, get proper compensation. 

Yes, indeed....a complete and utter customer service fail on so many levels.  There were so many times that issues could have been avoided for us if HAL simply had a PLAN.  Their business is moving people.  They must (or should) have a plan for delayed flights and bad weather.  They had all of our contact info.  No one contacted us.  Utter failure.

 

We are hopeful that HAL is going to make this right for us.  I hope I am able to share a positive outcome from HAL soon.

[doone]

This is the main reason I fly into the port a day or two ahead of sailing….

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, doone said:

This is the main reason I fly into the port a day or two ahead of sailing….

Yes and some fly in multiple days before.  Not everyone is retired.  A point that seems to be forgotten.  I don’t fly in the same day because I’d be too anxious.

[TiogaCruiser]

Just curious- How far is KW from FLL?

 

Well never know, as no one has all the information, but is it reasonable for a ship unable to dock at KW to return to FLL?

 

OP: sorry this happened to you. And how frustrating no one picked up your call.

[richwmn]

Terminal 25 at Port Everglades to Mallory Square in Key West is 190 Miles taking about 4 hours to drive. It would take about 9 hours for the ship to cover the same distance.

[DaveOKC]

6 minutes ago, TiogaCruiser said:

Just curious- How far is KW from FLL?

 

Well never know, as no one has all the information, but is it reasonable for a ship unable to dock at KW to return to FLL?

 

OP: sorry this happened to you. And how frustrating no one picked up your call.

Key West to Fort Lauderdale is about 190 miles.  But another issue is having to get a dock cleared in Fort Lauderdale, plus the expense of it - not going to happen for 60 passengers.

[doone]

38 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Yes and some fly in multiple days before.  Not everyone is retired.  A point that seems to be forgotten.  I don’t fly in the same day because I’d be too anxious.

I am not retired and have been sailing for over 40 years, that day or two earlier has always been  built into my vacation because I know things can happen traveling. 

 

Was the ball dropped by HAL, absolutely, should never have happened, however flying in the same day as a cruise you have to know things can happen.  Definitely with you, way too anxious to fly same day…...a lot of people here have learned a lesson I am sure……

Edited March 20, 2022 by doone

[mame42]

On 3/17/2022 at 5:54 AM, puppycanducruise said:

Wow, what a terrible experience.

Thanks for sharing.

Glad you are able to make the best of a bad situation.

I have had a similar HAL situation with a flight to Amsterdam.  Not only did no one answer the FlightEase Emergency number, but the number listed for the local HAL rep was discontinued.

[Florida_gal_50]

3 hours ago, mame42 said:

I have had a similar HAL situation with a flight to Amsterdam.  Not only did no one answer the FlightEase Emergency number, but the number listed for the local HAL rep was discontinued.

And this is the crazy thing.  I think some think you contact flight esse and then it's nothing but rainbows.  Not really, lucky if you can reach them.

[CBfan]

Hello Everyone,

I am Bruce Fan's (OP) travelling partner.  Thank you for all of your posts and comments. I come from two families of long-time Holland American passenges (my parents have completed several Grand Voyages, and are at least 4-star Mariners, my in-laws are 5-star Mariners) and every single HAL trip we have ever taken was booked by our very experienced travel agent who sends her clients (and her own family) on HAL BECAUSE of their care for their passengers.  It was she who questioned HAL's original booking of our flight into MIAMI (instead of Fort Lauderdale) on the travel day, and they were fully confident that 12:30 arrival into Miami would get us on to the boat by 2:30.  And if you have followed this thread you will know that while flying on embarkation day is not ideal, we really did not have the option such as taking a day off to travel before the start of March Break.  At the time, as I am an experienced traveller from the north at March Break, I knew the risk was most likely weather delay on our departure end.  But I had my emergency contact number at the ready.

 

When BruceFan and I started to discuss making up a cancelled-by-pandemic 2020 trip to the south (the first real holiday both of us were going to have after two years of lockdown/working from home and being in and out of the classroom/school and caring for our students and our own families throughout), and were weighing all options amid covid restrictions/accommodations/transportation, I was the one who suggested we look into the cruise option because it was truly the "no worries/decisions" all-inclusive vacation we wanted (a floating luxury resort with great food/entertainment that takes us to islands or allows us to sit by a pool all day long if that is what we would rather do).  I connected with my TA and she was wonderful in helping us negotiate the new post-pandemic travel regulations but NOT ONCE did we think that it would be HAL that dropped the ball in helping us (again, years of experience in travelling with HAL with NO ISSUES whatsoever and yes, that includes itinerary changes and troubles with docking in ports - I am familiar with all of the ins and outs of maritime travel as well as the fact that you cannot control weather and the captain has to make choices all of the time).

 

I am a very experienced "plan my own adventure" traveller and I have been in many situations where I had Plan A through Plan Z - but I am no longer a backpacker looking for a hostel bed or able to fall asleep on the bench at the station because I missed a train.  I am now of the opinion that if I can afford to travel, I can afford all of the necessary insurance costs as my back-up plan - and that is what we did.   Also, we are both fully-employed educators over 20 years into our careers.  We carry credit cards and can access funds in bank accounts as well.   I pity the poor travellers who had spent their savings on the HAL trip and were left stranded at the airport or pier with credit limits on their cards and no money in the bank account because they had spent their savings on this vacation.  And perhaps this was one of their first cruise/travel experiences and they were not necessarily prepared to take part in the Amazing Race that we undertook.  Throughout this I also kept picturing my own senior citizen parents/in-laws trying to manage what we were managing (and managing it having set out for the airport that morning at 6:00 am).  One set - in their 80s - do not even access the internet in their home let alone possess a SmartPhone and the other set - in their 70s - will attempt the technology but are travelling again after two years of pandemic lockdowns with new knees/a new hip and the requisite physical challenges associated with that.  But I digress.

 

All I asked of HAL was to answer their emergency phone line and give us options or a plan.   Help line overwhelmed? HAL had my email address - they certainly used it to send out the invoices and their requests for me to join an app to help ease embarkation (I laugh now because the complexities of this app was going to be a topic of one of my posts to this board).  HAL employees could have hit the button on a blast out to everyone with some simple reassurances.  That could have been done by one person working from home.   Instead I sat on hold first for nearly two hours (still in Toronto) and then for 4 hours and 14 minutes until my battery/battery pack died (somewhere on a dark road in the Keys).  I don't even want to guess at the number of times I heard the recorded voice telling me that they "valued me"  and to remain on the line.   Over twelve hours into an extremely stress-filled day, I certainly wasn't feeling particularly valued.   Tell me my options, deliver the news that the delay was potentially going to result in the wild goose chase of travelling down to Key West, finding a hotel room on a Saturday night in that city and if that didn't work, then have to start chasing a ship to Jamaica, and I would have made a decision that I controlled. 

 

Instead, it was our TA who waited for nearly four hours on hold (on her day off, back in Canada) to finally be told a series steps for us to take - none of which actually resulted in anything.  The delay was on our file, from at least 4 pm that day (let's remember my first attempt at contacting them started at 8:30am).  The instructions, relayed to us by our TA (NOT HAL, who had our email addresses, and our cell numbers to text or phone): 

 

1) Get off the plane and meet a HAL rep.  Did not happen.  No reps from HAL - and we scoured the arrivals area.

2) Get to the Fort Lauderdale port and someone would be there.  We engaged the taxi, who broke some speed laws I am sure to get us to the port.  And yes, we went to the correct terminal.  It was empty and the doors were locked.   As I was an experienced cruiser I knew this would be the case but I was following the only directions I had.  

3) Get to Key West, where for sure the ship would take us on board the next morning (at that point that would be only 13 hours later).  Our already engaged taxi driver offered to continue the trip. 

Let me repeat ... at this point we knew we had the money in the bank or the credit on our cards that we could pay for this little taxi trip ... which eventually cost $600. 

 

At close to midnight we found what felt like the absolutely last room in Key West ... and again, we used our credit to secure a bed for the few hours left in the night.  And yes, I called the ship (over $100 charge) and spoke to someone who sent the info back up the chain and did me the courtesy of calling back to reassure me we could board the next morning.  I understand the weather/docking issues and that is no one's fault.  The fact the ship couldn't make port the next morning was out of our control.   And the same person from the ship called me to break the news.  His next step to me (remember, this is the FIRST actual live person from HAL that I had spoken to):  call the emergency line (yes, the same line that I spent over 6 hours on the previous day with no results/answer).  

 

Bottom line:  HAL, if you're going to talk the talk about valuing me, then walk the walk and demonstrate it.

Communicate. Answer your phone.  Use the other technological avenues at your disposal (email, text, phone, Navigator app!) to let me know you know I am out there and trying my best to get to where I need to be.   That is really all I ask of the cruise line that promised me a worry-free holiday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CBfan]

Just one more point ... we flew out of Fort Lauderdale yesterday and there were MANY people ARRIVING and heading straight to their ships for embarkation - Celebrity, Holland America, Carnival, Princess ... we saw all lines represented. Taking extra days on either end of one's holiday is clearly not always an option.  When delays happen and that is potentially impacting a significant number of people (we now know approximately 60 people were in the same situation as us) there needs to be a more effective response plan in place.  

[jeh10641]

On 3/17/2022 at 5:02 AM, Brucefan said:

The stress has been unbelievable.  We flew into a perfect storm of bad weather in Florida combined with Canadian Sping Break (we are both teachers) and the fact that border restrictions have been eased somewhat so it is an especially busy time to travel.  Finding a rental car was a whole other challenge.  Not to mention finding covid tests in order to return home.  These tests were also part of HALs worry free guarantee.....

 

We now feel we would be excellent competitors on The Amazing Race 😉

Perhaps you could avoided all this by booking a Sunday to Saturday cruise.

[cccole]

Why do posters KEEP saying fly in the day before a cruise?  Post #73 is ridiculous.  It is irrelevant to this case.  We all KNOW that flying in the day before a cruise is the best strategy.  I don't think anyone reading this thread needs to be educated and reminded about how smart you are when traveling to your cruise.  OP booked flights thru HAL to avoid what happened.  Had HAL flown them into FLL maybe it would not have been a problem.  Can we please just stop with "that's why I never fly in the day of the cruise" posts.  This is a HAL customer service problem, reread original post and post #71 if you are in doubt.  YIKES!!!  JMO,  Cherie  

[cccole]

20 hours ago, richwmn said:

one would have to wonder where the 'lovely woman' got her information from. Could it have been speculation on her part?

Possibly she lives there and knows how it works.  Her information came from experience?  Just a guess.  Cherie