Never say Never! An apology to HAL and CC

[terrydtx]

Last year we had a terrible experience with HAL on the Oosterdam because of Covid and the way HAL treated and mislead us. At that time I had a long rant against HAL on CC and swore I would never cruise again with HAL again. I am still upset with HAL over what happened but they did come through with a generous FCC which is giving us a free one-week cruise in November on the Konigsdam. We also were made whole cash wise with our travel insurance which has made the taste in our mouths a little sweeter. After we looked back at the Oosterdam cruise last year, other than the last 5 days of the cruise with Covid, it was a fabulous cruise with great service and food.

 

Today we decided to book an 11 day cruise in August next year on the Volendam of NE and Canada from Boston to Montreal. HAL out of all the cruise lines we considered has the best itinerary and cost. We are now booked in a Vista Suite on that cruise. We were able to book the early booking HIA promo which gives us the Elite Drinks package, Premium Wi-Fi, crew appreciation and a $200 OBC. 

 

The lesson for us is never say never and I apologize to anyone in the HALL CC forum if my rant ruffled any feathers. As we go forward in our travels for now, HAL will stay in our top 3 cruising choices with Celebrity and Oceania. 

[BetsyS.]

terrydtx - I'm glad that HAL has finally compensated you and your wife for the 

terrible ordeal that you went through. 🥂😊

          Thank you for sharing the details of what happened because we all  need to know what to expect when passengers test positive for covid. I hope that HAL will

not repeat the mistakes they made with you.

         My stepfather and I took a HAL cruise from Boston to Montreal round trip

on the (old) Rotterdam in 2018. We enjoyed it very much. It's a great itinerary.

 

[Mary229]

Everyone has a right to rant just as others rave.  I had a similar experience and the truth is that experience was bad and if that ship still sailed I would never go again - my issue was ship conditions.  What changed my mind was a couple of less than perfect cruises on other lines at a far greater cost.  

[Florida_gal_50]

37 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Everyone has a right to rant just as others rave.  I had a similar experience and the truth is that experience was bad and if that ship still sailed I would never go again - my issue was ship conditions.  What changed my mind was a couple of less than perfect cruises on other lines at a far greater cost.  

Exactly.  And there is no reason to make posts reminding the op that they said it either.  So what if they say never.  I try not to say never because for sure I will end up doing it.  It’s a given.  I hope the op has a much better do over.

[cbr663]

Best of luck OP.  

 

I have learned to never say never, as when I do, that turns out to be the very thing that I end up doing.  lol.

[Sea42]

Your frustration was justified. Sometimes you just need to blow off steam.

I hope your next cruise is much more fun!

[dockman]

45 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

Your frustration was justified. Sometimes you just need to blow off steam.

I hope your next cruise is much more fun!

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by dockman

[dockman]

48 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

Best of luck OP.  

 

I have learned to never say never, as when I do, that turns out to be the very thing that I end up doing.  lol.

Good advice.  Never say never, never say always, never talk in absolutes like "everyone likes xxx, eveyone hates xx, they are all the same, etc

with a few exceptions like...everyone will die....i generally find that that people who talk in absolutes are often wrong....especially when talking about subjective things like cruise ships, entertainment, food, itineraries and so on...

[aliaschief]

Never say never but in our case we are just taking a break from what after way too many  Hal cruises became rather repetitional and mundane. How many times watching same dance shows or Planet Earth? Or same dining menus.
Not a problem for all but get’s old for some of us frequent cruisers.

Still have some Hal cruises booked but an other line as well.

A little change and diversion is good.

Edited February 13, 2023 by aliaschief

[mcrcruiser]

All good & bad things end    ;which is the way of life 

[ski ww]

Glad you got things sorted out to your satisfaction. Nice to see you're HAL another chance to see if they can do better. Enjoy your cruise.

[OlsSalt]

Collection of wry insights about "burning bridges": https://sayingimages.com/burning-bridges-quotes/

[rotjeknor]

You will enjoy the Volendam ! Different from the Oosterdam of course . 

[Ipeeinthepools]

On 2/12/2023 at 6:00 PM, terrydtx said:

Last year we had a terrible experience with HAL on the Oosterdam because of Covid and the way HAL treated and mislead us. At that time I had a long rant against HAL on CC and swore I would never cruise again with HAL again. I am still upset with HAL over what happened but they did come through with a generous FCC which is giving us a free one-week cruise in November on the Konigsdam. We also were made whole cash wise with our travel insurance which has made the taste in our mouths a little sweeter. After we looked back at the Oosterdam cruise last year, other than the last 5 days of the cruise with Covid, it was a fabulous cruise with great service and food.

 

Today we decided to book an 11 day cruise in August next year on the Volendam of NE and Canada from Boston to Montreal. HAL out of all the cruise lines we considered has the best itinerary and cost. We are now booked in a Vista Suite on that cruise. We were able to book the early booking HIA promo which gives us the Elite Drinks package, Premium Wi-Fi, crew appreciation and a $200 OBC. 

 

The lesson for us is never say never and I apologize to anyone in the HALL CC forum if my rant ruffled any feathers. As we go forward in our travels for now, HAL will stay in our top 3 cruising choices with Celebrity and Oceania. 

Welcome Back.  Hopefully we’ll get a chance to meet on a future cruise.  If I remember correctly you were considering branching out to some other more premium lines, if so it will be interesting to see how those lines compare to HAL and which approach is a better value for you.

[Cruzin Terri]

On 2/12/2023 at 10:38 PM, aliaschief said:

Never say never but in our case we are just taking a break from what after way too many  Hal cruises became rather repetitional and mundane. How many times watching same dance shows or Planet Earth? Or same dining menus.
Not a problem for all but get’s old for some of us frequent cruisers.

Still have some Hal cruises booked but an other line as well.

A little change and diversion is good.

I understand what you’re saying.  We also decided a while ago to try another line and have not been sorry.  It was a good decision for us after a few unpleasant experiences on HAL.

Terri

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Welcome Back.  Hopefully we’ll get a chance to meet on a future cruise.  If I remember correctly you were considering branching out to some other more premium lines, if so it will be interesting to see how those lines compare to HAL and which approach is a better value for you.

I would like to meet you on a cruise as well, I just will have to stay out of the pools, LOL

 

We decided to book future cruises based on the itinerary first and to stay with 3 cruise lines, Celebrity, Oceania and HAL.  We now have future cruises booked with all three. Choosing the Volendam NE/Canada cruise came down to the almost same itinerary with HAL and Oceania, both were 11 nights. The O cruise was on one of the older O ships with small cabins. We could save about $2000pp on the Volendam in a larger Vista Suite and dine every night in a specialty Restaurant and be way ahead. Bigger value was added with the Premium HIA, paid gratuities early booking promo with Mariner $200 OBC. Our 2025 South America cruise choice came down to Celebrity for 14 days and 18 days on the Oceania Marina. The Celebrity Sky Suite for 14 nights was about the same price as a Concierge Verandah cabin for 18 nights on the O Marina with 3 more ports, so Oceania won out. One problem we are seeing with Celebrity is their future pricing which is pricing us out of their sky Suites when we can book on Oceania for about the same. Our Celebrity New Zealand/Aus cruises next year that we booked early last year are today 20-30% more for a Sky Suite than what we are booked at.

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by terrydtx

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, rotjeknor said:

You will enjoy the Volendam ! Different from the Oosterdam of course . 

Our first cruise with HAL in 2007 was on the Volendam to the Panama Canal.

[Torquer]

@terrydtxI also followed your odyssey last summer both pre- and post-cruise since we were on the Oosterdam for a similar cruise just before yours.  Do you think HAL would have compensated you as fairly as they ultimately did if you hadn't hounded them so much?  In other words, do you think it just takes them a long time to compensate everyone who has a covid experience like yours, or is it because you didn't give up that led to the compensation?

 

BTW, we also love Oceania and now HAL and O are the only lines we use, but probably for a different reason than you.  We have explored Celebrity, and although some of their suites meet our needs, we have found it hard to find itineraries that interest us.  We are well traveled and are looking for longer cruises that go to places we have never been, and not many Celebrity cruises do that.

[terrydtx]

13 minutes ago, Torquer said:

Do you think HAL would have compensated you as fairly as they ultimately did if you hadn't hounded them so much?  In other words, do you think it just takes them a long time to compensate everyone who has a covid experience like yours, or is it because you didn't give up that led to the compensation?

It took HAL almost 5 months from the time we got off the ship before we got the settlement from them, I think that was way too long. My TA was the one who kept following up with HAL over our claim and in December they offered us a $1000 FCC which we rejected, and they finally gave us the $3600 on January 31st, which was enough to cover the Nov. Koningsdam cruise we booked.

 

We now book our cruises based first on itinerary and then we consider only on 3 other cruise lines, Celebrity, Oceania and HAL. After our Equinox cruise in June with our granddaughter in the Caribbean we are done with cruises in the Carribean. All of our cruises after June are 100% itinerary driven and are booked with all 3 of our cruise line choices. 

Edited February 14, 2023 by terrydtx