docs????

[martini cruiser]

Leaving May 23rd and no Docs from Holland America, TA was on hold for over 90 minutes, to be told that they would'nt be issued until May 14th, maybe.

 

They said there was a glitch between the old and new booking system.

 

Anyone else with problems...?

 

Martini Cruiser

[mrskmirolla]

Not really a problem but I got an e-mail yesterday stating my docs with be delivered on Wednesday, May 17th. We are leaving on Friday the 26th to Montreal to take the Maasdam on the Canada/New England. I had called my online TA and was told they got them from HAL and now they are waiting 2 weeks before the cruise to send them:(, this is something new for them but I have purchased a few cruises from them and have had no problems so I am not worrying :o Now if they aren't here by next Wednesday I will not be a happy Cruiser;) I know we can get on the ship without some of the docs and I already registered on line and I printed out our airline information so I guess we are as good to go:D

 

Good Luck to you

 

 

Kathy

[wolfatlga]

We have received ours on May 9th for our Maasdam, New England cruise on June 9th. We had used an online agency and they usually get them to us about 30 days before.

 

Happy Sailing!

[noblepa]

For our April 15 cruise on the Oosterdam, I didn't receive our docs until April 7. All cruises after April 14 are being done under the new computer system. My TA called a couple of days before we got the docs and was told that the Air travel department was so backed up because of the new system that they shut off their phones for an entire day, to try to get caught up.

 

Paul Noble

[martini cruiser]

I understand it's the air thats holding everything up. Were doing an Alaskan Cruise Tour, and just got the air schedule, so our seats are lousy. One more reason to not to book the cruise lines air.

 

Martini Cruiser

[Brandis]

Martini Cruiser,

 

are you also on cruisetour 24? I also started to be nervous because we didn get the tickets for a long time. While the cruisetour doesn't start until May 23, we are leaving home on May 20 already. The docs were sent out on May 8 and they finally arrived yesterday. Even though the adress was wrong, for country they put in Chile instead of Switzerland!!! Probably because Switzerland's postal country code is CH, which stands for Confederatio Helvetica. Luckily, Fedex looked at the country code, not the country name itself.

 

Oh, by the way, don't you love that sweetish smell. Not sure if it is the printing ink or something in the artifical leather envelope, but it is just the smell I associate with cruise tickets... :-)

 

Marc

[unclerich]

Leaving May 23rd and no Docs from Holland America, TA was on hold for over 90 minutes, to be told that they would'nt be issued until May 14th, maybe.

 

They said there was a glitch between the old and new booking system.

 

Anyone else with problems...?

 

Martini Cruiser

 

We're on the Noordam 5/21 from Rome. No docs received as of 5/11. And we did our own air! Good to have booking number and print-out of online forms. Hope embarkation is smooth.

 

Have a great trip!:)

 

Unclerich

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL does wait until the last couple of weeks to make final air arrangments whenever you do air through them.

I would be very upset if I had to wait that long to get documents being as we book our own air and go to our embarkation port at 3 - 4 days early.

[travlin4fun]

We are still waiting for docs for our 5/28 cruise tour. We leave 5/27 for a precruise night in Vancouver. Booked through AAA with HAL air.

 

I called HAL but they wouldn't talk to me, only to the TA. Turns out she had called several times, and yesterday they said the docs were never printed and she needed to call another number to find out what was wrong with them.

 

Last I heard she was still holding.

 

We booked this in September last year.

 

The TA finally found out our flights so we can go ahead with our planning. Hubby, my DD (age 9) and me, no seats together all the way from Tampa to Vancouver (two plane changes).

 

Next time we'll book our own flights, and the extra days at the beginning and end on our own!

 

I've been ready to dance for weeks....

[martini cruiser]

Got DOC'S!!!!!

After saying they would be printed on 5/15 my TA got them today.

 

Martini Cruiser

[unclerich]

Got DOC'S!!!!!

After saying they would be printed on 5/15 my TA got them today.

 

Martini Cruiser

 

Here's HAL's response:

 

Thank you for your recent correspondence with Holland America Line regarding your cruise documentation for your upcoming May 21, 2006 sailing onboard the ms Noordam.

 

Please accept our sincere apologies for the late receipt of documents. Please know this is an exception to our normal high standard of service. We endeavor to send out documents no later than 30 days prior to departure date however, due to some technical challenges, we have not met this timeline in some cases.

 

We are working diligently to resolve all technical issues and return to our normal timeline. We certainly hope this situation does not detract from what we're sure will be a most enjoyable vacation experience.

 

Thank you for choosing Holland America Line. Please feel free to contact us if we may be of additional assistance. Our toll free number is 877-724-5425.

[travlin4fun]

At least you got an answer! I emailed them over a week ago and only got an automated repy that they were very busy....

 

I'm just glad I don't work in the doc department. Must be stressful with people like me out here waiting on pins and needles!

 

Thanks for sharing HAL's reply!

[PrincessYoga]

I had trouble with my documents as well as I posted in another thread. Our documents were supposed to be sent to my mother's in America. They were to go to her office so they could be signed for. my mother was out of town working and came back and found the docs on her doorstep. Mine weren't there. We were originally told that my docs could not be sent to Ireland. The TA contacted HAL woh told us about the computer problems and said they didn't know where mine where. They thought they we on the way to Ireland. They sent a duplicate copy to my mother. My docs arrived in Ireland yesterday (well the day before but I was at work so they delivered them to work the following day). My uncle ended up at the TA's in another state. We leave in 25 days.

[Cinderalla3]

We are sailing to Alaska on the Ryndam. I had to stay on the TA to call HAL to find out where our documents were. Finally I visited the office to literraly watch her contact HAL regarding docs. Can't wait to leave.

[travlin4fun]

Wow! That's really cutting it close! Not much dancing time.

 

I plan to make daily stops to visit the TA until the docs are in my hot little hands. I know she is busy and she has made many calls on my behalf, but it's getting too close for comfort.

 

Even if we don't NEED them to board (or for our flights?) this is our first HAL cruise and we spent months planning it to make the most of it. The receipt for my payment is all I have, and it has very little information on it, so it will be a disaster if that is all I have when we leave!

 

Congrats on your docs and have a great trip!

[Sue zz]

Hi,

 

We are going on a cruise/tour to Alaska on the Ryndam. HAL is making our air arraingements and are making a mess of it.:mad: We are supposed to be Fairbanks on 5/24 to meet tour guide, etc. We do not yet have documents. Our flight arrives after midnight on 5/25.:mad: Our TA is working to get our air changed so we arrive on the 24th when we are supposed to. Our TA is not at fault - it is HAL!! I spoke with one of the HAL people and he said everbody that booked air through HAL is getting late docs. Then he told me he couldn't talk to me, he would have to talk to the TA. Needless we will never book air through a cruise line again.

 

Susan

[mrskmirolla]

Well I can't do the doc dance but I am watching them UPS ground from Florida to California.They left Ft Lauderdale on the 10 got to Jacksonville on 11, then on to Dallas Texas on the 12, departure scan from Mesquite Texas the afternoon of the 12th. They have never sent me my docs by ground before but a snail could go faster but at least I can see them daily. I told my husband to stay home Wednesday and wait for UPS, we leave on the 26th. We have HAL air but I have that schedule but I don't know where what hotel we are staying in Montreal but to be truthful:rolleyes: I don't care because I am going on a cruise. Oh I booked a guarantee too:D don't know what cabin either but hey I will be gone soon so anything is okay with me. I do know I fly out of LA on Friday Morning and go to Montreal and board on Saturday on the Maasdam. Whatever could the problem be:p

 

Kathy

[Grumpy1]

Doing the doc dance here! The documents for our Rotterdam June 10 London to Copenhagen came today! We did our own hotel and air. This was booked through the online TA that was the lowest bid through the site that solicits competing bids for you. I was wondering if we would even get the documents in time since we are flying to London a week before the cruise, but the priority mail envelope came today.

 

Everything is as it should be: pleather folder, 6 Mariner luggage tags, 2 Mariner pins, documents, immigration forms, credit card form, gift order form, and 'know before you go' booklet.

 

We got off to a rather rocky start with this TA... misspelled address, wrong final payment date, non existant itinerary... so I wasn't sure how it would wind up. All is well and I'll probably use C-n-M again sometime.

[Grumpy1]

Well I can't do the doc dance but I am watching them UPS ground from Florida to California.They left Ft Lauderdale on the 10 got to Jacksonville on 11, then on to Dallas Texas on the 12, departure scan from Mesquite Texas the afternoon of the 12th. They have never sent me my docs by ground before but a snail could go faster but at least I can see them daily. Kathy

Hey, at least your docs are in motion! RCCL turned our docs over to UPS one week before the cruise and that night UPS went on strike! Never did see the documents. This was prior to the days of ticketless travel and it sure wasn't comfortable going to the airport and hotel with no documents and relying on the TA's statement of "Don't worry, your in the computers".

[mrskmirolla]

Geez Grumpy that must have been horrible but how did it go when you got to the airport then to the ship???

 

Kathy

[Grumpy1]

Geez Grumpy that must have been horrible but how did it go when you got to the airport then to the ship???

 

Kathy

At the airport, they looked it up on the computer and found a notation that they were authorized to print replacement tickets for us, just as if we had purchased tickets over the phone for checkin counter pickup. There was supposed to be someone from RCCL meet us in Seattle to give us our documents, but we never found them. We paid our own transfer to the hotel. The hotel had our reservations, so that was no problem. I had to spend an hour on the phone tracking down someone from RCCL (TA was nowhere to be found) to make sure we had transportation from the hotel to the airport and then to Vanvouver to get on the ship. They sent a limo to pick us up and take us to the bus, but they didn't have any docs for us either. No problem getting on the ship, and we had gotten our return flight tickets when we checked in at Cleveland for the first flight. I should have gotten replacement transfer vouchers from the front desk, but never thought of it. Minor moment of panic when we went to get on the bus from the dock to the airport and I saw everybody tearing vouchers out of their document booklets. I guess there must be enough times that people had put the booklets in their checked luggage that they were set up to handle it. The driver asked to see our ship ID card and our airline ticket and away we went.

[GigiT]

Leaving May 23rd and no Docs from Holland America, TA was on hold for over 90 minutes, to be told that they would'nt be issued until May 14th, maybe.

 

They said there was a glitch between the old and new booking system.

 

Anyone else with problems...?

 

Martini Cruiser

 

We're leaving on 5/25 (6:10 a.m.) with 2 stop to Athens, but still no doc from HAL. My TA gave me our ref # to view the flt schedule in internet, so the worse case, I would take a print copy to check in my flt. Of course, I like to have the beautiful brochure together with the doc sent by mail. My TA would talk to them tomorrow again.

gigit

[unclerich]

Leaving for 5/21 Noordam Med cruise.... Reservations made 4 months ago - no cruise docs received. An amazing situation! Doesn't speak well of the current state of affairs at HAL.