Cheated, poisoned, insulted & ignored.

[YNOTTONY]

Attached is an excerpt from my letter to HAL describing my recent cruise experience on the Noordam. Names have been removed.

 

....in my ten years of cruising, I’ve never seen such a cold, self-absorbed and self-righteous staff that made no attempt to help a family in visible need of support.

 

The incident I refer to occurred during the March 10 cruise from New York to the southern Caribbean. This was the 8th cruise for my family, our first on HAL, and a trial run to assess HAL service before booking a family reunion later this year.

 

At the end of the second day at sea, I became ill after eating in the main dining room. Over the next few days I went through a myriad of symptoms including unconsciousness, 60 hours with no sleep, large painful welts, exhaustion, difficulty breathing, etc. At one point, I collapsed to the absolute terror of my four young children (ages 4 to12), who tearfully asked “is daddy dead” while I was unconscious and non-responsive. The ship’s doctor administered a large dose of steroids and antihistamines to stabilize me.

 

The morning after this incident, my wife called guest services so she could be transferred to the kids club and arrange for much needed child care. She was hoping for some quiet resting time for me, and a fun-filled diversion for her worried children.

 

The receptionist at guest services informed my wife that on port days, we had to register for kids club the night before. My wife explained our predicament, which did little to impress the receptionist, who repeated several times that we could not avail ourselves of the service because we did not have the foresight to call and book during the panic of the previous night. As we later found out, the issue was not safety, or overbooking… it was because no other guests had registered for child care that day, and the kids club staff were preparing for a day off at port.

 

My wife insisted on talking to the kids club staff, at which point the receptionist took it upon herself to call the kids club supervisor. After a few minutes, my wife was told our children would be accepted at the kids club, under the condition that we go there immediately to fill out forms.

 

My wife rushed the children out of the cabin and upstairs to the kids club, only to be met by a visibly unhappy staffer, who admonished her repeatedly for not registering the night before, even after my wife explained our unhappy predicament. And to make absolutely sure we knew she was being inconvenienced, the staffer added “You should know, the only reason I am here today is because of you”. The staffer’s attitude unsettled my wife, and she started to leave the club stating that in spite of our need for help, she could not leave her children where they would be resented. As my wife and children left, the staffer called out unapologetically “I’m here now, you might as well stay”.

 

My wife went down to the front office to express her concerns regarding the quality of care she could expect from the staff at the kids club, and her reluctance to return until the issue was addressed. The supervisor promised to look into it and call us back. We received no call, no update. Shocked at the lack of concern, I wrote a brief letter to the captain asking him to intercede on our behalf. Days later, there was still no response.

 

Once my strength returned (around day 10 of the cruise), I went down to the front office to ask why no-one had bothered to address our concerns. XXX, the cruise director, claimed he had tried to phone me as soon as the captain forwarded the letter to him, but he had not left a voicemail, and had not attempted to call me again. He claimed to have written a letter apologizing for the incident and offering assurances regarding the kids club, but again, no letter had appeared in my mailbox. And five seconds after offering a supposed unconditional apology, he started to defend his staffer’s behavior, claiming we had misunderstood her comments! Indeed!

 

 

There are other encounters, similarly cold and self-righteous, that I will not recount here. Even before the cruise had started, HAL had decided to re-fare our tickets by over $1,000 per cabin due to a HAL internal error. This was done some time after we had paid for the cabins and booked our travel. Even though an offer of a refund was made, HAL would not compensate us for the losses we would have incurred as a result of cancelling the cruise, so we decided to keep the booking, albeit very disappointed that HAL did not choose to honor the price we had originally agreed on, instead of having us bear the brunt of their mistake.

[YNOTTONY]

I see that I have been assigned a little exclamation mark.

 

Evidently, pointing out how terrible my cruise experience was - calmly and truthfully - is not considered worthy information for those planning future cruises.

 

I apologize for having disturbed everyone's happy existence with tales of my misery. Please feel free to remove my post.

[lisiamc]

Defensive much? Why not sit tight for a little while to see what people have to say?

 

Did you see a doctor after you returned home? Your food mis-adventure sounds like it could have been an allergic reaction, but I am not a doctor. Did you hear if others were ill too? Your description of being "poisoned" is a bit strong, unless others were suffering too, or someone had it in for you!

[4FRCruising]

I see that I have been assigned a little exclamation mark.

 

Evidently, pointing out how terrible my cruise experience was - calmly and truthfully - is not considered worthy information for those planning future cruises.

 

I apologize for having disturbed everyone's happy existence with tales of my misery. Please feel free to remove my post.

 

If the little "exclamation mark" you are referring to is the little check mark to the far right in the posting headline.....all that means is that YOU have posted to this thread (helps you find posts you have started and/or replied to)

[producegirl]

I see that I have been assigned a little exclamation mark.

 

Evidently, pointing out how terrible my cruise experience was - calmly and truthfully - is not considered worthy information for those planning future cruises.

 

I apologize for having disturbed everyone's happy existence with tales of my misery. Please feel free to remove my post.

I am thinking of taking a cruise on HA's new ship "Eurodam". We only sailed HA once, a long time ago on the Ryndam and were very happy. But of course, we didn't have the problems you did. I think it is good to relate both good and bad experiences on this site.

Let me know the final outcome!

[jalexsai]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. As I am also evaluating HAL for possible future cruises, please let us know the response to your letter.

[Seago2]

Wow! I'm sure you will have some negative responses, but I am so sorry things went so badly for you. Your kids must have been terrified- and totally bored. I hate when the Kids Club staff gets in arms about the registration thing- I've seen it on NCL and Carnival- familes getting yelled at because they didn't register the first night. I can understand the rationale but hey- wouldn't it be better to say "since you didn't register the first night you have to fill this out and WAIT A MINUTE OR TWO until we can get to you to verify the info???" I had to sit through the entire one hour registration the first night on my Elation sailing, right after muster, right when everyone is hungry and NOT wanting to sit in an auditorium and hear sales talks about $lumber partie$, etc.

 

I'm sure that people will also say that you got sick shoreside before embarkation, but IMHO an allergic reaction like that happens pretty quickly.

 

I had an excellent cruise on Noordam and found the staff to be very nice, but I have no reason to doubt your story. We were sailing with a family from our roll call (two little kids) who were very unhappy and had many complaints, most to do with kid-related things.

 

Hope your next cruise is a good one!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry to read about your bad experience. Are you alergic to any foods?

 

Do let us know if you hear anything from Seattle.

[FIRELT5]

At the end of the second day at sea, I became ill after eating in the main dining room. Over the next few days I went through a myriad of symptoms including unconsciousness, 60 hours with no sleep, large painful welts, exhaustion, difficulty breathing, etc. At one point, I collapsed to the absolute terror of my four young children (ages 4 to12), who tearfully asked “is daddy dead” while I was unconscious and non-responsive. The ship’s doctor administered a large dose of steroids and antihistamines to stabilize me.

 

 

"Unconsciousness, or Syncope, Shortness of Breath (SOB) if this indeed occured, you would have been Medvaced off the Ship once in Tortolla or St. Thomas. "Poisioned" ??? . Furthermore, We used Club HAL Daily on Your

"Voyage" and never had a problem with the excellent staff from your country.

We only had 70 Children on board and the playroom was under utilized !!!

[cusyl]

Man, I would be upset too! I'm sorry your cruise got ruined, I don't think your treatment was ordinary at all. Usually HAL employees are very thoughtful and caring.

I hope that HAL will do something for you to make this bad cruise feel a little better.

It does sound like you had some type of allergy to the food you ate, can you remember what it was so you don't order it again? Do you have a peanut allergy? Sometimes they might cook with peanut oil or something.

 

The little exclamation point you mention is in everyone's post. It's in a little triangle and that is where you would click if you want to report a post that has advertisements or offending statements.

[Jade13]

I'm glad to hear you are better. First, I understand this was not the issue in your post but I have to tell you as I started to read including unconsciousness, non-responsive, large painful welts, exhaustion, difficulty breathing, my first thought was that you should have been medically evacuated off the ship. I am being serious about this. My stepdaughter (teenager) had difficuly breathing a month ago and after taking her to her primary doctor she was taken by ambulence to a big hospital where she was kept for days. Thankfully she is alright, but difficulty breathing (especially going unconscious and being non responsive) is very serious.

 

Now, the issue with the child care staffer/kids club is definately a concern and I would have probably written as well. These are employees of Hal, even if like the show staff they are younger and are on the cuise line to see the World on their days off (on the Veendam they told us in each port two show staff have to stay on-board but the others are free to go on excursions), they have a responsibility to be there is you need them and not let you know their true feelings (Wouldn't most staff rather go sight seeing than have to work?). Maybe you ruined her plans which he/she thought were in place that morning but the staffer needed to keep that to his/her self. Telling you “You should know, the only reason I am here today is because of you”. is completely unappropriate. They should have someone available everyday.

 

Please let us know about the response that you resceive?

 

Ok, about the cabin costing over a $1,000 more after you have paid, I have never head of that. Isn't a deposit like a contract? They do not refund your insurance if you change your mind.

 

"Even before the cruise had started, HAL had decided to re-fare our tickets by over $1,000 per cabin due to a HAL internal error. This was done some time after we had paid for the cabins and booked our travel. Even though an offer of a refund was made, HAL would not compensate us for the losses we would have incurred as a result of cancelling the cruise, so we decided to keep the booking, albeit very disappointed that HAL did not choose to honor the price we had originally agreed on, instead of having us bear the brunt of their mistake."

 

I definately think that Hal would need to refund all expenses incurred due to this error including airline rebooking fees, so you will have to explain how after paying you suddenly receive a bill for over $1,000 more and Hal did not offer to make you whole?

[Italy52]

I feel badly that your cruise did not turn out the way you and your family had planned. Your health scare sounds very frightening. Did you see a doctor when you returned to find out the cause? If it was a newly developed alergy to something you ate, it might help you in the future if you can determine the cause of your illness.

[FrankenLouis]

Like I always.. say... 3 sides to every story. Yours, The Ship ( in this case) and The Truth. I agree with some of the other posting... I am sorry but from the sound of things most people would have been off the ship in no time with the medical problems you had. Which leads me to think that if you had the time to fuss about the kids program for a day and not be concerned about your health, something is up with this story. The problem here is that it is very easy to express your one sided thoughts on this board and no one from the ship has a chance to express that side of the story. I feel it is also unfortunate that future guest might doubt the enjoyment of HAL based on this particular experience when no one really knows what went on.

 

Hope your feeling better.... was it every determined what the problem was ?

[YNOTTONY]

Like I always.. say... 3 sides to every story. Yours, The Ship ( in this case) and The Truth. I agree with some of the other posting... I am sorry but from the sound of things most people would have been off the ship in no time with the medical problems you had. Which leads me to think that if you had the time to fuss about the kids program for a day and not be concerned about your health, something is up with this story. The problem here is that it is very easy to express your one sided thoughts on this board and no one from the ship has a chance to express that side of the story. I feel it is also unfortunate that future guest might doubt the enjoyment of HAL based on this particular experience when no one really knows what went on.

 

Hope your feeling better.... was it every determined what the problem was ?

 

I spent one day getting tested at the hospital when I returned. Doctors felt it was an allergic reaction coupled with poisoning, a viral infection or something else. It progressed slowly so I initially tried to shrug it off so I wouldn't ruin my family's vacation. Once I realized how serious it was, I was medicated and it ceased to be dangerous, but the pain and other symptoms persisted and made me miserable. As for leaving the ship, I let the ship's doctor decide that. He did not think I had to leave, and I certainly wasn't going to strand my family on some little carribean island.

 

I'm sorry you think something is up with my story. I thought it was calmly written and very accurate. How I chose to react to my medical condition has no bearing on why HAL chose to charge us an additional $2000 after we had booked and paid for the cruise, why the staff at Kid's club made us feel terrible when we looked for their help and our support, and why the ship's management ignored and patronized us when we complained of the coldness. You can tell how good a cruise line is by how they perform when things go wrong. Some, like Celebrity, shine. HAL utterly failed us in hour of need, and I think others need to be aware of this before spending their hard earned vacation dollars.

[loveallcruises]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience on the Noordam. We were on the Noordam last November and are going back this November. We were on the Rydam last August and I truly love HAL. From my experience they are the most caring ship. It is why my last 3 cruises have been on HAL and why I am going back again and bringing cousins. Hope my experiences keep up.

 

We were with a couple that got sick on the ship. Had some kind of influenza. The staff could not have been more helpful to them.

 

Hope your incident was truly an isolated one.

 

Never had experience with kids club on HAL

[YNOTTONY]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience on the Noordam. We were on the Noordam last November and are going back this November. We were on the Rydam last August and I truly love HAL. From my experience they are the most caring ship. It is why my last 3 cruises have been on HAL and why I am going back again and bringing cousins. Hope my experiences keep up.

 

We were with a couple that got sick on the ship. Had some kind of influenza. The staff could not have been more helpful to them.

 

Hope your incident was truly an isolated one.

 

Never had experience with kids club on HAL

 

Wow. Sounds wonderful. I wish I had a similar experience. :)

[hammybee]

I spent one day getting tested at the hospital when I returned. Doctors felt it was an allergic reaction coupled with poisoning, a viral infection or something else. It progressed slowly so I initially tried to shrug it off so I wouldn't ruin my family's vacation. Once I realized how serious it was, I was medicated and it ceased to be dangerous, but the pain and other symptoms persisted and made me miserable. As for leaving the ship, I let the ship's doctor decide that. He did not think I had to leave, and I certainly wasn't going to strand my family on some little carribean island.

 

Pure speculation on my part but I am wondering if you might have had shellfish in the dining room. I know 2 people that have developed spontaneous allergies to shellfish and had horrendous reactions to it, neither onboard a ship. One, a woman, eventually lost all her hair. It did grow back.

 

That others on the ship did not become seriously ill suggests the sensitivity is within your system. Given your ordeal, please consider getting to the bottom of this so you never have a repeat occurance.

[sail7seas]

A message posted at 3 A.M. (Eastern Time) is not likely to get many immediate responses.

 

Glad to hear you have recovered and you and your family are safely home.

 

Sorry you encountered disappointments on Noordam.

 

Never having dealt with Club HAL, I have no clue about the children's areas.

However, I have dealt with many HAL crews and specifically Noordam's and we have had a very different experience than you relate here.

 

Call me cheerleader or whatever. I'm simply saying we adore Noordam and are still awed by her crew. ONE of the finest we have ever sailed with on any ship/cruise line.

 

The most important thing is you have recovered and seem to now be well.

But poisoned? Admittedly that is the first time I have heard that word used on any cruise BB. Allergy perhaps?

 

Wishing you all good health and happy cruises.

 

[jtl513]

I see that I have been assigned a little exclamation mark.

If you mean the exclamation mark in the red triangle in the upper right corner, you should realize that ALL posts get that so that Hosts can be alerted to problem posts. Yours is not a problem post.

 

Pure speculation on my part but I am wondering if you might have had shellfish in the dining room. I know 2 people that have developed spontaneous allergies to shellfish and had horrendous reactions to it, neither onboard a ship. One, a woman, eventually lost all her hair. It did grow back.

 

That others on the ship did not become seriously ill suggests the sensitivity is within your system. Given your ordeal, please consider getting to the bottom of this so you never have a repeat occurance.

Or did you have any snails/escargot? My son-in-law is very allegeric to them.

[hammybee]

Ok, about the cabin costing over a $1,000 more after you have paid, I have never head of that. Isn't a deposit like a contract? They do not refund your insurance if you change your mind.

 

"Even before the cruise had started, HAL had decided to re-fare our tickets by over $1,000 per cabin due to a HAL internal error. This was done some time after we had paid for the cabins and booked our travel. Even though an offer of a refund was made, HAL would not compensate us for the losses we would have incurred as a result of cancelling the cruise, so we decided to keep the booking, albeit very disappointed that HAL did not choose to honor the price we had originally agreed on, instead of having us bear the brunt of their mistake."

 

I definately think that Hal would need to refund all expenses incurred due to this error including airline rebooking fees, so you will have to explain how after paying you suddenly receive a bill for over $1,000 more and Hal did not offer to make you whole?

 

It sounds to me like the OP was one of many involved with the now infamous HAL pricing glitch, last fall, that impacted some Noordam sails which were priced very low due to error. For whatever reason, HAL chose to not honor those prices and gave those who booked the option to cancel their cruise with a full refund or pay the incremental difference.

 

Those who booked air independent of HAL and were able to prove it, were handled on a case by case basis.

 

The cruise contracts of all cruise lines, gives the cruise line, any cruise line, the ability to correct a mistake and in this case, HAL chose to invoke this. I am certainly not going to defend HAL for their decision but do acknowledge that their reaction was legal and covered, within the contract.

 

In the end, no one incurred loss beyond dissappointment that they were unable to snag the deal of the century. And Boo to HAL for not steping up to the plate and doing the right thing, regardless of their contract.

[hammybee]

Or did you have any snails/escargot? My son-in-law is very allegeric to them.

 

Can you tell I do not eat anything from the sea? I thought snails/escargot were shell fish. My bad.

[YNOTTONY]

A message posted at 3 A.M. (Eastern Time) is not likely to get many immediate responses.

 

Glad to hear you have recovered and you and your family are safely home.

 

Sorry you encountered disappointments on Noordam.

 

Never having dealt with Club HAL, I have no clue about the children's areas.

However, I have dealt with many HAL crews and specifically Noordam's and we have had a very different experience than you relate here.

 

Call me cheerleader or whatever. I'm simply saying we adore Noordam and are still awed by her crew. ONE of the finest we have ever sailed with on any ship/cruise line.

 

The most important thing is you have recovered and seem to now be well.

But poisoned? Admittedly that is the first time I have heard that word used on any cruise BB. Allergy perhaps?

 

Wishing you all good health and happy cruises.

 

 

The doctors at home were baffled by my symptoms, which they could not explain by allergic reaction alone. They felt that something I ate that evening (the third evening / second day at sea) a toxin in the gut of one of the shellfish I consumed, a virus or something else set of an allergic reaction, or the allergic reaction happened in parallel. I've heard many quack theories, but at the end of the day, I was fine before that fateful dinner and sick after it.

 

I recognize this could have happened on any ship, and HAL certainly did not intend to cause or contribute to my illness. And if I had received the support and kindness you suggest is inherent in the Noordam crew, I probably would be raving about the excellent service, in spite of my illness.

[hammybee]

The morning after this incident, my wife called guest services so she could be transferred to the kids club and arrange for much needed child care. She was hoping for some quiet resting time for me, and a fun-filled diversion for her worried children.

 

The receptionist at guest services informed my wife that on port days, we had to register for kids club the night before. My wife explained our predicament, which did little to impress the receptionist, who repeated several times that we could not avail ourselves of the service because we did not have the foresight to call and book during the panic of the previous night. As we later found out, the issue was not safety, or overbooking… it was because no other guests had registered for child care that day, and the kids club staff were preparing for a day off at port.

 

My wife insisted on talking to the kids club staff, at which point the receptionist took it upon herself to call the kids club supervisor. After a few minutes, my wife was told our children would be accepted at the kids club, under the condition that we go there immediately to fill out forms.

 

My wife rushed the children out of the cabin and upstairs to the kids club, only to be met by a visibly unhappy staffer, who admonished her repeatedly for not registering the night before, even after my wife explained our unhappy predicament. And to make absolutely sure we knew she was being inconvenienced, the staffer added “You should know, the only reason I am here today is because of you”. The staffer’s attitude unsettled my wife, and she started to leave the club stating that in spite of our need for help, she could not leave her children where they would be resented. As my wife and children left, the staffer called out unapologetically “I’m here now, you might as well stay”.

 

Well it certainly sounds as if the Club staff was given the day off and most of us do not react well when called into work, at the last minute. It sounds like the HAL staffer allowed her own dissappointment interfere with her professional manner.

 

Not to make excuse for this behavior, but I can't help but wonder if the Club HAL staffer was not fully aware of the situation and viewed it as another intrusion on her personal time, due to the spontaneous whim of a pax, who did not pre-register their kids? I am most certain that they have seen and heard it all, before. Again, I am not making excuses. It sounds like she should have sucked it up and rose to the occasion and saved the whine for her management.

[hammybee]

The doctors at home were baffled by my symptoms, which they could not explain by allergic reaction alone. They felt that something I ate that evening (the third evening / second day at sea) a toxin in the gut of one of the shellfish I consumed, a virus or something else set of an allergic reaction, or the allergic reaction happened in parallel. I've heard many quack theories, but at the end of the day, I was fine before that fateful dinner and sick after it.

 

I recognize this could have happened on any ship, and HAL certainly did not intend to cause or contribute to my illness. And if I had received the support and kindness you suggest is inherent in the Noordam crew, I probably would be raving about the excellent service, in spite of my illness.

 

If we stick to the seafood theory, this could have happened anywhere, anytime. I would not make a link between it and being on a cruise. Easy for me to say, eh. I was not the one sick as a dog. I am glad you have recovered and lived to tell your tale of woe.

[FIRELT5]

At the end of the second day at sea, I became ill after eating in the main dining room. Over the next few days I went through a myriad of symptoms including unconsciousness, 60 hours with no sleep, large painful welts, exhaustion, difficulty breathing, etc. At one point, I collapsed to the absolute terror of my four young children (ages 4 to12), who tearfully asked “is daddy dead” while I was unconscious and non-responsive. The ship’s doctor administered a large dose of steroids and antihistamines to stabilize me.

 

 

Interested in the treatment that you received from the Noordam's Ship Doctor

when you had episodes of Syncope (Unconsciouness) and Shortness of Breath !!!! Was a toxicolgy Assay performed to determine the "Poision" in your System once at home ????