HAL Cancelling Noordam Cruises from NYC November 2008 (Merger of Several Threads)

[gizmo]

Jumping the Gun?

 

The OP of this thread was made aware of the cancellations more than 3 days ago, after he/she tried to book a cruise for 11/08.

 

Is it possible that it was not HAL's intent to announce the change until all their ducks were in order? Is it possible that upon reading it here, those few with actual bookings became anxious and called their travel agents/HAL before the update was announced?

 

In any event, I really do not understand the urgency here or the need to by-pass normal protocols for HAL to communicate directly with consumers.This is not an emergency.

 

Jumping the gun ???? I did not contact my TA until Hal's site showed ALL the changes. That is NOT jumping the gun.

 

The deadline for changes is ridiculous. A couple we were meeting on the cruise left the country today. If I had not seen it, we all might have been SOL since I will also be out of the country and there would be no way for a TA to reach either of us until AFTER the deadline.

 

We booked this cruise at a very good price. Hal will transfer the booking at the same price and give us the OBC but it must be done by the deadline. As far as I am concerned it was urgent for us.

 

I agree 100% with Heather's comments.

 

Frick and Frack made excellent points also.

[peaches from georgia]

I won't go over all the reasons again as I and other posters have already given our thoughts, but how it can be denied that HAL is treating their customers very shabbily in this matter is beyond me. HAL just seems to have a never-ending problem using their computer system in an efficient manner. We see that here on their website, on the phone to services in Seattle, and with so many other customer service problems involving their pax.

[BILLP1]

My agent called HAL three hours ago and the person he spoke to was not aware of the change. I can only assume travel agents have a special line to talk to the cruise lines and if they were not sure , well that sounds weak.

 

There are a lot of people who do not read cruise boards to get information and they are depending on agents and cruise lines to notify them of changes especially before they book airline tickets.

[Sweetdreams]

thanks for your response. Really thought I would get more help on this question since so many people talk about the Noordam on here all the time.

 

Jeff, Though I have not yet sailed on the Noordam my husband & I will sail on her from NYC this coming January 2008. Like you, have read many good reviews of others' experiences and now delighting with thoughts of boarding in a few months. Just after booking last year, came upon this particularly well done video posted here on Cruise Critic. Go to: youtube.com and enter the following into the search: Noordam Mars 2007 Marc et Nicole

Enjoy!

[knitlady037]

The only way I knew about the change was by reading a post on these boards about the cruise destination being changed. HAL did not notify us. We made arrangements to go to Eupope early and stay in England visiting with relatives for a few days before the cruise. When I called HAL to inquire about change in plans, They didn't even show us as passengers on this sailing. When I gave them my booking number, our reservation came up Rome to NY. Nothing about Florida. If I didn't see the posts that day I would have been out of luck waiting for my tickets. Also was just about to buy tickets with miles, which you have to do in advance if you want to upgrade. The whole point of doing this trip was to relax on the Noordam for all those wonderful sea days without all the hassle of airports after getting home. We are booked on the Noordam for march 2008 but am going to cancel the transatlantic.

[Frick_&_Frack]

My parents just reached their Consultant at HAL to cancel and they asked why this was being done. The Consultant advised them that the decision to move the Noordam was based on the fact that the Noordam has come in late to NYC during the winter cruises and caused passengers to miss their airline flights. Therefore, HAL decided that to avoid this, they would reposition the ship to a warm weather destination. :rolleyes:

[O2B@C]

On the deck plans on the HAL website, there is a symbol marking those cabins that have solid steel verandas. Hope this helps.

[innlady1]

My parents just reached their Consultant at HAL to cancel and they asked why this was being done. The Consultant advised them that the decision to move the Noordam was based on the fact that the Noordam has come in late to NYC during the winter cruises and caused passengers to miss their airline flights. Therefore, HAL decided that to avoid this, they would reposition the ship to a warm weather destination. :rolleyes:

 

I tried to keep track of the Noordam last winter, for purely selfish reasons, as we were set to sail on her on 02/07. The only one I remember arriving late did so in January...with unforeseen rough seas.

 

Maybe there were others that I'm not aware of...don't know. I know that ours came in right on time. And others, too, as I watched on the New York webcam...the departures and arrivals.

 

Sounds like a cop out to me.

[hammybee]

Most of the major travel agencies and thus their agents make bookings via POLAR Online. This software shows the status of every booking and thus if a cruise were cancelled for any reason, this is the place it would show.

 

Some travel agencies have inhouse systems linked to this and some do not.

 

Those who frequent this board got a heads up on 9/24 when "krstmay" was advised by her travel agent that the November sailings from NYC had been cancelled. At about the same time, HAL and most major online cruise agencies had suspended further online bookings on impacted sails. This means a lot of people knew something. How this trickles down to the individual agent probably varies, agency to agency. How this trickles down to each client and HAL employees is anyone's guess.

 

On 9/25 "cruzin is me" shared with us a copy of an email she received ( from HAL?? from T/A ??) informing of the OBC and the expiration to apply it.

 

What is unknown is if the OBC is for all sails, all travel agencies and all bookings and if the expiration date is static. No cruise line is under any contractual obligation to issue OBC if and when they cancel a cruise.

 

In a perfect world, someone at HAL would be able to push a button that would unleash a massive email announcing the change as well as an automated voice message to all travel agents with impacted bookings. This is not a perfect world and it is not uncommon for most businesses to not invest in exception processing.

 

Given this business has many established message boards means that information can travel faster than any corporation or travel agency can reasonably disseminate it.

 

Clearly not everyone at HAL has been up to speed and there is no "company line" as it relates to why these cruises were cancelled beyond what can be inferred- they were not money makers for HAL. Does it really matter at this point?

 

I will continue to believe that the brunt of communication issues, regardless of cruise line, lies with agents, the majority of whom are part time, work from home and have a tendency to know substantially less about cruising than the average reader of this board.

[hammybee]

Sounds like a cop out to me.

 

It probably was easier for this rep to say than "these sailings have not been money makers for the company and therefore the intinerary was discontinued". And yeah, I agree, sugar coating often backfires.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Knitlady, I've read about similar experiences by others on another thread. I think HAL has handled this deplorably and I can only imagine your reaction at the haphazard way they handled this mess.

 

I wonder how long it would have taken for them to let you know if you hadn't been here on CC!!! :eek: .

 

Have a great time on Noordam in March!!! Hopefully your next cruise booking will have a better conclusion!!!

[innlady1]

thanks for your response. Really thought I would get more help on this question since so many people talk about the Noordam on here all the time.

 

I'm not sure how HAL calculates the difference between one category and another. One thing I've noticed, the higher the deck, the more $$$.

 

The "best" (as far as the powers that be determine) verandahs are VA, then VB, VC, VD, VE, VF.

 

What I did in selecting a stateroom on each of our Noordam cruises was to study the deck plans, and then select a stateroom. Plug it in on the HAL site to see if it's available...and then contact our TA.

 

I like to know where we're going to be! Last time, we were in a port side toward the stern, VC5150. This time, we chose an aft verandah, on the stern, VA5188.

 

Study the deck plans and you'll find what you want!

[HeatherInFlorida]

My parents just reached their Consultant at HAL to cancel and they asked why this was being done. The Consultant advised them that the decision to move the Noordam was based on the fact that the Noordam has come in late to NYC during the winter cruises and caused passengers to miss their airline flights. Therefore, HAL decided that to avoid this, they would reposition the ship to a warm weather destination. :rolleyes:

 

ROTFLOL!!!:D Was the agent trying to sell them a bridge at the same time? I think your parents might have been more apt to buy the bridge!!:D

 

Why not simply say that the itinerary out of NYC wasn't lucrative enough for HAL and leave it at that? At least that's believable. I can see the day that HAL cancels an itinerary because they're worried people won't make their flights.

[innlady1]

Just for your information, we did rebook our 10/18/08 cruise aboard the Noordam from FLL instead of NY. Got it for the same price we paid from NY11 days) which is $430.00 per person cheaper than the 10 dayer we are booked on from FLL, according to the price on the web site. Don't know why FLL would be more expensive, but we did save some money.

 

There in lies part of the problem, IMHO. I think they've kept the prices lower on the Noordam to attract business on their NYC departures. And perhaps now they're regretting that decision. Seems a little strange to me that two years ago, HAL was hyping up the cruises out of New York on the Noordam, and now they're discontinuing them. However they look at the numbers, perhaps they weren't what they anticipated. :rolleyes: :confused: :rolleyes:

[Frick_&_Frack]

Heather -

 

When Mom called to tell me, my jaw dropped to the floor! I was on the notorious Dawn sailing that came BACK to NYC through the blizzard in February 2006 and, since them, check the winter sailings very carefully (even though there is no flying for us - I'm just really curious). It's rare that a ship is "late"; and, if they tend to run "late", then they could just change their stated arrival time to a later hour.

 

After the consultant told my Mom that story, she then tried to talk my Mom into the E-dam Canada trip. My Mom was "what part of I am not allowed medically to fly don't you understand?" :eek: GO MOM! :D (For anyone who didn't meet my parents last year on the Noordam - they are among the gentlest souls on the planet - they didn't even want to call to cancel they wanted me to do it because "they didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings"). I was in meetings, so I insisted that she call today. I'm glad I did. Mom's all fired up asking me "where's that address to write the letter to". It's kinda cute...:D

[HeatherInFlorida]

Hammybee, I'm sorry ... I'm not buying it. I don't think it requires a perfect world to alert all booked passengers about the cancellation of their cruise.

 

I don't know exactly what your link with HAL is, but time and time again you defend them. That is your right, of course, but you cannot expect that you're going to find too many people here who are going to agree with you in a situation like this.

 

I will continue to believe that the brunt of communication issues, regardless of cruise line, lies with agents, the majority of whom are part time, work from home ..................

 

This is mind boggling. I would like to know where you got these statistics (such as they are). I do not believe you are correct that the majority of TAs work from home ... not saying none do, but I don't think the majority do. And even those that do have access to their computers just as they would in an office situation. Working from home doesn't make people stupid :).

 

In such a major cancellation as this, information should not be "trickling down"!!!

 

I thought of addressing the balance of your explanation for this mess, but came to the conclusion that there's just no point.

[CHACruiser]

We were NOT notified by HAL...but noticed this change w/the Noordam itinerary on CC! When I called them about our 10/4/08 cruise to NY, they said we "were on their call list" (we booked directly w/HAL) and they just had not gotten around to calling us yet. Their information about the cruise was "hazy" as far as ports, but yes, she finally saw that "the ports had changed as well in addition to the final arrival port OF FLL." We kept the booking (for now) but have not yet received a "Confirmation" from HAL, ..... and it's been 2 days.

 

I have to say - after our last trip on the Veendam (Aug 07) and this... we are definitely looking around.

[Frick_&_Frack]

We were NOT notified by HAL...but noticed this change w/the Noordam itinerary on CC! When I called them about our 10/4/08 cruise to NY, they said we "were on their call list" (we booked directly w/HAL) and they just had not gotten around to calling us yet.

 

Oh, that's too precious..."on their call list"....:rolleyes: LOL

 

At least they didn't try to pawn that line off on my Mom (and, yes, she booked directly with them as well - I found out from here and let her know).

 

Maybe the next thread should be "What Excuse Where You Given for the Cancelled/Changed Noordam Sailings?" :eek:

 

(Sorry, it's late, I'm tired....I really do love HAL and would sail on them - out of NYC of course, in a heartbeat if they return, but the silliness of the customer service for this issue is really getting to me.)

[HeatherInFlorida]

I love sailing HAL, too. But that doesn't preclude being aware when they mess up. This is a definite mess ... no other word for it and no explanation is going to explain it away.

 

Off to watch the rest of "Mad Men" ... one of my favorites:) , lots of good memories for me.

 

At the end of the day, this just points out to all of us how proactive we have to be in our lives. It's just too big a world and we have to watch out for ourselves. So just like I check my credit card and bank accounts almost daily to make sure everything is as it should be, I'll just remember to do the same for my travels.

 

Let the buyer beware .... it always come back down to that.:)

[innlady1]

Hammybee, I'm sorry ... I'm not buying it. I don't think it requires a perfect world to alert all booked passengers about the cancellation of their cruise.

 

I don't know exactly what your link with HAL is, but time and time again you defend them. That is your right, of course, but you cannot expect that you're going to find too many people here who are going to agree with you in a situation like this.

 

This is mind boggling. I would like to know where you got these statistics (such as they are). I do not believe you are correct that the majority of TAs work from home ... not saying none do, but I don't think the majority do. And even those that do have access to their computers just as they would in an office situation. Working from home doesn't make people stupid :).

 

In such a major cancellation as this, information should not be "trickling down"!!!

 

I thought of addressing the balance of your explanation for this mess, but came to the conclusion that there's just no point.

 

I agree, Heather. It's plain and simple. HAL has dropped the ball here.

 

There's no excuse, IMHO.:eek:

[bcohtofl]

Thanks O2b@C I can not believe I did not see that symbol on the deck plans. Well that answered my question.

Thank you everyone else also.

[hammybee]

I agree, Heather. It's plain and simple. HAL has dropped the ball here.

 

There's no excuse, IMHO.:eek:

 

Shelia, I am not picking bones here. I understand the dissappointment and the need to blow off steam. I do not however, understand the sense of urgency. These cruises are a year or more into the future, not this weekend. I just don't get it.:confused:

 

And I would feel the same way regardless of cruise line.

[Charliesmom]

Well, I for one am happy that the Noordam is leaving from Fort Lauderdale.

 

My DH refuses to travel on the north Atlantic in the winter. He says that he takes a cruise in the winter to be warm and he's not going to take two days on possibly rough seas to get there.

 

At any rate, we have booked the February 12th, 2009 cruise on the Noordam from Fort Lauderdale. DH is thrilled that he'll have his aft suite and can sit there and watch the wake and feel like a king.

 

Boy, I use up my future cruise deposits soon.

 

Roberta

[cruisinbulldog]

Well, I for one am happy that the Noordam is leaving from Fort Lauderdale.

 

My DH refuses to travel on the north Atlantic in the winter. He says that he takes a cruise in the winter to be warm and he's not going to take two days on possibly rough seas to get there.

 

At any rate, we have booked the February 12th, 2009 cruise on the Noordam from Fort Lauderdale. DH is thrilled that he'll have his aft suite and can sit there and watch the wake and feel like a king.

 

Boy, I use up my future cruise deposits soon.

 

Roberta

 

And there was not a cruise ship leaving out of Ft. Lauderdale in which he could do this??:rolleyes:

 

Some of us enjoy the sea days and sailing out of NYC.. We are just asking for one ship.. Florida already has enough choices IMO..

 

Bulldog

[mamaofami]

I'm not sure how HAL calculates the difference between one category and another. One thing I've noticed, the higher the deck, the more $$$.

 

The "best" (as far as the powers that be determine) verandahs are VA, then VB, VC, VD, VE, VF.

 

What I did in selecting a stateroom on each of our Noordam cruises was to study the deck plans, and then select a stateroom. Plug it in on the HAL site to see if it's available...and then contact our TA.

 

I like to know where we're going to be! Last time, we were in a port side toward the stern, VC5150. This time, we chose an aft verandah, on the stern, VA5188.

 

Study the deck plans and you'll find what you want!

 

 

Sheila, how do you find out which cabins are available by looking at the website? Where on the website do you go?