I must get an address for Holland America Cruise lines, as we were
persuaded to book tickets under false pretences. We are entitled to
"interline" prices, which are offered to airline employees and some
others. We phoned Holland America with our travel agent (3-way), so we
were all privy to the information that we were given. We were
persuaded to purchase the tickets immediately as they expected the
cruise to sell out and this was for our birthdays so it was a trip (to
Hawaii) for 18 days that we were very anxious to get as their dates
were the only ones to link up with my husbands holidays. We were
notified of this "special"price by a brochure sent to us by email, and
when we tried to claim the price offered on that brochure, nobody
seemed to know anything about it. However, luckily, I had a Promo
number to quote as we are Mariners (means that you always get the best
prices because of the number of times you have sailed with them).
After 15 minutes of searching on their part and refer to supervisors,
we were grudginly given the quoted price, which later turned out to be
a HIGH price. We were pushed to book immediately, and assured that
should they have any interline prices available later we would
defitely be contacted and given the lower rate. Meanwhile, as time
went on, I noticed the price dropping on email brokers, and then,
boom- an interline offering which would lower the price on each ticket
by $500.00! We phoned our original interline booker and he got on the
phone to claim the discount for us, and after a good two hours of
arguing with them was told that we definitely would not be receiving
ANY discount, even the price that they were now being sold for on the
internet. For the price we paid, we got the worst room on the ship, of
which there are only two ("NN")category, on the bottom deck, hidden
behind the doctors office. We were very unhappy when we booked, but at
least knew, were ASSURED that we might get a lower price. They said
something about booking 75 days in advance, which cancelled our right
to obtain the lower rate, and when we argued that we had all heard
what we were assured of repeatedly, they ignored us as if we were
dirt. Our interline booker has been in business for 26 years and had
never heard of such a rule, and we were not born yesterday, we
certainly would have taken the chance of waiting for the price to drop
and then booked if they had not pushed us so insistently to book or
the ship would be sold out. We were not even offered the lowered price
that it is selling at now, which is certainly not 75 days later, and
this has ruined the whole cruise for us. When I wrote to the link on
their website, I knew that I was wasting my time and would never hear
from them. I will be miserable on this cruise, knowing that we were
lied to, misinformed, pushed to purchase immediately, with such a
dreadful outcome. We feel gouged and unsure as to whether we will even
go-except for the fact that we would lose a huge amout of money unless
one of us is sick and can claim our cancellation insurance. Other
people are being offered free dinners in the "pinnacle grill" which is
their very upscale pay restaurant, and other coupons, as well as the
lowered rate to induce them to buy. Please help me to reach someone
who must answer my complaint. |
