Letter to Holland America

March 5th, 2023

To:          Gus Antorcha

Subject: Customer Experience on a Recent Cruise

My wife and I have been loyal Holland America customers for many years. We had a very positive customer experience on several cruises, prior to the pandemic. In June of 2022 and again in January of this year we took cruises that did not yield as positive of an experience. For the purposes of this letter I will focus on our latest cruise on January 14-31, San Diego-Hawaii-San Diego on the Koningsdam.

Unfortunately, the trip started badly before we were even able to get on the ship. After dropping our luggage off we were directed across a parking lot to the port terminal. There was no signage or people helping direct passengers where to go. We soon figured out where to go by the long line that was stretching out the door. We joined the line and eventually reached the terminal door only to see another long line weaving back and forth to the first security checkpoint. Keep in mind that the average age of the passengers appeared to be mid 70s and a high percentage had walkers, wheelchairs or canes. The line moved forward slowly as we approached the security check point. Six people were standing around but only three were actively checking identification. Not that it mattered because beyond this checkpoint was another long line snaking back and forth before the security screening. There were three metal detectors in operation, but they were not moving very quickly. When we finally made it through the screening, we then had to show our boarding pass again and go through the Holland Facial Recognition step. Fortunately there were plenty of machines, although the machine we used was unable to read my passport card. Past that hurdle, we could finally head to the ship, which entailed a long walk across an uneven parking lot. After all of that we were finally on the ship.

The cabin was nice and clean. Our steward introduced himself and seemed like a very nice man. Over the course of the next 17 days, he and his assistant did an excellent job tidying the cabin and satisfying our requests.

This cruise includes five days at sea while sailing out to the islands. I was looking forward to a variety of informational programs and other activities such as “Americas Test Kitchen” and programs in the computer lab that were available on previous cruises. Unfortunately, educational programs such as these, appear to be no longer available. Instead, the ship offers a variety of “promotional” (pan-handling) programs. I see enough commercials at home, I do not need to see them while on vacation. I should note that on the return trip, the ship did offer three new EXC programs about Hawaii. They explained that the programs were brand new and had been received while in Hawaii. The programs were very good and would have been much appreciated on the way out. However, three programs do not fill five days of time. Given the average age of the passengers and the length of time sailing it seems like a perfect opportunity to bring in speakers to talk about the war in the Pacific or more about the islands.

One of our biggest complaints, that was also echoed by most of the people we talked to, was the lack of available shore excursions. We talked to people who tried to book shore excursions for this cruise last August but were unable to because they were full. We ended up booking four shore excursions on our own through Trip Advisor, Viator and Vacations to Go

An overriding problem that we and many other passengers noticed was poor planning and/or facilities. Here are several examples:

Soon after boarding the ship, we went up to the Lido deck. As is our practice, we tried to use the hand sanitizer at the aft starboard end of the Lido. It was not working. I tried the same sanitizer every day for three days and it never worked. I finally pointed it out to a Lido manager, and it was working the next day. Why does it take a passenger to tell the staff that something as important as a hand sanitizer is not working. The hand washing stations were new to us. They are very nice except they ran out of soap near the end of the cruise. To make it worse, the back side of the hand washing stations are where the Lido servers bus plates. By the end of the cruise the back of the hand washing stations were covered with old food.

The seats on the chairs in the Lido are in very bad shape. They look 20 years old and must be hard to clean.

The day we arrived in Kauai most excursions were cancelled due to weather, but we able to book a last-minute excursion through the Navigator app. We departed the ship and there was no one from the ship or the excursions to help passengers. We ended up milling around the terminal only to finally track down a ship employee to discover that the tour operator had cancelled due to weather. Weather driven cancellations cannot be helped but the lack of communication and organization is inexcusable.

When we arrived in Maui passengers were being tendered to shore. We waited until we thought the rush was over and then went down to get a tender ticket. When we arrived, we were told it would be about 20 minutes. It was standing room only. Again, the average age is mid 70s and people are struggling to stand. After about 50 minutes, our tender was ready. We were able to get on the tender without much delay and motor into shore. But then we ended up sitting in the harbor for at least 20 minutes, in a hot tender, bouncing in the waves, waiting for an opening at the pier. There was only room for two tenders and navigating to the pier was challenging and slow. Very poor facilities.

In Kona, tenders were used again. This time, getting to shore was much easier as the shore facilities were better. Unfortunately, getting back was a nightmare. We were able to get right on a tender and motor out to the ship only to wait 30 minutes while other tenders unloaded. It seemed strange why so many passengers were just standing on the stairs from the tender platform into the ship. When we eventually were able to get off the tender, we discovered that the security people only had a single screening station in operation. They were unloading two tenders at the same time only to have people queue up for security. Very poor planning and operation.

Up to this point I have focused on what detracted from our experience. It is important to note that there were many positive. The staff was friendly and appeared to be working hard. In many areas it appeared like there were not enough staff or they were not being used effectively.

Many of the evening programs were good. The comedians especially.

Being our 10-year anniversary in addition to two other milestones, this particular cruise was a big deal for us. When we compare the experience we had on this cruise with the experience on several pre-pandemic cruises, we were disappointed. From the outside, it appears that the root cause of the issues are decisions made at the corporate level. Lack of staff, lack of excursions, inadequate shore facilities, excessive promotions and worn-out ship furnishings are all handled at corporate. The ship related complaints could probably be handled easily with existing staff with some simple planning and organization.

Up to now, Holland America has been our only choice for cruises. We would like to continue to cruise with Holland America but would like to see some positive steps towards resolving some of the issues. Also, we would be interested to hear what the company is planning to improve the customer experience so that we can factor that into our decision on future cruises. We will wait your response before posting our social media reviews.

Sincerely