Complaint Review: Barry Cooney

Orlando Ashford the President and CEO of Holland America needs to examine his company.  As a Seattle Based Company also my wife and I have traveled on Princess Lines, Royal Caribbean Lines, Carnival Cruise Lines and Viking River Cruises.  Because my wife had always wanted to do the New England – (Prince Edward Island) because she is a fan of Anne of Green Gables we booked in October of 2016 Quebec to Fort Lauderdale.  Because we also wanted to bring her mother who is 86 and a Nanny we bought a second cabin.  And to add to that they were Pinnacle Suites at the tune of 11 grand each.  Because my wife and the nanny had celiac disease I called and was assured by Holland America they could handle the job.  Needless to say, that several times they served them Gluten products in the dining room and they were sick a total of 8 days of a 12-day cruise.  With a second choice of the different options we decided to do the Salad Bar.  We instructed them that they were gluten free yet the servers used the same tongs for every item.  In fact one server just used his hands from item to item.  I complained to the duty officer with no response.  In order to protect them from uneducated – unprofessional servers I paid for the Pinnacle Grill thought much of the rest of the cruise to ensure they were not sick the other 4 days.  When I complained it was like a joke to them and they offered 150 dollars each for their errors.  This is our 6^th cruise and I have never had to complain at all about any of our service on any of the other carriers.  Something is very wrong here and it always starts from the top with Orlando Ashford.  A company’s professionalism and customer service always roll downhill.  I hope that if you are looking for a recommendation – try another line or look on line at the Holland America complaints that have not been addressed.   Sad State Of Affairs at Holland.