Complaint Review: Holland-America Lines

On Saturday, July 1, my party of 4 senior citizens arrived in Boston on the MS Maasdam culminating a 7-day cruise from Montreal, Quebec, CA. We had completed a disembarkation questionnaire indicating we would leave the ship at 10:00 and a nephew woud pick us up. At 8:00, as we were eating breakfast, Cruise Director Doug paged us by name and cabin number and said our transportation had arrived.

We cut our breakfast short, rushed to our cabins, grabbed our carry-off items and headed for the gangplank. After we had retrieved our luggage and left the Customs building, we looked for our nephew for half and hour but could not locate him. We called him on his cell phone; there was no answer so we left a message. About half an hour later, he returned our call and told us he had just got out of the shower. I surely would like to know why we got the bums' rush and why we were singled out. No one at Holland-America Lines seems to know.

You can be sure we won't be cruising with Holland-America, Costa or Princess - - all related lines - - in the foreseeable future. As a side note, my parents booked a round-the-world tour with Holland America and got as far as Rio de Janeiro where they were put off the ship because my mother had developed a gall bladder infection. Holland-America refused to refund the balance of their cruise fare and refused to do anything to get them home.

We certainly would discourage anyone thinking of taking a cruise with Holland-America, Costa or Princess to reconsider and find another cruise line.

Patrick
Columbus, Ohio
U.S.A.