Kathy Joyce Holland America Cruise Line Ripoff Houston Texas

While I enjoyed our cruise with Holland America, there were several areas where I feel they were deceiving.

1. They would not assign us a room until we boarded our cruise. We contacted them often by email advising our requests and they guaranteed us our request. When we boarded we were advised they had changed our requests.

2. We used the internet on ship and felt we were ripped off extensively. They advertised .75cents per minute, $40.00 for 100 minutes or unfortunately I forget the other alternative. We chose .75 cents per minute. At a cost of $3.95 to sign up and the few emails we sent, our bill was approximately $96.00 American. Our usage came to I believe 1hour 20 minutes. Of that time I believe 2/3's of it was spent waiting for the system to do it's thing. When I approached the internet manager she said we should have signed up for the $40.00 package. She did not suggest that when we signed up. When I complained to Holland America, they advised it was a concession and they had no authority. Why then did it my bill appear on their invoice?. I put in an official complaint to Holland America.

3. I won three signed copies of lighographs from Park West Gallery. Caught up in the excitement at their auction, I purchased three more copies. While looking up the artists on the internet, I found many complaints of misrepresentation and over charges for their art. During one of their auctions they offered a free Mona Lisa Lithograph if you signed up for a (free Credit Card). I signed up and was advised they couldn't process my application without my social security number. I advised that in Canada it is against the law for anyone to request that information, and was told they never heard of that all Canadians on board had freely given that information. Another couple on the cruise told them the same thing. Also when speaking to an American couple they advised that although it's not against the law, the public is advised not to do so. Eventually they just refused to process my application.

I believe Holland America is responsible for all concessions they offer to the public and therefore are responsible to their passengers for deceit, and felt abandoned by Holland America, therefore I would never recommend them to any travellers.

Kathy *****

Kathy
Waterloo, ON, Ontario
Canada