Anyone, I booked a 20 day Mediterranean Cruise with Holland America back in February for my Honeymoon. My wedding is May 22 and the ship leaves May 29. I am 23 and my new bride to be is 20. I have paid for everything already, the airlines, hotel in Rome, and cruise.
However, they have just informed me that they are not going to let us sale because Kelly, my wife, is too young. We are 2 weeks away from our wedding!!! They didn't inform me of this before, nor do they say anything on their website. On other websites, age requirements are waived for married couples if they are both over 18 and can show proof of marriage.
Here is a link to their requirements. It states that guests under 21 must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or chaperone who is at least 25 years old. Since she is not a minor, you might be ok. I'd call HAL directly, speak with a supervisor and see what they can do.
Or if nothing else, can they transfer your reservations until October when she will be 21? They should have told you up front and if they didn't ask your ages when you booked, they should have let you know before now. Did you book through a travel agent? Did you get cruise insurance?
They said they would refund our money, but it puts us in a terrible bind with only 2 weeks until the wedding. The plane tickets & hotel in Rome are already paid for, so we are limited on what to do. If HAL is going to deny young honeymooners from boarding, they need to at least advertise it or say something about that on their website.
Did you book this directly with HAL or through an agent? Regardless, the booking shouldn't have gone through is the ages were not in line with the rules.
But beyond getting all your money back, you have no options with HAL. It is obvious HAL is not going to let you board the ship. All I can say is look at booking with another cruise line and making some adjustments in your plans.
As an aside, I have to say that a 20-day cruise on Holland America is a curious choice for people 23 and 20 years old. HAL typically attracts an older clientele anyway, and any cruise that is 3 weeks long will be mostly "older" people regardless of the cruise line.
I booked this through a travel agency, and they are equally devastated. Their Holland America rep is also floored by this and is working to try and get this changed. Our travel agent has been on several HAL cruises with her husband when they were underage and there was never any problem because they were married. I understand I might have to make some changes, but it doesn't change how angry I am and if there is a small chance something can be done. I have saved for over 2 years to go on this cruise and take that much time off of work. I don't think that should matter though; its the principle that a young married couple can't go on a cruise because one of them hasn't turned 21 yet.
I'm with Dave, there are other cruise lines that sail from Rome. I'd be call ing them and seeing if they will let a married couple sail on their ships. Don't waste airfare and hotels. Act quickly though.
CCL Fantasy 1990 CCL Celebration 1995 CCL Victory 2005 CCL Conquest 2005 CCL Spirit June 2006 NCL Dream October 2006 RCCL Mariner OTS June 2007 CCL Freedom June 2008 CCL Holiday July 2008
Since you didn't put down your ship and sailing date, I did a little search, are you booked on Nordam May 19th? If so, you're getting really close to your sailing and will have very few options for changing ships for a similar sailing on another line. Do you have travel insurance to cover the loss on hotel and airfare if you have to change the date? I'm not even sure the cruiselines age policy and them not notifying you of the requirement would be covered by the terms of most insurance coverage. Hopefully you'll hear from the Holland Rep with a quick sollution. If not, don't delay, cancell the sailing and get the refund started. Look for alternate dates and ships that still have availability or have you T/A do it or both. You're up against a real time crunch if you're on the sailing I think you're on. I'll see if there is something similar you can look at and get back. Also check on any penalties that would apply to your hotel and air for making changes.
After digging a little deeper, Carnival, HAL and Windstar all have the same rules for everyone being 21 or over unless someone in the cabin is 25 or over. Carnival makes exceptions for married couples, HAL and Windstar do not.
There are very few options for the Med the second half of May except HAL. There are a few Seabourn sailings but that would not be anywhere near in line for pricing. There is one Princess sailing on Grand Princess on May 30th still open but it's from London. HAL is the only line leaving Rome (Civitavecchia) during that time frame for the Med.
There are a couple of late May sailings doing Northern Europe but again, not on your date or from Rome with anyone but HAL. Azamara Journey 14 days from Barcelona May 23rd might be an option. You could still use you air and hotel, you'd just need to add some nights and get a Euro-Pass for the rail system to commute before and after the sailing to/from Rome. I hope you and your agent find a workable sollution through HAL but I wouldn't count on it. They don't make exceptions in policy, even when its an emergency or an error on thier part. At least that's been my experience.
I had them drop the ball recently on a booking, they posted a payment to the wrong booking inside a group. The booking they failed to post it to auto cancelled and they were unwilling to take any responsibility for their own doccumented error and fix the situation. Fortunately it was able to be corrected at great expense to the travel agency and agent involved. The client was happy, they got an unexpected suite (the only cabins left when the error was discovered) from an inside cabin booking. Hopefully there is a solution that will work. Congrats on your wedding anyway!
I am amazed at what I'm reading! I believe in following rules; but this rule is beyond belief. And as Dave says, even more amazing is that it got to this point before anybody noticed.
My congratulations to the young couple, and my deepest sympathy for this unbelievable situation.
Posts: 3250 | Location: Costa Mesa, California | Registered: November 16, 2006
My travel agent drove over to tell me the news, because she was so excited and couldn’t do it over the phone. She had got a call from her HAL rep at 8AM, 6AM Seattle time, who had been pushing this case with Holland America.
The HAL rep’s name was Alicia and I want to give a big thanks to her for really sticking it out for us. I know she had to reopen our case and go above and beyond to find someone who would listen. She said she got a call at 1AM from her director who was told that we would be allowed to board. I am so excited!!!
I can’t thank all of you enough, who kept posting all day yesterday and last night. There was so little hope because HAL had faxed over our cancellation notice yesterday afternoon and were only going to refund $400. But you guys kept talking and spurring debate on this arbitrary age requirement rule of being 25. I know they were listening to all of us, even if they didn’t say so.
If we had gotten no response by this afternoon, I had planned to start using all of your great ideas out there. I’m just so happy it didn’t have to make it to that stage. I’ve been on three HAL cruises with my family and always considered there service the best. That is why I selected them for my honeymoon. I’m so glad they didn’t let me down.
Alicia said it had made her day being able to come in to work early and make that call. It is her birthday too, so an extra Happy Birthday to you and a big thanks from us Alicia. Enjoy the flowers!
And thanks again everyone for your support, ideas, and help in this matter!!!
That is wonderful news, congratulations on your wedding and on your honeymoon cruise! May you and your new wife's lives be blessed and hope to see you on many cruises in the near future
Great news and very happy to hear it! Have a wonderful vacation and do as Dave suggests and get it in writing. One way to confirm they have cleared all the road blocks is to go ahead and do your online check-in. that way you'll be able to print your boarding pass confirming there won't be issues with staff at the pier. Congrats!
