Originally Posted by UPr123

My wife and I were on a 7-night cruise on Holland America's Koningsdam in July. Our cabin had almost continuous noise, some of which sounded like fan noise, and another that sounded like water gushing through a pipe, not intermittent but continuous. On some days that the ship was in port, the water noise was not present, but it was really bad during the nights and we were unable to sleep. We complained after the first night at Guest Services. We were offered two alternate cabins. The first one was very quiet, but we declined it because it had excessive sea motion and my wife suffers easily from motion sickness. The second alternate cabin was no better than our original one as it had a loud fan noise in the bathroom that was clearly heard in the cabin. Moreover, this cabin was only available for one night (the original guests had missed the ship at embarkation and were expected to board the next day).

The only other solution we were offered was ear plugs. It was a miserable cruise for us, and certainly not the kind of experience we expected to have after paying more than $2,500 for the cruise and another $1,200 on shore excursions with Holland America. On the last day of the cruise, we were offered $100 compensation for our experience. We declined that as we felt it was inadequate compensation for what we had experienced.

After returning home, I wrote to Holland America's Guest Relations describing the experience and suggesting that $800 would be a fair compensation. I have now received a reply from someone with the title "Special Advisor, Office of the President" stating that "we do note that you were able to bring this to the attention of our staff on board and multiple alternate rooms were offered as well as monetary compensation, though all of the offers were rejected. Since you did not accept the solutions on board, we would be unable to offer any compensation."

I would like to get advice from knowledgeable and experienced forum members on (a) whether my expectation of $800 compensation is reasonable and fair, and (b) how to go about getting an equitable resolution for this issue.