Mr. Micky Arison, CEO
Carnival Cruise Lines
3655 NW 87th Ave
Miami, FL 33178-2428
My husband, Peter and I sailed aboard the ms Veendam from December 29, 2001 to January 5, 2002. My entire family was on board and occupying seven cabins. We were celebrating a joyous occasion, the Golden Anniversary of my parents, Joyce and Dale Chodos. My father had booked the cabins in March 2001, and we were looking forward to the cruise with excitement. Instead, our experience with Holland America and its vendors was discriminatory and humiliating, and led to our personal endangerment.
My husband and I both have Multiple Sclerosis and we utilized electric wheelchairs for moving about your ship. MS is a disease that is exacerbated by stress, extreme temperature conditions, and fatigue. Holland America provided us ample measures of each. We were not only disappointed; our treatment outraged us. The terms of our contract with your cruise line stated that Holland America (HAL) would provide all transportation, including airfare and ground transportation from airport and hotel. Because we use wheelchairs, transportation included a specially equipped van called a Handi-Van, capable of transporting two motorized scooters or wheelchairs, safely and legally.
From what we could see, Holland America has no regulatory policies that ensure the safety of their Ft. Lauderdale passengers transported by Handi-Van. Upon our arrival in Ft. Lauderdale, this oversight resulted in our abandonment by HAL soon after we landed, left us separated from our family, and kept us frustrated and even frightened as we were left in the company of a van driver who did not care whether we or our belongings were safe. At every location, including the airport, hotel, public sidewalks, and in pier areas we struggled to maneuver our own luggage while able-bodied people had their luggage carried and transferred for them without concern. We received no help with our luggage upon arrival, even though we needed to file a claim with the airline for damaging one of our wheelchairs. Your HAL employees ignored our plight until a skycap informed them that they should be helping us with bags, claims, etc. Even he was astonished that no one was helping us, and he specifically sought help among your staff members. When it came time to board the passenger buses, we were to load into the Handi-Van, but it had not yet arrived. By the time it finally appeared, all your buses has been loaded and the last of your associates went with the bus. Left alone with the Handi-Van driver we struggled to load our wheelchairs, manage our luggage and get to the pier, with no family or HAL employee to aid us.
Because no Holland America representative accompanied us during the lengthy process of loading our chairs and luggage onto the Handi-Van, and because the Handi-Van’s do not have approval to use the tour bus area, a Ft. Lauderdale police officer was adamant that we exit the area immediately. With no HAL employee to explain the situation or smooth the way, The Handi-Van driver fled with us in the van, leaving behind our bags, passports, cash, etc. This forced me to jump from the moving vehicle to retrieve these items. No amount of begging would persuade the driver to stop and return to our belongings. I struggled with my cane for the distance of a city block to return to our personal items. My husband and I were separated while the driver circled the airport trying to locate me.
The next morning at the hotel, we were again abandoned by your representatives when the Handi-Van was late arriving to take us to the ship for embarkation. We appeared in the hotel lobby on time, earlier than our family was required to arrive, then we waited hours for the Handi-Van. Your representatives packed up their tables and their banners and left us to wait, alone, without knowing if the Handi-Van would actually appear. As before at the airport, we were separated from our family and the other able-bodied passengers as they boarded the tour bus and had their luggage and belongings smoothly transported to the bus and into their cabins.
Our luggage remained with us, and when we finally arrived at the pier, we had no one to transport it into the check-in area for us. Because of situations like this throughout the trip, we found ourselves tipping skycaps, porters and taxi drivers for carrying bags that should have been handled by Holland America staff. This was one of many such added expenses we incurred due to lack of organization and proper care on the part of HAL employees, staff and crew.
Upon check-in at embarkation, I literally had to beg someone to take our bags to our cabin, since they had not arrived on passenger buses. We saw no other passengers with anything more than carry-on bags. We had followed all the directions regarding labeling and tagging of our bags, but because we were transported by the Handi-Van, our luggage was not transferred by any cruise or tour bus employee. After checking in, we were directed by your personnel to board the ship through special doors, and were immediately harassed by security guards. A guard told us we were too late to enter from that direction. This was the only way for wheelchairs to pass.
We were late because the transportation company you contracted was unreliable. A HAL employee should have been there with us to see us through those doors. No HAL representative came to our aid.
It was as if we simply did not exist for your cruise staff and crew. Because we required special transport, and were not boarding in the ordinary manner, it seemed we irritated and upset your ship’s schedule and operational functioning ability. We met this attitude on a consistent basis throughout the cruise. It seemed obvious to us that your company did not want, nor was prepared, for passengers with special needs.
As frequent travelers, we are accustomed to minor irritations and frustrations that occur because of our wheelchairs and our disabilities. We are prepared to wait for the services we know require extra time or effort. We have never before filed a formal complaint and we rarely even lodge verbal complaints. It is rare for us to speak negatively about any travel experience. We find ourselves in the unusual position now, however, where we have no choice but to inform you of the dangerous, humiliating and discriminating treatment we received from your corporation. Once aboard, we were ignored and given incorrect information at every turn.
The staff at your Excursion Office had no functioning knowledge regarding which excursions would be accessible for us. Blaming the lack of knowledge on changes made since September 11th, the staff member in charge of the office was friendly, but gave us incorrect information on two separate occasions. Our entire family was traveling on board your ship with us, and several family members attempted to gain information at the Excursion Office with no better luck. They also lodged complaints regarding our treatment. None received any helpful insight, suggestions, or information.
Initially, my sister and her husband cancelled their own excursion, at a personal financial loss, to help us get off the ship and "look around on our own" by private taxi in Tortola. The next day, your Excursion Officer suggested Paradise Point Tramway as an accessible attraction. Therefore, we hired a taxi to take us there. Due to incorrect information, we found ourselves abandoned in the Tram Parking lot with no telephone, a gravel surface that made maneuvering a wheelchair impossible, no taxi service and no way to contact another human being without climbing a flight of nearly 50 stairs. We were forced to beg for a ride to the nearest eating establishment where a waitress called a taxi for us. It was a humiliating experience.
By now, our family and we were furious with the misinformation and other problems we had been experiencing. Several of us made complaints with the Excursion Office, Cruise Director and Purser. We received many smiles, but no real help. Although our Cabin Steward and Dining Staff were marvelous, and many staff members were friendly, they could not make up for the absolute appalling manner in which we started – and would ultimately end – our cruise.
We were in extreme personal danger during the debarkation process. The level of neglect and disregard for our safety was appalling. The night before we were to leave the ship, a letter for "special needs" passengers was delivered under the door of our cabin. The letter told us to report to the Explorer’s Lounge for a safe escort off the ship. We reported to the Lounge, and once there we were told that because we were in mechanical chairs, we would not receive an escort. Escorts were only for those in traditional wheelchairs. We again reluctantly separated from our family, as we had the Handi-Van confirmed for 8:30 a.m. In the process of leaving the ship, the wheels to my husband’s electric wheelchair became lodged in a gap between boards of the gangway. Other passengers began tipping his chair and banging into him. No one helped. I was asking for help and finally had to raise my voice. It took my screams and several moments to gain the attention of your officers. They helped my husband right his chair and free his wheels from the gap. Even then, they did not escort him down the remainder of the ramp, but returned to their positions to smile and say good-bye to able-bodied people.
We had taken much effort to confirm the Handi-Van the night before, and we had received confirmation both verbally and in a letter from your front desk for an 8:30 a.m. arrival. Unfortunately, when we made our way to the luggage hanger entrance, the Handi-Van was not there. Forced to wait off to the side in unusually cold weather for over three hours, we were miserable. Our position made it possible for every passenger to see us as each one departed the ship, while we sat looking helpless and alone. The HAL representatives placed us so that our luggage and we were facing their backsides, and the entire experience was most demeaning. No one would tell us why we were waiting or what the problem was. We were not dressed for such cold weather as the storm that morning was unexpected and we were returning to Southern California. My husband and I began to experience the muscle spasms that occur with MS when one is stressed or cold. These spasms are very painful, and they did not bode well for the upcoming plane trip we were to endure. I asked to speak to a manager on several occasions, but was completely ignored by your employees.
Once again, we found ourselves separated from the other 14 members of our family who could have been helping us. After breaking a promise to care for us as disabled passengers, your employees ignored us for hours, provided no information, no solution and no respect for our situation. Finally, I began to comment aloud regarding our abysmal treatment. There were few passengers left to hear, since by now most of them had been safely transported off the ship. We had watched the entire ship’s passenger population disembark. It appears that my overly loud comments finally pushed your people to action. After three hours of sitting in a cold empty warehouse, one of your employees told us that the Handi-Van had "backed out" on them earlier that morning and they were trying desperately to find alternative arrangements.
Why weren’t we told immediately? Did they think we were not mentally capable of processing that information three hours earlier? Did they assume our wheelchairs made us mentally incompetent? Your people did not know we had family members traveling with us, because no one stopped long enough to listen. We could have tried to reach our family. We could have unpacked a bag and retrieved sweaters to keep us warm and stop our muscles from developing such painful spasms. As it was, if your representatives talked to us at all during that three-hour period, it was to convince us that our transportation would arrive momentarily. Not one person was honest enough with us to admit there was a problem with the contracted transportation provider until I became loud and obnoxious.
Finally, after every single passenger was gone, your employees began to leave and others began to lock the doors to the luggage warehouse. Had I not yelled for them to stop, they would have locked us inside, even though our flight was now just an hour from leaving. By this time, I was using profanities. Someone finally flagged a handicap van, but not one that was designed for electric wheelchairs.
Your Holland America employees ripped out the van’s back seat, to the driver’s protest. He told us later that they handed him cash and told him to be quiet. We were told to drive our scooters into the van. At least four HAL employees were popping their heads into the van issuing frantic apologies, but by this time, we were not listening. These were the most insincere apologies I have had the misfortune to receive, and the businessperson part of my brain was thinking "lawsuit avoidance behavior."
It was not until my husband and I were inside the van and a HAL representative had slammed the door that we realized we could not lock down our scooters as is required by law and for safety reasons. Your Holland America employees then took our seven assorted suitcases and piled them on the seat next to the driver and even onto his lap, against his protests. It was obvious he could not drive safely in such a precarious position. Indeed, the luggage would later fall on him as he turned a corner, causing the van to jerk erratically and putting us in great danger on Ft. Lauderdale’s busy streets. It was obvious your people wanted us out of the way before the next cruise passengers began to arrive, and did not care about our safety as long as we departed company. We heard comments, in fact, regarding the need to "get them out of here" before the next set of passengers began to arrive.
The van driver took off with us rolling around in the back of the van. My husband and I were NOT safely attached to anything. We were on our scooters, trying vainly to stay in position by placing our legs on the floor of the van on either side of our chairs and by holding our arms against the roof and windows. This type of muscle activity with MS causes muscle spasms and is extremely painful, again leading us to experience a most painful airplane trip home. The driver was unable to drive more than 15 miles per hour, even on the freeway, as he feared for our safety. He told us that the Holland America people would not return his back seat until he dropped us off and returned to retrieve it. On three occasions, the driver turned a corner, which caused my entire scooter to fall over on me. Once, I literally waited to hear the snap of my ankle breaking, the pain was that intense. The fatigue of straining muscles and the stress began to take its toll. My husband’s legs were now beginning to spasm hard enough that they were occasionally sticking straight out in front of him. The driver did not know the airport area, leading him to deliver us to the wrong terminal. We unloaded the scooters before a skycap told us we were at the wrong building, and we had to drive back up the van ramp and circle the airport again. Once more, my scooter tipped over on me as we circled the airport grounds.
I have never feared so greatly for my own or my husband’s personal safety. I am a 44-year-old woman, who has handled many crises in her life. Until recently, I was a corporate executive who traveled the country on weekly business trips. Yet there I was, in tears and sobbing like a child. My family was also worried, sitting in the terminal and wondering why, four hours later, we were not by their side.
I would like to know, Mr. Arison, what you would do to a corporation that treated your son or daughter the way your corporation has treated us. I hope too, you know how lucky your company is not to be receiving this correspondence on an attorney’s letterhead. We are curious to know what compensation Holland America might offer us for the discrimination, neglect and endangerment we experienced at the hands of your cruise line. We are curious too, as to what policies you will change and how you will personally ensure that this never happens to anyone else.
You may want to take note of the people and organizations that will be receiving a copy of this letter. At this time, we have no plans to hire an attorney or file a personal injury lawsuit. I am sure you can guess, however, we have an excellent case should we choose to file a claim. We would very much like a true and heartfelt apology. Be assured that we have taken our last cruise on any of your cruise lines.
My husband and I sincerely hope that
Holland America and Carnival Cruise Lines will ensure that policies change
so that no one else can ever be treated in such a disrespectful or dangerous
manner as that which we experienced.
Julie A. Drea Peter M. Drea
cc: A. Kirk Lanterman, Chairman and CEO
Holland America Line – Westours Inc.
300 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119
Tami Louis, District Sales Mgr – L.A. West
Holland America Line – Westours Inc.
300 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle, WA 98119
John Whitmore, President
World O’Travel
20812 Ventura Blvd., #104
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
April McCabe
World O’Travel
20812 Ventura Blvd., #104
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Leon A. LeBuffe, Chapter President
Southern California Chapter
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
2440 South Sepulveda Blvd, Ste 115
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Allan Shaw, President – CEO
San Diego Chapter
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
8840 Complex Drive, Ste 130
San Diego, CA 92123
Honorable Darrell E. Issa
California Congressman
48th District
http://www.house.gov/issa/contact.htm
Bill and Carol Randall
Access-Able Travel Source
Travel Talk Network
http://www.access-able.com/tales/
The Drea's also included two letters of their displeasure. These are worth reading, a summery of events and a complaint to the CEO.