ArcaMax

Q: I recently booked a seven-day Caribbean cruise on Holland America. I paid $650 for a veranda stateroom, courtesy of an MGM casino certificate. An agent verbally confirmed the booking, and I got a zero-balance invoice. Then Holland America changed the price to $1,450 and told me to pay $800 more, or I would lose my cabin.

I've begged supervisors to call me; all I get are form letters blaming MGM. I've already booked nonrefundable airline tickets from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale for $850. I've also lost two days of sleep. Help! -- Greg Rothman, West Hills, California

A: Once Holland America issued an invoice showing a paid-in-full stateroom, it created a binding contract under federal maritime law and California's consumer protection statutes. The company can't unilaterally rewrite the deal by citing an internal mix-up with MGM. If the agent miskeyed the certificate level, this is on Holland America -- not you.

You followed the script to resolve this. You accepted a quoted price, paid in full, received a written confirmation, then made downstream plans. Holland America, meanwhile, followed a different script; they blamed the casino partner, changed the terms, and dared the customer to walk away. This is not customer service; it's a shakedown.

I've seen this kind of thing before. It usually happens when someone pays a too-good-to-be-true price, like a zero fare. But your initial $650 fare was not a decimal point error, and since you received it in conjunction with a special offer from MGM, you couldn't have known that Holland America would kick it back to you.

What could you have done differently? In hindsight, you could have taken a screenshot of the confirmation page as proof of your purchase. And you could have roped MGM into this to get the company to pressure Holland America into doing the right thing.

When the stonewalling started, you escalated your case, exactly as I recommend. You asked for supervisors, kept every email, and finally reached out to the cruise line's chief commercial officer, its senior VP of guest services, and its president. You'll find the direct contacts for all the Holland America executives on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

I also reached out to Holland America for you. A representative called you, apologized, and reinstated your original obstructed-view veranda for the $650 that you already paid. Holland America also threw in $200 in shipboard credit.

I'm happy that this is resolved, but it shouldn't have taken all of these escalations for Holland America to help you. But in an age of increasing automation, apparently this is what it takes.

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

(c) 2026 Christopher Elliott

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