HavilavoyagesReviews of havilavoyages.com

Am 09.05.24 wurde meine für dem 13.05.24 (Abfahrt) geplante Reise von Havila wegen technischer Probleme storniert. Ich habe kurze Zeit danach um die Erstattung gebeten, da ich trotzdem auf eigene Faust nach Norwegen reiste und das Geld benötige. Bis heute habe ich KEINE Rückzahlung erhalten und werde von Woche zu Woche vertröstet. Ich habe diese Reise im Januar gebucht, nie eine Leistung erhalten und laufe nun meinem Geld hinterher. Ich kann dieses Unternehmen wirklich nicht empfehlen!!!

Fin båt men… Hvorfor skal det ta så sinnsykt lang tid for å sjekke inn?!! Det skal skrives under tas bilde og et jæ*** mas! Dette må vi aldri når vi tar Hurtigruten. Og man får en følelse av at vi som bare skal fra havn til havn egentlig bare er til bry. Tungvindt og dyrt å få seg en matbit/kaffe er det også,her skal det også skrives under! Det står to personer "på vakt" bak disken å passer på så du betaler før du i det hele tatt får nærme deg mat/kaffen. Man får en følelse av å være en innsatt istedet for en gjest. De har mye å lære fra Hurtigruten!

Our generally lovely trip on the Havila cruise ship has turned sour due to the horrible customer service experience after our trip with the Havila office. Our recent interactions with the booking team left us thoroughly disappointed and dissatisfied. Despite our excitement to explore Tromso and Kirkenes through pre-booked excursions, our experience was marred by exorbitant pricing practices and abysmal customer service. Our initial shock stemmed from discovering a significant variance between the official excursion prices in Norwegian Krone (NOK) and the inflated amounts billed to us in Euros. For instance, the official price for the Tromso reindeer ride for two people was 4180 NOK, equivalent to approximately 365.50 Euros at the prevailing exchange rate. However, we were confused to find that we were charged a staggering 392 Euros for the same excursion, far exceeding any reasonable conversion rate adjustment. Similarly, the official price for the Kirkenes dog-sledging excursion for two people stood at 5420 NOK, approximately 473.50 Euros according to the exchange rate. Yet, we were appalled to see a whopping charge of 536 Euros on our bill, again significantly inflated beyond any justifiable conversion. Despite our weeks-long efforts to seek clarification, the customer service team failed to provide any explanation for the unjustifiable price hikes. After several friendly emails and phone calls, we were held up for weeks with our enquiry, ultimately ignored and dismissed with patronising one-sentence answers.

I am not going to write the same as the previous reviewers because I would only be repeating the same complaints. This is a ferry/mail boat, providing vital services to locals . It is not a cruise ship in anyway. You are not pampered and led by the hand. Your cabins are only minimally serviced every second day. Our sheets were not changed the whole 6 day voyage, towels every second day. I cannot speak for anyone in the suites, but the majority of the guests are in sea view or inside. There is next to no service. You are served your meal and you go to the bar and get your own drinks. Outside this you fend for yourself. We cruise regularly in a suite on the lovely Oceania line. The Havila experience was a shock to the system, and will never be repeated. However all was not lost. The good stuff…….. We returned yesterday 10th March. Weather was out of this world. Spectacular cloudless sky's, flat calm seas. The ship glides silently into over 30 ports during the voyage. Many stops through the night( there is a bit of noise here for passengers on the port side). REMEMBER ITS A FERRY! The journey was extremely picturesque . Mother Nature at its best. The journey is the Havila experience. If your expectations are more than enjoying the wonderful scenery you will be disappointed. Take a proper cruise ship if you need more. The big ships give you a kind of journey, better service etc, but Havila more interesting. . We like good food, great service and more comfort, Havila does not provide this. Its is poor value for money. Seriously consider your options before taking this kind of trip.

In November, 2022, I booked a 16 May 2023 cruise with Havila, not knowing that Havila was selling tickets for cruises for which they had not had ships delivered. Subsequently, I booked all of my accommodation for Sweden and Norway. In late February, 2023, my travel agent advised that the cruise was cancelled. The only comparable cabin I could obtain for another cruise was more expensive. Havila not only charged me the difference, but at the maximum rate. Between that and having to amend airline bookings and cancel and rebook accommodation, this cost me in excess of AUD$5K, apart from the great stress involved. No offer of compensation was made by Havila. While in Sweden in May, I suffered a severe hay fever attack, as did many of the locals. Tests by a GP in Oslo confirmed that it was not Covid – apart from the fact that I had none of the symptoms. Medication managed the symptoms. On the 7th day of the 12 day cruise, I finished the medication and the next day, the same symptoms returned. I was so ill, I stayed in the cabin. Apart from an initial and 2nd Covid test (both which were false positives) and taking my blood pressure, no care was afforded me. I informed the staff that I did not have Covid, as I was suffering with the exact same symptoms, from several weeks prior. I simply had a reoccurrence of hay fever. I was not able to go to the restaurant for the luke warm meals that they served. Unless I rang for food, no one checked on me. At one stage, I did not phone for over 24 hours and no one checked on me, despite how ill I was. Twice, I asked that electrolytes be obtained and this was ignored. One night when the ship was in open, rough seas, I had a bad fall and hit my head and body on both sides, when falling to the ground. The phone was too far from the bed to get help, so it wasn’t until the next morning in calmer seas, that I could phone to let them know I’d had a bad fall and hit both sides of my head. No care was offered. On returning to the final port, Havila allows crew off first, cleaners to come on board, 2nd, and finally, the paying passengers may disembark. This astounded me, despite the previous shocking lack of care that I’d received. Another passenger informed me that her cruise had also been cancelled and Havila told her to keep track of expenses and they’d be reimbursed. No offer had been made to me. On arrival back in Australia and regaining my health, I commenced the tortuous process of trying to obtain reimbursement from Havila, the same as what they’d offered the other passenger. Direct emails to Havila were ignored, so I had to enlist the assistance of their Australian agent. Even she had difficulty obtaining responses. I provided them with requested copies of invoices, to substantiate my claim. All I requested was for reimbursement of the extra airfare charge and the extra 3 nights accommodation I had to purchase, because I could not obtain flights, to fit in with the change of dates. This was approximately ½ of the expenses that I’d incurred. After months of dragging this out, they only refunded the AUD$1.2K for the airfare and told me to claim insurance for the rest. No discussion, despite having asked for accommodation invoices, previously. Insurance will only reimburse for cancellation for natural disasters. My disaster was booking with Havila. From the initial attempt to book, their deceit in not reimbursing me to the extent previously advised, their very slow responses, or no responses to queries, to the trauma of the cruise, it was my worst travel experience in over 50 years.

I am sad to write this review as I have had many good voyages with Hurtigruten on this route and looked forward to a trip with its modern competitor. The voyage was on the MS Polaris from Trondheim to Tromso (07/12 to 09/12). The ship looked great when we walked up to it. Modern and clean. Note; no one helped us with our cases up the steep gangplank!. Check in was straight forward and on initial impression our cabin was modern and well designed, but after a while we perceived a strong smell of sewage. Could not find anyone to complain to. We walked around the deck with friends. The walkways were encrusted with ice that looked like it had not been cleared for days. A terrible health and safety issue. When booking in for our meals we were told that there were no options but the early breakfast Apparently another ship had broken down and there was no choice. The restaurant did not seem that full to our small group of 4. The food; I get the idea of reducing waste - well done but it was bland and not much choice. A real shame as this was a golden opportunity to highlight local produce. Its the poorest food I have had on a Norwegian ship. We were lucky to see the Northern lights on the first night. We had to take very great care as the deck was still covered in ice. Second day - Room was not cleaned neither were my friends room. No one around to complain to. The ship appeared to be late for every port. Maybe I have been lucky in the past in Winter with very bad weather on this route where I could set my watch by arrival times. This meant that our Viking evening was completely spoiled as there was hardly anytime at the venue. A shame as I had booked this having had great experiences before. That night we enjoyed a cup of gluck wein but decided against being on deck. There were still ice cubes from the arctic crossing ceremony on deck and also still a lot of black ice! The next day we left and I can say that we were glad to leave. There was a feeling of an unhappy crew which I can only surmise was due to the management (always seemingly absent) Try this company if you want to. The ships are new and environmentally friendly. Personally I will never travel with them again. My overall impression was that the management did not care less about their passengers. Forgot to say in my original review that everytime we had a shower, the bathroom flooded (in harbour not in rough sea). Same thing happened to our friends in their cabin. I suspect that the company does not read any of these reviews or otherwise I should have got some response. Pity I cannot give 0 stars. Date of experience: December 2023

They booked us the wrong day Excursions and were unable to change this unboard. Day Excursions are much cheaper to purchase once on board, and they shouldn't be paid for before sailing. Also upgrades are far cheaper on board. Always book the cheapest cabin and upgrade once onboard.

Our trip on Pollux got canceled 3 days in and we had limited options. We elected to start over if Havila would get us back to Bergen to keep our original flight as we were planning the round trip. The customer service in dealing with this was terrible as they didn't communicate anything. Upon return I've submitted a couple receipts for transportation they said they would cover and they now say they will only cover 1. In additional we lost 3 cruise days but they choose not to cover any of this. Due to the risk of having to deal with customer service, I do not recommend Havila.