Reader Austin and his fiance will be married on May 22, and their honeymoon cruise leaves May 29... without them. Holland America says that Austin (23), and his bride to be, Kelly (20) are too young to sail. Austin says he wasn't told about this restriction when he booked and paid for the cruise.

Austin writes:

I don't know if you can answer or can help in anyway, but I'm desperate.

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 sail 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. Because I am not over 25, they are denying us. On other websites, age requirements are waived for married couples if they are both over 18 and can show proof of marriage.

What should I do???

Well, Austin. We contacted Holland America for a comment on your situation but our requests for information were ignored.

We then took a look at their policy on passengers under 21 (which is on their website, but it's buried):

Guests under 21 years of age must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or chaperone who is at least 25 years old; one adult chaperone is required for every five people under the age of 21.

It seems that, unlike other cruise lines, they do not make an exception for young married couples. This is something they really should have told you when you booked the cruise.

We then took a look at their cancellation policy and have some more bad news, unless you paid for a "Cancellation Protection Plan" you may be in trouble. Holland America's website doesn't disclose how large the cancellation fee will be, but they do say: " Cancellation fees apply regardless of the reason for cancellation, including medical and family matters. "

We're not travel experts, so we're going to toss this one out to the crowd. Anyone know how to get Holland America to make an exception? Anyone want to be Austin and Kelly's chaperone?

(Photo: Todd Stewart )

UPDATE: It seems Austin and Kelly have a heroic travel agent:

WE ARE GOING ON OUR CRUISE!!!!!

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!!!

(Thanks, jamesdenver!)

I and my family recently took a cruise with Holland America Lines to Alaska on the ms Statendam. Two days into the cruise my brother's stateroom was affected by an overflowing toilet one room down. The ship's response? Put big fans in the room and not acknowledge it or apologize in any other way.

With a couple days into the seven day cruise our room flooded with sewage from a broken pipe in the wall adjoined to our cabin. Understandably I was upset and complained. We were assured our room would be cleaned while we were ashore and the cause of the matter was taken care of.

After our room was "cleaned" and fans placed in it to dry I returned and absentmindedly stepped onto the carpet in just my socks...

Thinking myself a fool for walking in just socks on newly shampooed carpet I bent down to take my socks off and found them stained brown by the fecal water still saturating my carpet. Livid, I complained, but was told that there were no other rooms I could go to. Also to ease my fears they told me the water was brown because the adhesive under the carpet was brown and had probably been dissolved by it. I wondered why anyone would use water soluble glue on a ship, but was too furious to get into the particulars of it with the purser at the time.

I complained again until I was able to talk to the head of customer relations for the ship. Her offer to accommodate us: $150 per person shipboard credit. Effectively a 5% discount for the whole trip! And
all we had to do was live in a biohazard for three days.

Unsurprisingly five members of my family were incapacitated with vomiting and diarrhea within 3 days of leaving the ship.

The most hilarious part? Thought the trip they insisted we used the hand sanitizer placed throughout the ship before we could eat or use the elevator. You know, to "stop the spread of disease."

Aw the joys of vacation.

The attached picture is after they "cleaned" our room. So if you believe the story from the ships hospitality manager, it's glue. But it sure didn't smell like glue...

- Sawyer

• Multiple plumbing problems in guest cabins.
• Cruise ship lies about their cause.
• Family had to ask for compensation
• It was pittance
• Acute health issues ensue

Considering the later effect on his family's health, we think Sawyer would be justified in asking for additional remuneration.

Looks like Holland America Line needs to start issuing its guests complimentary clogs. — BEN POPKEN