Review Policy

VoyageTrust exists to give future Holland America Line travelers clear, honest passenger feedback. Every review is read by a moderator before publication.

What we publish

First-hand passenger experiences on Holland America ships.
Fair ratings from 0 to 5 stars.
Clear, specific details about the ship, destination, and sailing date.

What we remove

Spam, promotional content, or fake submissions.
Profanity, threats, or personal attacks on crew or other passengers.
Reviews with no relevant voyage details.

Privacy

Your email is only used for verification and is never shown publicly. The name you provide may appear alongside your published review; email addresses are visible only to moderators.

How moderation works

No sign-in is required to post. Every submission — from every reviewer — enters a moderation queue and is reviewed by a human moderator before it appears on the site. Approval typically takes a short while; rejected reviews are never published.

Reporting a review

Every published review has a "report" link. If you believe a review is fake, offensive, contains private information, or violates this policy, flag it and our moderators will re-examine it. Reviews that fail re-review are removed.

Conflicts of interest

Reviews must be genuine first-hand passenger experiences. We do not accept paid, incentivized, or employee-written reviews, and VoyageTrust receives no compensation from Holland America Line or any cruise operator.

What gets approved

A moderator approves a review when it meets all of the following:

It describes a sailing the reviewer personally took on a Holland America ship.
A ship and a destination are selected, and the story is specific enough to be useful — what happened, where, and when.
The rating matches the story. A 0-star review with a glowing account, or a 5-star review describing a disaster, is sent back rather than published.
It names no private individuals, contains no contact details, and makes no threats or slurs.
Criticism is fine — even harsh criticism — as long as it is a factual account of the reviewer's own experience rather than an accusation presented as fact about someone else.

A valid name and email are required on every submission. The name may be shown with the published review; the email is stored privately and is visible only to moderators, who use it to verify the submission or follow up on an appeal.

Why a review is rejected

Not a first-hand experience — hearsay, second-hand stories, or general opinions about the cruise line.
Too little detail — a rating with a sentence or two that tells another traveler nothing.
Unverifiable accusations — allegations of crime, fraud, or misconduct stated as fact about a named person.
Private information — cabin numbers, booking references, phone numbers, or anyone else's details.
Commercial content — promotions, referral links, or competitor marketing.
Duplicate submissions — the same voyage posted repeatedly.

A rejected review is never published and is not visible to anyone but our moderators. Rejection is a publishing decision about one submission — it is not a judgement about whether your experience was real.

How to appeal a rejection

If your review was not published and you believe it should have been, you can appeal. There is no form to fill in and no account to create:

Email moderation@consumerhub.org from the same address you used on the review, with the subject line Review appeal.
Include the ship, the destination, and roughly when you submitted it, so we can find the right record.
Tell us briefly why you think the decision was wrong, and add anything that supports it.

A moderator who was not involved in the original decision re-reads the review against this policy and replies with the outcome — usually within a few days. If the appeal succeeds, the review is published as written or, where only one passage was the problem, we will tell you exactly what to change and invite you to resubmit. If it is upheld, we explain which part of this policy it fell foul of. One appeal per review.

You can also ask us to delete a review you wrote, at any time, from the same address — no reason needed.