A: You’re right, Holland America should help you get to your new port of embarkation. It’s the right thing to do.

This is a case where Holland America appeared to be violating its own ticket contract, the legal agreement between you and the cruise line. If a schedule change is within the cruise line’s control, and the scheduled port of embarkation is changed, “Carrier shall arrange transportation to it from the originally scheduled port.” It doesn’t say “take it or leave it” — it says “shall arrange.”

Interestingly, Holland America addresses the potential loss of your hotel rooms: “Under no circumstances shall the Carrier be or become liable for consequential or other damages of any kind sustained by any Guest except as expressly provided herein.” So it seems the company’s attitude was, “We’ll transport you to the new port on our terms, and you can take us up on the offer, or not.”

I find that attitude frustrating. To fix this, you could have sent a brief, polite email to one of the customer-service executives at Holland America. I list them on my consumer-advocacy site: www.elliott.org/company-contacts/holland-america.

I contacted Holland America on your behalf. The company agreed to provide you with either the cost of the transfer or an onboard credit.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the author of “How to Be the World’s Smartest Traveler.” You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org, or email him at chris@elliott.org.