This cruise was going to be our first ever cruise. This company and ship came highly recommended from coworkers and friends that have embarked on many cruises before. I do understand that mechanical issues do sometimes happen that can impact the ability to sail but I believe the way these situations are handled determines the reputation of a cruise line. Unfortunately, nothing about how this was handled or continues to be handled has made this a positive experience. At the onset of our cruise, the cruise ship and staff were impressive from the start; however, that quickly diminished as the staff began to communicate that there were mechanical issues keeping the ship from sailing on time. Nearly 28 hours after boarding the ship, we found ourselves disembarking and rushing to get on another Holland Cruise that was in port getting ready to sail. Had we not been aggressive and assertive with many phone calls, visits to the future cruise desk and guest relations prior to the announced cancellation of this cruise and had we not been fortunate enough to have additional funds available to pay outright for another Holland cruise leaving the following day, we would have simply been booking a flight to go back home for the holidays. Even after the cruise cancellation was announced, Holland was unwilling to even consider transferring our already paid cruise fair to another cruise booking which was the first issue that left us frustrated. Disembarking that ship and the chaos that ensued due to lack of any instruction added to the frustration. At the time the cancellation was announced from the bridge, we were promised an auto refund of the cruise fair as well as a future cruise credit because of this inconvenience and this was supposed to be communicated in a (half printed) letter that was quickly handed to us as we exited the ship.

We did enjoy our "replacement" cruise; however, the frustration in dealing with HAL has only mounted since. Here we are 34 days later, with still no refund in our account for the cancelled cruise, no communication initiated by HAL at all, broken promises for refund and resolve from their "rude" guest relations folks and an email response from the office of the president of HAL (as a result of my email to them) with very little substance or offer of resolve. We initially booked this cruise through Vacations to go and they have been very proactive in attempts to resolve this by contacting HAL on our behalf but it seems that they have also fallen on broken promises as well.

We would like to give Holland another chance as we certainly don't want to walk away from a future cruise credit; however, with no refund in hand, we are unable to even begin planning for that at this time. I fired off another response to the office of the president of HAL this morning voicing these same concerns with a promise that I would add resolve to this review should they make one last attempt to satisfy our concerns.