Check your mail - just got a survey from HAL on their new website.

A lot of the growth these lines have seen is due to nothing more than the economy. We'll figure out who the real leaders are when the next recession rolls around and they have all these rooms to fill.

Good point. For many years I've questioned even whether there is enough room in the marketplace for one company (CCL) to offer more than three cruise lines to the North American market. I won't be surprised if the next downtown prompts CCL to tighten things up.

 

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A lot of the growth these lines have seen is due to nothing more than the economy. We'll figure out who the real leaders are when the next recession rolls around and they have all these rooms to fill.

 

Apparently you have not seen the size of government employee pensions now that the baby-boomer government work force is retiring. Six digits easily in California - plenty of new leisure time, recession-proof discretionary cash to fill plenty of cruise ships.

 

A website called Transparent California tracks these government pensions if you don't believe this statement. https://transparentcalifornia.com/pensions/all/ The new 1% - and guaranteed income for life with no investment worries. This demographic is clearly a cruise marketing target.

We didn’t receive the survey or the news about Oprah. Last time I tried a “dummy” booking on the new site I couldn’t figure out how to book anything above the interior the site issued me. I haven’t been back since. There are plenty of good TA sites that are easy to use :cool: It appears all the cruise lines search out the worst website and that’s the one they select. Seems like a strange way to enhance the customer experience.

What else would you change on the website???

 

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I read a press release on CC from Orlando Ashford on the great roll out of the new website. Just happened to be on a day I was struggle with the website. So i sent an email (6/12/18) message to Orlando Ashford expressing my dissatisfaction with the website. I was very surprised and impressed that I received a phone call from Mr. Ashford's assistance yesterday. She thanked me for my feed back and assured me that my concerns would be forwarded to the appropriate people.

I really don't expect that my concerns will make any major difference to HAL, but I was impressed with the personal touch of a phone call. Especially as I didn't put my phone number in the letter, just my mariner number.

I read a press release on CC from Orlando Ashford on the great roll out of the new website. Just happened to be on a day I was struggle with the website. So i sent an email (6/12/18) message to Orlando Ashford expressing my dissatisfaction with the website. I was very surprised and impressed that I received a phone call from Mr. Ashford's assistance yesterday. She thanked me for my feed back and assured me that my concerns would be forwarded to the appropriate people.

I really don't expect that my concerns will make any major difference to HAL, but I was impressed with the personal touch of a phone call. Especially as I didn't put my phone number in the letter, just my mariner number.

 

Am impressed that you were contacted.

 

I am waiting for a reply to an e-mail I sent on the 22nd of May, with a query about our cruise later this year.

Have received only the automated response.

Yes, I received the survey via email; however, when I finished the 1st page, on which I gave the worse possible marks, I clicked the NEXT box, and the site shut down. I've tried to go back to it several times without success. When I spoke with PCC, I told her of my experience and let her know how terrible the site is. What I've found is that unless I've already booked a cruise, I can't see the dates & times of the itinerary. How messed up is that? Are any of you having the same problem?

 

I had to ask PCC for a run-down of the itineraries to decide if we wanted to book that cruise or choose one of several others we were researching. There are other problems too, but this one in particular aggravated me.

Yes, I received the survey via email; however, when I finished the 1st page, on which I gave the worse possible marks, I clicked the NEXT box, and the site shut down. I've tried to go back to it several times without success. When I spoke with PCC, I told her of my experience and let her know how terrible the site is. What I've found is that unless I've already booked a cruise, I can't see the dates & times of the itinerary. How messed up is that? Are any of you having the same problem?

 

I had to ask PCC for a run-down of the itineraries to decide if we wanted to book that cruise or choose one of several others we were researching. There are other problems too, but this one in particular aggravated me.

I don't have any trouble pulling up the itinerary for cruises I'm considering. In fact, I can pull it up in one of two ways, one an interactive map and the other a list view. Both provide dates and times, and also provide a link for each port providing additional information. I don't need to have booked the cruise, and I don't even need to be logged in to the website.

I don't have any trouble pulling up the itinerary for cruises I'm considering. In fact, I can pull it up in one of two ways, one an interactive map and the other a list view. Both provide dates and times, and also provide a link for each port providing additional information. I don't need to have booked the cruise, and I don't even need to be logged in to the website.

And that difference is critical. The same complaints and the same difference in experience is seen all over the internet - even here on Cruise Critic the last time its UI changed. Drilling into why the difference exists will be more helpful to those adversely affected than their assuming that since only those who are having trouble are saying something therefore the problem must be with the website. How often do you go online to proclaim, "I didn't have a problem accessing websites today!"

 

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We do not really care. All we know is that compared to some other cruise line websites. HAL's is at or near the bottom of the pile.

 

This is not saying much either. Just compare some of these cruise line sites to many of the slick, well designed, and high performing webstites on some of the travel and retail organizations.

 

HAL apologists can make all the excuses they like but anyone who does most of their travel arrangements on line and a fair amount of their shopping on line can certainly tell the difference. In about two seconds. I sometimes wonder if TA's have to deal with this or if they have access to a better designed, better performing HAL TA only site.

I must be in the minority because I haven't had any problems with the new site. Many booking searches and accessing my account.

 

PCC's and most TA's don't use the website. I believe they still use Polar (proprietary software).

 

Has been a long time since I used it so they may have new software now. When I used it the airline GDS system linked into it. I believe TA's now have online link to Polar.

We do not really care. All we know is that compared to some other cruise line websites. HAL's is at or near the bottom of the pile.

Except that that it's also true of every other cruise lines website, depending on the passenger and the specific chip they have on their shoulder.

 

 

 

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I must be in the minority because I haven't had any problems with the new site.

You aren't. The haters just want to make it seem that way.

 

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Just do one simple test. Compare HAL's website to others that you frequent. Specifically other websites that focus on ecommerce. Does not matter whether they are travel products or general on line shopping. Or, compare it to some to the banking or investment sites. For ease of use, for performance, for ease of placing an order or arranging travel.

 

Then decide for yourself where HAL's website ranks. No need to depend on posters on this forum. Decide for yourself based on your own evaluation or experience.

Just do one simple test. Compare HAL's website to others that you frequent. Specifically other websites that focus on ecommerce. Does not matter whether they are travel products or general on line shopping. Or, compare it to some to the banking or investment sites. For ease of use, for performance, for ease of placing an order or arranging travel.

 

Then decide for yourself where HAL's website ranks. No need to depend on posters on this forum. Decide for yourself based on your own evaluation or experience.

 

 

 

Totally agree. Even when financial, shopping, hotel or airlines update their web pages I can still easily find the new path to complete what I need to do without issue.

 

 

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For folks who just cannot get enough of discussions about horrible cruise-related websites:

 

Royal Caribbean: Why they don’t care about the website ?

 

Royal Caribbean: **Canceled Cruise because RCCL web site SUCKS!!!!!!!***

 

Celebrity: Celebrity new website - HORRIBLE

 

Celebrity: Web site is useless to search

 

Carnival: Carnival.com NEW search engine sucks

 

Princess: Princess website is horrible

For folks who just cannot get enough of discussions about horrible cruise-related websites:

 

Royal Caribbean: Why they don’t care about the website ?

 

Royal Caribbean: **Canceled Cruise because RCCL web site SUCKS!!!!!!!***

 

Celebrity: Celebrity new website - HORRIBLE

 

Celebrity: Web site is useless to search

 

Carnival: Carnival.com NEW search engine sucks

 

Princess: Princess website is horrible

 

 

 

This reminds me too much of excuse my bad behavior because others are bad too. I’m sure that wasn’t your intent.

 

Working in software our company is tasked by end users to reduce clicks, not add clicks. HAL should have the same policy.

 

I can, for the most part, work through the new website and find what I need. There are times I do run into issues. I reported a key flaw, IMHO, gave them steps and HAL was able to reproduce the issue. They are working on resolving.

 

I don’t mind when companies update their websites. I do mind when I can’t easily do what I need. I’m not thrilled that I need to use more clicks to find what I need but can and will deal with it as long as I continue to find what I need.

 

 

 

 

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This reminds me too much of excuse my bad behavior because others are bad too. I’m sure that wasn’t your intent.

Indeed. What I should have also included was a link to this page: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/growth/ It shows how the industry - the industry that presents web pages that some people consider terrible - has grown from less then 4M passengers to over 25M passengers in the last twenty-five years. Other pages on that website show how it is specifically the cruise lines for which some people complain about their website that are among those that generate the most revenue.

 

Working in software our company is tasked by end users to reduce clicks, not add clicks. HAL should have the same policy.

The Holland America website has reduced clicks to the information that is most important for their bottom line, for their most important prospective customers, even though posters above insist otherwise. Anecdotes aren't evidence. Data, such this are evidence: https://www.cruisemarketwatch.com/ship-revenue/ Past performance is not a perfect indicator of current performance, but it is the absolute best indicator that we in this thread have, despite claims to the contrary by others.

 

I can, for the most part, work through the new website and find what I need. There are times I do run into issues. I reported a key flaw, IMHO, gave them steps and HAL was able to reproduce the issue. They are working on resolving.

Me too. I found one minor issue and they rectified it. As someone who has been involved both in the design, development and implementation of websites and web applications, and in product management and marketing with heavy online components, I can say with assurance that overall, all five of these cruise lines did a great job with their recent website upgrades. Again: That's despite what some people posted earlier, and in earlier threads on the same topic.

 

And we can come back five or six years from now and look at the revenues again and see that these website changes didn't bring about the plummeting of these cruise lines into the pits of hell.

 

By the same token, we might be able to come back five or six years from now and reasonably conclude that these website changes (and compatible changes to the service specification, overall) changed the typical cruise line passenger perspective about certain aspects of the cruise line. It might be interesting to some to go back into the Cruise Critic archive from the mid-2000s and see what changes to the cruise lines that people were complaining about then.

Edited June 17, 2018 by bUU

I agree. Celebrity's website is just as bad as HAL's.

 

So does that make HAL's any better? Or Celebrity's?

 

It is no different than a response to someone who had no air or plumbing in their cabin that the situation can occur and does occur on other cruise lines. Pointless.

Edited June 17, 2018 by iancal

My biggest issue with the new website is the difficulty I now have in comparing the published fare with my casino rate. It used to be so easy to locate a cruise, check the published fare, then login with my Mariner info and simply watch the fare adjust down on the page I was viewing. Now I can’t figure out how to do that as the fare never changes whether I’m logged in or not. So now I am forced into making a phone call instead of using the website. When I call, the booking agent always gives me a lower rate than what shows up on the website based on my Mariner status. So I agree with other posts that the new website has made things more difficult and most definitely is impacting the number of on line bookings being made. And just because all other cruise line websites also suck, doesn’t mean that HAL had to follow suit!

 

 

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I agree. Celebrity's website is just as bad as HAL's.

Be honest ... Are there any mass-market cruise line websites serving North America that would survive the kind of scrutiny that people have piled onto Holland America in the three or four threads about their new website?

 

No, there aren't.

 

(I said, "be honest.")

I find the Princess website superior to both HAL and Celebrity and have done for some time.

 

RCI we find is better.

 

The one thing that Celebrity, RCI, and Azamara websites have had over the competition is the ease of shopping for cruise air prior to booking a cruise plus the listings of various routings/prices. Also the ability to shop for one ways to or from a location that is not your home. Princess was brutal for that.

Be honest ... Are there any mass-market cruise line websites serving North America that would survive the kind of scrutiny that people have piled onto Holland America in the three or four threads about their new website?

 

No, there aren't.

 

(I said, "be honest.")

Nonsense. The websites of several mass-market cruise lines have been subjected to the same critical scrutiny as HAL's and have survived.

I just saw this link on the NEW website: Scroll to the bottom of the opening page and you will see a link called FEEDBACK. Click on that and you can provide feedback about the website. On my iPad it was lower right corner.

 

 

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Nonsense. The websites of several mass-market cruise lines have been subjected to the same critical scrutiny as HAL's and have survived.

And Holland America's has survived.

 

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