A Message from Celebrity Marketing

[elena7seas]

I am also glad to see Celebrity interested in making their presence known and trying to help make improvements.

 

I would say I have desperately been hoping to see updated images on the 'Solsticization' of the staterooms for the Millennium Class Ships. It seems like these are still old images and floor/deck plans. It would sure be great to see the changes online.

 

Thank you very much though for your efforts to improve the website.

 

Hello Brian,

 

I also would like to welcome you to our Forum, and say thank you so much for communicating so directly with us.

 

I have three points that I would like to make:

(1) I would like to echo the concern outlined above by Candymanjunior. It would be so wonderful if we could rely on the pictures on the website. So many of the stateroom pictures are out-of-date.

 

(2) Please allow us to see more available cabins when we trying to decide whether to book or not, and please show the availability directly on the deck plans. At least two external travel agencies (that I know of) seem to be wired directly into the Celebrity booking system. They show up to 15 available cabins in any given stateroom category, and show that availability by highlighting the available cabins right on the deck plan. I know that they are connected in some electronic way, because the instant that I hold or book a cabin with Celebrity, the cabin in question no longer shows as available on the travel agents`website.

(3) With respect to the Online Check-in, please address the issue of two (or more) single and non-related passengers sharing the same stateroom. The programming assumes that one person is checking in for everyone in the stateroom, and this becomes a real problem when non-related singles are sharing (requires too much detail to explain here).

 

I travelled with a group of 12 women on the Millennium in May 2012 who were sharing six cabins, and not one of the others --all professionals, all computer savvy -- were able to intuitively complete their check-ins on their own by following the instructions on the website. I untangled what was happening, and wrote up instructions for checking in independently, but finally opted to redo the check-ins for everyone myself, as it was less confusing and time-consuming that way.

 

I understand that in an overwhelming number of bookings, one person will be checking in for everyone in the cabin, so I understand why this is the default condition, but perhaps an easy-to-notice alert could be programmed into the Online Checkin for the benefit of singles who are sharing.

Thanks so much for tapping into this community. We are so encouraged!

[Project_gal]

Brian

 

Welcome and thanks! As you can see, we do notice when improvements happen: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1689910

 

Sue

[Lois R]

Hi Brian,:) another thank you for coming back and giving us all this

information. I am also looking forward to seeing an improved website:D

[rafinmd]

Can I add one item to your "to do" list. I sailed the Solstice April TA, and when the price dropped I ended up upgrading to Aqua at the last minute. While my original boarding document had the name of the ship on it, when the new boarding pass was created it had the new cabin number but the ship name was no longer shown. I did not notice this, but the security guard at the terminal did, and it was a hassle getting through security.

 

Can you be sure that all boarding documents show the name of the ship.

 

Thanks

 

Roy

[rwr235]

Thanks Brian,

 

Looking forward to the improvements...and looking forward to seeing you here often !! The sharing of information (two way street) is vital to maintaining/improving the wonderful cruise experience that many of us have found on Celebrity !

 

Keep up the great work.

 

Woody

[cheriberi]

Brian, thanks for responding to the issues and working on solutions.

 

Another area to look at is Celebrity e-mails. For a long time, I had requested e-mails through the website and even asked the captain's club if they could do anything. Still no e-mails. Out of the blue I started receiving regular e-mails with information and Tuesday specials. Then, without explanation, those stopped. Lately I've received sporadic e-mails....but they appear to be aimed at the UK market (I'm in the US) as the pricing is in British pounds.

 

Tomato53, I was also receiving emails from Celebrity with info for cruises from the UK. I discovered that my personal info on Celebrity's website somehow changed indicating I was from the UK rather than from the US. If you log into your account on Celebrity's website you can make the correction.

[ghstudio]

TO CRUISE CRITIC MEMBERS:

 

If every time Brian or someone else from Celebrity posts, we bombard them with "our views" on the topic, they aren't going to stay here long. Brian likely has little time to follow this thread or respond to your posts. Personally, I am just happy that he gives us the occasional update...and perhaps if he wants, he'll start a thread asking for advice.

 

Please don't bombard him every time he posts....which is exactly what's happening to this thread. Just say thank you.....

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ...

[kitkat9438]

TO CRUISE CRITIC MEMBERS:

 

If every time Brian or someone else from Celebrity posts, we bombard them with "our views" on the topic, they aren't going to stay here long. Brian likely has little time to follow this thread or respond to your posts. Personally, I am just happy that he gives us the occasional update...and perhaps if he wants, he'll start a thread asking for advice.

 

Please don't bombard him every time he posts....which is exactly what's happening to this thread. Just say thank you.....

Maybe you didn't read Brian's comments about how they carefully review and evaulate Cruise Critic comments. I'm sorry you don't like what others are posting but this is a free forum and we are entitled to post whatever we want, within the guidelines of cruise critic, without having someone try to tell us what not to post. I don't think the comments mentioned here or requests are out of line and are more in line with recommendations that a cruise line such as Celebrity is looking for to make sure that they are a top notch product. If Celebrity is reading the comments and concerns of Cruise Critic, I'm sure these comments will all be read too.

 

Brian, I also want to thank you for taking the time to be a part of Cruise Critic and address issues that have come up. It is impressive that a company as large as Celebrity has someone who does take the time to let everyone know the company's plans on improvement for the Celebrity website. Looking forward to your future posts.

[flyingv4me]

Thank you for your post, and welcome!

[cruiseacecat]

Hello Brian,

 

Thanks so much for getting involved with this forum and keeping us updated.

 

I do have a small request. When you post in the future, would you be good enough to please use a larger font? It would be very much appreciated.

 

Anne

[Tomato53]

Tomato53, I was also receiving emails from Celebrity with info for cruises from the UK. I discovered that my personal info on Celebrity's website somehow changed indicating I was from the UK rather than from the US. If you log into your account on Celebrity's website you can make the correction.

 

Cheriberi, thanks, I'll try that.

[gkny]

Brian, Thanks for reading our comments.

[celebritydave]

Hey Brian, thanks for recognizing some of the problems with the website and taking action on them

 

Dave

[shorefolks]

Brian,

It is a real pleasure to see the effort that is being made to address passenger complaints and make improvements to the website. The changes are both welcome and necessary. Your guiding principle should be that customers go to your website for information, not entertainment: give us data, not flash.

 

In addition to that effort, however, please do not forget the human aspect of communications. Nothing is more off-putting to callers to Customer Service than to get conflicting or incorrect information, including when being transferred to supervisors. (And whenever that transfer is felt necessary, you've already lost.) Making the investment to properly train and inform front-line representatives so that one correct, uniform message is delivered to customers will pay off handsomely in good will.

 

Wishing you the best of success in your efforts.

[travellink]

Brian,

 

Thanks for the post and looking forward to your future update information!

[sarafinadh]

Hello Brian,

 

Thanks so much for getting involved with this forum and keeping us updated.

 

I do have a small request. When you post in the future, would you be good enough to please use a larger font? It would be very much appreciated.

 

Anne

Anna, You might find it helpful to know this "trick".

 

When you want a larger font size hold down the 'ctrl' button and then press the + until the font is large enough. To make it smaller press the - while holding down the 'ctrl'.

 

This works on most text on your computer.

[shoreham01]

Thanks from me too Brian.

 

It would be wonderful if you could advise us when we book if the bed is by the balcony or by the bathroom.

[Lois R]

Thanks from me too Brian.

 

It would be wonderful if you could advise us when we book if the bed is by the balcony or by the bathroom.

 

Hi:) there is a wonderful thread at the top of this forum with

"Cabin information" on it....if you know what cabin you are booking

you can see if the cabin number is on the spreadsheet and where

the bed is located too.

[cruiseacecat]

Anna, You might find it helpful to know this "trick".

 

When you want a larger font size hold down the 'ctrl' button and then press the + until the font is large enough. To make it smaller press the - while holding down the 'ctrl'.

 

This works on most text on your computer.

Works beautifully. Thank you so much.

 

Anne

[hcat]

Glad to hear some website issues are being recognized and worked on....

 

the cailber of the on ship tech staff is usually excellent, but they too are met with many of the frustrations that customers experience.

 

I bet they would have many helpful suggestion about how the website could be improved and work better!!!

[EithneMay]

Glad to read our posts do make a difference, or are at least noticed.

[CPT Trips]

TO CRUISE CRITIC MEMBERS:

 

If every time Brian or someone else from Celebrity posts, we bombard them with "our views" on the topic, they aren't going to stay here long. Brian likely has little time to follow this thread or respond to your posts. Personally, I am just happy that he gives us the occasional update...and perhaps if he wants, he'll start a thread asking for advice.

 

Please don't bombard him every time he posts....which is exactly what's happening to this thread. Just say thank you.....

 

I once was in the positiion of providing responses to bbs posts. During that time, I found it time consuming to wade through a bunch of "thank you" posts when I was looking for substantative posts. I didn't need the "thanks", the substanive posts proved the value of our effort.

 

Just another perspective. :)

[wwcruisers]

Anna, You might find it helpful to know this "trick".

 

When you want a larger font size hold down the 'ctrl' button and then press the + until the font is large enough. To make it smaller press the - while holding down the 'ctrl'.

 

This works on most text on your computer.

 

Sara -- Thank you so much for that tip -- I had never heard of that, but it works like a charm! No more sitting here pushing my bifocals up and down, squinting at the screen, trying to read small print! :cool:

[Jack Horner]

The claim that it will be fixed rings hollow when comparing Celebrity’s web site with Cunard's or say Holland America. One can only wonder how come it is so bad in the first place. Unless there has been some wholesale changes due to a company reevaluation of the competence of the MIS department. :(