Please please please FIX the website !!!

[Desert Steve]

I have a sense that Royal Caribbean and its brands are stealing a march on Carnival Corp at the moment. I see some heavy discounting on Carnival's brands which equate to Celebrity, and very little on RCCL's side.

 

My concern for all the brands, and Azamara in particular, is what seems to be an ongoing failure by RCCL to invest in better technology and resources to improve the online experience. It's the major resource nowadays for interacting with customers as more and more of the admin. function now takes place at home in front of the computer. It isn't that long ago that everyone in the UK was moaning and groaning over the poor website functionality, and here we are again seeing major issues that have a promised fix of weeks away.

 

I think RCCL is dropping the ball badly by not improving their online product.

Thank you for the post

[shedridt]

...for all the people who have booked an Azamara cruise, thinking that this was to be the most carefree & wonderful vacation of their lives - only to find all these obstructions in booking shore excursions. It would be one thing if you just wanted to get it out of the way before your cruise, but the discount is critical. I guess you'll just have to get on the phone to book them, as kelliepoodle has....

 

Please do know - & you've heard it before & must be doubting the truth of it! - that the actual cruise experience will be just great. We've NEVER had a better shore embarkation experience - & they slide you right through everything from getting your room key to booking your first dinner on board & then you go on deck & PRESTO - they usher you to your cabin! - but not before you've had lunch & a glass of wine! You will LOVE it, I promise you!

 

Just my last two cents.....

[florisdekort]

The new website is an absolute disaster and any normal company would have rolled back the "upgrades" by now. It has been over a month and nothing has happened. The fact that in today's e-commerce world you can't see cabin availability or make reservations is shocking. If an airline's website "upgrades" had shut down its internet bookings for over a month, the CEO would have been sacked already.

 

Floris

[florisdekort]

P.S. Host Andy - I noticed you removed a certain word from the title I gave this thread. I understand why; but that word sure was spot on! :D

[bigbenboys]

I was involved in a conversation the other day about company's and there websites. I found it very interesting. The short of it was if your going to build a new website you need to start with a app for our mobile devices. Then back build a website. This would have given Azamara away of fixing some problems before it was released on their new website. And to make a better transition to the new website. Richard

[Kellie Poodle]

My information may be out of date (I retired in '95), but isn't there always a restore point on any computer operating system?

 

We do it on our own PCs when we have glitches. We restore to a previous date when everything worked. I can't believe that they deleted the previous program when they uploaded the new one.:confused::confused:

 

I am not aware of any commercial computer program that does not do a nightly backup automatically.

 

Just a thought if anyone from Azamara is reading this.

[ikelmay]

What to do before releasing a major upgrade to an existing platform? Test it again and again and then yet one more time.

 

One of my concerns here is that some sort of bandaid solution will be found to enable the website and give some useability back to the customer - but that underlying operational issues will remain. That is just asking for trouble.

 

I wonder how much of RCCL's creative computing is outsourced?

[mzk90]

I think their web teams are busy dealing with the other 2 brands, which to be honest is where their volume of bookings come from so I can understand it.

 

They have always said they will fix it when they can.

 

The problems with being locked out of a booking so you cannot do tours and online check in is a different matter and is completely rubbish!

[Kellie Poodle]

Yesterday I got a call from a young lady at Azamara promising that the web site would be fixed today.

 

This morning I logged in and I was able to do online check-in and get my Xpress pass. I was also able to check my shore excursions purchased over the phone.

 

Best of all I was able to sign up for the Meet & Mingle.

 

I am not a happy sailor.:D

[Sanatee]

 

I am not a happy sailor.:D

 

Good! But do you really that you're NOW a happy sailor?!:D

[Kellie Poodle]

Good! But do you really that you're NOW a happy sailor?!:D

 

It should have read "now" Morning coffee turned out to be flavored and I hated it so I typed that without benefit of caffeine :o

[Desert Steve]

Finally able to do on line check in and order luggage tags.

I hope Azamara understands our frustration with a web site that was so bad. Thankfully all is good for now.:)

[Kellie Poodle]

I did on line check-in this morning but didn't see where to order luggage tags. I just thought they come with the document package and you print them off

[Andy]

P.S. Host Andy - I noticed you removed a certain word from the title I gave this thread. I understand why; but that word sure was spot on! :D

 

My apologies Floris - but the word had to go. On the bright side, (based on members comments) the website seems to be improved in recent days.

[hapicruisin]

Not having looked on Azamara website for a few days, I logged in and, lo

and behold, I was able to do online check-in for my upcoming cruise.

 

So glad to see we didn't have to wait any longer. Such a shame about

the website but the onboard experience is so wonderful.

 

Hapicruisin

[florisdekort]

Very happy that everyone can access their reservations again, but please note that other basic features such as seeing cabin availability or (what a crazy idea!) booking a cruise are still not working... :(

 

Floris

[Citizenship]

I'm minded to think that whilst the larger cruise providers can probably handle/discard the flak and maybe absorb most customer frustrations too, a small 2 cruise ship 'niche' carrier offshoot has to be very aware and somewhat careful in its customer handling? Especially when feeling somewhat abandoned to anonymous UN-intelligent systems.

 

With respect, their website is still a world wide mess, and needs some pretty serious fixing for what is still thought of as one of the better upmarket cruise companies.

 

Has anyone tried to 'booking' the 'Azamazing evening' online recently?? Round and round in ever decreasing circles...........

 

We pay to enjoy that cruise anticipation, rather than worry about it, surely?

Edited December 12, 2013 by Citizenship

[uktog]

Very happy that everyone can access their reservations again, but please note that other basic features such as seeing cabin availability or (what a crazy idea!) booking a cruise are still not working... :(

 

Floris

 

Agree - and remember those of us in Europe already are putting up with an inferior product even before the change

I have a lot of sympathy with the use of the word you originally used!

[Andy]

Very happy that everyone can access their reservations again, but please note that other basic features such as seeing cabin availability or (what a crazy idea!) booking a cruise are still not working... :(

 

Floris

 

Floris, you have no idea how much the cabin availability issue annoys me. Why Azamara insists on removing this feature is beyond any comprehension, and I suspect that many bookings are probably lost, due to the inability to see inventory. There MAY be a way to do it, but it seems you must enter a vast amount of personal information to get to cabin selection, and I'm not about to do this every time I visit the website. The entire recent update surrounding the booking engine is IMO, ill-conceived.

 

I believe that another major web update is coming in the first or second quarter of 2014, and I hope Azamara considers adding this feature once again.

 

Heck, I'm so passionate about Azamara, that I'd do everything possible to resolve their website issues, and make it a world class website - at no charge to them, if they gave me the opportunity !

Edited December 12, 2013 by Host Andy

[Prefdavid]

 

Heck, I'm so passionate about Azamara, that I'd do everything possible to resolve their website issues, and make it a world class website - at no charge to them, if they gave me the opportunity !

 

A very kind offer Andy and one that could cost you a significant amount of time and money but since when have large corporate IT departments ever admitted that they don't really know what they're doing?

 

It seems to be a common theme with the two "biggies" Carnival and RCCL to have poorly performing websites, certainly P&O's site in the UK has been a particular source of discontent for many for some time.

[cb2000]

I'm minded to think that whilst the larger cruise providers can probably handle/discard the flak and maybe absorb most customer frustrations too, a small 2 cruise ship 'niche' carrier offshoot has to be very aware and somewhat careful in its customer handling? Especially when feeling somewhat abandoned to anonymous UN-intelligent systems.

 

With respect, their website is still a world wide mess, and needs some pretty serious fixing for what is still thought of as one of the better upmarket cruise companies.

 

Has anyone tried to 'booking' the 'Azamazing evening' online recently?? Round and round in ever decreasing circles...........

 

We pay to enjoy that cruise anticipation, rather than worry about it, surely?

 

We booked the Azamazing Evening online for our June 28 Baltic cruise without any problem. We've also booked shore excursions online.

 

The only problem with shore excursions is they are still under review, and several of the ones offered in St. Petersburg were withdrawn. I understand that others are being added and should be on any time now. I wouldn't be concerned, as our cruise is 6 months away, except for the deadline to get the 25% discount. We have to book by January 3. Hopefully, we'll see the finalized excursions soon. As for booking what is shown online - no problem.

[Andy]

A very kind offer Andy and one that could cost you a significant amount of time and money but since when have large corporate IT departments ever admitted that they don't really know what they're doing?

 

It seems to be a common theme with the two "biggies" Carnival and RCCL to have poorly performing websites, certainly P&O's site in the UK has been a particular source of discontent for many for some time.

 

I know what you mean, but it's just that a number of areas on both the Celebrity & Azamara websites aren't user friendly or supportive to generating sales. I doubt I can resolve all of the technical glitches, but I'm fairly certain I can bring a consumer mindset into the mix, and help them get the website on a far better path. If that costs me a large amount of my time, I'm willing to do what it takes to help both Azamara & Celebrity.

 

With that said, I'd be surprised if either of the two brands take me up on my generous offer, but I stand willing to help in any way possible.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Host Andy

[Kamlee]

This morning the UK website has a maintenance message "From 2am Saturday the 26th through until approximately 1am Monday the 28thof October our website and booking systems will be under maintenance..."!

[Kellie Poodle]

This morning the UK website has a maintenance message "From 2am Saturday the 26th through until approximately 1am Monday the 28thof October our website and booking systems will be under maintenance..."!

 

 

:eek: I would laugh at this error, but it's kind of scary.

 

Do you think they restored the site to a previous point in time in, let's say, October? :confused:

[marinaro44]

I've always been able to access my reservations but today, when I tried to book excursions for our March 3 Journey cruise, it brings up the itinerary for Journey's February 17 cruise (the excursions for which I just finished booking).:mad: