Celebrity issues with website, long hold times on the phone, issues with invoices

[KLSweetland]

I didn't know that they had one.

 

I always thought the problem was that they needed one.

 

Cruise on

 

Uh, miched, I'd suggest you live in ignorant bliss rather than trying to avail yourself of the services on the website.

 

So to recap, I had been trying to do a variety of things with my online reservation since I made it in December. The onboard credits fell off and were put back on at least three times, and at one point they accidentally added an additional $300 credit. I pointed this out, and the agent at X said she wasn't inclined to remove it. That was nice, but it magically disappeared after that anyway.

 

I also asked one agent to upgrade my bev package to premium. He said he did. Never saw an indication of that online, and the last agent didn't see any reference of that on the reservation.

 

I have never been able to make a payment online for this reservation (7 months and counting!). Interestingly, I was able to pay on the reservation for the cruise I took last December. I was also able to pay for a friend's cabin with no issues. This time, no dice (same Celeb account, same card, etc). I've called on several occasions and various agents have acknowledged the issue. There is nothing I can do about it. Originally, they were hoping the June update of the site would correct this. It didn't, today I still can't pay online. The agent I spoke to just now said they are hoping to have it fixed in the next few months.

 

I appreciate the suggestions re changing browsers, clearing cache. Those are great suggestions for people having trouble getting the site to load. Unfortunately these are actual database issues at Celebrity, so they won't resolve my problem. I happen to work in computer forensics so I'm painfully aware of technical snafus and their corresponding headaches.

 

I couldn't agree more with the people saying it's a shame that would-be customers will never get to experience the on-board service at Celebrity because they are turned off by these issues. My experience on Reflection was absolutely world class, I just can't believe how bad this site is. I wish Celebrity would weigh in on this thread or others to explain what they're doing to improve. They have SO MUCH room for improvement! :D

[KLSweetland]

I guess they now have a 'lifestyle magazine' type website over here..

 

http://catalyst.celebritycruises.com/about/

 

Note that toward the bottom, it states,

"We’d also love to hear from you. Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Google+ or share your thoughts in the comment section below."

 

Uh, there is no comment section below (as of today 8/27/14). However, last week when I found the site there was just one comment. A fellow cruiser went on and on about all of the technical issues with the website. It has since disappeared, along with the comment section altogether. I wish I had taken a screenshot!

 

Are they kidding me? Launching a second website when the first one is so incredibly messed up??:p

[loeb]

Ok, I posted a comment on Facebook to see if they will address the problem.

[loeb]

The following is the comment I received from my facebook comment.

 

Celebrity Cruises wrote: "Hi , we have been passing on the feedback from our guests, and hope to resolve some of these issues soon."

[Lady Hudson]

Hi. Booked this morning for a 8/31 cruise and added all information online. I should be ready to print but I get the message that the website is down. I will be patient. When the site is back up I should be able to print our boarding pass and luggage tags, correct? Thanks. We have not sailed Celebrity since 2006.

[ISABELLA]

I was on hold for 35 min with my TA, waiting for Celebrity accept my payment for upcoming cruise. TA said that my reservation is " locked" and they cannot post payment. Finally it went thru - TG.

[Dowunder]

Now that they have that call centre in Guatamala City there is virtually no wait time. The problem is that it is a "work in progress" and whoever answers knows no more than you do and generally a lot less. Except for Astrid, make sure you ask for her, even she hasn't the answers she contacts Miami to make sure you get a satisfactory reply.

 

With regards emails. I have sent 4 emails requesting an answer to a query and have received no replies!

[EagleRocker]

What puzzles me is that the website has gotten so markedly worse over time, instead of better. We went on cruises with Celebrity in 2007 and 2012, and I was able to do almost everything over the website -- all booking, changes to reservations, booking shore excursions, etc. -- over the website without a hitch. With our third Celebrity cruise now booked (booked this past July), I have had nothing but trouble trying to do anything on the website. I booked my reservation on the website using the 123Go deal for Europe, and neither the beverage package nor the $300 OBC showed on the confirmation. I called our assigned Celebrity Vacation Planner (who I never had needed to contact in the past, but thank goodness, he has turned out to be fabulous) and he confirmed that, yep, the 123Go perks did not show in the reservation I booked, although he quickly added them in manually and, fingers crossed, they still show on the reservation. We had an FCC that I had forgotten about, and he was able to get that added on to the reservation. However, despite that FCC showing as a fare reduction on the website reservation and in a booking confirmation we received, it simply disappeared one day. When I inquired, I was told that it must have “dropped off” because a change had been made to the reservation (and although it was added back on today manually, I have no doubt it will magically disappear again one day should I access the reservation). I had deleted the Cruise Care Protection I initially had included at the time the reservation was made, and this apparently was the triggering event.

 

I am not a programmer, but how is it that doing something that a website/company wants you to do -- take care of a minor reservation modification on your own so you don’t have to use up employee time -- actually messes up and deletes data from other fields and functions in the stored reservation? What kind of program does that?

 

Like others, I am entirely unable - no matter what the several different browsers or devices I use -- to book shore excursions or make dining reservations, although Celebrity keeps sending me helpful email reminders that I need to do so quickly before they are no longer available. ;)

 

I try to be amused but, seriously, these seem like glitches that people with minimal IT skills should be able to fix (but what do I know).