Celebrity's website is the worst!

[Quasar]

I have just spent another frustrating session trying to checkin, book excursions and beverage package with Celebrity online. All to no avail, just get bounced to the homepage at various random points. At least one checkin completed, another 4 to go, best way might be to set up multiple computers and do all at once in the hope they all get thru' the jumbled maze of celebrity IT on the occasional minute it works.

 

Their lack of ability to procure adequate web expertise is amazing. I am glad that they are a little more successful at ship design and management, come to think of it, recalling my last cruise on Silhouette on the go slow!?!

[cle-guy]

That's certainly an area that could be improved on big style, there are also many excursions that don't have a single feedback rating which I find strange, there must be hundreds of people on just about every excursion every year so why are people not passing on their experiences the way they would on other prominent travel sites ?

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Is Celebrity not trying to go after the next generation of cruisers? ...If they cannot do it electronically, I am thinking a better percentage will just flock to a site that will let them...No?

 

I have no idea what the percentage of passengers book online,

 

Only 30% of passengers book without a Travel Agent, according to a speech given at the recent CLIA meeting, so not many really use the website for these types of things, also I think cruisers tend to be an older demographic, majority of which (exception being those in this forum) don't bother with using the internet to do reviews etc.

 

Of that 30% some are booking by phone leaving the internet bookings even fewer.

Edited March 19, 2015 by cle-guy

[travsol]

Talked with the excursion desk yesterday. They confirmed that the site doesn't work. They are "supposed" to be sending us a list of excursions for our cruise. They have to booked via phone.

[rahrah50]

I am traveling with a group of 8 women. We booked private tours because it was just too much trouble to try to do it online.....That is a lot of lost revenue for Celebrity and sure does not make a good impression for new Celebrity cruisers. And I am in the older crowd!!!!!

[dodger1964]

I would think a business would make it as easy as possible to let customers use website to pay that business money.

 

How hard can it be.

 

Hire some computer tech savvy 20 something year old, get him jacked up on Mt Dew and have him fix the site. People want to give you money...make it as easy as possible!

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

On Sunday I went on line to make a payment on my next cruise. I entered in all of my credit card info and then it takes me back to the beginning and had in RED "The city you selected is not a valid city please choose another city" :confused: I just wanted to make a payment my air is already booked and paid for.

 

Then I called to make a payment, I told the rep that I wanted to make a 1000.00 payment ,and she charged my credit card the remainder of my balance. Final payment isn't due until mid Aug :( I had to call the resolutions dept and they said it would be 3-5 days before they could credit my card back the overpayment of 5968.00 it is day 4 and no credit yet. I never pay off my cruises this far from final payment just in case there is a price drop or a better deal.

[Quasar]

Talked with the excursion desk yesterday. They confirmed that the site doesn't work. They are "supposed" to be sending us a list of excursions for our cruise. They have to booked via phone.

 

I feel sorry for the telephone staff who have to apologise for our experience of the website. This problem seems to have existed for a number of years and is getting no better.

[notsomadhatter]

Only 30% of passengers book without a Travel Agent, according to a speech given at the recent CLIA meeting, so not many really use the website for these types of things, also I think cruisers tend to be an older demographic, majority of which (exception being those in this forum) don't bother with using the internet to do reviews etc.

 

Of that 30% some are booking by phone leaving the internet bookings even fewer.

 

Guess I'm part of a small percentage, as I book onboard or on the website. Most of the time it's without a travel agent unless there's a deal I can't pass up. TA simply creates another potential step for error. Typically I'm having to coach them on how a specific line works or what I want. I'm not going to "pay" them for doing the work myself.

[cle-guy]

Guess I'm part of a small percentage, as I book onboard or on the website. Most of the time it's without a travel agent unless there's a deal I can't pass up. TA simply creates another potential step for error. Typically I'm having to coach them on how a specific line works or what I want. I'm not going to "pay" them for doing the work myself.

 

My TA does not charge me any fees, for booking or canceling. It's odd that one still has a fee for booking these days.

 

I do a lot of coaching too for mine, and I get paid by OBC she provides me on my bookings. :D

 

Onboard booking would classify as a TA booking I would think when considering the statistics, though I do not know how they calculated things. It's certainly not a web booking.

 

If I find a deal on the X website and can't get ahold of my TA, I book it on a 24 hour courtesy hold, and email her the confirmation number, then she takes over the booking and finalizes for me.

 

Even when I book on board, I have my TA on the reservation, get home and she adds her perks to my reservations.

 

If one is willing to do the work themselves anyway, why not then do the work, pass it off to a TA and have the TA give me money versus just booing myself and getting nothing extra.

[notsomadhatter]

That's why I said "pay" in quotes. I pay them but using my time coaching them. They get paid to do the job by me booking with them. Even if I'm not handing money to them specifically.

 

For, let's say, $100 from a TA I have had occasions where I spent more in my time and effort when they screw up to make that money worth it to me. I avoid using them for this reason. They've never been particularly helpful, they've never taught me anything new and they've never advocated for me in a way I couldn't do myself.

 

An onboard booking is not a TA booking unless you specifically name one OR are already using one for the cruise you are on, then it automatically goes back to said agent unless you say otherwise.

[cle-guy]

 

An onboard booking is not a TA booking unless you specifically name one OR are already using one for the cruise you are on, then it automatically goes back to said agent unless you say otherwise.

 

I assumed that the On Board bookers are a part of Celebrity's in house travel agent team, they have a name for it, I just can't recall. My first few cruises when I got home, they called leaving voicemails about how they could help.

 

So if the on board bookers's aren't considered TA's in the calculation of cabins booked by TA's, then that means a fair amount of that 30% that I had initially figured was largely online bookings, would need allocated to the Online booking channel, and thus web bookings are even fewer than 30%. I would think onboard bookings account for 5-10% of bookings anyway.

 

So this means even less incentive for X to allocate resources to resolving web issues.

[TeaBag]

On Sunday I went on line to make a payment on my next cruise. I entered in all of my credit card info and then it takes me back to the beginning and had in RED "The city you selected is not a valid city please choose another city" :confused: I just wanted to make a payment my air is already booked and paid for.

 

Then I called to make a payment, I told the rep that I wanted to make a 1000.00 payment ,and she charged my credit card the remainder of my balance. Final payment isn't due until mid Aug :( I had to call the resolutions dept and they said it would be 3-5 days before they could credit my card back the overpayment of 5968.00 it is day 4 and no credit yet. I never pay off my cruises this far from final payment just in case there is a price drop or a better deal.

Your post made me laugh. Sorry, I know it's not funny. Someone could write a book about peoples' experiences with Celebrity IT dept and call it comedy. Just be thankful you're not in Canada paying with CDN $ because you wouldn't get back what was erroneously charged on your CC due to our dollar dropping like a brick every day and also the buy and sell rates on the card! They owe you one for their horrible IT dept and also for having a careless rep.

[Kentucky816]

Only 30% of passengers book without a Travel Agent, according to a speech given at the recent CLIA meeting, so not many really use the website for these types of things, also I think cruisers tend to be an older demographic, majority of which (exception being those in this forum) don't bother with using the internet to do reviews etc.

 

Of that 30% some are booking by phone leaving the internet bookings even fewer.

 

Yes that is true today but I will tell you as the 20 somethings get around to cruising CC they better have the internet thing right. They do everything on

the internet. I would say most don't even know a travel agent.

[midwestchick]

I assumed that the On Board bookers are a part of Celebrity's in house travel agent team, they have a name for it, I just can't recall. My first few cruises when I got home, they called leaving voicemails about how they could help.

 

So if the on board bookers's aren't considered TA's in the calculation of cabins booked by TA's, then that means a fair amount of that 30% that I had initially figured was largely online bookings, would need allocated to the Online booking channel, and thus web bookings are even fewer than 30%. I would think onboard bookings account for 5-10% of bookings anyway.

 

So this means even less incentive for X to allocate resources to resolving web issues.

 

 

I just sent you an e-mail. :D

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

Your post made me laugh. Sorry, I know it's not funny. Someone could write a book about peoples' experiences with Celebrity IT dept and call it comedy. Just be thankful you're not in Canada paying with CDN $ because you wouldn't get back what was erroneously charged on your CC due to our dollar dropping like a brick every day and also the buy and sell rates on the card! They owe you one for their horrible IT dept and also for having a careless rep.

 

Day 5 still no credit! Somehow I have no faith it will be fixed, even though it was their mistake.:rolleyes:

[Celebrity Cruises]

Hi all,

 

At a recent Q&A session on the Celebrity Century, our CEO and President Lisa Lutoff-Perlo stated that our website is an extremely high priority, and that she will address the website issues that guests have been telling us about.

 

I'll try to keep everyone updated as soon as I learn more, but simply do want to let everyone know that yes, we are aware of these issues.

[yorky]

The UK site seems to have been updated and is far better.

[lovescarborough]

The 'updated ' UK site will only let me see my forward bookings. Have just tried to view and book shore excursions but each time it just bounces me back to a page to plan and book my next cruise! Same thing happens when I try to book a wine package. Gave up in the end. Come on Celebrity don't you want my money?

[yorky]

The 'updated ' UK site will only let me see my forward bookings. Have just tried to view and book shore excursions but each time it just bounces me back to a page to plan and book my next cruise! Same thing happens when I try to book a wine package. Gave up in the end. Come on Celebrity don't you want my money?

 

On the new site if you log in you should see a blue tab stating " plan and book activities" , just be aware there have been a couple of times it's not shown,click on that and I can book and add anything to my booking, don't press the manage my booking tab.

[lovescarborough]

Thanks. I tried that and finally it took me to the excursions page. So far so good then I wanted to buy some on board credit so got as far as inputting how much I wanted then got a page to complete my reservation number, sail date etc. I did that then got the message that it did not recognise my reservation number !!!. Rechecked and yes it was the correct number so tried again and got the wait for 20 minutes message ! Come on Celebrity this is ridiculous.

[cpj]

Hi all,

 

At a recent Q&A session on the Celebrity Century, our CEO and President Lisa Lutoff-Perlo stated that our website is an extremely high priority, and that she will address the website issues that guests have been telling us about.

 

I'll try to keep everyone updated as soon as I learn more, but simply do want to let everyone know that yes, we are aware of these issues.

 

You have been saying that for the last two years.

[dwhe]

Hi all,

 

At a recent Q&A session on the Celebrity Century, our CEO and President Lisa Lutoff-Perlo stated that our website is an extremely high priority, and that she will address the website issues that guests have been telling us about.

 

I'll try to keep everyone updated as soon as I learn more, but simply do want to let everyone know that yes, we are aware of these issues.

 

 

Sorry for bumping but the website is doing my head in, I am trying to book excursions but it keeps throwing me back saying I haven't selected a time but it won't let me select a time, so I try to book again and I have to wait 20 minutes.

 

I'm trying to book a special offer of 3 excursions at a discounted price but as I say it won't let me. It will let me book them individually though at the higher price.

 

Just thought I'd have a moan.

[FlorenceItaly]

Coming from an IT career family, it BOGGLES my mind that a company such as this does not maintain their website in a professional manner. It is unacceptable, and they are losing $$$$. I do not understand why it is not a priority to them!

[gimletgal]

Wasn't it just a year or two ago that we were introduced to a new V.P. at Celebrity who was charged with making the website more user friendly? She, in fact, came on Cruise Critic to answer questions.

 

Many of us felt at that time that her answers reflected more of a "fix" from a marketing point of view, and of course did not address the real problems we encounter day in and day out. I 'm not sure what happened to her or that "project" but it did not improve anything (at least not for the consumer) and she was never heard from again.

 

We are continually told that Celebrity is aware of the problems and that they are looking into fixing them. Of course, this has been the company "line" for years now. Things just keep getting worse - not better. They should just say - "we are aware of your concerns with the website and appreciate your putting up with it".

[judyzoo]

We are continually told that Celebrity is aware of the problems and that they are looking into fixing them. Of course, this has been the company "line" for years now. Things just keep getting worse - not better. They should just say - "we are aware of your concerns with the website and appreciate your putting up with it".

 

That would be a lot more honest, wouldn't it?