Celebrity's website is the worst!

[varoo]

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.

Ah, yes indeed.

Memories...... How soon we forget.

 

Q&A with Tina Alexander - Assoc. VP Web Innovations ~ Celebrity Cruises - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

 

 

The last time her name came up, we were informed that she was no longer with Celebrity Cruises.

 

[Pipo]

I'm trying to enroll into Captain's Club, and creating a My Celebrity account, but after I insert all my personal information and click 'next' or 'register', it shows the following:

 

 

"WE'RE SORRY

 

Page Not Found.

Celebrity Cruises Error Page Celebrity Cruises, Inc

We Apologize for the Error.

The page you're looking for can't be found. It could be that the page has moved, the page has been eliminated, or the web address entered could be incorrect. To navigate away from this error page, click on a link above or below, or redirect to Celebrity Cruises website."

 

This issue has been there since November. Does anyone else have the same problem?

Edited April 24, 2015 by Pipo

[gimletgal]

Ah, yes indeed.

Memories...... How soon we forget.

 

Q&A with Tina Alexander - Assoc. VP Web Innovations ~ Celebrity Cruises - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

 

The last time her name came up, we were informed that she was no longer with Celebrity Cruises.

 

Yes! That's her. Thanks for finding that. "Fun" to go back and read some of the answers..........we're still waiting for the fixes! I know it was ONLY 2 years ago. :(

[dwhe]

As the excursions I want to book are on a time limited offer I have to ring an income generating 0844 number (UK) which I am not going to do. I will book with another company and that will be another £200+ Celebrity has lost. Perhaps we should list the amounts here we can not pay to Celebrity because of the website.

[ourlol]

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.

 

I'm having the exact same problem. Trying to buy some OBC and the system doesn't recognise our reservation. it's beyond frustrating.

[bigbenboys]

I would say that Azamara's website is or was the worst. I just stopped looking at their cruises.

 

As to Celebrity's website. I had the wait for 20 minutes message. I called my TA. She gave me the line about not signing out right. I said I can get into Celebrity, but I cant get into my reservation for my up coming cruise. And that I have not been on the website in over a month. TA called and Celebrity could not get into my reservation. In the end they had to give me a new reservation ID.

[jonsmum]

Personally I loathe the new UK website - I find it much harder to navigate than the old one. We were looking to book a cruise for next Spring, but the 'Search by date' option has gone! We had no idea where we wanted to go, or which ship, just that we wanted to go somewhere warm next Feb/March. There was no way I was going to trawl through all the 'Destinations', so sorry Celebrity, until it's fixed, we're going nowhere!

[lovescarborough]

I'm having the exact same problem. Trying to buy some OBC and the system doesn't recognise our reservation. it's beyond frustrating.

We solved the problem by phoning Celebrity UK and buying through them. It took all of 5 minutes. The man who took my call laughed when I told him what happened on the website. I guess they must be used to it by now!

[macaroni]

I am trying to book excursions for my eclipse cruise in February 2016. I never get the same screen twice...and it is a game of hitting every tab to get to it..never the same...then I finally get to st. Kitts and there are only 3 excursions listed...not the one I want...

Edited April 26, 2015 by macaroni

[melsuli]

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

 

Not saying its perfect (no website is) but in general I have been able to access/ modify all my requirements for the last four cruises.

[s2kreno]

No where to go but down? Doubt it and if so not anytime soon. But if they do slip it will not be due to an average cruise website.

It's much, much worse than average. Maybe older passengers don't care but younger ones have no patience for this. Celebrity will have to improve or those of us who are accustomed to doing everything online as efficiently as possible (not to mention we like having a paper trail) will not be loyal, and they'll feel it when their current market ages out.

[s2kreno]

Are all other cruise lines website's this bad?? Or are we an exception to the rules?:(

This is actually the worst web site in any industry that I've ever seen. And I used to work in web development and quality assurance. I'd be really embarrassed to be associated with something this awful, glitchy and unintuitive. They should also consider how much money they're wasting on humans having to straighten things out because the site screws up so much, and lost excursion revenue because it's easier to book with any good company on tripadvisor than through the cruiseline.

[Artie212]

I agree.....when checking on the worst site in the industry, frustration reaches unreal levels.

[Sandtrap328]

If you think Celebrity's site is bad, try using HAL's. Celebrity's site is lightyears ahead of HAL's for both excursion previews and bookings and online registration/check-in.

[Bennettanddebbie]

Speaking as a knowledgeable professional in the software industry:

 

I can see tremendous similarities between what is presented as Celebrity's website and what is Royal Caribbean's. I assume they both are hosted on the same platform (base software). Maybe they just have a common lineage, but it is much more likely that RCCL, being the parent company, dictates to Celebrity what they will use. Celebrity probably has control of the user interface to some degree, giving them a somewhat different look and feel than Royal's. But they both use the same base system. Hence, they both suck comparably.

 

Contrary to common belief, you cannot just chain down a few 20 year olds, give them a supply of Dr. Pepper and Twinkies, and expect to get a quality product. Enterprise class software is difficult to do well. It takes adequate staff backed with adequate resources (that is time and money). And like any business, those resources have to compete with everything else crying for attention.

 

Sure, none of us likes a barely functional website. Carnival's website seems a lot better. So would you prefer that Celebrity improves the website experience to that of Carnival, at the cost of moving resources over to that effort which results in the cruise experience degrading to also match what Carnival offers??

 

No thank you.

 

 

Bennett of BennettandDebbie

[tteettimes]

This conversation is now on-going for approximately four years......guess it doesn't matter to them huh ??

[Pavovsky]

I did not find it too bad. Have twice booked a cruise on it with little hassle. Bought drinks packages too but no excursions. I have used far worse. The mobile version is not too bad either.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 7 using Tapatalk

[leaveitallbehind]

Are all other cruise lines website's this bad?? Or are we an exception to the rules?:(

 

I would bet that RCCLs website is less user friendly than X's. They try to do too much with the Quantum reservation system and it is really bad.

 

Trust me - RCI has it's issues. But they seem to be mostly limited to weekends (when of course no one would be on line with their website! :rolleyes:) which is when the site is involved with weekly "maintenance". Otherwise I find them pretty user friendly. But recent website changes have them looking more like Celebrity now.....:eek: I guess to be expected with Michael Bailey at the helm.

Edited April 30, 2016 by leaveitallbehind

[s2kreno]

Speaking as a knowledgeable professional in the software industry:

 

I can see tremendous similarities between what is presented as Celebrity's website and what is Royal Caribbean's. I assume they both are hosted on the same platform (base software). Maybe they just have a common lineage, but it is much more likely that RCCL, being the parent company, dictates to Celebrity what they will use. Celebrity probably has control of the user interface to some degree, giving them a somewhat different look and feel than Royal's. But they both use the same base system. Hence, they both suck comparably.

 

Contrary to common belief, you cannot just chain down a few 20 year olds, give them a supply of Dr. Pepper and Twinkies, and expect to get a quality product. Enterprise class software is difficult to do well. It takes adequate staff backed with adequate resources (that is time and money). And like any business, those resources have to compete with everything else crying for attention.

 

Sure, none of us likes a barely functional website. Carnival's website seems a lot better. So would you prefer that Celebrity improves the website experience to that of Carnival, at the cost of moving resources over to that effort which results in the cruise experience degrading to also match what Carnival offers??

 

No thank you.

 

 

Bennett of BennettandDebbie

 

But that's my point. They might not have to give other departments a haircut because a crappy site has both tangible (extra humans to straighten out screwups that would not occur if the site were halfway decent)and opportunity (lost revenue because people who prefer to book online will skip ship-sponsored excursions) costs. Fix the site, recoup the costs. And in the future this will cost them more because it's hokey. Like having a real estate agent who won't use a cell phone,

Edited April 30, 2016 by s2kreno

[judyzoo]

It's much, much worse than average. Maybe older passengers don't care but younger ones have no patience for this. Celebrity will have to improve or those of us who are accustomed to doing everything online as efficiently as possible (not to mention we like having a paper trail) will not be loyal, and they'll feel it when their current market ages out.

 

Older passengers DO care.

[ommthree]

Truly one of the worst websites I have used in recent years. Impossible to navigate. Barely any content. Almost nothing works. Desperate. Truly desperate.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Edited April 30, 2016 by ommthree

[Lastdance]

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

 

 

Same thing happened to us. Did you change cabins before your cruise?

[Hydrokitty]

Older passengers DO care.

 

Yes we do and we're the ones with the time and money to book all those excursions!! It is most frustrating...open up your reservation and do one thing and you can't access it again for hours. That shouldn't be a hard fix.

[drjochen]

Their web page really sucks. I wanted to make reservations in restaurants. We will be in a suite with specialty dining included, yet the web page insists on charging me for the restaurants. Also, the web page shows a different on board credit than the cruise booklet.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[SPacificbound]

I have to say it is "one" of the worst. It has company. ;)