Modern Luxury makes you wait 15 minutes on phone and unusable website?

[duchesslt]

Check in with family in more than one stateroom online? Going in loop can't see linked reservations. Try to book passengers in more than one stateroom on an excursion? Impossible online - not working. Call in to then do this on phone? First time dialing in, automated attendant broke. Second time dialing in, so far waiting 20 minutes.

 

It makes me question what the Solstice sailing experience will be. If it weren't for Cruise Critic boards, I'd cancel.

 

I don't like handing a company over 20k to then have an experience like this.

[BEAV]

Totally understand your frustration. You're definitely not alone. But I can tell you the on board experience is vastly better as a rule.

[Knolmom]

Same experience here. Try calling the Captain's Club if you have ever sailed on Royal or Celebrity. They might be able to offer assistance.

[mnocket]

Agree. The Celebrity website is certainly FRUSTRATING! It's hard to understand how they let their primary marketing & customer service portal fall into such disrepair. It does make one question the quality of their management.

[grandgeezer]

The website gets little attention because it generates no revenue. I've never heard of anybody leaving strictly because of the website. There are workarounds for anything you want to do. Call the cruise line or travel agent or make your move once you get on the ship. They'll spend their money where they can get the most return.

[Host Jazzbeau]

In the world of 'luxury,' you should be having your personal butler do the calling! :D

[contessaMD]

Same experience here. Try calling the Captain's Club if you have ever sailed on Royal or Celebrity. They might be able to offer assistance.

 

This is what I have had to do. However - in the 21st century it should not be necessary to resolve relatively small issues over the phone with another human being. Kudos to all the reps who field the same types of calls day in and day out with service and a [phone] smile, but this is a situation that exists purely because the corporate overlords won't put the resources into fixing fairly elementary website problems.

[TRadle]

We have 4 cabins booked for a cruise in July and I didn't even bother trying to link them online. We decided we weren't going to eat in the main dining room and that is the only reason I can think of to link the reservations. I had no problem booking the shore excursions for all parties on the website....got lucky there!

 

Now the phone...I gave up holding and called the Captain's Club and they were awesome. I had a person in less then 1 minute and they took care of everything we needed for our sailing.

 

Luxury is a human in the Captain's Club!

[Shadow9612]

Totally understand your frustration. You're definitely not alone. But I can tell you the on board experience is vastly better as a rule.

Agree with BEAV.

 

I do wonder why an organization that provides Modern Luxury onboard, with exemplary service, doesn't do the same with their call centre?

[easyboy]

This is what I have had to do. However - in the 21st century it should not be necessary to resolve relatively small issues over the phone with another human being. Kudos to all the reps who field the same types of calls day in and day out with service and a [phone] smile, but this is a situation that exists purely because the corporate overlords won't put the resources into fixing fairly elementary website problems.

Well said.

[beentothere]

Actually, it may be so simple as they spend the money but are not getting the results they expect to have because of under qualified staff.

 

The requirements of a web system to service the marketing and informational

needs is really not that complex nor demanding in terms of volume.

 

By observation it appears to me that their #1 problem is programming

where different processes are not correctly linked together. Such conditions

generate specific behavior and errors. Having my own online systems to compare to reveals a layer of truth and facts not present in the contents of

these discussions.

 

For example, it was revealed to me the celebrity systems are serviced by

AT&T. I don't know that this is factual but where internet service is a priority

you may wish to inquire. By own observations it appears that the bandwidth may be more capable of service than the ship's software systems are delivering. Note I said software and not hardware.

 

At 3 AM the response time should be many times faster because there

are so few users. However, I observed the login was faster but the internet

throughput was comparable. Makes no sense mathematically. But maybe

the systems want you to use and buy more minutes. Maybe not.

 

Read my commentary on prior posts. Point out the items that may be in

error or those with which you have some disbelief. Its all for a good cause,

a safe and enjoyable cruise.

[Bo1953]

... and is this the only company which provides similar situations at their websites?

 

(rant over) :cool:

 

I anticipate it to be worse today and tomorrow, Monday/Tuesday because many people will be off from work in the mid- and Atlantic states with nothing better to do except be online at the website to 'look' at their reservations and etc.

 

I think CC should set up a specific stickie for this topic, where many of our computer experts and devotees can provide a list of fixes and suggestions for fixes in one place, for X's IT department to review and try to implement accordingly. And X can better follow what 'CC posters' are having challenges with and complaining about concerning the website.

 

Please, continue on with the rants about the website and having to call in... thank you

 

bon voyage to get away from your website situation!

Edited March 13, 2017 by Bo1953

[wallie5446]

Check in with family in more than one stateroom online? Going in loop can't see linked reservations. Try to book passengers in more than one stateroom on an excursion? Impossible online - not working. Call in to then do this on phone? First time dialing in, automated attendant broke. Second time dialing in, so far waiting 20 minutes.

 

It makes me question what the Solstice sailing experience will be. If it weren't for Cruise Critic boards, I'd cancel.

 

I don't like handing a company over 20k to then have an experience like this.

You should truly consider this. The small penalty to cancel will be worth not going thru the aggravating time on ship.

[Bo1953]

You should truly consider this. The small penalty to cancel will be worth not going thru the aggravating time on ship.

 

w - I did not think of this, thank you. There could be more than a 15 minute wait to board the ship in any port, get food at the OVC or even a pool side lounger... amongst and sorted other venues even after boarding.

 

Thank you again and bon voyage all...

[Andy]

Check in with family in more than one stateroom online? Going in loop can't see linked reservations. Try to book passengers in more than one stateroom on an excursion? Impossible online - not working. Call in to then do this on phone? First time dialing in, automated attendant broke. Second time dialing in, so far waiting 20 minutes.

 

It makes me question what the Solstice sailing experience will be. If it weren't for Cruise Critic boards, I'd cancel.

 

I don't like handing a company over 20k to then have an experience like this.

 

Hi Duchess,

 

I hear you loud and clear. Celebrity's website hasn't been the greatest in.... forever ! For years, I've heard all sorts of promises about improvements, but - we are still waiting. Rumor has it, the website will see updates over the summer or 3rd quarter - but that remains to be seen.

 

For those who suggest to cancel - IMO, that's absolutely NOT what you should do. The onboard experience is wonderful, and I'm confident you will be very happy with your choice.

 

In the meantime, I'd suggest reaching out to Captains Club. They have an excellent team, and I'm confident they will resolve your questions and concerns.

 

Wishing you a wonderful cruise !

[duchesslt]

Thanks all! It is because of cruise critic and the great reviews of Solstice that I don't cancel and ultimately waited 40 minutes on hold to then be walked through a work around which didn't work for another 20 minutes.

 

Frustrating is the right word! Fix it, darn it! As for not being only company who has a bad website - um, I say the old two wrongs don't make a right. I was just reminded about studying the fallacy of relevance in logic/reason class in college.

 

Anyway, rant over... but, no, I don't accept paying $20k to have to spend over 2 hours to then not be able to complete what I wanted to do. This is a basic service any service company should do seamlessly, especially ones puffing up 'modern luxury;. I had a better experience shopping at my local supermarket's web order crappy site and I only bought Coca Cola life, chicken, mashed potatoes, and ho hos for $15 for curbside pick up. (Spare comments on how working mother of the year feeds her kids at times).

 

I agree with posters that the problems seem rather elementary code logic and presentation tier issues because their website is basically just a series of queries from data in tables. I could get a small team to celebrity and get that website overhauled in less than a few months. I work on really complex sw systems for banks and this website would be a dream project for us.

[ORV]

The website gets little attention because it generates no revenue. .

 

I don't know where to start with this. You can't be serious. It generates great amounts of revenue and would generate much much more if it worked properly.