Holland America Web Site

[btoohill]

Is anyone else experiencing difficulties.  It's been really slow whenever I tried to access anything in the past few weeks and now it's not providing anything at all.  It's just spinning.  IMHO, they need a new web site team to overhaul the site and make it much more efficient.  A site with less glitz and better performance would be appreciated.

[VennDiagram]

My experience with the website today was terrible.  I went to a travel agent site to find what I needed.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I tried looking up a cruise a couple of hours ago - just the wheel spinning.

[OlsSalt]

Just  today I went to find the link for the Voyage of the Vikings to send to a friend new to cruising. Then I went back into the link myself that I had just sent and found it to be 100% user unfriendly. 150% user unfriendly. And I know this cruise and I know this ship. Rack that up as one more lost sale. 

 

I am now embarrassed I even sent this link - no way to get even the most basic information about where this ship goes by map or list on first glance to see if you even want to pursue more information -- like the old website offered immediately - first click got you the map and list of ports. This one requires 35 pages of scrolling or clicks to try and figure out where the heck it goes, why bother?

[SilvertoGold]

I could not find the taxes for the cruises I was looking at.  Nowhere to be found on the first page, or second, as this used to be.

Finally, when you get to the payment due, total, you can subtract the fare from the total to get the taxes.  This is very user-unfriendly!

[boards]

I was just on Hal's website and got all the information I needed concerning a cruise I have booked.  The problem I had was I didn't like the price.  It is about $1200 more with the new promotion.  Sure glad I have it already booked.

[Andi Land]

I have been looking at the Canada New England cruises for 2020 on the Amsterdam. It’ll let me see prices but it won’t go any further to make a booking. I called HAL about this a few days back and the rep told me to use Google Chrome instead of Safari. I’m still having the same problem no matter which browser I’m in. 

[boards]

My turn today.  Cannot get into Hal's website.  I could earlier today, but now.

[VennDiagram]

17 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

I could not find the taxes for the cruises I was looking at.  Nowhere to be found on the first page, or second, as this used to be.

Finally, when you get to the payment due, total, you can subtract the fare from the total to get the taxes.  This is very user-unfriendly!

 

You got to page 2?  Well-done 👍  😉

[VennDiagram]

16 hours ago, Andi Land said:

I called HAL about this a few days back and the rep told me to use Google Chrome instead of Safari. I’m still having the same problem no matter which browser I’m in. 

 

So it is the USER'S problem ("change your  browser") that their website doesn't work?  Ugh  I detest that attitude. 

[boards]

I am able now to get into the website.  My computer said I was being attacked.  I cleared the message and tried the website and it worked ok.   I don't know if that is the answer or not.

[OlsSalt]

7 minutes ago, boards said:

I am able now to get into the website.  My computer said I was being attacked.  I cleared the message and tried the website and it worked ok.   I don't know if that is the answer or not.

 

Looks like Mac Safaris users are still attacked. I am supposed to buy a new computer just so I can learn about HAL cruises -- great marketing ploy. 

[SilvertoGold]

 

 

VennDiagram:

 

Oh, ugh, yes.  Only because I could not believe the taxes weren't there where they have always been through each and every "redo" of the HAL site!

[dockman]

Somebody needs to get fired and a new vendor or team take over.....every direct booking that HAL loses because people get frustrated with the poorly designed poorly functioning site cost HAL about 15% in commission if the people go book with a travel agent....15% on one $5000 booking is $750.....that adds up very quickly and turns into millions of dollars very quickly.  Shame on HAL management for allowing this to go on and on and on.

 

Gee do you suppose there just might be some really good talented people/companies in SEATTLE that might be able to build a HAL website that would be at least as good as a travel agency site?  DUH.

[OlsSalt]

4 hours ago, dockman said:

Somebody needs to get fired and a new vendor or team take over.....every direct booking that HAL loses because people get frustrated with the poorly designed poorly functioning site cost HAL about 15% in commission if the people go book with a travel agent....15% on one $5000 booking is $750.....that adds up very quickly and turns into millions of dollars very quickly.  Shame on HAL management for allowing this to go on and on and on.

 

Gee do you suppose there just might be some really good talented people/companies in SEATTLE that might be able to build a HAL website that would be at least as good as a travel agency site?  DUH.

 

 

I dunno. Is Seattle known for having experts in high tech?

[terrydtx]

I think this website issue with HAL in not unique to HAL. Go to the other CCL owned cruise companies like Princess and they all have very user unfriendly websites, actually Princess may be worse. Even non CCL  Celebrity is not much better either. With the HAL older demographics you would think HAL would like to make their website a little more user friendly, my wife gets very frustrated with the HAL site.

[dockman]

11 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

 

I dunno. Is Seattle known for having experts in high tech?

  

I suspect that microsoft and amazon, both based in Seattle, might know a thing or ten about high tech.

 

[OlsSalt]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

I think this website issue with HAL in not unique to HAL. Go to the other CCL owned cruise companies like Princess and they all have very user unfriendly websites, actually Princess may be worse. Even non CCL  Celebrity is not much better either. With the HAL older demographics you would think HAL would like to make their website a little more user friendly, my wife gets very frustrated with the HAL site.

 

This is what I find amazing - those of us who know the product, know what we are looking for and have years of prior HAL  website access, remain totally confounded by the difficulties presented with this new website format.

 

I wonder how much customer research they did before they added every whistle and bell they could thinks of just to show off; but totally ignore end-point user functionality.  One has to wonder how much management even knew about their product when they signed off on this debacle.  To me this is a project that failed from the very beginning to the end result. It has to be really impacting HAL's bottom line by now. Yet it ...persists.

 

I try my best to move past total anger to specific suggestions in the "feedback" side bar and I see some things do get tweaked. They no longer default to the most expensive option, giving no clue there are other pricing options is one recent change.

 

 But the over all format for general cruise exploring remains totally inaccessible -it cannot be piecemeal tweaked into anything remotely accessible or functional.  It needs to be scrapped and built back from the customers perspective; not some alien Seattle tech gurus who have never set foot on a cruise ship let alone even interested in how to best present the product itself -- not just the delivery system. 

 

I'll say it again --New Coke. Alienate the former customer base while presenting a new product that responded to research data only, and tramples on present and even future customer preferences. Bonus points for also alienating industry interface agents  who have quickly learned to avoid promoting the product entirely.

Edited December 14, 2018 by OlsSalt

[old mike]

Based on our recent experience I don't think the IT issues are restricted to the HAL web page, .

 

We recently arrived back home after 57 days on the Westerdam in Neptune class.  On previous HAL cruises we had not one problem , zero, zilch, with our on board account. On the Westerdam cruise we had a litany of problems.  

 

We did not receive the cards for some pre-purchased EXC tours,  mariner discounts were not automatically honoured or applied, we did not automatically receive refunds for cancelled speciality restaurant meals and excursions, the "shops" billed items we did not purchase to the account.

 

We eventually did see corrections made for all the problems, but only after we pointed out the issues to the concierge multiple times over periods of days and weeks. The last correction occurred on the last night of the cruise and was by pure chance!!! We ran into the head Sommelier in the Pinnacle grill and he did a manual correction for a cancelled wine package. We had asked the concierge to cancel the package five days prior. I don't know if we would have received the re-fund had the Sommelier not intervened.   

 

We were told that the problems that occurred in the first week were due to "the preliminary manifest not loading correctly". However throughout the cruise(s) I observed the concierges having to cross referencing two computers each with access to different systems and also at one point they were having to access a backup system in Seattle. (I also had to show the concierge an e-mail from the mariner society regards mariner discounts for pop up speciality restaurants, it still took them 4 days to confirm the discount applicability. Sound familiar Kazu!!!!)

 

My advice,

1 Pre-purchase nothing, but if you do, take a hard copy print out of the HAL confirmation e-mails 

2 Check your on board account daily

3 Keep your own records and all receipts and insist on written confirmation of any cancellations. 

4 Ensure you keep or have access to credit card statements with HAL transactions

5 Check your mariner account after the cruise, our accounts were short by 12 days for on board spending credits. Since corrected with an apology but only after several e-mails.

 

This is a personal opinion, and is a "gut call" based on career experience, but I suspect that the root cause behind the majority of the problems we encountered rests with changes to the IT processes and management systems that the HAL employees have to work within. The front line on board staff as individuals were of the typical exemplary HAL standard, but the left hand just did not seem to know what the right hand was doing. 

 

A cruise should not be a practical test of book-keeping and accounting skills.