Royal IT problem

[baileymouse]

I was on Anthem Jan. 2 - 13. While on board I booked another cruise for myself & my daughter.  She changed her mind and didn't want to go, so I went back and rebooked a different cruise on Symphony for 10/6/24. For that one, I added a friend who sometimes travels with me.

 

I get home and I start receiving the marketing emails for an upcoming cruise (Liberty in May) but they are addressed to my friend's name, even though he's not traveling with me in 2023.

I log in, and my C&A is all messed up, saying it can't display my information.

My Symphony cruise, which was transferred to my travel agent, had my friend as the lead instead of me. It still showed my email. My C&A number, which is on my original booking, was removed.  The original booking has me as Guest #1 and shows my C&A.

My Liberty cruise also "lost" my C&A number.

 

I told my friend to log in and he's having similar issues. 

 

My travel agent said she's getting it straightened out, and someone gave me a quick fix for the C&A display, but I am not impressed with the IT system.  Does this happen often?

 

[dada2199cc]

Royal's IT is consistently inconsistent™!

[mets123]

Their IT staff does more things wrong than right. If they worked for any other company, they would be fired for incompetence.

[Oceansaway17]

37 minutes ago, mets123 said:

Their IT staff does more things wrong than right. If they worked for any other company, they would be fired for incompetence.

could not agree with you more.  It is a disgrace.

And if they would just have more availability of making a variety of changes on line, we would not have to call and they could hire less folks as well.

Then again, the costs of upgrading might be the salaries of hundreds of people. who knows

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, baileymouse said:

Does this happen often?

It happens. 

[smokeybandit]

IT can't fix poor data entry by humans in the first place.

[mets123]

6 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

IT can't fix poor data entry by humans in the first place.

Yes they can. They can edit the data before accepting it into their system. It's basic data processing. I'm been doing this sort of thing for 35 years.

[cruiseguy1016]

12 hours ago, Biker19 said:

It happens. 

 

Often

[NoShoes2]

We are having an ongoing issue that we've been told twice that IT is working on. After making our final payment we received a gift card, for Christmas, which I attempted to apply to our account for onboard credit. A week or so later we got a email stating that we need to pay our balance ($100 which was the amount of the gift card).  They've extended our final payment date twice so that we wouldn't lose our cabin, but we are still waiting. 

[RedIguana]

Royal IT problem

I assume this was a statement and not a question 🤪

 

 

[Ret MP]

I think Royal IT, FAA and Southwest use the same IT contractors and their software was developed by the same people about 30 years ago AND they are trying to stuff 50 pounds of stuff into a 20 pound bag.  

 

If I were the CEO, which is a good thing I'm not, I'd fire the top level IT VP's, Directors, hire the best of the best and have then methodically replace the entire system that isn't working.  

 

I may not be right.  But, perception is reality, period.

 

Just my opinion, of course.  

Edited January 19, 2023 by Ret MP

[smokeybandit]

14 hours ago, mets123 said:

Yes they can. They can edit the data before accepting it into their system. It's basic data processing. I'm been doing this sort of thing for 35 years.

Data entry problems happen despite the most robust input validation.

[mets123]

8 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Data entry problems happen despite the most robust input validation.

No, they don't. I've been in IT for over 35 years. What about yourself?

[ctigerk]

On 1/18/2023 at 2:49 PM, baileymouse said:

I was on Anthem Jan. 2 - 13. While on board I booked another cruise for myself & my daughter.  She changed her mind and didn't want to go, so I went back and rebooked a different cruise on Symphony for 10/6/24. For that one, I added a friend who sometimes travels with me.

 

I get home and I start receiving the marketing emails for an upcoming cruise (Liberty in May) but they are addressed to my friend's name, even though he's not traveling with me in 2023.

I log in, and my C&A is all messed up, saying it can't display my information.

My Symphony cruise, which was transferred to my travel agent, had my friend as the lead instead of me. It still showed my email. My C&A number, which is on my original booking, was removed.  The original booking has me as Guest #1 and shows my C&A.

My Liberty cruise also "lost" my C&A number.

 

I told my friend to log in and he's having similar issues. 

 

My travel agent said she's getting it straightened out, and someone gave me a quick fix for the C&A display, but I am not impressed with the IT system.  Does this happen often?

 

Can you share the "quick fix for the C&A display" I registered for my upcoming cruise and am now getting the same message. TIA. 

[smokeybandit]

12 hours ago, mets123 said:

No, they don't. I've been in IT for over 35 years. What about yourself?

25 years in software engineering. More than enough experience to know what I'm talking about without getting into a resume war.

[Lane Hog]

20 hours ago, mets123 said:

No, they don't. I've been in IT for over 35 years. What about yourself?

36 years. You can't avoid data entry errors, especially when you have customers doing their own bookings.

 

From that experience, being in IT for decades doesn't mean you actually understand customer behavior or how software works.

 

I know server Engineers who can't operate an iPhone.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Lane Hog

[Tin can]

The cruising experience is fabulous with Royal in my opinion but anything that involves phoning and speaking to someone at the call centre or anything involving IT nearly always goes wrong.

 

I have to mentally prepare myself that I have to have a slice of the bad to get the good cruise and it shouldn't be like that.

[twangster]

Royal spends all their money on cruise ships.  Royal spends very little on IT infrastructure.  

 

Royal's top executive is a bean counter.  Bean counters rarely see IT as an investment.  Most bean counters see IT as a money pit.  

 

Just like Southwest Airlines.  It's a small miracle that Royal has not yet encountered a complete platform meltdown like Southwest just did.  That day will come.  

[lakelorain]

Is it possible that the person from the Next Cruise desk made some of these errors?  I often found the NC reps made errors on my bookings and I no longer use them for that reason.

 

[John&LaLa]

On 1/19/2023 at 2:40 AM, mets123 said:

Yes they can. They can edit the data before accepting it into their system. It's basic data processing. I'm been doing this sort of thing for 35 years.

 

You should retire, it's invigorating

[baileymouse]

On 1/20/2023 at 7:05 AM, ctigerk said:

Can you share the "quick fix for the C&A display" I registered for my upcoming cruise and am now getting the same message. TIA. 

 

This is what was posted by another user, and it worked:
Click on your Initials in the top right corner, then profile, my loyalty. Then take Your Crown & Anchor number out, type it back in and click save. Then go back to your upcoming cruises. This should help. A Crown & Anchor Representative just walked me through this and it worked for me.

Hope it helps. 

[baileymouse]

Ok, update on my issues:

 

1. The fix that someone gave me for the C&A points worked, so that's done. 

2. When I booked onboard for Symphony in October 2024 I added my friend Yvon to the reservation. I have since been getting emails from Royal Marketing for my Liberty cruise in May, but they are addressed to Yvon.

 

3. My reservation isn't transferring to my travel agent. When she looked into it, she said they have Yvon listed as the primary passenger, even though my printout from the Next Cruise desk has me as passenger 1. Yvon wasn't even with me on the Anthem cruise.

4. It took 3 calls before I got someone who knew what was happening with the email problem. When they booked me on board for the next cruise, it somehow changed everyone's email address to mine. Me, my 19 year old daughter (who was with me on Anthem), my friend Yvon, and Yvon's friend, Carol, who is booked with Yvon for a cruise in May. How the hell did they manage to do that? 

 

5. The emails were changed back to each of our individual accounts but they still haven't straightened out the Symphony booking so it can transfer to my travel agent. 

 

So, what caused this problem?   It has to be an IT glitch on their end. Wasn't user error, the women who put my reservation through didn't do much more than access my room number, copy over the information, and then adding Yvon's name. I had Yvon's C&A number & email, and confirmed them both. It's the strangest thing.