Did the cruise line website effect your decision?

I wonder if cruise lines truly know how important their websites are in getting customers. For us, when we started to think about going on our first cruise, I checked the sites of various lines. I quickly discounted Carnival, but was interested in Royal Carribean. I do most of my vacation research on my IPad and spend literally hundreds of hours researching vacations and for the life of me could not get their website to work. I would continue to get a blue box that would cover up everything I wanted to see! Not being the most patient person, I moved on to NCL, worked great and booked. We now have another NCL cruise booked in November, and 2 more being planned in 2018. I have seen some people talk about MSC, so I checked it out. I can't figure out their site at all!! So I guess I am hooked on NCL (plus we had a blast too). Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

I use the line's website to find cruises that interest us

We've been cruising too long for a website to influence our choices as we already have our preferences established. That being said, as paul929207 indicated, we also use the websites only to see what cruises would be of interest. When we do book, we use a TA - one who we have used for close to 20 years - as well as book many on-board. So the answer would be "no".

But to add, I have found RCI in particular to be very frustrating in terms of their downtime, interrupted use, and frequent website "improvements" that seem unnecessary and not to any real consumer benefit that I can see.

Yes some of the websites are frustrating, especially if your using a pad. However the main drivers for me are itinerary and quality of the line. Once I know where and for how long I want to cruise it is much easier to cone in.

It helped on some.

I think there must be some evil monster that is connected to most cruise line websites. Every forum I visit (Carnival, HAL, Princess, MSC) is moaning about how bad the websites are. Do you suppose the same software designer works for them all? EM

Since all the websites pose challenges they all affect our decisions in roughly the same direction and the same amount. So they basically cancel each other out.

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I wonder if cruise lines truly know how important their websites are in getting customers. For us, when we started to think about going on our first cruise, I checked the sites of various lines. I quickly discounted Carnival, but was interested in Royal Carribean. I do most of my vacation research on my IPad and spend literally hundreds of hours researching vacations and for the life of me could not get their website to work. I would continue to get a blue box that would cover up everything I wanted to see! Not being the most patient person, I moved on to NCL, worked great and booked. We now have another NCL cruise booked in November, and 2 more being planned in 2018. I have seen some people talk about MSC, so I checked it out. I can't figure out their site at all!! So I guess I am hooked on NCL (plus we had a blast too). Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

While we use a travel agent to actually book a cruise, I do like to check out various cruise line websites to figure out what we want.

Some cruise line sites of interest are so much more user friendly than others. :confused:

Not sure how much cruise lines realize the importance of having a user friendly site is in attacking potential cruisers.

I wonder if cruise lines truly know how important their websites are in getting customers. For us, when we started to think about going on our first cruise, I checked the sites of various lines. I quickly discounted Carnival, but was interested in Royal Carribean. I do most of my vacation research on my IPad and spend literally hundreds of hours researching vacations and for the life of me could not get their website to work. I would continue to get a blue box that would cover up everything I wanted to see! Not being the most patient person, I moved on to NCL, worked great and booked. We now have another NCL cruise booked in November, and 2 more being planned in 2018. I have seen some people talk about MSC, so I checked it out. I can't figure out their site at all!! So I guess I am hooked on NCL (plus we had a blast too). Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

I'm a travel agent and I find MSC's agent site to be confusing as well. However they are in the process of revamping it.

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That's just it, I couldn't even get the RCI site to show me cruises available. The mysterious blue box on the left covered half the screen after I selected ports etc as a filter. It would pull up the cruises, but couldn't scroll or see them. Yes, maybe you are right, likely designed by the same person! So far we are happy with NCL, and are currently loyal to the brand, but only have one cruise under our belt, one paid for November, and 2 more planned, so not huge. But I was just wondering if there are others out there like me. I like to have control of our plans, so I have never used a TA other than one Disney World trip where we got a special group rate. Planning is 80% of the fun! I have spent a considerable portion of my life on the DIS, now that my family has grown out of Disney (sad), I've moved on to CC.

We use aggregator sites to see what itineraries and prices are out there and narrow things down before we go to our big box TA site. Then we go to the cruise line site. Guess I'm trying to say we use a variety of resources

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After being totally frustrated with cruiseline websites, we found a TA that has an outstanding website. We used it for quite a while, browsing all the cruiselines, and decided we should give them our business in return for maintaining such a good source of information. We've never been sorry. We've now booked many cruises through our agent there, and we continue to use it for deck plans, ship information, port information, future cruise ideas, and much more.

Not particularly, no. I actually do my research way more through a couple of TA sites, plus Youtube videos and Google image searches for cabin pics. (And then there's CC... ;) )

The cruise line sites are basically just digital advertising that make things look a lot better than they are. Only useful for checking and confirming details like pricing and benefits IMO.

We cruise many different lines and their own web sites have nothing to do with our decisions. In fact, if we had to rely on cruise line web sites...we would NEVER CRUISE! Nearly all of their sites suck...although we do think that Princess has done a pretty good job (in recent years) with their cruise site and their related EZ Air site. Compare this to HAL where you cannot even get any air options online. And then we have Celebrity, which used to have an OK site..until recently. Celebrity new web site looks beautiful. but is nearly worthless! In fact, the new Celebrity web site might be the worst in the history of the cruise industry.

Hank

CC isn't likely the best source to determine if websites affect buying decisions for the general public. CCers learn how to work around "features" in the websites of their favoured lines -- the lines have earned their business.

However, for a first time cruiser, who isn't tied into one line, a poor experience will likely send them packing to a competitor. If they can't book on RCL, well, nothing stopping them from trying Carnival, or NCL, or. . . , etc. And if they are able to book on that other line, well, the chances of them coming back to the original are close to nil. On our first cruise, we initially thought NCL, but their site was down, so we went to RCL, had no issues with the site. Haven't even considered NCL since.

We do that all the time in "real life" as well. Once, I called a furnace company because my furnace was constantly running and the house was still cold. Left a message (granted it was early in the day), no response even after 1000AM. So I called another company, they had a tech out right away. Guess who got all my calls after that. By coincidence, I got called to the original furnace company to fix their computer -- I mentioned the issue to the owner while waiting on the computer. The owner's son, who was supposed to be answering the phones while she was on vacation, decided he would rather play video games with his buddies all week instead of working.

However, another company, that I had done business with in the past, had some pretty serious glitches in fixing my [rather personal] issue, but given their track record, they had earned my trust and business. Took a few more phone calls, but the owner got everything right eventually. If this had been the first time I went with them, chances are, their competitor would have been granted the opportunity to serve.

CC isn't likely the best source to determine if websites affect buying decisions for the general public. CCers learn how to work around "features" in the websites of their favoured lines -- the lines have earned their business.

 

However, for a first time cruiser, who isn't tied into one line, a poor experience will likely send them packing to a competitor. If they can't book on RCL, well, nothing stopping them from trying Carnival, or NCL, or. . . , etc. And if they are able to book on that other line, well, the chances of them coming back to the original are close to nil. On our first cruise, we initially thought NCL, but their site was down, so we went to RCL, had no issues with the site. Haven't even considered NCL since.

 

We do that all the time in "real life" as well. Once, I called a furnace company because my furnace was constantly running and the house was still cold. Left a message (granted it was early in the day), no response even after 1000AM. So I called another company, they had a tech out right away. Guess who got all my calls after that. By coincidence, I got called to the original furnace company to fix their computer -- I mentioned the issue to the owner while waiting on the computer. The owner's son, who was supposed to be answering the phones while she was on vacation, decided he would rather play video games with his buddies all week instead of working.

 

However, another company, that I had done business with in the past, had some pretty serious glitches in fixing my [rather personal] issue, but given their track record, they had earned my trust and business. Took a few more phone calls, but the owner got everything right eventually. If this had been the first time I went with them, chances are, their competitor would have been granted the opportunity to serve.

Maybe it's just me but I would think a first timer would do what we did many years ago and visit an aggregator or online TA site first and that would lead them to look closer into a specific cruise line....

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Nah. Many people will just go to the direct source first. Not all but it is a significant number.

I've had bad experiences with hotel booking sites in the past, never a problem booking direct. That experience carries over to the cruise works where I just can't justify "perks" in exchange for giving up the ability to talk directly to the company about my reservation.

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Nah. Many people will just go to the direct source first. Not all but it is a significant number.

 

I've had bad experiences with hotel booking sites in the past, never a problem booking direct. That experience carries over to the cruise works where I just can't justify "perks" in exchange for giving up the ability to talk directly to the company about my reservation.

 

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I agree with this. Maybe I would use a TA if the internet wasn't available. I just don't trust anyone to do the legwork I am willing to do to plan a great vacation. Plus, I never go to third party sites. My sister did that for flights. She paid more than we did on the same flight same day, paid for assigned seats that did not exist (she argued with me when I told her the plane did not have seats in "h" on our flight, unless she was seated out on the wing!!). To make it worse, I paid less than she did for her "h" seats than I did for first class. The 4 of them were split up on the plane while we enjoyed free mimosas! Hotel sites are the same. Maybe cruises are different, but I like to retain that control.

I think the experience can be very different if you use a PC, Mac, Android or iOS to try and look at things so it can vary a lot!!

I for one can never look at anything on the MSC site on my phone. It just doesn't work or is vary hard to navigate! I also had nothing but issues with NCL on my phone and with specific browsers on PC. RCCL is a non-factor in my house since first a rather horrible and disappointing experience on their ship and then realizing it is cheaper to book 2 rooms than use any of their % off or BOGO sales. :rolleyes:

Carnival is oddly the only website I don't have issues with on multiple platforms.

While I can see some people being off put by something not working for them, I also find it strange to me someone would try to do all their travel planning/research on a phone or tablet, but that is just my thoughts.

I don't think a lot of businesses do realize how their website effects business in general though. I had to have a tree cut down recently. I contacted places for estimates whose websites gave me enough of the info I needed and passed on those who didn't. Sure it might have been cheaper if I called everyone, and I am sure that someone would have asked for less than $250 for less than 2 hours of work than I paid... but those who got my money had their web presence straight!

Once I decide on something glitches in the future won't change it. It is hit or miss if the MSC website will show our reservations, I know they are there though at least so its all good! As long as I can find what I want for travel, I will just call my TA and let him sort everything else out :D This isn't recommended if you don't have a good relationship with a TA though who works for an amazing agency where I haven't spoke to anyone there who doesn't bend over backwards for you. A lot of the times I will email my TA with the dates and location I want to be at, and he will send me back possible lists, I pick threw it and he books it. YMMV but when you find a good all around TA who gives stupid good perks, don't let them go!!!

We cruise many different lines and their own web sites have nothing to do with our decisions. In fact, if we had to rely on cruise line web sites...we would NEVER CRUISE! Nearly all of their sites suck...although we do think that Princess has done a pretty good job (in recent years) with their cruise site and their related EZ Air site. Compare this to HAL where you cannot even get any air options online. And then we have Celebrity, which used to have an OK site..until recently. Celebrity new web site looks beautiful. but is nearly worthless! In fact, the new Celebrity web site might be the worst in the history of the cruise industry. [emphasis added]

 

Hank

Didn't I see that they claim an Award Winning site? Maybe the Award was for being Worst Ever?:evilsmile:

Actually Hank, as you may have seen on the Celebrity board, I am somewhat forgiving of the X site and do see real progress. Which is not to say that their site upgrade and rollout have not been a total disaster.

Stan

So, in just the last two months I've seen significant complaints about the websites of Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Holland America, Celebrity and Princess. Does anybody see a pattern?

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I agree with this. Maybe I would use a TA if the internet wasn't available. I just don't trust anyone to do the legwork I am willing to do to plan a great vacation. Plus, I never go to third party sites. My sister did that for flights. She paid more than we did on the same flight same day, paid for assigned seats that did not exist (she argued with me when I told her the plane did not have seats in "h" on our flight, unless she was seated out on the wing!!). To make it worse, I paid less than she did for her "h" seats than I did for first class. The 4 of them were split up on the plane while we enjoyed free mimosas! Hotel sites are the same. Maybe cruises are different, but I like to retain that control.

I booked my very first cruise through RCI, it couldn't have been any smoother if I wanted it to be! I already knew what I wanted and had no problems using the filters to find the exact cruise. It could be the software you are using? Not sure but my experience with Royal was fabulous! Just waiting for the cruise planner to open up for excursions and dining and such, but I have some time for that as I don't sail until 9/12/18. Sorry you had such a bad experience!

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I wonder if cruise lines truly know how important their websites are in getting customers. For us, when we started to think about going on our first cruise, I checked the sites of various lines. I quickly discounted Carnival, but was interested in Royal Carribean. I do most of my vacation research on my IPad and spend literally hundreds of hours researching vacations and for the life of me could not get their website to work. I would continue to get a blue box that would cover up everything I wanted to see! Not being the most patient person, I moved on to NCL, worked great and booked. We now have another NCL cruise booked in November, and 2 more being planned in 2018. I have seen some people talk about MSC, so I checked it out. I can't figure out their site at all!! So I guess I am hooked on NCL (plus we had a blast too). Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

I don't usually look at a cruise line's website until after I've booked a cruise. There's a vacations website I use to look at various itineraries and prices for several cruise lines. (Can't give it since it's also sells those cruises).

Once I find itinerary and price I like. Then I phone cruise line to book the cruise. Only after that do I go to the website -- to fill in my information for eventual cruise documents.

There are many things that impact our decision and the web site is one of them.

With that said when we began cruising there were no web sites and that continued for quite some time.

Keith

I wonder if cruise lines truly know how important their websites are in getting customers. For us, when we started to think about going on our first cruise, I checked the sites of various lines. I quickly discounted Carnival, but was interested in Royal Carribean. I do most of my vacation research on my IPad and spend literally hundreds of hours researching vacations and for the life of me could not get their website to work. I would continue to get a blue box that would cover up everything I wanted to see! Not being the most patient person, I moved on to NCL, worked great and booked. We now have another NCL cruise booked in November, and 2 more being planned in 2018. I have seen some people talk about MSC, so I checked it out. I can't figure out their site at all!! So I guess I am hooked on NCL (plus we had a blast too). Just wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

We are also frustrated with the RC website, but fortunately there are a number of travel agent websites that work fine.