Goldstein---Fix Your Company Web Site.

[CVU]

just putting in my vote that i liked old website better!

 

do not like the new one-

Yes, Ditto for me!!!:D

[rebburke]

The new site is AWFUL - It is difficult to navigate, every time you want to go back a screen to change something you have input everything again. It doesn't save anything. Very frustrating.

[MJDMV]

I think the title pretty much sums it up.

 

And if by chance Mr. Goldstein happens to read this...I challenge you to search the C.C. Royal Caribbean Message board and get a sense for the fondness of the new web site.

 

It's obvious the site does need changes and Mr Goldstein could do worse than review Costa Cruises' website. I'm not a cheerleader for Costa, RC is for me and I'm D+; however, Costa's is far superior :eek: - without a doubt. In addition, once booked pax are taken through various steps by a 'person' you can see and hear. Try it Mr G!!:D

[Scottee25]

I much prefer the old site as well. The new site will never show me deck 7 until I go back and input it a second time....what is up with that?:confused: This has been happening for months. And only deck 7 is affected. Put in any other deck and the floorplan comes right up???

 

Was this for a specific ship? I just brought up the floorplan for Serenade and selected Deck 7 and it worked just fine for me. Perhaps your issue is isolated to a specific class of ship?

[Scottee25]

The new site is AWFUL - It is difficult to navigate, every time you want to go back a screen to change something you have input everything again. It doesn't save anything. Very frustrating.

 

Are you pressing the "Back" button in your browser when you go back a screen? If so, the the problem you are encountering is user error, not programming error. The back button on your browser is using a history of pages visited. It is not going to retain session information in that history. However, if the page you are on actually has its own link or button to take you to the previous screen and upon returning to that previous screen all your information is gone, then that would be a programming error. However, it has been my experience that most problems users blame on the sites are usually problems generated between their chair and keyboard.

 

Still, I agree there are other problems with Royal's site that change from day to day. This leads me to believe that they are trying to correct the problems but they are using their production environment for testing!

[cruisenfever]

Was is still free for you to be frustrated (i.e. try to use Royal's website) while on board?

 

Bob

Bob, there is no charge to use one of the computers on board and just go into the RCI website and search for cruises.

[Fury1995]

I don't want to be Internet savvy and web code educated to shop online. Web sites are supposed to be designed for the masses, correct? I would think the primary function of the RCCL website, like any other website that sells something, is to tempt me into making an impulse decision/buy. When shoppers seeking information give up on your web site in frustration without spending a penny... you failed.

 

I personally would visit the RCCL site 3 to 4 times a week. I have been on the "new" RCCL site 3 times this year. Too frustrated waiting for selections to appear or load. I would compare it to waiting for the Insurance Company or Clothing Detergent ads to finish playing before the Breaking News video loads....

[Clarea]

Bob, there is no charge to use one of the computers on board and just go into the RCI website and search for cruises.

Patti, I was just making a little (very little) joke about being frustrated using the computers on board. The last few ships I've been on (Radiance, Monarch, Mariner, Voyager) have all had problems with using RCI's website from the on board PC's. Can't tell you how many times I get flushed back to the main login page right in the middle of looking up a cruise. I'd use my laptop wireless, but then it's not free to use RCI's website, and I'd consume the free 45 minutes in one session.

 

Bob

[pcur]

I don't want to be Internet savvy and web code educated to shop online. Web sites are supposed to be designed for the masses, correct? I would think the primary function of the RCCL website, like any other website that sells something, is to tempt me into making an impulse decision/buy. When shoppers seeking information give up on your web site in frustration without spending a penny... you failed.

 

I personally would visit the RCCL site 3 to 4 times a week. I have been on the "new" RCCL site 3 times this year. Too frustrated waiting for selections to appear or load. I would compare it to waiting for the Insurance Company or Clothing Detergent ads to finish playing before the Breaking News video loads....

 

Well said, Kenny!!

[dramaqueen4lyfe]

You think it's bad using their site from home...........trying using one of their computers on one of there ships. :rolleyes:You can't even look up cruises because you get the dreaded red notification at the top about IE has to be installed.:eek:

 

You talk about a frustrating 12 day cruise. Though, the LA and her assistant had no problem with their computers.

 

Totally agree. Very frustrating.

My other beef is that now it's virtually impossible to find special rates ie. Military...Senior....Residency. If someone has found a way I'm more than ready to learn.:confused:

[emdia43]

I do not like that the system "selects the best stateroon". You used to be able to see all available in any category, and now it is limited to one. Then, I need to call RCC to find out what else is open. Not very efficient. I do not like the new site AT ALL:mad:

 

Mr G must not read this site, or he would have fixed this aggravating problem by now...?

Most of the time you try to select a room and before you can choose which deck etc you get a screen that says 'Would you like to upgrade for x dollars per day?'- just try to get it to accept No thanks as an answer- it either does nothing or flips you to another screen where you have been upgraded to the next category.

Why are so many categories not available to book online? What't the point of having a website with booking capability if it's too much trouble to navigate or they don't want you to see which rooms are available.

It would cost them less to fix the site than it does to employ sales agents to book for you.

[JaxieWaxie]

I would love to be able to look at a a few deck plans side by side and see immediately which staterooms are available (maybe they flashing borders or slowly pulse or something) vs. having to match up the list of available staterooms against the graphic.

 

"I want a JS aft on 10...hmm, nothing's available there, but I see there are some on deck nine. That one looks good."

 

In an ideal world, you could simply look at the deck plans, click on the stateroom that best suits your needs/wants, and the reservation process would kick in from there.

[bikn4fn]

They need to post some kind of notification that when booking the Specialty Restaurants, you need to use IE. I had no problems booking shore excursions using Firefox, but Specialty wouldn't go through. After a few questions from our current M&M group somebody suggested IE. It went right through - no issues.

 

I also agree with previous posters regarding the cabin selections. I want to look and select. Not have something selected for me. While some of the new options are nice, some could go back to the old way.

[hmallett]

I like the new design, but boy are there some problems!

 

The biggest one for me is that you can't view any more than the first page of any cruise search results.

 

Then there's many other things like:

• Inconsistent menus on the UK site
  
• Some pages are the new design, and some are the old design
  
• Some of the copy is wrong (one page is trying to tempt me to see what early booking deals I can get for cruises in 2010)
  
• Missing images on some of the stateroom pages
  

 

As an IT worker, you can debate the causes and the proposed remedies all you want, but the IT is there to serve the company. The company aims to make money by selling cruises. These problems must surely be having an effect on the number of cruises being booked through the website...

 

All the end-user is concerned about is that it does what they want it to do. At the moment, often it doesn't.

[JokerABC]

Carnival's website for booking is so much better than RCI's new piece of junk!

[K1200S]

I am a former mainframe computer programmer that had to maintain an interactive website for a large number of users. One thing I never did was put something up that had not been fully tested. RCI is doing what we called field testing the code in other words let the users find the problems and we fix them as they come in.

 

I really hate that now you only get to see the one cabin the system shows you then you have to go through too many steps to see more. Terrible design in my opinion but it could be it was done that way on purpose. If it was done that way on purpose I sure would like to know why.

[heathermk57]

I have to agree with the posters above. I find the new website inefficient, non user-friendly and cumbersome. Most definitely not an improvement on the old one which I really enjoyed navigating and booking my cruises through.:(

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

I am another one who is totally frustrated with the new web site. I have gone to other sites to search cruises.

 

***

[TxStacey]

UGHH and GRRR!!! I simply want to make a payment on my cruise without having to CALL them!! Does RCI not see that they could save so much money on labor if they would just make thier website customer friendly...perhaps that savings could then be passed on to the customer..RCI...the internet is the wave of the future..or did you not get the memo???

[marci22]

I still can't see individual prices for 5 night Explorer cruises in 2012. The RC rep said 'they are still loading the prices into the website'.

[LadyGodiva]

I've been unable to book any 2012 cruise. The website won't allow me to advance beyond the "tell us about yourself" page. When I hit "continue", it takes me back to the top of the same page! I can never get to the point of seeing available cabins.

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

The worst part about the website is I can no longer browse it at work. I dont know if they are using flash or silverlight or some other addin, but my IT department wont let any of the "functionality" of the booking process work. Make it simple rather than flashy.

[Aquahound]

The new website SUCKS! It is so damn difficult to search multiple cruise dates and search discounts for each date....and then if you find a discount, you have no idea which one it is. You can't just jump around to different cabin categories anymore without a bunch of hassle and that stupid hourglass or pinwheel of death showing up (processing). Please go back to the old cruise search engine. It was so much easier.

 

If they wanted to find a way to make us stop checking for price decreases, they certainly found it.

[JKrise]

So the answer from RCI...Survey potential customers when they visit our site. :eek:

 

Anyone with half a brain knows that the new web site is the most unfriendly, annoying web site in the cruise industry. Why throw good money after bad?

 

Booking should have dropped off by now....shortly RCIs prices will come down a little because of the fall in online bookings.