Pre-Cruise Planner stinks!

[herb]

Normally I don't vent but RCI really needs to re-vamp their pre-cruise planner!!... What a waste of time asking to click "reserve" and then asking to choose from available times.. then, how many guests.. and then asking for last names as well as booking #'s for us and others who would be joining us .. and after all that telling me it's not available.. Why not just say it's not available from the get-go and stop wasting my time! Called RCI and basically got nothing more than a "I'm sorry about that and thank you for choosing RCI"

[sarah85]

Oh I totally agree! I went through that for weeks and called rci many times and they were useless till one time I got a great lady who booked it all for me!

 

Hope you have better luck with a reservation once onboard!

[Ocean Boy]

Maybe there was still some room but the number of people that you needed to book put the venue over its limit? Although, I guess it could have cut you off after asking for how many guests you wanted to make reservations for.

Edited June 16, 2012 by Ocean Boy

[ehfl]

The whole web site is a complete mess. I'm surprised they let things get so out of control. It's complex, full of bugs, and just creates barriers to their customers.

[nycruiser80]

I agree! I am booked on Allure next month and find their pre-cruise planner combersome to use. I went to cancel a specialty dining reservation at Samba Grill. I go to press the cancel button and it brings me back to the specialty dining home page. I tried to do this at least 5 times. I called the support number and explain to the rep my issue and she insists with me that you can cancel online. I explain that you can't!! In anycase my dining reservation is cancelled and refunded. But the whole point is they should make their site, especially the pre-cruise planner, a bit more user friendly.

[luv2cruzstl]

Just off Allure...had reservations...they even switched shows on me, had an excursion cancelled....never a problem to rebook or replace.

[leaveitallbehind]

The whole web site is a complete mess. I'm surprised they let things get so out of control. It's complex, full of bugs, and just creates barriers to their customers.

 

We have always called the C & A rep whenever we've had issues or questions and have always had good response and success through them with getting things resolved or reserved. Always like the human touch - especially when the website can be problematic.

Edited June 16, 2012 by leaveitallbehind

[charmay]

I cannot reserve anything or do anything with this planner thingy?

Is it because my cruise is so far away or that i havn't paid balance yet?

If so i wish they would give that as the reason, instead of other silly statements.'There are no speciality dining experiences currently available for this sailing'?

It cant be full already :eek:???

Another thing is when i click on things,it pings me back home and i have to input log in details again!:mad:

As i am new to all this i have been trying to get around the manage my bookings area.

The other day if i didnt have to log in about 10 times!!!

The website is full of clitches they should be ashamed.

[foxgoodrich]

I cannot reserve anything or do anything with this planner thingy?

Is it because my cruise is so far away or that i havn't paid balance yet?

If so i wish they would give that as the reason, instead of other silly statements.'There are no speciality dining experiences currently available for this sailing'?

It cant be full already :eek:???

Another thing is when i click on things,it pings me back home and i have to input log in details again!:mad:

As i am new to all this i have been trying to get around the manage my bookings area.

The other day if i didnt have to log in about 10 times!!!

The website is full of clitches they should be ashamed.

 

Yes, it is because your cruise is so far away. I don't think the final payment not being made is the problem, because I was able to book reservations and excursions on our August Allure cruise a couple of weeks prior to making the final payment. The reservations/excursions "open" about 3 months before the cruise I think - maybe somebody here knows exactly how far ahead they open. I usually find out by watching the roll call for our cruises and somebody there will post that reservations and excursions are open.

 

My pet peeve is that even though I am actively working on stuff on my rez, it seems to time me out and make me log in again. I get that if your computer has been inactive, but when you're actively working on your stuff it's annoying!:(

[charmay]

Yes, it is because your cruise is so far away. I don't think the final payment not being made is the problem, because I was able to book reservations and excursions on our August Allure cruise a couple of weeks prior to making the final payment. The reservations/excursions "open" about 3 months before the cruise I think - maybe somebody here knows exactly how far ahead they open. I usually find out by watching the roll call for our cruises and somebody there will post that reservations and excursions are open.

 

My pet peeve is that even though I am actively working on stuff on my rez, it seems to time me out and make me log in again. I get that if your computer has been inactive, but when you're actively working on your stuff it's annoying!:(

Thanks for the info!

I have just seen whilst trying to order soda card it says i cannot untill two mns before.

Well at least it states that somewhere.

Also as i have just been on there i have found the logging you out problem.

Its when i go off the page by clicking exit and view my booking,it puts me on the actual home page and i have to log into manage my bookings again.

[mn_isla_girl]

The reservations/excursions "open" about 3 months before the cruise I think - maybe somebody here knows exactly how far ahead they open.(

 

Because this is my first Royal Caribbean cruise I sent an e-mail to customer service asking this specific question and the reply I got stated that excursions are available for booking 6 months in advance.

 

Well I'm less than 6 months out and they are not available for my sailing yet. I bet if I sent another e-mail I would get a different answer. Just one of those things I guess....:( Carnival does the same thing, I wish they'd just give you a range and say 'keep checking' instead of giving you info that is just wrong.

[rubrrick]

Because this is my first Royal Caribbean cruise I sent an e-mail to customer service asking this specific question and the reply I got stated that excursions are available for booking 6 months in advance.

 

Well I'm less than 6 months out and they are not available for my sailing yet. I bet if I sent another e-mail I would get a different answer. Just one of those things I guess....:( Carnival does the same thing, I wish they'd just give you a range and say 'keep checking' instead of giving you info that is just wrong.

 

I agree that Royal Caribbean needs to work on co ordination between what Customer Agents are telling customers, and what the computer will and will not do.

 

We are on a Jewel TA, where people were trying for months to get MTD times established, but until about a month ago, no one could get the time they wanted, it just kept telling them "not available". Then, one day, the computer accepted a bunch of reservations for times people wanted on MTD.

 

Figure that one out!:rolleyes:

 

Rick

[f1mauro]

Hmmmm...makes me wonder how secure my credit card #'s are after entering them onto their site:eek:

[foxgoodrich]

We are cruising at the end of August on Allure, and our excursions and reservations have been open for awhile now. I had no problems with the show reservations. No problems with specialty dining reservations. But when I discovered that a Cabana at Nellie's Beach in Labadee is showing as an available "excusion," I tried to book one. It was very frustrating!

 

The cabana holds 6, so I have the rez numbers of 2 other couples who will be joining us. I put in their names and numbers and tried to book it several times. I got a message back every time saying that this excursion is not available for the number of people I specified. Huh? I thought they WANTED to fill up the cabanas. After many tries, I tried something different. I just used MY name. DH isn't even there. IT WORKED! So...lesson learned - the cabana booking only works with one name. You can add the other people later. (This actually makes a certain amount of sense since excursion bookings multiply the number of guests times the fee to determine the charge. Just not what I've been used to.)

 

So as of now I (and only I) have a cabana on Labadee. I have told DH he will have to suck up majorly to be invited...

Judy

[tigger-ttfn]

The whole web site is a complete mess. I'm surprised they let things get so out of control. It's complex, full of bugs, and just creates barriers to their customers.

 

I agree. the ite is a mess and you end up calling and put on hold to talk to some one who may or maynot know the answer

[sauvichick]

Royal's pre-cruise planner site IS a mess. Definitely not very user friendly. Called the pre-cruise phone # and learned going through the telephone is the BEST way. We had the nicest staff(Ashley & Shakira(sp?)! It was less stressful for us and easier to have these ladies navigate the system for us to let us know the availability!

Edited June 19, 2012 by Bicster

[EVALUATOR]

The whole web site is a complete mess. I'm surprised they let things get so out of control. It's complex, full of bugs, and just creates barriers to their customers.

 

I agree. the ite is a mess and you end up calling and put on hold to talk to some one who may or maynot know the answer

 

I just read an article where a company in Australia was going to charge customers a 6.8% tax for browsing on their site and ordering if they still use internet explorer 7.

 

Maybe we should deduct 6.8% from RCI's invoices every time we have a website SNAFU.:eek:

 

The only browser that is even somewhat dependable on their system is landline 1.0 with a 5th call to break the 2-2 information tie :rolleyes:

[ARP]

Normally I don't vent but RCI really needs to re-vamp their pre-cruise planner!!... What a waste of time asking to click "reserve" and then asking to choose from available times.. then, how many guests.. and then asking for last names as well as booking #'s for us and others who would be joining us .. and after all that telling me it's not available.. Why not just say it's not available from the get-go and stop wasting my time! Called RCI and basically got nothing more than a "I'm sorry about that and thank you for choosing RCI"

 

Had the same problem booking Portofino. Then remembered problems last year. Try switching your browser. Booking doesn't work using Firefox but no problem with Internet Explorer, Give it a try.

 

Alan

[BillOh]

The whole web site is a complete mess. I'm surprised they let things get so out of control. It's complex, full of bugs, and just creates barriers to their customers.

 

I'm with you there. Just as a wish, I wish you could browse excursions currently offered in ports even if your cruise is more than 100+ days, just for planning, even if you can't book them. Ok, I'm a plan-aholic.

[EVALUATOR]

I'm with you there. Just as a wish, I wish you could browse excursions currently offered in ports even if your cruise is more than 100+ days, just for planning, even if you can't book them. Ok, I'm a plan-aholic.

 

I thought you could (website permitting):):):)

 

 

 

Don't have a reservation yet or just want to browse our Shore & Land Excursions to see what adventures are available? You can browse by Ports of Call, Ship and Sail Date, or just click on any of the Activity Types below.

[Aquahound]

It's called Inherent Suck. The website sucks, therefore everything on it sucks.

[nonna5]

I have to agree the "Pre-cruise Planner" is not a very user friendly site.

 

It just seems that the IT department could come up with something better.

[co2stay]

Bill, I downloaded a prior year excursion planner when I booked as I also am a planner. I don't remember when it was available to book the excursions. Maybe when I made final payment?

 

Water and Wine were available as soon as I made final payment (about 5 months early.

 

Show were available at about 110 or 115 days out.

Spa was available about 105 days out

Still watching for specialty dining to be available. MTD is not available yet I don't think but I don't have MTD so can't tell for sure.

 

We are currently 103 days out for sailing on the Liberty 9/29.

[herb]

just got off the phone with the Customer Service at RCI... spoke to a nasty supervisor named Iceola.. unable to make dinner reservations at specialty restaurant Portofino's and link our booking # with our friends because their "system" won't allow it. It seems our booking # was within a "group booking".. she basically told me "TOO BAD"... I'm now waiting for my TA to call me back and settle this... will also call Crown & Anchor!

 

This is not our first cruise with RCI but it may be the last

[VegasChic]

They need to look at NCL's system it's very easy and efficient when I went on the Epic I planned the whole week in under 10 mins. This is absurd until someone writes a letter they won't take it seriously and do something about it!