Thomson's New Website

[Sailaway487]

Before you go and check onto their website, I apologise for getting your hopes up, as it isn't up yet ;) In fact, it won't be up until 2013. Returning on a Thomson Airways flight the other day I noticed a little piece in their Inflight magazine regarding their brand new website that they are going to be launching next year. The quote is below, although doesn't really give a lot of details:

 

'WEB WISE

I'm really excited about the new Thomson website. It's launching in 2013 and we've worked really hard to make it completely user-friendly. The homepage, for example, will 'remember' each customer from their last holiday, so it'll be be completely tailored to them and the kind of things they like. And just searching for holidays will be so much quicker, thanks to lots of new features that'll filter everything right down to the finer details.

 

Andy Birchwood, Website Design Team'

 

A bit vague really about what it will actually have but at least it shows they are hoping to improve the one that they've got and make it a bit more tailored to you. Hopefully it won't be just an improvement on the Thomson site and the cruise part of the site left alone and not improved for years to come like has happened in the past.

 

But if you were designing the website what would you improve or add?

 

I think they should include the option of being able to book your exact cabin number when you are booking online like the majority of other cruise lines do. Instead of having to ring up, instead you get a plan of the deck plans (similar to the process of booking your seats on the Flight Extras website) and then you can see which cabins are available and choose which one you want.

 

Also, like TUI Cruises have, maybe to add 360 degree views of areas of the ship. Would be much easier for people to get a general idea of the ship.

 

A more streamlined booking process I think would be easier, as it is often confusing about what you have to click to get a back-to-back cruise, an issue that has been highlighted on here in the past. The booking process itself is quite long. They also need to get rid of the automatic addition of additional baggage allowance!!!!!! Take note on this one Thomson!! People will not like the fact they have booked it at an additional cost without even knowing as they didn't click it as an extra! :mad:

 

I'd also like to see the Thomson Cruises website to be separate from the main Thomson site as it is often confusing about what information is for Thomson package holidays and which is for cruise holidays. If it was separate it would be much easier to find out the correct information about baggage allowances etc. as at the moment, you have to read mostly irrelevant information about the main package holidays.

 

Anyone else got any other ideas? You never know, Thomson might read this and, as they seem to be still in the design stage, could implement an idea or two. :)

 

Any ideas?

[kruzseeka]

Very interesting post Sailaway - thanks for that. :) And you have come up with some really good ideas which could be incorporated into it.

 

One thing I find frustrating is having to put in an exact date - granted they will throw up a few cruises either side of that but with the 'other' Thomson site you can enter +/- 1,2,3 or 4 weeks which potentially gives you a range over a two month period.

 

If you have some flexibility with dates, or are wanting to compare prices for different departure dates then it all comes up under the one search. On Thomson's site you have to re-enter all the variables again for a search for a new date - and what's worse it takes ages to complete the search. Again, the other site is really quick by comparison and is often finding finding many more cruises within their search.

 

Will be interesting to see what it's like. Can't be much slower anyway!:eek:

[happy v]

What you two have suggested would do it for me :). Being able to book your cabin would be brilliant.

[okavango]

being able to browse cabin availability before finalising booking would be great, would give you the chance to maybe alter deck if a particular cabin on your first choice deck was not available.

hope they do some serious thinking and get all the stupid little faults sorted,eg:the present tel no 08702434010 that it gives for making cabin selections etc has been obsolete since 0870 nos became free on BT,all you get is a recorded message telling you to redial a 0871 no ,ive been pointing this out to them for about a year in their online survey thingy's you sometimes get after visiting their website but do they take notice - no.

it's such silly little things that lets the whole Thomson machine down.

[Little Nell]

So pleased with this good news.

 

I would like to be able to select an itinerary, as well as more flexible dates. I know the current site is supposed to allow you to select a ship but the feature seldom works. You should also be able to see when the cruise is cheapest. Airlines all do this.

 

It would also be good if you could indicate interest in extras and then they automatically contact you when these become available eg. booking aircraft seats or trips.

 

You could be given a unique page when you log in that contains all things related to your cruise, ship layout, cabin choices, cabin number, trips available and booked, aircraft seat, currency info, API, special requests, AI menu etc etc. In other words, everything you need to know about your holiday.

[kalos]

 

 

But if you were designing the website what would you improve or add?

 

I think they should include the option of being able to book your exact cabin number when you are booking online like the majority of other cruise lines do. Instead of having to ring up, instead you get a plan of the deck plans (similar to the process of booking your seats on the Flight Extras website) and then you can see which cabins are available and choose which one you want.

 

Also, like TUI Cruises have, maybe to add 360 degree views of areas of the ship. Would be much easier for people to get a general idea of the ship.

 

A more streamlined booking process I think would be easier, as it is often confusing about what you have to click to get a back-to-back cruise, an issue that has been highlighted on here in the past. The booking process itself is quite long. They also need to get rid of the automatic addition of additional baggage allowance!!!!!! Take note on this one Thomson!! People will not like the fact they have booked it at an additional cost without even knowing as they didn't click it as an extra! :mad:

 

I'd also like to see the Thomson Cruises website to be separate from the main Thomson site as it is often confusing about what information is for Thomson package holidays and which is for cruise holidays. If it was separate it would be much easier to find out the correct information about baggage allowances etc. as at the moment, you have to read mostly irrelevant information about the main package holidays.

 

quote]

 

One thing I find frustrating is having to put in an exact date - granted they will throw up a few cruises either side of that but with the 'other' Thomson site you can enter +/- 1,2,3 or 4 weeks which potentially gives you a range over a two month period.

 

If you have some flexibility with dates, or are wanting to compare prices for different departure dates then it all comes up under the one search. On Thomson's site you have to re-enter all the variables again for a search for a new date - and what's worse it takes ages to complete the search. Again, the other site is really quick by comparison and is often finding finding many more cruises within their search.

 

Will be interesting to see what it's like. Can't be much slower anyway!:eek:

 

Thanks for the post Sailaway.Good points of needed improvement highlighted by Kruzseeka and yourself .:)

I would like to see on your final invoice a rundown of what is included ,as we have read on these boards ,people unsure of the baggage allowances.:confused: Are they on 23kg or 20kg ? Also the hand luggage , which even some travel agents /airport check in staff seem to get wrong , simply state that it is 7kg or 5kg on your online booking print out .

 

If they are to bring a new website out then I think they need to scrap the "old" site that we use now and the other site ( C-deals) and as suggested isolate it from the general holiday site, that way we know what we are reading relates to cruises.

I would like to see an indepth page dedicated to each ship giving more detail of each ships AI ,other onboard offers that can be purchased . Whats on TV ,the channels to expect ,cabins voltages and plug types ...think this would axe over half the posts on here ;)

They could even put on a little post for ships news letting us know when a certain ship is out of service for a refit etc .

Lets hope they do read the posts on here as it would be a far better site for us to use .:D

[kruzseeka]

So pleased with this good news.

 

I would like to be able to select an itinerary, as well as more flexible dates. I know the current site is supposed to allow you to select a ship but the feature seldom works. You should also be able to see when the cruise is cheapest. Airlines all do this.

 

It would also be good if you could indicate interest in extras and then they automatically contact you when these become available eg. booking aircraft seats or trips.

 

You could be given a unique page when you log in that contains all things related to your cruise, ship layout, cabin choices, cabin number, trips available and booked, aircraft seat, currency info, API, special requests, AI menu etc etc. In other words, everything you need to know about your holiday.

 

 

That would be paerticularly useful given the scant information on your eTicket. Lots of people write on the Forum concerned about having no confirmation of cabin booking etc. Having all the information relating to you and your chosen cruise options all in one document would be great - even if you do have to print it off yourself! :rolleyes:

 

Just read Kalos' post - YES! Luggage allowance included too!

[Sailaway487]

Very interesting post Sailaway - thanks for that. :) And you have come up with some really good ideas which could be incorporated into it.

 

One thing I find frustrating is having to put in an exact date - granted they will throw up a few cruises either side of that but with the 'other' Thomson site you can enter +/- 1,2,3 or 4 weeks which potentially gives you a range over a two month period.

 

If you have some flexibility with dates, or are wanting to compare prices for different departure dates then it all comes up under the one search. On Thomson's site you have to re-enter all the variables again for a search for a new date - and what's worse it takes ages to complete the search. Again, the other site is really quick by comparison and is often finding finding many more cruises within their search.

 

Will be interesting to see what it's like. Can't be much slower anyway!:eek:

 

Very good point kruzseeka! I think that the booking process definitely needs a rethink, and giving days either side of the one you put in would make it easier, as it is often the case that when booking a cruise you know what itinerary you want to go on but have a choice of dates, rather than when booking a package holiday, you know an exact date you want to go but not the exact destination. I think they could have an option of just being able to choose a month and not a date with it and see what options come up with that. I've seen a lot of other cruise companies do that.

 

So pleased with this good news.

 

I would like to be able to select an itinerary, as well as more flexible dates. I know the current site is supposed to allow you to select a ship but the feature seldom works. You should also be able to see when the cruise is cheapest. Airlines all do this.

 

It would also be good if you could indicate interest in extras and then they automatically contact you when these become available eg. booking aircraft seats or trips.

 

You could be given a unique page when you log in that contains all things related to your cruise, ship layout, cabin choices, cabin number, trips available and booked, aircraft seat, currency info, API, special requests, AI menu etc etc. In other words, everything you need to know about your holiday.

 

It would be good on the itinerary pages if they had a list of the sailing dates with the lowest price available for that cruise next to them, then you click which one you want to book and then it takes you straight through the booking process instead of continually having to go back to the search box.

 

The MyThomson site should do what your last point said, but it definitely needs improvement and often, doesn't include even half of the info that you need. They definitely need to add your exact cabin number that you book into it (or on any piece of documentation for that matter!) and have everything like API and flight extras all there in one place instead of having to log out and into various different websites to get what you want. One place for it all would be excellent!

[happy v]

[/b]

 

 

That would be paerticularly useful given the scant information on your eTicket. Lots of people write on the Forum concerned about having no confirmation of cabin booking etc. Having all the information relating to you and your chosen cruise options all in one document would be great - even if you do have to print it off yourself! :rolleyes:

 

Just read Kalos' post - YES! Luggage allowance included too!

 

 

Or..........they could send you a nice little booklet with all the information in :rolleyes:, now didn't that used to be a good idea???? ( I miss the booklet)

[Sailaway487]

 

Thanks for the post Sailaway.Good points of needed improvement highlighted by Kruzseeka and yourself .:)

I would like to see on your final invoice a rundown of what is included ,as we have read on these boards ,people unsure of the baggage allowances.:confused: Are they on 23kg or 20kg ? Also the hand luggage , which even some travel agents /airport check in staff seem to get wrong , simply state that it is 7kg or 5kg on your online booking print out .

 

If they are to bring a new website out then I think they need to scrap the "old" site that we use now and the other site ( C-deals) and as suggested isolate it from the general holiday site, that way we know what we are reading relates to cruises.

I would like to see an indepth page dedicated to each ship giving more detail of each ships AI ,other onboard offers that can be purchased . Whats on TV ,the channels to expect ,cabins voltages and plug types ...think this would axe over half the posts on here ;)

They could even put on a little post for ships news letting us know when a certain ship is out of service for a refit etc .

Lets hope they do read the posts on here as it would be a far better site for us to use .:D

 

Completely agree with the luggages allowance issue! If travel agents and airport staff are getting confused as to what your supposed to have, then how are we supposed to be sure! A simple box that says you have this much total hold luggage that can be split between the number of passengers but none must weigh over 23 kg, and then a box saying you have this much hand luggage per passenger, easy!

 

Ship News I think is a great idea! Like an online version of the Cruise News. It is often the case that actual news regarding itinerary changes or ship refits NEVER gets filtered through unless you check on here or each individual itinerary page. A simple news filter, like every other cruise line has, would be a great idea. Even info like the Platinum upgrades you could only find out if you went onto the Thomson Media Centre on the main site, nothing on the cruise site for a while after!

 

Also, an addition to the Cruise News, I think they should add a page entitled Where's our fleet? which has a map of the world with a pointer of where every ship is currently (like Marine Traffic) and also has a webcam for each ship and information like which port it is docked, temperature and weather there. From what I know, I think Thomson are pretty much the only cruise line not to offer a webcam online. Another example of Thomson not really be considered as a proper cruise line and just a division of their main holiday business. Something like what TUICruises offer would be great:

 

http://tuicruises.com/mein-schiff-1/position/

 

Think they have a lot to learn from TUICruises website that they could implement. Lots of information, easy to use, laid out well and looks good. If you can use it and understand every page without even knowing German, you know it must be quite good. Check it out and see what you think as I think it is leaps above what Thomson's currently is.

[stevedeccaman]

if using google chrome just press translate :)

done

Stevie

[WeeCountyMan]

Interesting.

 

A new dedicated cruise focused webpage would be a major step forward.

 

Need to wait and see how it pans out before commenting further.

 

Ref. their main package holiday website - I contacted Thomsons and asked why it could not be tailored similar to their main High Street competitor (we all know who I mean) where you can select a specific hotel etc. - this brings up a month by month calendar which lists the specific price for each date available flying from your selected airport.

 

You can advance this grid month by month throughout the season and the customer can immediately identify the best offers appropriate to when they can travel. In fact, the cheapest deals are even highlighted.

 

Thomsons, on the other hand, require you to laboriously trawl through by inputting an advancing/reducing date change by scrolling down to the appropriate box.