How are P&O still making money with such a terrible website?

[littlesteelo]

I'm trying to get more info about an Azura cruise, and the website shows 0 cruises listed! Do they not want peoples money? Clearly P&O don't care about getting bookings.

[davecttr]

The P&O site was down for maintenance this morning and maybe they have not switched all of it on yet.

[old nutter]

One of the problems with it is that some information on it it wrong, some misleading and some just sloppy. Either way, it is a disgrace for any company to publish in that state.

 

The prize for a full suite of mistakes goes to the Northern Lights tour on the Oriana on 13 March. First prize for "wrong" is where the itinerary details have it jumping between Tromso and Alta. Clearly they also must have either been in contact with Dr Who or Mr Spock because they have apparently arranged for there to be two March 19ths on this cruise so that the ship can be at both Tromso an Alta on each of those two 19ths!

 

The "misleading" prize on this trip goes to one of the excursions being offered in Stavanger. The Flor and Fjore garden island on Sor-Hidle is one of the highlights of any trip to Stavanger in the summer and it features in the list of excursions available on his trip. Unfortunately, the gardens have to be re-built after every winter and will not be open until early May. So, if you are intending to go on this cruise because someone has recommended a trip to the gardens, don't, because that trip will not happen (or if if does you will be turned away because the gardens will be closed when you get there).

 

In the "sloppy" category, the best one on this cruise goes to whoever was supposed to be working out the excursions for the day(s) in Alta. There are none being shown at the moment and all you get if you try to find out about them is a vague promise that they will be there at least 12 weeks before you depart. Yet another example of the P&O "can't be bothered to do our job properly" that appears far too frequently these days".

 

A web site is supposed to be a shop window for your products. Unfortunately, in P&O's case it is a shop window for some pretty poor quality "shore-side" generated information. How this company manages to run a cruise shipping line properly with people like their web-site writers is anyone's guess - or have they just moved the marketeers who presided over the Vantage/Gateway fiasco into the web group?:confused:

[Fantasyland]

The website is just a horrible mess, how anyone can browse that is a mystery to me. How a company such as Carnival can market one of it's companies with such a rubbish site is also a mystery. I only travel on Adonia; I have tried in the past to look at what the other ships are doing but I soon gave up.

 

I'm due to travel on the Adonia in three weeks time and once again the Voyage Personaliser isn't working.

[daiB]

Book through a good TA and forget the website.

:cool:

[Winkster]

I can't say I've found any problem with the layout and content of the website - other than it doesn't seem to work on IE10.

 

Reliability does seem to be an issue though. I tried booking a cruise on Monday and the whole thing just froze up half way through. Later in the day it was painfully slow but I got there in the end.

 

When it's working, I find the website easier to browse than the brochure (the filters are very useful), although if you just want to browse a list if destinations for all cruises, the brochure is far easier.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[old nutter]

I have tried Dai's idea several times, but most TAs can only use the web site to find things out for me anyway so the problems multiply second-hand.

 

One suggestion I do have for P&O is that they provide a channel for prospective customers to point out things an the web site that are plain wrong due to lack of care. It would be easy for the company to offer say $50 OBC on their next cruise for the first person who points out one of these errors. That way they would have a massive QA organisation helping them for minimal outlay.

[daiB]

I have tried Dai's idea several times, but most TAs can only use the web site to find things out for me anyway so the problems multiply second-hand.

 

One suggestion I do have for P&O is that they provide a channel for prospective customers to point out things an the web site that are plain wrong due to lack of care. It would be easy for the company to offer say $50 OBC on their next cruise for the first person who points out one of these errors. That way they would have a massive QA organisation helping them for minimal outlay.

 

Then get a good TA who will be able to do all you want.

[tartanexile81]

Book through a good TA and forget the website.

:cool:

 

We have a very good TA, but still enjoy browsing the P&O website for future cruises, finding out info through the How Can We Help pages (which are great but only if you put in exactly the right keywords) or browsing possible excursions for a forthcoming cruise etc. We would neither want not expect a TA, however good, to do that for us. We use the internet extensively and it is the main source of information for us in many areas of life and the P&O website compares poorly to most popular brands.

 

 

Just this week we have been trying to look for options for Jan / Feb 2015 but got so fed up with the P&O website that we gave up and looked at Fred Olsen instead. We haven't booked yet, but there were some really interesting ideas which we are seriously considering. We like P&O and have cruised many times with them but that doesn't mean we don't think there are areas which could be improved, not so much once you're on board but certainly their customer services / PR.

[pete14]

One of the problems with it is that some information on it it wrong, some misleading and some just sloppy. Either way, it is a disgrace for any company to publish in that state.

 

The prize for a full suite of mistakes goes to the Northern Lights tour on the Oriana on 13 March. First prize for "wrong" is where the itinerary details have it jumping between Tromso and Alta. Clearly they also must have either been in contact with Dr Who or Mr Spock because they have apparently arranged for there to be two March 19ths on this cruise so that the ship can be at both Tromso an Alta on each of those two 19ths!

 

The "misleading" prize on this trip goes to one of the excursions being offered in Stavanger. The Flor and Fjore garden island on Sor-Hidle is one of the highlights of any trip to Stavanger in the summer and it features in the list of excursions available on his trip. Unfortunately, the gardens have to be re-built after every winter and will not be open until early May. So, if you are intending to go on this cruise because someone has recommended a trip to the gardens, don't, because that trip will not happen (or if if does you will be turned away because the gardens will be closed when you get there).

 

In the "sloppy" category, the best one on this cruise goes to whoever was supposed to be working out the excursions for the day(s) in Alta. There are none being shown at the moment and all you get if you try to find out about them is a vague promise that they will be there at least 12 weeks before you depart. Yet another example of the P&O "can't be bothered to do our job properly" that appears far too frequently these days".

 

A web site is supposed to be a shop window for your products. Unfortunately, in P&O's case it is a shop window for some pretty poor quality "shore-side" generated information. How this company manages to run a cruise shipping line properly with people like their web-site writers is anyone's guess - or have they just moved the marketeers who presided over the Vantage/Gateway fiasco into the web group?:confused:

Although I agree that the website is not perfect, I think 'old nutter' is being a bit unfair using the Northern Lights cruise next March as an example. Posting trips 12 weeks before the cruise is normal and in advance of that, they usually say they are representative of possible trips. How folks would complain if they started taking bookings for trips that hadn't been confirmed as definite! Winter trips in Norway are very different from ones in summer anyway so expecting them to be finalised so early is a little unreasonable.

 

I am sure the cruise will be memorable. We did one in Feb 2012 with Olsen and it was fantastic. From Alta I went to the ice hotel that Joanna Lumley stayed in which was amazing. Hopefully the Oriana cruise will offer that trip.

[old nutter]

Although I agree that the website is not perfect, I think 'old nutter' is being a bit unfair using the Northern Lights cruise next March as an example. Posting trips 12 weeks before the cruise is normal and in advance of that, they usually say they are representative of possible trips. How folks would complain if they started taking bookings for trips that hadn't been confirmed as definite! Winter trips in Norway are very different from ones in summer anyway so expecting them to be finalised so early is a little unreasonable.

 

It is hardly unfair to compare P&O with other "mainstream" cruise lines (eg NCL) who do not treat their prospective customers to such half-completed business options. And I can't think of anyone else who would plan to take 2000 or so people to pre-planned locations where they want to maximise the money-making options provided by excusions without sorting them out first. What happens if P&O can't arrange any excursions if they have not got them contracted yet? And as winter is probably pretty similar each year in Norway, a few recce trips last winter should have told them what people do there (or just have a look on Fred's web site at theirs!!!). Just listing summer excursions, some of which are impossible is just plain idle. "Fred" might not have the power of Carnival, but at least they have their excursions listed and costed on their web site.