Dislike the changes to the Princess website

[shastatroy]

I am really disappointed with the new search design on the Princess site. In the past I could click on the month I want to cruise, and narrow my search from there based on days, departure port, or destination. However, now a destination is required.

 

An example of this is if I select Dec 2014, select 9-14 days I can see there are 22 cruises. But now I have to go through 7 different destinations to see all 22 cruises. Previously all 22 cruises would come up and I could simply scroll through them.

 

Awww, it's the little things that are irritating.

[MarkSeattle]

I found it slightly irritating last night too. Even looking up cruises from Houston, with one result available for November, I had to select Caribbean in order to see the results. Also, looking through the prices for one cruise wasn't as good, IMO, having to scroll left to right in blocks of four or five instead of just adding them to list. Looks cool, but less functional.

Edited November 21, 2013 by MarkSeattle

[San Diego Ellie]

I found the website changes for the worst also. The site is harder to use, and more cumbersome.

[Happy2cruise]

Agree:(

[SassyLeslie]

I am glad I am not the only one who feels disappointed that you have to put in a destination.

[Ethel5]

Well, between the Royal, the change in shampoo and the web site, Princess can't do anything right!:rolleyes::eek:

[IECalCruiser]

Adding the requirement for a destination is a Real Pain :( Who thought up that one. It makes it so much harder to search for cruises.

[usviking]

I also do not care for the destination requirement.

 

I'm not sure why Princess does not allow for even more search criteria. I often use a cruise search at a particular vacation website to narrow my options before checking the Princess site because it allows for more options.

 

I think Princess might be missing out on folks who could see an opportunity to book b2b voyages that have different destinations.

.

[Reader0108598]

I found the website changes for the worst also. The site is harder to use, and more cumbersome.

 

No kidding make it harder for your customers to use the website !

Wow :eek: Absolutley hate the changes :(

[waltd]

I guess if you don't know where you want to go you might have a bit more work but overall it's just fine. Nothing stays the same forever.

[Maddle]

I had to go check it out to see what the grumbling was about. Yes - that is a an awful change. Why would you want to limit the offerings to the customer?

 

Maddle

[RickEk]

From what I understand, they are going to be rolling out some sort of "Sort by Price" functionality soon that requires the destination to be chosen first... I'm not a fan of the new changes either...

[Pam in CA]

I agree. I just checked it out myself and even though I specified Hawaiian cruises out of LA, it included the Tahitian, CA coastals, and cruises out of SF. So whatever criteria you use, you don't get the result you're looking for. Pretty crappy programming. :( Nor is there any way to check out multiple destinations at a time. Sometimes, I don't care about the destination; just what's sailing from a particular port within a period of time. This new system doesn't allow me to do that.

[JimmyVWine]

If you select everything except the destination, and then go back to the "Destination" drop down list as the last option, you will see that your options are pretty narrow. For example, if you choose nothing but a departure port like Ft. Lauderdale, your destination options are 11 in number. Pretty unworkable. So if you don't know what month or months you want to travel, the system stinks. But as soon as you select your length of cruise and a year/month, the options narrow. So in this example, if you select 9-16 day cruises in Feb. and March, 2014, your destination options narrow down to two, (Caribbean and Panama). So for people who have some sense of what they want, this isn't too bad. But for pure window shoppers, this is not a good change. Not sure why "Any" was too much to ask for in the Destination window.

 

One unanticipated result from this change is that customers planning vacations might go over to a big internet cruise website to do their searching, and once they find what they are looking for, they may not come back to the Princess website to book.

Edited November 21, 2013 by JimmyVWine

[The4OfUs]

One unanticipated result from this change is that customers planning vacations might go over to a big internet cruise website to do their searching, and once they find what they are looking for, they may not come back to the Princess website to book.

 

That should show in their statistics - a huge increase in people leaving the site, a huge decrease in their online conversion rates. If their web team is worth their salt, they'll pick up on this quick and make the changes back. They could also be doing a test of layouts, but if that's the case not all of us would see the same thing.

 

Here's hoping that they realize it quickly.

[MGAfhc]

I don't like the way they conceal alternative dates either. It's a pain to have to open all the extra windows to survey all the possibilities, and then you have too much to scroll through.

[Off2China]

I agree. I don't always care about the destination either and often just want to see what's available during a certain time frame. If I click on a month & year, just show me everything available and I'll take it from there (like it used to be :D). This may be "new" but it's certainly not "improved" IMO.

[Pam in CA]

I agree. I don't always care about the destination either and often just want to see what's available during a certain time frame. If I click on a month & year, just show me everything available and I'll take it from there (like it used to be :D). This may be "new" but it's certainly not "improved" IMO.

I think it's meant to be easier for new cruisers who are looking for a specific itinerary within a certain time period. It's certainly not easier for us "what's sailing out of LA in March" type of cruisers. It's surprising how many people don't have a specific itinerary or destination in mind when researching cruises. This "update" is not for them.

[Berliner]

agree too ,makes it harder to coordinate. And while we're at it, during the main cruise season out of FLL (Jan-Mar) Princess offers only "chopped up" itinerary's 4,5,7 days 10 the most. Where are the real 14 or 20 day cruises? I can understand that there is demand for short getaways but they do offer that with Ruby Princess' 4 and 5 day offers more than enough.

 

happy cruising

[RetiredNTraveling]

All they have to do is put in a "Destination Location" called "Anywhere". Then let the computer use the other criteria to perform it's selection process without limiting it to one site. I am not a computer nerd, but if I can come up with an idea, then those highpriced IT specialists surly could come up with something.

Or did they hire the same IT firm that Obama did?

[f-mattox]

Don't they road test these things before they roll them out?

 

It's like Royal Princess; they should have seen the problems coming a mile away.

[jrstarheel]

perfect fix retired!

[caribill]

Everyone who is unhappy with the changes needs to make their thoughts about this directly to Princess.

 

Just posting it here is unlikely to get it changed.

[rdsqrl]

I'm very annoyed by the Destination thing. Even more so because when you do select a month, it says "36 Itineraries Found," so it clearly has already separated them out in its tiny little electronic peabrain -- why can't it take the absurdedly simple next step then of displaying those itineraries?

 

However, just to say something nice and non-snarky (it's killing me, though), I do like the look of the page, with the big background photo -- very nice.

[shastatroy]

Everyone who is unhappy with the changes needs to make their thoughts about this directly to Princess.

 

Just posting it here is unlikely to get it changed.

 

 

Submitted complaint to Princess....but from what I understand they check the boards.