It's a Good Thing That We Have a Beverage Pkg Perk.....

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Because this company and their website can cause a person to drink :mad:

 

I received the email about the 72 hour excursion sale. After numerous website problems and several phone calls, I tried to book our excursions tonight. I tried for the longest time to book the excursions online but it would not work (are you shocked?). The website then locked me out for 20 minutes for my protection.

 

I called Celebrity and held for approximately 30 minutes. A very nice employee finally answered and helped me to book our excursion. Our "sale price" was about two dollars cheaper per person. Definitely, nothing to write home about but that was the sale and I booked it.

 

I received my email confirmation and I went online to make sure that it showed up as being booked. I noticed that we were charged the full price and not the sale price. I called Celebrity back and told them of the error and are you ready for this… I was told that since the excursion was finalized after midnight their time that I did not get the sale price. Never mind that I had tried forever online to book our excursions and then held on the phone for approximately 30 minutes. If the website would've worked then I would've booked it a couple hours earlier. Like I said, it's only a couple of bucks but it's the principle. Thanks for letting me vent. :mad:

[chemmo]

I do wonder sometimes if companies do understand the annoyance of things like this! As you say, nothing to do with the $, it is the principle and time wasted.

 

On a similar note, sorting out an error on an RC cruise (their error) cost us over £8 on a phone call....on principle we emailed to say we were not happy and suggested they should refund this cost...we simply got an email back saying 'Thank you for bringing this to our attention'. No apology and certainly no credit.

 

Your heading made me laugh as we had access to the suite lounge and each evening as my husband ordered a 'free' drink he would state he was getting his telephone call money back!

[budcann]

Similar issues here, finally booked online this morning, price increased by $3.00!

I got locked out also, and then, after getting back in, had a duplicate excursion in the shopping cart. Good luck finding a way to "empty" your shopping cart.

One problem I had in trying to pay with obc, after choosing to pay with OBC, I needed to populate the amount to be charged. I assumed the selection of "pay with OBC" would automatically populate that value. After I typed in the value, the purchase went through.

[Alohaaloha]

That's so unfair! I know you said it's only a couple of dollars but that's not the point- really unreasonable of Celebrity.

 

 

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[shipshape sam]

I wouldn't be so hard on them. They need these incremental dollars/pounds to make sure that they get their bonuses/stock options/etc. Just know that it is stressful looking to squeeze small amounts of money out of passengers, however small, and to do it so many times over and over. Front line employees, I feel, are not empowered to fix stupid the first time or in 'real' time. Remember they work for stockholders who if the ROI is not sufficient, will sell the stock and purchase a stock generating the required ROI. I think they could do it differently, but I am not there to really know.

 

To me the biggest problem is the complexity of their pricing and then when you add sales, limited time frame specials and multiple discounts, it can be very difficult to have all combinations coded into a system.

 

I am sure if you call again and take the time, it will be corrected or at least changed.

[njaloha]

I looked into it and ended up on the old website..... The system seemed to shiver and shimmer and suddenly I was back to the new website. Felt like I was in a Dr Who episode [emoji6]

 

 

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[CruisingChick]

If it were me, I would first call the Captain's Club and see if they could credit me the difference, if not, I would cancel the excursion and get a refund. It's the principle not the money. Can you find a private tour which could be less expensive than the Celebrity tour?

[Champagne Cruiser]

I received an email for my upcoming cruise offering a 20% discount on Select dining and excursions. I could not get it to work so I called the Captains Club and found out none of the things I wanted to book qualified. Of course!

[DirtyDawg]

Because this company and their website can cause a person to drink :mad:

 

I received the email about the 72 hour excursion sale. After numerous website problems and several phone calls, I tried to book our excursions tonight. I tried for the longest time to book the excursions online but it would not work (are you shocked?). The website then locked me out for 20 minutes for my protection.

 

I called Celebrity and held for approximately 30 minutes. A very nice employee finally answered and helped me to book our excursion. Our "sale price" was about two dollars cheaper per person. Definitely, nothing to write home about but that was the sale and I booked it.

 

I received my email confirmation and I went online to make sure that it showed up as being booked. I noticed that we were charged the full price and not the sale price. I called Celebrity back and told them of the error and are you ready for this… I was told that since the excursion was finalized after midnight their time that I did not get the sale price. Never mind that I had tried forever online to book our excursions and then held on the phone for approximately 30 minutes. If the website would've worked then I would've booked it a couple hours earlier. Like I said, it's only a couple of bucks but it's the principle. Thanks for letting me vent. :mad:

 

 

Just thank your lucky stars the Celebrity's IT department doesn’t operate the ships. Because if they did, that Caribbean cruise that you are on just might end up in Antarctica! :eek:

 

Pssst. I hear the excursions in Antarctica are on sale! ;)

[Alohaaloha]

I looked into it and ended up on the old website..... The system seemed to shiver and shimmer and suddenly I was back to the new website. Felt like I was in a Dr Who episode [emoji6]

 

 

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I too was on a completely different looking web site. But the following day, when it had reverted from 50% to 20% it was back to the site I recognized? Twilight Zone indeed!

 

 

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[njaloha]

I too was on a completely different looking web site. But the following day, when it had reverted from 50% to 20% it was back to the site I recognized? Twilight Zone indeed!

 

 

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Aloha!. 50%? I didn't see 50%! Missed out. [emoji22]

 

 

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[Alohaaloha]

Aloha!. 50%? I didn't see 50%! Missed out. [emoji22]

 

 

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Oh sorry to hear that- I'm not sure how long it was on for, but someone on my roll call alerted me to this 50% off. I just presumed it was because the packages weren't selling at those over inflated prices and so they'd drastically slashed them.

Rumour has it, it was a glitch on the web site, so it was just lucky we were around to take advantage.

 

 

 

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[cluso]

Oh sorry to hear that- I'm not sure how long it was on for, but someone on my roll call alerted me to this 50% off. I just presumed it was because the packages weren't selling at those over inflated prices and so they'd drastically slashed them.

Rumour has it, it was a glitch on the web site, so it was just lucky we were around to take advantage.

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Not sure it was a "glitch". We got the 50% package on our 28 Oct TA on Eclipse. Someone remarked it might be a marketing plan. With all the Elites on board, they won't serve so many "free" drinks at the daily happy hour and people will go to other venues and "pay" for their drinks with the package. We will be doing that, and a lot of other people said that, too. More fun than going to the same venue over and over on a 15 day cruise. Celebrity might have set a maximum of how many packages they sold.

 

Former Hawaii Girl (since 1956) but Aloha is still in my blood :*

[RickT]

I blame this on the "dumbing down" of customer service representatives. Years ago I started working for a Fortune 500 company on the Customer Service Front Lines. I was empowered with helping the customer and fixing the issue. If the fix required approval by someone else, I was responsible for obtaining that. Fast forward 15-20 years and the Customer Service Dept now operated on Scripts with little or no wiggle room to deal with common sense issues/questions. Reps were rated on how quickly they handled calls with little regard for ensuring the customer was taken care of. I know I'm sounding like an old fogy but I miss dealing with people who can actually listen to me and help deal with whatever issue I have.

 

Not a cruise related issue but I was trying to make a purchase from a local company (over $1,000 before tax) and I asked for a simple $20 item to be included for free. The rep said sorry, that's the price and I can't throw anything in. The next day I e-mailed a manager who quickly apologized and offered to throw in the $20 item rather than lose a $1,000 sale....

[The Wilkies]

First time Celebrity cruiser and totally agree about their website. Rubbish. Looked at excursions as well and not one I was interested in was in the deal.

[Alohaaloha]

Not sure it was a "glitch". We got the 50% package on our 28 Oct TA on Eclipse. Someone remarked it might be a marketing plan. With all the Elites on board, they won't serve so many "free" drinks at the daily happy hour and people will go to other venues and "pay" for their drinks with the package. We will be doing that, and a lot of other people said that, too. More fun than going to the same venue over and over on a 15 day cruise. Celebrity might have set a maximum of how many packages they sold.

 

 

 

Former Hawaii Girl (since 1956) but Aloha is still in my blood :*

 

 

Ah now that makes sense! I'd rather it was that rather than a glitch, I keep checking my cruise planner to make sure it's still there at that price!

We're Elite, but the short happy hour(s) and the happy hour times are not good for us, plus we have all those loooong sea days too, so a drinks package was really useful on our last TA, and I'm sure it will be on this one too.

 

 

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[caribill]

I blame this on the "dumbing down" of customer service representatives. Years ago I started working for a Fortune 500 company on the Customer Service Front Lines. I was empowered with helping the customer and fixing the issue. If the fix required approval by someone else, I was responsible for obtaining that. Fast forward 15-20 years and the Customer Service Dept now operated on Scripts with little or no wiggle room to deal with common sense issues/questions. Reps were rated on how quickly they handled calls with little regard for ensuring the customer was taken care of. I know I'm sounding like an old fogy but I miss dealing with people who can actually listen to me and help deal with whatever issue I have.

 

 

Three examples of internal help IT desk service at a company I used to work at:

 

1) IT Help desk people were not allowed to actually help anyone. All they were allowed to do was forward your call on to a contractor. If a help desk person actually helped a caller, it could hurt them at job review time.

 

 

2) I did call one time and told the person he actually could help me. He said he was not allowed to. I told him that he could. He repeated that he was not allowed to. I asked my question which had nothing to do with computers, but asked about the exact location of a hotel near where he worked. He was able to answer my question and was so happy he could actually help someone.

 

3) A help desk person called, but I dropped the phone and those with me laughed. I apologized to the help desk person for dropping the phone. He said that was OK as there is never any laughter in the help desk area and he was glad to finally hear some laughter at work.

[CaroleSS]

ok, tough question....why has it come to this?

 

Is is that companies aren't willing to spend the money to pay REAL problem solvers or is this a deliberate act hoping that people will get so frustrated with things that they just quit asking? Either way is a cost savings measure for the company!

 

If either of those don't make sense to you..... To what can we attribute this change in customer service?

[CruisingChick]

ok, tough question....why has it come to this?

 

Is is that companies aren't willing to spend the money to pay REAL problem solvers

 

I know at the company I work for I have to call India IT Service center to get someone that is located 2 floors below me to come up and help me with my computer problems.

[Muushka]

The website then locked me out for 20 minutes for my protection.

This happened to me so many times on Sunday trying to book a 6 night specialty dining package

I too wished for the drinks package, premium, at the time!

 

I have never complained about their website because it becomes tiresome. But...

Between loops that you have no control getting into, web pages that are poorly set up, inability to access the area that had all of the dining packages, the 20 minute lockouts (who do they think they are, my bank or something???), yes, a drink would have been nice!:rolleyes:

 

I feel better now.

[CaroleSS]

Conversation (true story!!) backstory...I have been in IT for 35 years.....

 

 

Me: My pointer had all of a sudden started moving about the screen on its own. I noticed this after an update was pushed out. Can you fix it?

Them: Is your computer plugged in?

Me: Yes, it is plugged in and powered on. My pointer is floating about the screen on its own.

Them: Is it turned on?

Me: Yes, I just told you that.

Them: Have you tried rebooting?

Me: Well, after you pushed out an update, it rebooted itself, so yes.....it has been rebooted. Do you think that maybe the fix you pushed out has some type of error in it?

Them: We will need to reimagine your machine. We will send a technician over to get your laptop.

Me: why can't you troubleshoot the pointer issue? Maybe it's a driver issue.

Them: We don't do that. We only reimagined your machine. It would take too long to troubleshoot the issue.

Me: How long will I be without my laptop?

Them: A week or two.

 

gar.......

[Shadow9612]

Because this company and their website can cause a person to drink :mad:

 

OMG - this is the funniest tagline ever! Good one !!

 

Indeed, so many posts on this thread had me laughing out loud!!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

That's so unfair! I know you said it's only a couple of dollars but that's not the point- really unreasonable of Celebrity.

 

 

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They refuse to honor the sale price. It's just crazy that everything has been so messed up from price quotes to sales.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

OMG - this is the funniest tagline ever! Good one !!

 

Indeed, so many posts on this thread had me laughing out loud!!

 

Lol, thank you. A lot of the replies made me laugh too and trust me, I needed that.

[caribill]

I know at the company I work for I have to call India IT Service center to get someone that is located 2 floors below me to come up and help me with my computer problems.

 

My experience was the opposite.

 

I called someone located on the same floor I was on and then he would connect me to India IT.