Celebrity Doesn't Seem To Care

[grampasgrumpy]

I agree with ABoatNerd, Celebrity does not need to care. Why on earth would they spend money to fix or create a website when the ships are sailing full at some of the highest prices on record ?

 

That would be a horrible waste of money, with no return on the investment....

They want more than bookings. They want to sell beverage packages, dining packages, excursions, etc. There are several "features" on their website that do not work that are costing them additional revenue. As to the connections party, they should either fix the registration process or remove it from their site. Removing it would cost essentially nothing. Leaving a broken process in place requires manual intervention when people inquire about it, or if they choose not to respond it leads to negative reactions from customers.

[May B]

Thanks for the different email address. I'll give that a try if I don't hear anything from my latest attempt, which was to email the CEO directly and ask her to intervene.

 

I also expect Celebrity, if they do host a Connections Party, to do a lot more than just post a sign somewhere. One of the reasons they insist on doing everything themselves is that they say that invitations will be delivered to all registrants on board announcing time and place. I'd love to hear from someone who has cruised recently if this actually occurred. It's been a year since we were on Celebrity, and they were still letting roll calls handle all the logistics back then and just provide Celebrity with a head count.

 

That last comment goes totally against all my past Celebrity cruises (the last one of which was Dec. of '16, and the first of which was July of '08). I have always received an invitation to my cabin, and no person here on CC.com had to do anything. All cruisers used the link to register.

[lynncarol]

I just finished my Celebrity express pass check-in online and had no problems whatsoever. Currently I am looking at shore excursions and, although not ready to book one, it seems simple enough. BTW, I am not very adept at computers. So maybe it is just the roll call that's so difficult to navigate.

[DirtyDawg]

Celebrity does care. If fact, they have hired two new IT specialists to fixed the website.

 

Here they are:

 

[FredZiffle]

That last comment goes totally against all my past Celebrity cruises (the last one of which was Dec. of '16, and the first of which was July of '08). I have always received an invitation to my cabin, and no person here on CC.com had to do anything. All cruisers used the link to register.

Interesting. We also cruised in Dec. '16, and someone on our roll call handled everything. I wasn't even aware of the Connections link.

 

Here's an update for everyone. I finally gave up on ever receiving a reply from CelebrityOneTouch and emailed the CEO directly. I got an email back from Celebrity as well as a phone call within 24 hours. The phone call was from someone in the Executive Offices who said that the CEO had been in contact with the IT Dept. today and was assured that the issue would be fixed within a couple of weeks. They may just be placating me, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now and see what happens over the next month. Fingers crossed.

[May B]

Interesting. We also cruised in Dec. '16, and someone on our roll call handled everything. I wasn't even aware of the Connections link.

 

Here's an update for everyone. I finally gave up on ever receiving a reply from CelebrityOneTouch and emailed the CEO directly. I got an email back from Celebrity as well as a phone call within 24 hours. The phone call was from someone in the Executive Offices who said that the CEO had been in contact with the IT Dept. today and was assured that the issue would be fixed within a couple of weeks. They may just be placating me, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now and see what happens over the next month. Fingers crossed.

 

 

Very nice, Fred. One might wonder why it will take a couple of weeks; but if it really IS fixed in a month, fine. Oh. Wait a sec. My cruise is in 4-1/2 weeks.

 

Oh well.

[wrk2cruise]

I used the link yesterday and it appeared to work. It said there were 35 registered although it did say as of December 13 even though it is currently November. Maybe Miami is on the other side of the international month line from us here in NC.:cool:

[Texed]

It's been a year since we were on Celebrity, and they were still letting roll calls handle all the logistics back then and just provide Celebrity with a head count.

 

Are you sure you are not thinking about Princess. That is the way Princess handled the Meet and Greet. They provide a place to have the greet, and want someone on the roll call to handle everything else. :confused:

[hcat]

That last comment goes totally against all my past Celebrity cruises (the last one of which was Dec. of '16, and the first of which was July of '08). I have always received an invitation to my cabin, and no person here on CC.com had to do anything. All cruisers used the link to register.

 

For all our cruising yrs on X , we sign up online, get e mail confirmation, a notice when 25 have registered and an in cabin invite on board from X. On Princess, cruisers did the work...

 

Only parties arranged by roll call members are informal sailaway, pvt get togethers, cabin crawls, slot pulls, roll call dinners/ lunches

[mmacdcc]

I used the link yesterday and it appeared to work. It said there were 35 registered although it did say as of December 13 even though it is currently November. Maybe Miami is on the other side of the international month line from us here in NC.:cool:

 

Well, it's really broken now. Dropdowns don't work, and if you just hit the submit button without entering anything, it gives you the detailed server error info.

 

It DEFINITELY shouldn't do that.

 

And for me, on the main page NOTHING works. Not menus, no links at the top except for check in, which goes to the old look - which works fine.

 

Come on guys - it's been MONTHS. At least fix the links when you do get logged in (which don't work half the time), and for Pete's sake set up some redirects so the OLD links you have in emails go somewhere useful. Last email I got had 3 links, and they were ALL wrong.

 

I used to do this for a living, and trust me - setting up redirects is easy, easy easy. And when we did anything that was going to change how URLs got generated, that was the FIRST thing I asked everybody in marketing to give me, because the last thing you want is a bunch of marketing materials that have bad links.

[ChucktownSteve]

Didn't Celebrity, a few months ago, brag in a news release how they had hired this new fantastic internet developer? They must have been told, "oh yeah. We can do that!!!."

[Luvcrusn]

I wonder if it'll still be telling me I can't check in until I've completed pending items after I'm home from my next cruise:mad:

[cltnccruisers]

Didn't Celebrity, a few months ago, brag in a news release how they had hired this new fantastic internet developer? They must have been told, "oh yeah. We can do that!!!."

 

I've been told by an Accenture employee that X and RCCL contracted with them for the "new" sites and that they then subcontracted the work to India. He's in a position to know and given my almost daily experience with outsourcing I'm inclined to believe him.

[CruiseZZ1956]

They want more than bookings. They want to sell beverage packages, dining packages, excursions, etc. There are several "features" on their website that do not work that are costing them additional revenue. As to the connections party, they should either fix the registration process or remove it from their site. Removing it would cost essentially nothing. Leaving a broken process in place requires manual intervention when people inquire about it, or if they choose not to respond it leads to negative reactions from customers.

In all my dealings with X it has become painfully obvious they care only about $$$$ and nothing else matters. This is the reason I will no longer give them any of my $$$$. Maybe someday when the CEO has to answer for lost revenue they will wake up. Till then on to the next cruise line!

[ChucktownSteve]

In all my dealings with X it has become painfully obvious they care only about $$$$ and nothing else matters. This is the reason I will no longer give them any of my $$$$. Maybe someday when the CEO has to answer for lost revenue they will wake up. Till then on to the next cruise line!

 

I refer you to post 22. Google "RCL double/double" for an explanation of the program they instituted in 2015. You're witnessing the success of the program. So I doubt the CEO will have to answer to anyone as long as she tows "Daddy's" line.

 

I used to think it was LLP but I was mistaken. She's just following the corporate dictate for which she was groomed at RCL. And quite frankly I doubt they'll lose money since they raised the game for suites which generates a ton of profits. All those "free" perks are built into the price and people are willing to pay it.

Edited November 16, 2017 by ChucktownSteve

[Ramona760]

"But they tolerate the inefficiency of the IT department for some inexplicable reason. Maybe IT have some unsavory pictures of someone? Can't see any other reason it's tolerated."

 

 

Ha ha. Not so far fetched in these times...

[GottaKnowWhen]

I've been told by an Accenture employee that X and RCCL contracted with them for the "new" sites and that they then subcontracted the work to India. ...

 

You seem to imply that this is a problem? There are many very fine IT professionals in India and subcontracting there could be a very wise move.

 

Stan

[Bo1953]

You seem to imply that this is a problem? There are many very fine IT professionals in India and subcontracting there could be a very wise move.

 

Stan

 

Thank you... I, for one, appreciate the comment.

 

bon voyage

[ChucktownSteve]

You seem to imply that this is a problem? There are many very fine IT professionals in India and subcontracting there could be a very wise move.

 

Stan

 

Stan, I read it differently as a statement of fact that the company that got the contract wasn't doing the work themselves. There may be many very fine IT professionals in India but from the amount of complaints regarding the new Celebrity web site, they don't appear to be working on this project. The web site went from bad to worse. Although I will admit it is a pretty worse.

[publicpersona]

IT at Royal/Celebrity has always been abysmal, and it seems to only get worse. The Connections registration problem may be small potatoes, but my inability to buy shore excursions the other day was something that costs them revenue. The agent I talked to when I called said that lately, you are better off *not* signing in with your Celebrity account if you want to get things done on the website. That worked for me.

 

Another good example was trying to order luggage tags (yes, after online check-in complete, within the correct window prior to sailing, edocs issued). Clicking on "Check for luggage tags" just logged me off. But that's not the IT fail that is concerning. When I called about it, they asked me for reservation number, verify names/addresses, etc. at the beginning of the conversation .. OK. But then he said he'd order luggage tags and then proceeded to ask me for ... wait for it .. my reservation number, names/addresses, etc. That is a sign of a huge IT fail. Anyone in hospitality industry customer service dealing with guests should have all information they need about that customer in their face the whole time they are on the phone. I mean not only names/addresses/reservations/etc. but down to favorite kind of soup (I exaggerate only slightly). Hopefully they have all this based on CallerID of the incoming call without having to ask, but at least after verifying identity on first contact.

[May B]

"But they tolerate the inefficiency of the IT department for some inexplicable reason. Maybe IT have some unsavory pictures of someone? Can't see any other reason it's tolerated."

 

 

Ha ha. Not so far fetched in these times...

 

Over on the Crystal boards, there was conjecture that it was somebody's nephew who had designed and tried to transfer to the new web site. It was rolled out in August of 2016 and isn't fully functional even now, 15 months later. Luckily the "legacy" website still works, and we find more up-to-date info there. And that's with only two ocean vessels in the fleet!

[mdcelebrity]

"But they tolerate the inefficiency of the IT department for some inexplicable reason. Maybe IT have some unsavory pictures of someone? Can't see any other reason it's tolerated."

 

 

Ha ha. Not so far fetched in these times...

 

Interesting conjecture. :)

However, perhaps we should not so quick to disparage the IT staff itself -- regardless of location. Maybe too much talk "that they all should be fired" or that they are incompetent, without knowing the details.

It is quite likey that they were given an impossible task: trying to put band-aids on a network infrastructure that is

horribly out-of-date. Lipstick on a Pig, if you prefer that analogy.

If the "Page Source" is displayed on their Web site, there are many references to "data-mobile" or "mobile allowed".

What possibly (probably?) has happened with the "new" Web site was a rush to be mobile (cell phone) friendly,

since that platform is the preferred way to access Web sites these days. Rushed being the key word.

 

It is not clear from the statements that Celebrity has issued whether Accenture was working on the public-facing part of the Celebrity network, or if they were tasked with the back-end projects that the public do not see.

 

Without further info it is hard to assign responsibility to the IT staff or to service providers used by Celebrity.

 

What IS clear is that this a massive MANAGEMENT failure. Since the buck stops somewhere, this failure has to land on

the feet of LL-P. Not only is Celebrity alienating its customers but is losing revenue. Despite good results for RCI in the third quarter, losing revenue is NEVER a good thing, eh? :mad:

 

I imagine that Celebrity (or RCI across all brands) is developing a new network infrastructure, but that it is taking time.

Meanwhile ... "enjoy" the Pig.

 

I still plan to enjoy my 4Feb2018 cruise on Eclipse and hope to see some of you on-board.

Edited November 16, 2017 by mdcelebrity
grammar.

[May B]

Interesting conjecture. :)

However, perhaps we should not so quick to disparage the IT staff itself -- regardless of location. Maybe too much talk "that they all should be fired" or that they are incompetent, without knowing the details.

It is quite likey that they were given an impossible task: trying to put band-aids on a network infrastructure that is

horribly out-of-date. Lipstick on a Pig, if you prefer that analogy.

If the "Page Source" is displayed on their Web site, there are many references to "data-mobile" or "mobile allowed".

What possibly (probably?) has happened with the "new" Web site was a rush to be mobile (cell phone) friendly,

since that platform is the preferred way to access Web sites these days. Rushed being the key word.

 

It is not clear from the statements that Celebrity has issued whether Accenture was working on the public-facing part of the Celebrity network, or if they were tasked with the back-end projects that the public do not see.

 

Without further info it is hard to assign responsibility to the IT staff or to service providers used by Celebrity.

 

What IS clear is that this a massive MANAGEMENT failure. Since the buck stops somewhere, this failure has to land on

the feet of LL-P. Not only is Celebrity alienating its customers but is losing revenue. Despite good results for RCI in the third quarter, losing revenue is NEVER a good thing, eh? :mad:

 

I imagine that Celebrity (or RCI across all brands) is developing a new network infrastructure, but that it is taking time.

Meanwhile ... "enjoy" the Pig.

 

I still plan to enjoy my 4Feb2018 cruise on Eclipse and hope to see some of you on-board.

 

Excellent point about the rush to accommodate mobile devices.

 

I still plan to enjoy my 16Dec2017 Equinox as well. :D

[cltnccruisers]

You seem to imply that this is a problem? There are many very fine IT professionals in India and subcontracting there could be a very wise move.

 

I've worked with some good and some not so good. But you get what you pay for and from the accounts I've heard Accenture is doing this on the cheap. Also, the turnover among contractors vs FTEs is much higher so you risk losing continuity. So yes, it could be the problem.

[ChucktownSteve]

You seem to imply that this is a problem? There are many very fine IT professionals in India and subcontracting there could be a very wise move.

 

I've worked with some good and some not so good. But you get what you pay for and from the accounts I've heard Accenture is doing this on the cheap. Also, the turnover among contractors vs FTEs is much higher so you risk losing continuity. So yes, it could be the problem.

 

One thing you neglected to point out is that Accenture is certainly taking their cut of the payment so that's less money available to pay the subcontractors. Less pay usually equals even less quality/stability in internet design, doesn't it?

Edited November 17, 2017 by ChucktownSteve