***HAL's website - what a mess!

[OlsSalt]

Website design is many levels of ability above the technical abilities of HAL's people who just make updates and minor changes. I would bet that the new site was contracted out to a 3rd party contractor. They probably agreed to a specific publish date, and if they didn't make it they suffered financial penalties. So, instead of running the new site through the usual Alpha and Beta test modes, they were up against a firm deadline, so they launched it, partially untested. Right now, it definitely is not "Ready for Prime Time". The old site should be restored for full use, and the new one should go back to Beta testing until the bugs are fixed. They were trying to make the site more friendly to small screen devices, phones and tablets. That requires a whole extra level of code to address screen size and make sure the text is readable on the small screens with minimal scrolling.

 

Thank you for these helpful insights. Selling air-ware essentially.

[HUNKY]

I must be lucky, I've not had any problems accessing my cruise, downloading the shore excursion brochure, etc. Sorry it isn't working for so many others.

 

I have been using Windows 10, Chrome browser on a two year old PC laptop.

[Djptcp]

I have tried booking a HAL cruise many times since the new website was rolled out and gave up each time. Too frustrating and too much back and forth with in the booking process. So now HAL cruise booked. I even contacted a HAL PVP that I have used a few times and she never responded to me. That was a first as she always replied to my emails quickly. I guess she didn't like me unloading about how much I dislike the new website:evilsmile:

[haladdict]

Perhaps we have broken the web site?

Some of us use it a lot, or try to.

Sandra

[Ka Honu]

I must be lucky, I've not had any problems accessing my cruise, downloading the shore excursion brochure, etc. Sorry it isn't working for so many others.

 

I have been using Windows 10, Chrome browser on a two year old PC laptop.

 

How did you find/download the excursion brochure? I've struggled with most everything else and pretty much wrassled it to the ground but this one eludes me. HELP, PLEASE!

[HUNKY]

Ka, here are the steps I used to download the excursions brochure.

 

1. Login at hollandamerica.com

2. Click on "Already Booked" tab

3. Click on "Manage my bookings" tab

4. Re-enter your login info, click on "Find Booking"

5. Click on the EXC Tours tab, then click again on EXC Tours icon

6. On the left side, click on "Download Personalized eBrochure"

7. Click on "Open personalized eBrochure"

[Porky55]

Ka, here are the steps I used to download the excursions brochure.

 

 

 

1. Login at hollandamerica.com

 

2. Click on "Already Booked" tab

 

3. Click on "Manage my bookings" tab

 

4. Re-enter your login info, click on "Find Booking"

 

5. Click on the EXC Tours tab, then click again on EXC Tours icon

 

6. On the left side, click on "Download Personalized eBrochure"

 

7. Click on "Open personalized eBrochure"

 

 

 

HUNKY - agree entirely, after a little fiddling around I had found the same process as you and booked three excursions on our January 2019 cruise. I use an IPad Pro so it isn’t a problem with the new website working on mobile devices, it is just that we all need to come to terms with something new. Helping each other like you just have is a great start:-

HAL providing a “welcome to our new site we have made some changes such as .........” would have been even nicer. 🧐

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[catl331]

Ka, here are the steps I used to download the excursions brochure.

 

1. Login at hollandamerica.com

2. Click on "Already Booked" tab

3. Click on "Manage my bookings" tab

4. Re-enter your login info, click on "Find Booking"

5. Click on the EXC Tours tab, then click again on EXC Tours icon

6. On the left side, click on "Download Personalized eBrochure"

7. Click on "Open personalized eBrochure"

So we can't get excursion details for a cruise that we are considering but not booked on, like we could on the old website?

[dockman]

Why do you log in and then two steps later have to log in all over again? In fairness i have seen a variety of other websites require a "double log in" and maybe there is some valid reason but not sure I understand what it could be.

[Songs4Life]

Why do you log in and then two steps later have to log in all over again? In fairness i have seen a variety of other websites require a "double log in" and maybe there is some valid reason but not sure I understand what it could be.

What a help-desk person told me, after you log-in the first time, click on "Already Booked" (if you have booked something) then when you see that page (that asks for double log-in), don't use the left side to log in again - do you also see the other side where it says Buy Items for your Friends and Family? Put your booking number in that field and then your last name in the next field and then click "Find Booking" and that should take you to where you can browse.

I hope this works for you.

If not, try calling the Holland America number.

I think they get a lot of website complaints. But help-desk seems;p to have some workaround ideas.

[Fouremco]

So we can't get excursion details for a cruise that we are considering but not booked on, like we could on the old website?

I'm happy to report that you can get the excursion details without booking or even logging into the website.

 

Go to the website and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Under "Discover", click on "EXC Tours" and you'll be taken to a page where you can search to your heart's content. There's quite a bit of information provided, as in the past, but it's missing ratings and reviews by past passengers.

[Fouremco]

What a help-desk person told me, after you log-in the first time, click on "Already Booked" (if you have booked something) then when you see that page (that asks for double log-in), don't use the left side to log in again - do you also see the other side where it says Buy Items for your Friends and Family? Put your booking number in that field and then your last name in the next field and then click "Find Booking" and that should take you to where you can browse.

I hope this works for you.

If not, try calling the Holland America number.

I think they get a lot of website complaints. But help-desk seems;p to have some workaround ideas.

That's just logging in again but using different details. Once you've logged in initially, you should be able to move around the website without having to do so a second time. Poor design.

[Crazy For Cats]

That's just logging in again but using different details. Once you've logged in initially, you should be able to move around the website without having to do so a second time. Poor design.

 

 

 

Try ignoring the first manage my bookings link you see. Go to my account. Once there you will see manage my bookings. You do not need to log in again if you want to do anything with your booking.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Fouremco]

Try ignoring the first manage my bookings link you see. Go to my account. Once there you will see manage my bookings. You do not need to log in again if you want to do anything with your booking.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thanks, that does work. A bit illogical and an extra couple of clicks, but it does work. With my password manager, it's probably quicker simply signing in again.

[OlsSalt]

I'm happy to report that you can get the excursion details without booking or even logging into the website.

 

Go to the website and scroll down to the bottom of the page. Under "Discover", click on "EXC Tours" and you'll be taken to a page where you can search to your heart's content. There's quite a bit of information provided, as in the past, but it's missing ratings and reviews by past passengers.

 

I was willing to try and learn new tricks and followed your suggestions. Only with your upfront specific hand-holding would anyone ever find and get to that obscure link. Bravo, I got there and only because EXC is a known term to me - to anyone else it is a totally meaningless identification offering no verbal clue whatsoever.

 

Okay, I got there to the EXC ling and still found the information too obtuse, requires too much navigation and was totally indecipherable. This new website remains a total fail. I tested by looking for Cuba tours - and got a total mishmash and never found anything specific and direct about Cuba itself except a lot of disjointed imagery. I gave up because it was too ridiculous to ever get to this link in the first place. Only to find myself drowning in extraneous distractions and demands that I be surgically specific upfront about what I needed to know that I did not yet know. Simple task - shore excursions offered in Cuba itself. Mission impossible.

 

Here are my suggestions - don't ask me to scroll through all those pages and pages of imagery garbage to the very bottom of the page to what looks like a generic industrial border menu, expect me to attack a menu of obscure terms, and then dump me into an endless melange of information I never wanted in the first place.

 

Drop the obscure propriatary terms "EXC" is meaningless - call it "shore excursions". Have the link go directly to shore excursions in Cuba when that is what I click - don't send me to all the other ports of call for a trip that also includes Cuba. Put that menu of information links on the top of the page - save those piles of annoying imagery for those who want to waste their time.

 

I continue to have the feeling using this website HAL hates its customers and does not want their sales . But that somewhere in upper management they are patting themselves on the back that they created a visual wonder that will entice people new to cruising by sheer tantalizing imagery who stumble and waste time on this new website.

 

In law there is something called the "plain meaning rule". Apply this sound principle to your website, HAL-Seattle.

[Crazy For Cats]

Thanks, that does work. A bit illogical and an extra couple of clicks, but it does work. With my password manager, it's probably quicker simply signing in again.

 

 

 

Glad it worked for you. I used the first manage bookings link and none of my excursions etc would appear. When using the hidden link everything was present.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Fouremco]

Glad it worked for you. I used the first manage bookings link and none of my excursions etc would appear. When using the hidden link everything was present.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

I wonder if there's an Easter egg that, once discovered, unlocks a fully functioning version of the website? :halo:

[Crazy For Cats]

I wonder if there's an Easter egg that, once discovered, unlocks a fully functioning version of the website? :halo:

 

 

 

If you find it please share! I’ll do the same if I stumble across it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[onthegogirl]

I'm thinking the grandson (or daughter) of the IT manager just graduated and got the job to design the new site. Grade F-. I feel somewhat better knowing others share my pain.

[fatcat04]

We haven't cruised in a few years due to my father and then father in laws illnesses and both their passings. Then not 2 months after my father in laws passing we found out we were having a surprise baby! I only wish her much loved grandpas could see our newest mariner. She is such a blessing.

 

Naturally, I had not been on HAL's site in a long time. But we got the cruise bug again now and boy was I disappointed! I was just researching a cruise for us for Spring 2019 yesterday and I came to the same conclusion "WHAT A MESS!"

 

It's like half the page wouldn't load at times, or the numbers would be all jumbled up. You can't price out cruises for comparing in any easy way at all. I am finding going to other online TA's far more informative concerning availability, costs per category of cabin, and current deals. I don't usually book the actual cruise through the website, though I will place orders for add ons via the site once booked. I call our PCC. BUT I generally do a great deal of research. That's a no go now and I am worried about using it for anything. Clunky, slow, mixed up, and confusing. Bring back the old website until this one can be overhauled.

Edited June 23, 2018 by fatcat04

[mame42]

Warning: Conspiracy theory ahead.

 

I find that I can actually do everything I need/want to do on the new website once I fumble long enough to find the workarounds, since they are often counterintuitive. However, it takes four times as long as on the old site, so I need to plan ahead for sufficient time to work through it all. There is no such thing as a quick check for cabin availability or price drops. Is this a deliberate strategy on the part of HAL? To what purpose?

[J898989]

I have found that it is easiest and cheaper to book HAL cruisers from other 3rd party travel agency

Even calling and getting a live person does not help.

I too agree the HAL website is the worst I have seen.

[Ka Honu]

Ka, here are the steps I used to download the excursions brochure.

 

1. Login at hollandamerica.com

2. Click on "Already Booked" tab

3. Click on "Manage my bookings" tab

4. Re-enter your login info, click on "Find Booking"

5. Click on the EXC Tours tab, then click again on EXC Tours icon

6. On the left side, click on "Download Personalized eBrochure"

7. Click on "Open personalized eBrochure"

 

I tried that but didn't get anything when I clicked "Open personalized eBrochure" so I figured your "personalized eBrochure" must only contain excursions you have already booked.

 

What I want is a document of some type listing and describing (even if only briefly) all the excursions for the cruise so I can at least get an overview before clicking on each individual excursion.

[Fouremco]

I tried that but didn't get anything when I clicked "Open personalized eBrochure" so I figured your "personalized eBrochure" must only contain excursions you have already booked.

 

What I want is a document of some type listing and describing (even if only briefly) all the excursions for the cruise so I can at least get an overview before clicking on each individual excursion.

If you have a booking, are logged in and have clicked on Explore EXC Tours, then Download Personalized eBrochure, when you click on Open Personalized eBrochure you should see a document that contains all of the excursions for all of the ports on your cruise. You can browse it there or download it.

 

If that isn't working for you, perhaps you could give a detailed step-by-step overview of how you are approaching this. We might be able to identify a problem.

[kazu]

Warning: Conspiracy theory ahead.

 

I find that I can actually do everything I need/want to do on the new website once I fumble long enough to find the workarounds, since they are often counterintuitive. However, it takes four times as long as on the old site, so I need to plan ahead for sufficient time to work through it all. There is no such thing as a quick check for cabin availability or price drops. Is this a deliberate strategy on the part of HAL? To what purpose?

 

 

No conspiracy theory at all. Glad it works for you.

 

It literally took me TWO HOURS yesterday to do the Bon Voyage thread. I just don't have kind of time to wait while the HAL site spins (whether I use the old or new and no matter what search engine I use).

 

Today, I was able to get the itineraries but not the sold out ones. So, after 1/2 hour, I said to heck with it and one itinerary was missing today.

 

I am seriously thinking of using other TA travel sites for the itineraries. As long as their logos don't show, it should be safe and I am fed up.

 

It took me over 1/2 hour to download my shore excursions. My interpretation is that HAL doesn't want us to book them. LOL.

 

If nothing else, their booking site and shore excursions should work well. Shore excursions are money makers for them.

 

Vent over.