New Cunard Website

[Guest SilverHengroen]

Wow, this new site really is dire - like the infamous confectioners teapot, a site that cannot fulfil its purpose is truly a useless thing. What was previously available at a glance is now a rigmarole to get ahold of, this is more likely to put me off cruising with Cunard than entice me in, particularly if I was a first timer! Still, I left a boatload of feedback so hopefully they are in a listening mood and might even roll back to the previous site while they fix the myriad shortcomings! 

[Wiltonian]

On 1/11/2019 at 4:44 PM, Froxfield said:

The new website is all I can get.  It seems to be all over the shop on itineraries.  Try the link on the home page to the 14 day Baltic Cruise to find it goes from Southampton to Hamburg and back before settling out to the Baltic!!!

 

Whereas the 2020 Baltic cruise is described as “Hamburg . .” but will sail serenely past!

[bluemarble]

On 12/21/2018 at 10:52 AM, bluemarble said:

... During the booking process for a crossing on QM2, I said that I wanted to choose my own cabin. I then requested a “Mid-Forward” sheltered balcony. But it selected a “Mid-Aft” cabin for me and all it showed me were other mid-aft cabin numbers to choose from. ...

 

Some progress to report on the new website. It looks like this issue I previously reported has been addressed. I just tried several test bookings on the US website, and when I requested the Mid-Forward section of the ship, I was actually shown Mid-Forward cabins to choose from rather than always being shown Mid-Aft cabins as was the case previously.

[Ray66]

Today a got an "Exciting Announcement" email from Cunard

we've just launched a brand new website with a host of new features for you to discover, making it even easier to find your perfect voyage whenever and wherever you are.

We hope you enjoy exploring our new website, and would love to hear your thoughts. You can leave your comments by clicking the feedback tab on any page.

 

I'm still get the 404 Error page .  There appears to be a problem. The page you are looking for cannot be found.

 

This is just by clicking a month on the Search bar.

 

I would be interested to know if anyone else from the UK is having this problem?

 

 

we've just launched a brand new website with a host of new features for you to discover, making it even easier to find your perfect voyage whenever and wherever you are. We hope you enjoy exploring our new website, and would love to hear your thoughts. You can leave your comments by clicking the feedback tab on any page. we've just launched a brand new website with a host of new features for you to discover, making it even easier to find your perfect voyage whenever and wherever you are.

We hope you enjoy exploring our new website, and would love to hear your thoughts. You can leave your comments by clicking the feedback tab on any page.

[bluemarble]

19 minutes ago, Ray66 said:

Today a got an "Exciting Announcement" email from Cunard

we've just launched a brand new website with a host of new features for you to discover, making it even easier to find your perfect voyage whenever and wherever you are.

We hope you enjoy exploring our new website, and would love to hear your thoughts. You can leave your comments by clicking the feedback tab on any page.

 

I'm still get the 404 Error page .  There appears to be a problem. The page you are looking for cannot be found.

 

This is just by clicking a month on the Search bar.

 

I would be interested to know if anyone else from the UK is having this problem?

 

I'm not from the UK, but I am able to successfully access the UK website via a VPN connection that makes it look like I am in the UK.

 

On occasion I have received errors such as you have reported here the first time after I switch from using the US website to the UK website. I've chalked up those issues as being caused by conflicts with my browser's cookie settings.

 

If you haven't tried this already, I'd suggest deleting the cookies from your browser cache. If you don't want to delete all your browser's cookies, you could start with just deleting them for "www.cunard.co.uk" and "www.cunard.com".

 

Of course, if you've already tried that, then "never mind". Perhaps more details on which specific platform and browser you are using might help to trouble-shoot your issue.

[Ray66]

I regularly delete cookies but this time I have also deleted cached web content and that has done the trick! So thanks for the reminder.

Well, I don't much like the new layout. The lead price is now Inside rather than Balcony. And for one month I just looked at, I had to click through 3 pages rather than just scrolling down to the end of the month.

 

I got to a Canaries cruise which has a map of a fjords cruise!

[bluemarble]

7 minutes ago, Ray66 said:

I regularly delete cookies but this time I have also deleted cached web content and that has done the trick! So thanks for the reminder.

Well, I don't much like the new layout. The lead price is now Inside rather than Balcony. And for one month I just looked at, I had to click through 3 pages rather than just scrolling down to the end of the month.

 

I got to a Canaries cruise which has a map of a fjords cruise!

 

Excellent. Glad to hear you're now in to the new website (I guess). Welcome to the fun. I see what you mean about voyage Q929, "The Canary Islands, 12 Nights" showing a map of a cruise to Norway in the search results. At least the voyage details page appears to be correct.

[sfbearcat]

Terrible web site...Poor function and usability ...its seems like a 1997-1998 web page with errors every other click!!

 

[Kynance]

The new website is truly dreadful: I have left feedback to this effect and suggested the developers look at the comments on this board too. I do virtually all my online browsing via my iPad and the website display looks like a version for a mobile phone. It really is awful and as others have said lots of the links are broken. I’ve also found that the search engine in the FAQs section does not work. For instance, it did not recognise the question. “Who are the guest speakers onboard”?

 

Frankly, it’s a pathetic effort, Cunard! 😡

[bluemarble]

25 minutes ago, Kynance said:

... I’ve also found that the search engine in the FAQs section does not work. For instance, it did not recognise the question. “Who are the guest speakers onboard”? ...

 

Some observations on how searching the new FAQ works. It appears to me that the FAQ search function on the new website is looking for questions and answers that contain the specific sequence of words that you type into the search field. In my experience, searching for a just single word is usually the best way to go with the new FAQ.

 

Yes, it actually says "Type your question here". But there isn't much value in typing a full question such as "Who are the ..." since that will eliminate questions that are worded in such a way that they don't contain the specific string "Who are the".

 

I'll illustrate using a different question, "How much are the drinks on board?" If you happen to type that specific question into the search field, you will find that question and its answer since that's exactly how the question is worded in the FAQ.

 

But if you happen to word that question slightly differently by typing "onboard" instead of "on board" you will not get any results since the question uses "on board" written as two words rather than one.

 

Similarly, if you word that question differently such as "How much do the drinks cost on board?" you will get no results, since there is no question that is worded specifically that way.

 

I'd suggest the best way to get to the question about drinks prices is to simply type "drinks" into the search field. That yields results for these three questions that contain the words "drinks" somewhere within their question or answer.

 

"How much are the drinks on board?"

"What makes Queens Grill different to Princess Grill?"

"Do you offer a drinks package?"

 

Now getting back to the original example question, "Who are the guest speakers onboard?", I'm afraid there is no information in the new FAQ about guest speakers at all. At least there is none that I can find. Searching the FAQ for words such as "speakers", "lecturers", "lectures", "talks", or "enrichment" yields no results.

 

I'll conclude by agreeing that the new FAQ is deficient, especially for those of you in the UK that are used to the FAQ containing a lot more content than it does now and producing search results that are related to your search terms, not just those that match your search terms exactly. But hopefully what I have discussed here will assist in some small way to get the most out of the new FAQ's search function as currently implemented.

[Wordzz]

What a very frustrating site to use!

 

I have found the following way to access the list of guest speakers: Apologies if this is repeating what has already been said:

 

• Click on 'Help & advice' in the top right corner of the homepage to bring up FAQ.
• The section 'Before you sail' is highlighted on the left, beneath the search bar.
• Move the cursor to the right and click on 'Life on board' to highlight that section. The number (2) indicates that there are no fewer than two questions in this section - quite telling in itself...
• Only then go to the search bar and enter the word 'speakers' or some such term.
• This opens a question about wheelchair spaces in the theatre. Either minimise that information (the minus sign on the right) or scroll down to the second (and last) question 'What entertainment is available on board?' Click on the plus sign to open the response.
• Scroll down past the bullet points to the section beginning 'Please also see the following:'
• On hte third line there is a highlighted phrase 'dedicated Guest Speakers page'. Click on that and hey, presto - you've made it! Simple....

So basically if you're not in the 'correct' section of the site, it seems your question won't be recognised and will return no results. It's a bit like the old joke about using a dictionary, that you have to know how to spell a word before you can look it up.

 

The whole convoluted and non-intuitive process illustrates nicely that the new site is a bit of a shambles. 

 

[sogne]

56 minutes ago, Wordzz said:

What a very frustrating site to use!

 

I have found the following way to access the list of guest speakers: Apologies if this is repeating what has already been said:

 

• Click on 'Help & advice' in the top right corner of the homepage to bring up FAQ.
• The section 'Before you sail' is highlighted on the left, beneath the search bar.
• Move the cursor to the right and click on 'Life on board' to highlight that section. The number (2) indicates that there are no fewer than two questions in this section - quite telling in itself...
• Only then go to the search bar and enter the word 'speakers' or some such term.
• This opens a question about wheelchair spaces in the theatre. Either minimise that information (the minus sign on the right) or scroll down to the second (and last) question 'What entertainment is available on board?' Click on the plus sign to open the response.
• Scroll down past the bullet points to the section beginning 'Please also see the following:'
• On hte third line there is a highlighted phrase 'dedicated Guest Speakers page'. Click on that and hey, presto - you've made it! Simple....

So basically if you're not in the 'correct' section of the site, it seems your question won't be recognised and will return no results. It's a bit like the old joke about using a dictionary, that you have to know how to spell a word before you can look it up.

 

The whole convoluted and non-intuitive process illustrates nicely that the new site is a bit of a shambles. 

 

done that all I get is 404 error page not found etc

[Guest SilverHengroen]

12 hours ago, Kynance said:

The new website is truly dreadful: I have left feedback to this effect and suggested the developers look at the comments on this board too. I do virtually all my online browsing via my iPad and the website display looks like a version for a mobile phone. It really is awful and as others have said lots of the links are broken. I’ve also found that the search engine in the FAQs section does not work. For instance, it did not recognise the question. “Who are the guest speakers onboard”?

 

Frankly, it’s a pathetic effort, Cunard! 😡

Definitely, I would say a style over substance revamp, and white features on a white background separated by thin, pale grey lines means the style isn’t really a step forward either,  things look simultaneously lost and crowded amidst the white space... and I’m counted amongst the 18-24 age group! 

 

Is there any way of showing prices of Queens grill suites for a cruise search as was previously possible? I can’t seem to find that filter if it is still available. 

[bluemarble]

3 hours ago, Wordzz said:

What a very frustrating site to use!

 

I have found the following way to access the list of guest speakers: Apologies if this is repeating what has already been said:

 

• Click on 'Help & advice' in the top right corner of the homepage to bring up FAQ.
• The section 'Before you sail' is highlighted on the left, beneath the search bar.
• Move the cursor to the right and click on 'Life on board' to highlight that section. The number (2) indicates that there are no fewer than two questions in this section - quite telling in itself...
• Only then go to the search bar and enter the word 'speakers' or some such term.
• This opens a question about wheelchair spaces in the theatre. Either minimise that information (the minus sign on the right) or scroll down to the second (and last) question 'What entertainment is available on board?' Click on the plus sign to open the response.
• Scroll down past the bullet points to the section beginning 'Please also see the following:'
• On hte third line there is a highlighted phrase 'dedicated Guest Speakers page'. Click on that and hey, presto - you've made it! Simple....

So basically if you're not in the 'correct' section of the site, it seems your question won't be recognised and will return no results. It's a bit like the old joke about using a dictionary, that you have to know how to spell a word before you can look it up.

 

The whole convoluted and non-intuitive process illustrates nicely that the new site is a bit of a shambles. 

 

Thanks, Wordzz. You have confirmed something I didn't realize until now that the new US and UK FAQ sections are different.

 

First let's look at the "Life on board" section of the US FAQ before attempting to do any searching. Here we will see there are 121 questions across 13 pages in the "Life on board" section the FAQ on the US site (at "www.cunard.com/en-us").

 

Now let's search for the word "lecturers". Here we will see there are no results in the US FAQ.

 

Now let's look at the "Life on board" section of the UK FAQ before attempting any searches. Here we will see there are 133 questions across 14 pages in the "Life on board" section of the FAQ on the UK site (at "www.cunard.com/en-gb").

 

Now let's search for the word "lecturers". Here we will see the UK FAQ actually returns one result, for the question "What entertainment is available on board?" that you also found.

 

Unfortunately, as sogne has already mentioned, the link to the "dedicated Guest Speakers page" provided in this answer is broken. It is attempting to go to the page "https://www.cunard.co.uk/life-on-board/guest-speakers/" which generates a 404 error "The page that you are looking for cannot be found." That might be a link to the page as it existed on the old UK website.

 

But that was a valiant effort. At least the UK FAQ is making an attempt to provide information about guest speakers that the US FAQ is not even attempting.

Edited January 22, 2019 by bluemarble

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, SilverHengroen said:

... Is there any way of showing prices of Queens grill suites for a cruise search as was previously possible? I can’t seem to find that filter if it is still available. 

 

No, I'm afraid it's not the same on the new website with regard to being able to see pricing for a type of cabin of your choosing on the initial search results screen. At least I can't find a way to do that. It now apparently only shows you the "From" fare for the lowest priced cabin category available on each voyage.

 

When you go to the voyage details page for a particular voyage, then there is an "Accommodation" section for each general type of cabin from "Britannia Inside" through "Queens Grill". When you expand the "Queens Grill" section you should see something like this on the new UK website.

 

Here you can click through the various types of Queens Grill accommodations from "Queens Suite" through "Grand Duplex" to see the pricing. But of course those are extra steps from the initial search results page.

 

Note it also only shows the lowest "From" fares here, which means you can't see the different prices for categories Q7 through Q5 on QM2 in this example which would all be included within the "Queens Suite" category. To get to that level of granularity, I think you need to actually start a booking.

Edited January 22, 2019 by bluemarble

[Guest SilverHengroen]

9 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

No, I'm afraid it's not the same on the new website with regard to being able to see pricing for a type of cabin of your choosing on the initial search results screen. At least I can't find a way to do that. It now apparently only shows you the "From" fare for the lowest priced cabin category available on each voyage.

 

When you go to the voyage details page for a particular voyage, then there is an "Accommodation" section for each general type of cabin from "Britannia Inside" through "Queens Grill". When you expand the "Queens Grill" section you should see something like this on the new UK website.

 

Here you can click through the various types of Queens Grill accommodations from "Queens Suite" through "Grand Duplex" to see the pricing. But of course those are extra steps from the initial search results page.

 

Note it also only shows the lowest "From" fares here, which means you can't see the different prices for categories Q7 through Q5 on QM2 in this example which would all be included within the "Queens Suite" category. To get to that level of granularity, I think you need to actually start a booking.

Thank you, yeah I found that you can “go into” a cruise to get more details on pricing (and still not a full category by category breakdown as was previously available ) but it’s a shame you can no longer apply this to the list of results for an ‘at a glance’ comparison. I have to cynically wonder if this is because in their testing they found it’s a way of avoiding people finding good deals on price and just focusing primarily on when/ where they want to go and in what category and being more accepting of just paying the going rate rather than eyeballing around a bit for which sailings offer the lowest fares? 

[cruiseluvva]

I think your cynicism may be spot on!

[bluemarble]

7 hours ago, Wordzz said:

.... So basically if you're not in the 'correct' section of the site, it seems your question won't be recognised and will return no results. It's a bit like the old joke about using a dictionary, that you have to know how to spell a word before you can look it up. ...

 

One follow-up on this point. I don't think you actually need to be in any one particular section of the FAQ for the search to return results about that section. But you do need to select that section after performing the search to see the results which apply to that section.

 

Here is an example from the new US FAQ where I have searched for the word "prices" while in the "Before you sail" section of the FAQ.

 

 

Yes, at this point it sure looks like no results were found at first glance. But this is just indicating no results were found in the "Before you sail" section. There were 10 results returned in the "Life on board" section, 4 results in the "Going ashore" section, 2 results in the "General query" section, and 1 result in the "Ceremonies at sea" section.

 

When I select the "Life on board" section, I can then see the results returned in that particular section of the FAQ beginning with the question "How much are the drinks on board?".

 

 

So yes, it's a bit different now with the results being returned into separate sections within the new FAQ instead of all being returned as a single result set as was the case using the old UK FAQ. One more new behavior I guess we'll have to get used to with the new site.

Edited January 22, 2019 by bluemarble

[Underwatr]

5 hours ago, SilverHengroen said:

Is there any way of showing prices of Queens grill suites for a cruise search as was previously possible? I can’t seem to find that filter if it is still available. 

Yes. (I'm pretty sure.) Let's try (US site).

 

On the main Cunard page partway down I see "Featured Voyages." The middle one is the 12-Day Caribbean Celebration in December 2019 (Your mileage may vary).

 

Clicking on "Find out more" for that itinerary, I can scroll down the page a bit or click on Accommodation in the menu bar and see fares for inside ("from" $2,219) ocean view ($3229) balcony ($3229*),  Britannia Club ($5,999), Princess Grill ($8299), and Queens Grill (currently sold out).

 

* Cunard is running an "Upgrades on Us" promotion in the US, in which Oceanview and entry-level Balcony staterooms have the same price. Not uncommon.

 

I can then click on the down arrow next to the Princess Grill fare and select "Book Now." The next page lets me select the number of passengers and the following page either lets me check out with that price, or select "Change Your Room" to see the staterooms at that fare or other sections of Deck 10. In this case I'm only offered 10007 and 10015, both of which are P2 suites on Deck 10 forward. Other sections further back show as sold out, which for this itinerary may well be the case (note that the 12-day segment can also be booked as part of either of two 19-day itineraries or a 26-day Southampton round trip, and Cunard maintains a separate inventory for each bookable itinerary length).

 

But anyway, the Princess Grill fare before taxes is easily viewed in the Accommodation section of the voyage info page.

Edited January 22, 2019 by Underwatr

[Guest SilverHengroen]

10 minutes ago, Underwatr said:

Yes. (I'm pretty sure.) Let's try (US site).

 

On the main Cunard page partway down I see "Featured Voyages." The middle one is the 12-Day Caribbean Celebration in December 2019 (Your mileage may vary).

 

Clicking on "Find out more" for that itinerary, I can scroll down the page a bit or click on Accommodation in the menu bar and see fares for inside ("from" $2,219) ocean view ($3229) balcony ($3229*),  Britannia Club ($5,999), Princess Grill ($8299), and Queens Grill (currently sold out).

 

* Cunard is running an "Upgrades on Us" promotion in the US, in which Oceanview and entry-level Balcony staterooms have the same price. Not uncommon.

 

I can then click on the down arrow next to the Princess Grill fare and select "Book Now." The next page lets me select the number of passengers and the following page either lets me check out with that price, or select "Change Your Room" to see the staterooms at that fare or other sections of Deck 10. In this case I'm only offered 10007 and 10015, both of which are P2 suites on Deck 10 forward. Other sections further back show as sold out, which for this itinerary may well be the case (note that the 12-day segment can also be booked as part of either of two 19-day itineraries or a 26-day Southampton round trip, and Cunard maintains a separate inventory for each bookable itinerary length).

 

But anyway, the Princess Grill fare before taxes is easily viewed in the Accommodation section of the voyage info page.

Thank you for the workaround, but I was specifically referring to what had been an option to ‘show prices for queens grill’ in a list of search results - this feature is now conspicuously missing, as you note you have to select a voyage and look into it to see prices for anything other than an inside room (and when you do that you still don’t have the full set of cabin grades priced out as you did before which seems a bit ridiculous to me). 

[PORT ROYAL]

Customer Services at Cunard have confirmed their IT people have identified the minor implementation problems, and the small tweaks will be made soon.

It is also confirmed the system was fully tested by Cunard prior to launch and proven workable.

Another strong statement of fact made by Cunard Customer Services?

And we believe them, don't we?

 

 

 

 

[bluemarble]

2 hours ago, old fool said:

The new web site is unbelievably terrible. Just one example: I can not find the price for a BZ sheltered balcony for any voyage --- only a generic balcony???? Or am I missing something?? ...

 

No, you are not missing anything when it comes to being able to obtain the fare for a specific cabin category (such as BZ) from what is initially presented on the voyage details page. There, in the "Accommodation" section, you will see the lowest "From" fares listed for each of the general types of cabins from "Britannia Inside" to "Queens Grill". If you expand the "Britannia Balcony" section, then you will see the lowest "From" fares for each of the general types of Britannia balconies ("Balcony", "Balcony (sheltered)", and "Balcony (obstructed view)"). But that still doesn't show you the specific fare for a BZ sheltered balcony yet.

 

It is possible to eventually see the fare for a BZ cabin. But the caveats are that you have to start the booking process and you won't actually see the BZ cabin category designation listed anywhere. You have to know that BZ cabins are the sheltered balconies located in the "Forward" section of the ship.

 

Here is an example screen shot showing the US fare for a BZ sheltered balcony on voyage M013 (the eastbound crossing for May 13-20, 2020). This was obtained after several steps into the booking process for two passengers. At this point, I have requested a sheltered balcony in the "Forward" section of the ship (on deck 4 in this example), which means it has to be a BZ cabin. Here you can finally see that the base fare for a BZ cabin on this crossing is $1,899 per person plus an additional $74.19 in taxes, fees, and port expenses. But again, you won't see the BZ cabin category designation listed anywhere and it did take quite a few steps to get there.

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by bluemarble

[cruiseluvva]

It took me ages to find this, a very poor upgrade, it was so much easier to see it in a screen at the beginning.

[panamapd]

I happen to think the new website is genius in that it is so bad you are compelled to call the local rate, not free, 'phone line to get a quote or further information!!! I have given up in trying to get a quote for a sailing that includes our 10yr son!!  Well done Cunard (Carnival).

[si_boy]

I followed the steps as if I was to make a booking and no mention of stateroom categories. You can’t help thinking if Cunard will eventually drop these.

A stateroom with a balcony is just that and price depends on ship location.  

For those who are new to Cunard this is not an issue, a stateroom will be chosen by location, but to the regulars who always choose the same stateroom category you will have to refer to the deck plans.