HAL website unusable still

[GCHAN]

5 hours ago, Tom O. said:

More excursions will appear on the website as you get closer to the sailing date. There will probably be many that cost much less. I have never been on any cruise that didn't have some cheap bus tour type excursions available and many other excursions that were priced in between.

It takes a while for HAL to make their contracts with the tour companies who actually take you on the excursions.

Thanks

[iancal]

Does anyone on this board actually believe that HAL is not aware that they have a dud of a web site.

 

IF they are not aware of this, then the HAL management challenge is much deeper than the web site issue!

 

 

Edited January 16, 2019 by iancal

[avian777]

59 minutes ago, iancal said:

Does anyone on this board actually believe that HAL is not aware that they have a dud of a web site.

 

IF they are not aware of this, then the HAL management challenge is much deeper than the web site issue!

 

 

IMO HAL management is aware of the website problem, but I stand by my earlier comment that HAL also needs to be aware of the reason for that problem.  I agree that HAL's management challenge is much deeper than the website issue, especially if they are focusing solely on the scope/nature of the problem without searching for the (root cause) reason.

Edited January 16, 2019 by avian777

[iancal]

Well they are not going to find the reason on this forum.

 

They need some proper web designers,business analysts, data base specialists, more juice, pre release testing, and a QA (quality assurance) program that is effective.  Failing that, do a quickie....use the Princess program ( if at all possible) and do implement some mods to customize slightly to their specific business requirements.   There are lots of IT resources in the Seattle/Portland area.  This is not rocket science.

 

 There are thousands of travel product web sites out there who do right and who profit by doing it right.  HAL loyalists may put up with this nonsense but the next generations certainly will not.  They will move along to another vendor's website that works and performs.

 

It is all about having the expertise in house (which they apparently do not) , inside the Carnival corporate umbrella, or outside in the form of good consultants.  It takes money.  Seems to me they have been cheaping out for years.  The sad part is that the cost of fixing this is probably far less than the long term cost of not fixing it.  Makes no sense to this long term IT and IT outsourcing guy.

Edited January 16, 2019 by iancal

[RDC1]

On 1/9/2019 at 8:33 AM, Mochidelight said:

I am for sure no longer cruising with HAL. What do you guys recommend a better replacement for HAL AND preferably one that has an easier and more intuitive website to book things? I was eyeing Princess Cruises, but wanted to get feedback from this community. Thank you in advance!!

For me the biggest weakness in the HAL site is in the ability to find and select a specific room (almost like they want everyone to just take guarantee).  Princess's site is much better doing that function.  Other than that I have not had any problem with the HAL site.

[RDC1]

8 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Seabourn is part of the CCL corporate family. Might have used the same abysmal tech team to do both websites.  Got a group discount? That means there is a problem at the top of CCL and not just HAL.

Princess, Seabourn and HAL are in the same subgroup of CCL called the Holland America Group.

[dockman]

How long until we read about some major security breach of HAL/CCL websites customers personal info?.....Based on lack of response or corrections of basic flaws it won't surprise me if there also some security issues that a few hackers might find away to compromise.....HAL doesn't seem very concerned about their poorly functioning web site so what assurance do we have that all those credit card numbers, date of birth, passport numbers etc aren't also lacking proper scrutiny.?

[OlsSalt]

11 minutes ago, dockman said:

How long until we read about some major security breach of HAL/CCL websites customers personal info?.....Based on lack of response or corrections of basic flaws it won't surprise me if there also some security issues that a few hackers might find away to compromise.....HAL doesn't seem very concerned about their poorly functioning web site so what assurance do we have that all those credit card numbers, date of birth, passport numbers etc aren't also lacking proper scrutiny.?

 

Yikes!  Good point. 

[Fouremco]

9 hours ago, Rowsby said:

Azamara has a "VIEW AT-A-GLANCE ITINERARY" which is easy to use, lists the port information showing docked and tendered....I copy and paste....including the map....then I can compare cruises....or you can print and/or email....

 

HAL needs this option.....!!!!

 

HAL already has this option. It's not identical, but provides essentially the same information. This is just a random sample:

 

DAY1

DEPARTS

DAY1

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US

SEA FEB 3, 2019

DEPARTS 05:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY2

DAY2

Days At Sea

FEB 4, 2019

 

DAY3

DAY3

Falmouth, Jamaica

SEA FEB 5, 2019

ARRIVES 11:00 AM

DEPARTS 06:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY4

DAY4

Days At Sea

FEB 6, 2019

 

DAY5

DAY5

Willemstad, Curacao

SEA FEB 7, 2019

ARRIVES 08:00 AM

DEPARTS 11:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY6

DAY6

Oranjestad, Aruba

SEA FEB 8, 2019

ARRIVES 08:00 AM

DEPARTS 11:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY7

DAY7

Days At Sea

FEB 9, 2019

 

DAY8

DAY8

Amber Cove, Dominican Republic

SEA FEB 10, 2019

ARRIVES 08:00 AM

DEPARTS 06:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY9

DAY9

Grand Turk, Turks And Caicos

SEA FEB 11, 2019

ARRIVES 07:00 AM

DEPARTS 02:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY10

DAY10

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

SEA FEB 12, 2019

ARRIVES 08:00 AM

DEPARTS 04:00 PM

LEARN MORE

 

DAY11

DISEMBARK

DAY11

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, US

SEA FEB 13, 2019

ARRIVES 07:00 AM

LEARN MORE

 

READ LESS

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

1 hour ago, RDC1 said:

Princess, Seabourn and HAL are in the same subgroup of CCL called the Holland America Group.

Princess's website at least lets one see the all available cabins. Their website not perfect but better than the other two, IMO.

[OlsSalt]

5 minutes ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

Princess's website at least lets one see the all available cabins. Their website not perfect but better than the other two, IMO.

 

That would be a huge HAL website improvement. 

[Rowsby]

Foremco.....

 

HAL's list doesn't include docking and tendering information.....and you would have to copy and scroll thru a long list....paste....then do "surgery" removing all the LEARN MORE and READ LESS lines.........:)

 

[fatcat04]

I just went on the pre/post travel plans part of the excursions website to book transfers to FLL for 6 folks (family group with kids so easier to just book HALs buses) and the website refuses to take my credit card numbers.. any of them. It is telling me it is my cards (all of them at once?), it's not, or at least Amazon doesn't think so. They accepted one of them after I attempted to buy the transfers. I'll call tomorrow. /sigh

 

Edited January 18, 2019 by fatcat04

[daisybertie]

Having an idle few minutes I thought I would print off and laminate our luggage tags. No such luck. The website says  “ webkitblobresource error1”. Whatever that means!! I have turned off the pop up blocker and tried another iPad using Bing, but get the same message. Have sent a message to Holland America and am awaiting a response. Ah well, we have 69 days until the cruise departs, so plenty of time.

[Roz]

12 hours ago, fatcat04 said:

I just went on the pre/post travel plans part of the excursions website to book transfers to FLL for 6 folks (family group with kids so easier to just book HALs buses) and the website refuses to take my credit card numbers.. any of them. It is telling me it is my cards (all of them at once?), it's not, or at least Amazon doesn't think so. They accepted one of them after I attempted to buy the transfers. I'll call tomorrow. /sigh

 

 

Fatcat,

 

Hello to a fellow Nashvillian.  I had a similar situation, and it really wasn't a website issue, just the way HAL does business.  I was getting that error msg., and it turns out because I booked the cruise thru my TA, I had to go thru her to purchase the transfer from Vancouver to Seattle.  It was added on to my cruise, rather than purchasing it separately like a shorex.

 

If you didn't book directly online but thru a TA or HAL PC, you may want to give them a call.  Hope this helps.

 

Roz

[fatcat04]

44 minutes ago, Roz said:

 

Fatcat,

 

Hello to a fellow Nashvillian.  I had a similar situation, and it really wasn't a website issue, just the way HAL does business.  I was getting that error msg., and it turns out because I booked the cruise thru my TA, I had to go thru her to purchase the transfer from Vancouver to Seattle.  It was added on to my cruise, rather than purchasing it separately like a shorex.

 

If you didn't book directly online but thru a TA or HAL PC, you may want to give them a call.  Hope this helps.

 

Roz

Thanks Roz. Lovely weather we are having 

 

I'll give my PCC a call about it. I'm sure she will get it all straightened out. I booked our cabana on HMC and onboard flowers without issue on the website but transfers are a no go. That is probably the problem. It will get worked out. Thanks again. 

Edited January 18, 2019 by fatcat04

[faerievert]

Why hello there Roz and Fatcat04... i’m In Nashville, too  And so over gray skies and drizzle! ☔

 

I think I noticed a pattern to what I thought was simply a bug. The pre-cruise website appears to partially shut down at night. If I try to look later at night, it consistently feels broken (wish list gone, itinerary empty, lists of things for purchase being uncooperative) and during the day things are far more user friendly. Websites shouldn’t have business hours, but this one seems to! 

[Roz]

That is very odd.  But then again, it's the HAL website.

 

Roz

[fatcat04]

Called my PCC and she confirmed that indeed one of the three cabins we booked for the family is registered as having been booked differently requiring I call to make the transfer ressies which I did. Also, I am glad I called since the 15 month old being under 2 officially transfers as a "lap child" (which she will be on the short bus ride to FLL but thankfully not on the plane, I don't think those around us would appreciate that for 2 hours) so that was good info. 

[Roz]

Fatcat,

 

Glad you got the issue resolved.  That's what I suspected was the problem.

 

Roz

[NaughtyNanna]

I am extremely frustrated with this new website at the moment!  I always book with my TA, but then manage my bookings myself online.  In an upcoming cruise, I have also booked a pre-cruise hotel package in Rome.  When doing my online check-in, of course I need to give details of my flights into Rome for the hotel transfer.  I will be flying in from Dubrovnik.  It seems HAL have no knowledge of Dubrovnik, because it doesn't appear on the drop-down list of departure cities.  I can enter the Airline, flight number, date and time etc, but not Dubrovnik.  After entering all I can, I save the page.  But then when I return later, all fields are blank again!!  Interestingly, the drop-down list does have some rather obscure cities included!!  I have twice rung the Australian office and both times was told they had fixed it, but when I go back into my booking it's all blank again.  5 days ago I sent an email, and after getting the automatic confirmation reply almost straight away, since then nothing!!  Ready to tear my hair out just about now!!  🤬🤬🤬

 

Regards

Jan

[hastinc]

On 1/17/2019 at 2:33 AM, OlsSalt said:

 

That would be a huge HAL website improvement. 

HAL website does show rooms available.

Those highlighted in Blue are available.

The one highlighted in Orange is the current selection.

[GateGuardian]

I've never had an issue with the HAL website or any other cruiseline's website when booking a cruise... but I don't think I'm the primary targeted demography for HAL.

[OlsSalt]

1 hour ago, hastinc said:

HAL website does show rooms available.

Those highlighted in Blue are available.

The one highlighted in Orange is the current selection.

 

Biggest problem for me with this slice and dice cut up of the ship and available cabins (not rooms( it how cumbersome it is to get the over all view of the ship, location to various stairwells-elevator banks and the big picture of the entire deck. Seeing only one third of the ship at a time and not being able easily see an entire deck is a big fail for me. Way too much scrolling and clicking - very annoying.

 

Give us the BIG picture, HAL for each full deck. Please. 

[hastinc]

17 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Biggest problem for me with this slice and dice cut up of the ship and available cabins (not rooms( it how cumbersome it is to get the over all view of the ship, location to various stairwells-elevator banks and the big picture of the entire deck. Seeing only one third of the ship at a time and not being able easily see an entire deck is a big fail for me. Way too much scrolling and clicking - very annoying.

 

Give us the BIG picture, HAL for each full deck. Please. 

Hal website does have full deck plans for every ship showing staterooms (not cabins) that can be opened in a second internet explorer tab at the same time and just toggle between them.