Explora Journeys Please Fix Your IT Systems -- this is becoming a joke.

[2GAT123]

Dexplorable: When you start a new business without a working web site.

 

[johng75370]

It was pretty messed up for us checking in for December sailing: 

 

- website check in got us to confirmations saying we checked in; then checking booking showed we were not checked in

- App would not let me check in because passport has my full middle name, reservation had just first name

- TA contacted Explora, and they somehow worked it out; got our e-ticket and boarding pass

- App still shows we are not checked in, but website shows we are.  

 

All’s well that ends well - we do have our boarding passes.

[uktog]

28 minutes ago, TER777 said:

I recall making dinner reservations by calling the sales number. 
 

Doesn’t your TA already have your credit card details from when they process the various deposits and final payments for your bookings? 

Companies in the UK do not retain card records on file - a basic security protection!!

[florisdekort]

Our TA made our dinner reservations for us, easy. 
 

[uktog]

9 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

Our TA made our dinner reservations for us, easy. 
 

I will need to speak again with ours but she’s rather busy these days. Seems silly to have to have three way conversations to do something as basic as dinner reservations 

[PaulMCO]

Just spoke with my TA -- while booking a Seabourn cruise.

He got a response from his sales contact...

 

"Thank you so much for bringing to our attention and I’m so sorry for the inconvenience to Paul.

Please note that I have included our Sales Excellence Team to assist, as they will be able to see where the disconnect is within the system."

 

Wow I got the "excellence team" working on it...

 

 

[Critically Cruising]

1 hour ago, PaulMCO said:

Just spoke with my TA -- while booking a Seabourn cruise.

He got a response from his sales contact...

 

"Thank you so much for bringing to our attention and I’m so sorry for the inconvenience to Paul.

 

Please note that I have included our Sales Excellence Team to assist, as they will be able to see where the disconnect is within the system."

 

Wow I got the "excellence team" working on it...

 

Note, it's the sales team that is considered excellence.

 

The IT team?  Well....

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, Critically Cruising said:

Note, it's the sales team that is considered excellence.

The jury is still out on that too...

[artbcpa]

Sad to hear that the IT problems continue. Explora Journeys was NEVER able to resolve our problem before we boarded. As for those who continue to defend EJ against EVERY negative comment, remember that in today's world they are probably getting paid either through free cruises or directly. I ignore their comments. A true critic reviewer will acknowledge the good and the bad. A good company will pay attention and learn from their customers and make appropriate changes where possible. We will see how EJ responds.

[uktog]

4 hours ago, artbcpa said:

Sad to hear that the IT problems continue. Explora Journeys was NEVER able to resolve our problem before we boarded. As for those who continue to defend EJ against EVERY negative comment, remember that in today's world they are probably getting paid either through free cruises or directly. I ignore their comments. A true critic reviewer will acknowledge the good and the bad. A good company will pay attention and learn from their customers and make appropriate changes where possible. We will see how EJ responds.

The back office team have finally taken ownership of my issue with an appropriate work around which hopefully means we have our paperwork in the next few days.

I think the reports from the current cruise are very valid and, given I know who one of them is having done several cruises with them, I am 100% sure their reports are accurate and they are not getting any recompense.  However the next cruise from 3 November has a high number of travel agents and some influencers are already flagging up they will be onboard so the feedback from that cruise may be suspect.

Mind, it is going to be hard for them to recognise improvements given how perfect it was for them first time around 🙂 

[florisdekort]

I’m not apologizing for Explora’s dreadful on-shore customer service and/or people’s check-in issues, both need urgent attention from Senior Management. The onboard experience this week however is simply phenomenal. I’m trying really hard to find faults, but still no luck 😝 We’re both having our best cruise ever, after more than 1,000 days at sea. The one big question we have though is, given we’re only 220 passengers, how would this cruise have been had we been 800+ passengers? Time will tell I guess. 


 

[uktog]

16 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

I’m not apologizing for Explora’s dreadful on-shore customer service and/or people’s check-in issues, both need urgent attention from Senior Management. The onboard experience this week however is simply phenomenal. I’m trying really hard to find faults, but still no luck 😝 We’re both having our best cruise ever, after more than 1,000 days at sea. The one big question we have though is, given we’re only 220 passengers, how would this cruise have been had we been 800+ passengers? Time will tell I guess. 


 

We will certainly be testing with more passengers later in November but your posts have really excited us and we now eagerly anticipate a cruise we so nearly walked away from last month. Thanks for the mood reset  

 

They do need to sort out the back office experiences- the software is giving issues for lots of lines but Explora needs to up their level of response to guests. 

 

 

[saminina]

I do not want to be on this ship with 500 passengers and we'll still be way under in December.   Right now, everything is super duper.  Passenger count is not close to 220.

[PaulMCO]

The saga is finally closed.  The TA's contact finally got the issues straightened

 

1) Web issue was multiple accounts being created and the SW not knowing which one to link it too.  Had three accounts.  One which I created when I booked.  The second created by CS when they linked my booking to my email since Seaware did not do this automatically.  Third was created by the APP when I checked in.  These had to be merged.  Cleared my cache and the booking magically reappeared.

 

2) The check in for the second segment was done manually from the documents uploaded for the first.

 

3) 100 Euro given for the inconvenience .

 

Received e-ticket with boarding pass and luggage tags.

 

My TA did state that the IT department is aware of the issues.  Unfortunately they have been busy uploading and revising the schedules for Explora I and II since management changed all of the itineraries and the fixes took a back seat to the revisions.

[uktog]

1 minute ago, PaulMCO said:

The saga is finally closed.  The TA's contact finally got the issues straightened

 

1) Web issue was multiple accounts being created and the SW not knowing which one to link it too.  Had three accounts.  One which I created when I booked.  The second created by CS when they linked my booking to my email since Seaware did not do this automatically.  Third was created by the APP when I checked in.  These had to be merged.  Cleared my cache and the booking magically reappeared.

 

2) The check in for the second segment was done manually from the documents uploaded for the first.

 

3) 100 Euro given for the inconvenience .

 

Received e-ticket with boarding pass and luggage tags.

 

My TA did state that the IT department is aware of the issues.  Unfortunately they have been busy uploading and revising the schedules for Explora I and II since management changed all of the itineraries and the fixes took a back seat to the revisions.

Mine is also resolved but no 100 euros. Happy though it’s sorted! 

23 hours ago, saminina said:

I do not want to be on this ship with 500 passengers and we'll still be way under in December.   Right now, everything is super duper.  Passenger count is not close to 220.

I will be delighted to be onboard with 500…. Or however many it is. The thing is I will be onboard 😂😂

[frankhi]

I got a check in email for my 1/25/24 cruise today 10/25/23. It took only a few minutes to complete the check in and I received my ticket and luggage tags within 5 minutes after that. 

[JTor]

On 10/27/2023 at 2:06 PM, PaulMCO said:

The saga is finally closed.  The TA's contact finally got the issues straightened

 

1) Web issue was multiple accounts being created and the SW not knowing which one to link it too.  Had three accounts.  One which I created when I booked.  The second created by CS when they linked my booking to my email since Seaware did not do this automatically.  Third was created by the APP when I checked in.  These had to be merged.  Cleared my cache and the booking magically reappeared.

 

2) The check in for the second segment was done manually from the documents uploaded for the first.

 

3) 100 Euro given for the inconvenience .

 

Received e-ticket with boarding pass and luggage tags.

 

My TA did state that the IT department is aware of the issues.  Unfortunately they have been busy uploading and revising the schedules for Explora I and II since management changed all of the itineraries and the fixes took a back seat to the revisions.

so happy yours got sorted but the systems problem still exists, we are 2 weeks from cruising with no bookings linked to our accounts and unable to get documents.  I do not understand how anyone can find this acceptable or how this company can hope to survive if they are taking our money and then not letting us get the documents we need to board….?

[PaulMCO]

11 hours ago, JTor said:

so happy yours got sorted but the systems problem still exists, we are 2 weeks from cruising with no bookings linked to our accounts and unable to get documents.  I do not understand how anyone can find this acceptable or how this company can hope to survive if they are taking our money and then not letting us get the documents we need to board….?

Understand the frustration.   Have you call called their support number, they can do the documents manually.   After all the garbage, I still had to use the iphone/android App to do the checkin. 

 

Since you did say 2 weeks -- hope to see you on board on 5 January.

[lelak]

i suggested this in one of the other threads.  Randomly I clicked on the "filters" button at the top of the webpage (after I had logged into my account and like any it wouldn't find my booking).  I entered all the requested info (booking #, name, birthdate, etc.) and now the booking appeared.

 

 

[JTor]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:21 AM, PaulMCO said:

Understand the frustration.   Have you call called their support number, they can do the documents manually.   After all the garbage, I still had to use the iphone/android App to do the checkin. 

 

Since you did say 2 weeks -- hope to see you on board on 5 January.

yes we will be onboard!! our agent escalated and escalated and finally she was able to send us our documents.  Explora never fixed our “online accounts”

[JTor]

On 12/20/2023 at 4:34 PM, lelak said:

i suggested this in one of the other threads.  Randomly I clicked on the "filters" button at the top of the webpage (after I had logged into my account and like any it wouldn't find my booking).  I entered all the requested info (booking #, name, birthdate, etc.) and now the booking appeared.

 

 

thanks for the suggestion, did try this, didn’t solve our problem.  But agent has obtained documents for us (thank goodness for agents with “pull” - can’t imagine what we would have done if we booked with them direct….)

[frankhi]

The escalation and pull with EJ is just the story your TA relayed to you, right? 

[PaulMCO]

7 hours ago, frankhi said:

The escalation and pull with EJ is just the story your TA relayed to you, right? 

Probably not a "story"

 

In our case my TA call the head of USA sales who then call Geneva, to get some action.

My issues were resolved in a day.

I received an immediate apology with a some additional OBC for the inconvenience

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

Glad your TA was able to get problems fixed.  I have always found a good TA can do a lot for me; they have access to company channels that customers don't, and the power of multiple booking streams vs my limited business.

[PaulMCO]

Our TA had to step in again for more Explora BS..

Received this two days before boarding.  Needless to say we were fully paid and just another back office screw up.

 

Dear Guest,

 

Thank you again for your trust in Explora Journeys. Please find below the details of the final payment due:Total Journey Fare: $ XXXXXX Amount Paid: $ XXXXXX Amount Due: $ 85.00 Final Payment Due Date: 08 August 2023 Please ensure that the final payment is made by 08 August 2023 to avoid booking expiration.