My Celebrity doesn't like secure passwords!!!

[mandream]

Apologies for the long post, but I am at my wits end.

 

I had been using a very simple password for my account on the Celebrity site. This is unlike me (I'm security conscious) - but I never really felt I had anything of value in my account. I've been using the site more since I have a couple upcoming reservations and decided I should give it a stronger password.

 

This afternoon I changed my password to something like:

Qr^g3aLfc! (this is not the password I used - but it gives you a sense of what it was).

 

The change password page gladly accepted this new password.

 

Now, when I try to log in - I'm greeted with the following red message:

No special characters

Huh?? Where was this message when I changed my password?

 

No problem, I think. Just click the Forgot Password link and it will send me a link to change my password. I fill in the requested information and check the automated e-mail. The message contains my new password - special characters and all. As an aside - anyone who knows anything about computer security would know that the site should not be able to send me my password - it should be stored as a hash (but that's not really the point of this story). So the site was able to store my password with the special characters - just won't let me enter it.

 

No problem, I think. Just call Celebrity - they will reset my password. No way, no how. Tried the main number first - transferred to 4 different departments - no one could help. Their only advice was to create a new account on My Celebrity. Not acceptable. I find the website assistance number - they'll be able to help for sure. No such luck. Same response - no one can reset a password - I need to create a new account.

 

Finally I give in - I'll use a new account. Once I enter my Captain's Club number - everything may just transfer over (I guess I was delusional at that point). Log in. Link my CC number - it recognizes it and updates my status. No reservations appear.

 

No problem, I think. Just need to link my reservation numbers. What's this new message? Can't add the reservation because it's already linked to another account? MY ACCOUNT! Call the Captains Club and have them switch them over. The guy put me on hold a few minutes. Comes back - there is a form for that. Should take 1 -2 weeks to be released from the old account - then I can add it to the new. WEEKS?

 

At this point I've given up until I consider whether I have any other options. My cruise is still months away - but I like to login from time to time - make sure my room hasn't changed, poke around, etc.

 

Andy - any contacts on the web team? There are so many easy solutions here - let me request a password reset like almost every other site has - either automatic, or let a person do it. Fix the bugs. Let me enter my password with punctuation - at the very least don't let me change my password to something it won't accept.

 

I am responsible for the development of large corporate websites and know the challenges involved, so I have held back on the Celebrity website bashing with respect to the recent changes. However I can't believe the lack of support available for account issues - especially when they are the result of a bug on the Celebrity site.

 

I'm also a bit surprised this isn't a bigger issue. Hasn't anyone else used punctuation in their passwords?

 

Mike

[Lsimon]

RE: Mandream's password problems

 

Celebrity has ways to access your reservation to check in and/or make purchases of excursions and other items without going through your my celebrity account. For example - at the very top of their home page, to the right of the "login" link is a link for "Online Check-in" click this and you'll see what I mean. I believe there are similar links for excursions and other packages from the related web pages discussing these items - or at least their used to be. I found out about this when I couldn't access my reservation through the my My Celebrity account for some other reason a while back and was directed there.

 

Make sure you are logged out before you do that... ...wait a minute... ....I guess making sure you're logged out won't be a problem for you.:rolleyes:

 

Personally - I'm a little bothered by web sites that have info with no real security risk but have these high level password security settings which require tough to type passwords and frequent changes. I prefer simple easy password structures unless it involves access to some place they can get at my valuables.

[Karen@Steve]

I'm really sorry you had this experience. I finally stopped laughing long enough to write this post. You seem to believe that there are actually professional people working on the Celebrity website. :D

 

That fact that these people retain their jobs is absolutely amazing. You or I would have been fired long ago if we messed up this badly. Hang in there, you can't be the first person to run into this problem. Good luck.

[fredflint]

I tend to use simpler passwords as many sites for whatever reason don't like secure passwords. try using a space for windows it works but a lot of sites it does not work

 

SomEth1nglike is a pretty good one

 

had the same problem with celebrity and even this site I had to create a new account

[BKFlowerMound]

I am pretty sure that you would have tried this, but in the small chance that you haven't, have you tried copying the password from the email and pasting it when you log in? If it works, change it immediately.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I'm really sorry you had this experience. I finally stopped laughing long enough to write this post. You seem to believe that there are actually professional people working on the Celebrity website. :D

 

That fact that these people retain their jobs is absolutely amazing. You or I would have been fired long ago if we messed up this badly. Hang in there, you can't be the first person to run into this problem. Good luck.

 

That's it in a nutshell! Our mistaken belief that professional people work at Celebrity.

 

By the way, I have the same problem. Not password related, because I subscribe to the theory of using simple passwords for sites like this where they don't have any important information. But I do get the same message about one of my cruises which will not show up (even though it's paid in full) and when I try to add it manually, it professes to be linked to another account or some such nonsense.

 

I had this problem once before and managed to use the workaround Larry has described (and which was given to both of us by Celebrity--hello, they are aware of the problem if they have a workaround!). Can't tell if it works this time because it's too far out to be able to print my Xpress pass, order luggage tags, and the excursions aren't up yet. But, amazingly, when I go in through this back door, they have all the information on me that I entered before they "improved" the website and thus shut me out of my reservation.

[Project_gal]

Mike

 

I once had a different but, equally insoluable, IT issue with Celebrity and you have to be patient and work your way through the levels of assistance but you will eventually get through to a real IT guy. Just remain calm and go through all the things the other CSRs think you need to try beforehand. I did think about asking you to let me have you email address so that I could send you the guy's contact details but I doubt that he would respond to a dirrect contact.

 

It is the same in all large companies. Of course, to get through to the right technical people it helps if, like you, you have an IT background [i worked in IT for 27 years] and can baffle the CSRs on the way up the line!

 

Sue

[Lyn2005]

I have similar issues. I can log into my account but it won't show my upcoming cruise or allow me to add. So I just go into Online Check-in as mentioned previously, that way I can see my reservation, book excursions etc.

[Beach Nut]

As frustrating as X's website continues to be, it pales in comparison to a possibility that DH mentioned today (ostensibly as a joke), which I am now finding a little unsettling:

 

Will someone who works with computers please assure me that the same people responsible for the corporate website cannot possibly be the same folks that program/fix the computers that run the ships?

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this, and possibly shed light on who in the World actually specializes in programming and maintaining the computers on the bridges of ships. And, how much of the actual "driving" is done by the computers anyway?

[Karen@Steve]

As frustrating as X's website continues to be, it pales in comparison to a possibility that DH mentioned today (ostensibly as a joke), which I am now finding a little unsettling:

 

Will someone who works with computers please assure me that the same people responsible for the corporate website cannot possibly be the same folks that program/fix the computers that run the ships?

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this, and possibly shed light on who in the World actually specializes in programming and maintaining the computers on the bridges of ships. And, how much of the actual "driving" is done by the computers anyway?

 

The navigation software is special software that probably is mostly 'out of the box' and then customized by experts. It's a very definite specialty. Unfortunately, anyone can create a website and obviously they are using resources with very poor quality and testing controls.

 

Actually, I'd be happy to help them for free if they asked. Incompetency make me crazy! Especially when just the most rudimentary best practices would prevent 95% of the problems with their websites.

[Lyn2005]

The navigation software is special software that probably is mostly 'out of the box' and then customized by experts. It's a very definite specialty. Unfortunately, anyone can create a website and obviously they are using resources with very poor quality and testing controls.

 

Actually, I'd be happy to help them for free if they asked. Incompetency make me crazy! Especially when just the most rudimentary best practices would prevent 95% of the problems with their websites.

 

Me too! I was a tester for an 'out of the box' product for a large utility company. We rigorously tested every scenario strenuously before the product was ready to be released and then continued to monitor when user defects were reported. Would LOVE to work on this baby!

[avid]

The navigation software is special software that probably is mostly 'out of the box' and then customized by experts. It's a very definite specialty. Unfortunately, anyone can create a website and obviously they are using resources with very poor quality and testing controls.

 

Actually, I'd be happy to help them for free if they asked. Incompetency make me crazy! Especially when just the most rudimentary best practices would prevent 95% of the problems with their websites.

Agreed

Here is another example of the incompetency of their IT folks..and likely resulted from a minor change that was made to "Connections Party Search/Register "app which just recently worked just fine (though had been abysmally mispelled on the FAQ pages which has its own problems)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=33617064&postcount=6

The fact that the problem described above continues for days even after being called to the attention of Celebrity implies that they simply couldn't care less,

[Sir~Cruisealot]

 

This afternoon I changed my password to something like:

Qr^g3aLfc! (this is not the password I used - but it gives you a sense of what it was).

 

The change password page gladly accepted this new password.

 

Now, when I try to log in - I'm greeted with the following red message:

No special characters

Mike

 

Hi Mike:

 

The same thing happened to me.

 

I set up a new secure password

I could not logon,

I sent for I can't remember my password link,

I was sent my unusable password,

I called and was given the verdict... SOL :eek:

 

The only solution, and I had a very good, no excellent staffer, working on this problem, is to set up a new account.

 

There is no method (at this time) of sending a temporary password so that you can reset it. Celebrity did move the bookings from my old self to my new Celebrity ID...

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

As frustrating as X's website continues to be, it pales in comparison to a possibility that DH mentioned today (ostensibly as a joke), which I am now finding a little unsettling:

 

Will someone who works with computers please assure me that the same people responsible for the corporate website cannot possibly be the same folks that program/fix the computers that run the ships?

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this, and possibly shed light on who in the World actually specializes in programming and maintaining the computers on the bridges of ships. And, how much of the actual "driving" is done by the computers anyway?

 

I'm pretty sure that the shoreside IT folks have nothing to do with the navigation computers. If they did, all the ships would have crashed by now.

[mandream]

Thanks for all the responses.

 

Celebrity has ways to access your reservation to check in and/or make purchases of excursions and other items without going through your my celebrity account. For example - at the very top of their home page, to the right of the "login" link is a link for "Online Check-in" click this and you'll see what I mean.

 

I had this problem once before and managed to use the workaround Larry has described (and which was given to both of us by Celebrity--hello, they are aware of the problem if they have a workaround!).

 

 

I have similar issues. I can log into my account but it won't show my upcoming cruise or allow me to add. So I just go into Online Check-in as mentioned previously, that way I can see my reservation, book excursions etc.

 

Yes, Celebrity pointed this out to me as well. Better than nothing - but not the same as going to My Celebrity and seeing everything in one place.

 

 

Personally - I'm a little bothered by web sites that have info with no real security risk but have these high level password security settings which require tough to type passwords and frequent changes. I prefer simple easy password structures unless it involves access to some place they can get at my valuables.

 

I tend to use simpler passwords as many sites for whatever reason don't like secure passwords. try using a space for windows it works but a lot of sites it does not work

 

SomEth1nglike is a pretty good one

 

had the same problem with celebrity and even this site I had to create a new account

 

... because I subscribe to the theory of using simple passwords for sites like this where they don't have any important information.

 

I too used to feel that I didn't have anything on the Celebrity site worth protecting - but then I noticed I had completed the Immigration Information section. That has my passport information - not a state secret, but don't think I'd want that in the wrong hands. Perhaps I shouldn't have saved that in my account and only complete it during the online check-in. Also if someone accessed my account they could change existing reservations - admittedly I don't see why they would want to.

 

It's not really difficult to maintain secure passwords (except when you run into issues like I just did)- there are a lot of utilities or systems to make it easier. I'm a big fan of Lastpass. It's a browser plug-in that can generate passwords for you and automatically log you into sites. I don't even need to know what my passwords are.

 

Also, when it comes to password strength, length and a variety of characters are often more important than randomness. You can create really strong easy to rememeber passwords. If you are interested, you can review this page "]https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm to understand why "D0g....................." is a stronger password than "PrXyc.N(n4k77#L!eVdAfp9" (short answer is because it is 1 character longer). Although this approach also will not work on Celebrity's site....

 

 

I finally stopped laughing long enough to write this post.

Thanks for the support;)

 

I am pretty sure that you would have tried this, but in the small chance that you haven't, have you tried copying the password from the email and pasting it when you log in? If it works, change it immediately.

Tried that. Several times.

 

I once had a different but, equally insoluable, IT issue with Celebrity and you have to be patient and work your way through the levels of assistance but you will eventually get through to a real IT guy.

Not sure I have the patience any longer. The more I pursue this, the more disgruntled I get with Celebrity. I think it's time for me to move on. At some point I suspect they will eventually fix this bug and I'll be able to get my old account back.

 

Celebrity did move the bookings from my old self to my new Celebrity ID...

 

I may give this part one more try....

[Pilot70D]

I couldn't help but sort of chuckle in bitter irony as I read the various posts for this thread. The following is a post I wrote on another thread back in August of 2010:

No, wait - leave the wesite alone Celebrity, please, please, please.

 

I just love being miserable and frustrated each and every time I need to visit your website.

This thread also discussed the myriad problems we were all experiencing with Celebrity's website. As you can see not much has changed over the years. This leads me to say "Get used to it folks". Celebrity obviously is not going to make the sweeping changes necessary to develop and maintain a professional quality website.

Everyone out there have a great day. Have a margarita on me as preliminary warmup to Cinco de Mayo.

:D:(:D

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Mandream, you mention that my passport information is stored on their site. Well maybe. Every time I book a new cruise, I have to re-enter all that information.

 

My guess is any potential thief would get just as frustrated with Celebrity's site as the rest of us are and would run screaming from the computer, so our passport info is probably safe with them. :rolleyes:

[Beach Nut]

Thanks, Linda, for the hilarious mental picture of the potential thief running away, fully frustrated, from Celebrity's website.

[Beach Nut]

I couldn't help but sort of chuckle in bitter irony as I read the various posts for this thread. The following is a post I wrote on another thread back in August of 2010:

No, wait - leave the wesite alone Celebrity, please, please, please.

 

I just love being miserable and frustrated each and every time I need to visit your website.

This thread also discussed the myriad problems we were all experiencing with Celebrity's website. As you can see not much has changed over the years. This leads me to say "Get used to it folks". Celebrity obviously is not going to make the sweeping changes necessary to develop and maintain a professional quality website.

Everyone out there have a great day. Have a margarita on me as preliminary warmup to Cinco de Mayo.

:D:(:D

 

On the plus side, the website probably drives away enough business to keep the prices lower for the rest of us.

[mandream]

Mandream, you mention that my passport information is stored on their site. Well maybe. Every time I book a new cruise, I have to re-enter all that information.

I meant MY passport information was there because I filled out the page on Immigration Information. I assume that that automatically transfers when I do an online check in - but don't remember. If not, what's the point of having it there?

 

If you need to re-enter your info each time you check in, you may not have completed that section of My Celebrity.

My guess is any potential thief would get just as frustrated with Celebrity's site as the rest of us are and would run screaming from the computer, so our passport info is probably safe with them. :rolleyes:

 

Too funny:D

[ariawoman]

How the heck do they NOT have the ability to change a password? That is absolutely 1000000% absurd.

 

I'm a software tester by profession and i deal with users/passwords in my day to day activities at work and there's always a way to reset a password.

 

Somehow, somewhere, someone is dropping the ball.

 

Whatever security system they use can be logged into and there's gotta be a way an administrator can reset a password on behalf of the user.

 

If there's not, they they are using software from the 1800s. LOL.

 

Sorry you're having this issue. Truly frustrating.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I meant MY passport information was there because I filled out the page on Immigration Information. I assume that that automatically transfers when I do an online check in - but don't remember. If not, what's the point of having it there?

 

If you need to re-enter your info each time you check in, you may not have completed that section of My Celebrity.

 

Too funny:D

 

Well, back in the day when My Celebrity recognized me, I did actually enter all that stuff, passport number, etc. Imagine my surprise when I had to input it again for every cruise I took after that. Or maybe don't imagine my surprise--it's Celebrity's website. :D

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

How the heck do they NOT have the ability to change a password? That is absolutely 1000000% absurd.

 

I'm a software tester by profession and i deal with users/passwords in my day to day activities at work and there's always a way to reset a password.

 

Somehow, somewhere, someone is dropping the ball. Ya think?

 

Whatever security system they use can be logged into and there's gotta be a way an administrator can reset a password on behalf of the user.

 

If there's not, they they are using software from the 1800s. LOL.

 

Sorry you're having this issue. Truly frustrating.

 

Nah, they're using software from the middle ages.:D

 

You have made the same mistake the OP made--you assume that there are professionals in the IT department at Celebrity. :D

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thanks, Linda, for the hilarious mental picture of the potential thief running away, fully frustrated, from Celebrity's website.

 

Glad I could inject a bit of levity into this otherwise very frustrating situation. It's so bad it's laughable.

[mandream]

WOO HOO!

 

This issue has been fixed. Don't know if it was because of this post, the e-mail I sent (I replied to the password reset e-mail they sent me), or some other reason, but I can now get back into my account with the new password - special characters and all. I can access my reservation to without having to jump through the workaround hoops. Whatever the reason - glad someone is listening!

 

Now - off to change my password back to something simpler before it breaks again. Perhaps I'll use "password" or "celebrity" to be safe;).

 

Mike