Please Use Caution - Survey on Celebrity Website

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

About an hour ago, I visited the Celebrity Website to obtain links to post for questions from our Celebrity Forum members. At the Celebrity homepage, I received a Pop-Up, asking if I'd like to participate in a short survey for a chance of winning one of two $500 AMEX Gift Cards. I accepted - not in the hopes of winning a Gift card, but (as with most of us) enjoy sharing insights with Celebrity.

 

After a brief set of questions, it asked to accept a software download to use while browsing their website. I presume it monitors what pages you visit, and any actions taken. I accepted the download, browsed for the links I was seeking, and spent another 10 minutes on the survey.

 

When completing the survey, another Pop Up appeared, asking for my contact information. When attempting to type my personal information, *every letter* and number was duplicated (Andrew appeared as AAnnddrreeww). I realized my chances of winning a $500 Gift Card were slim to none... but that sealed the deal :)

 

Sadly, it went further downhill. After completing the survey, the software terminated, and so did the rest of my PC - having a hard crash, where everything freezes, and you cannot properly reboot. The only way to recover, was to power down the PC, and restart. As luck would have it, I had several incomplete CC posts, which were lost, as well as other work related items. Yes, I know better - but it was an extremely busy day, and I was trying to multi-task. No biggie, as I can replicate what was lost, but it's going to result in 1-2 hours of extra work tonight.

 

My advice - If you are asked to participate in this survey, think twice before downloading the software. I highly doubt it will damage your computer, but it may cause temporary problems requiring a reboot. If you opt to proceed with the survey/download, I highly recommend closing all open files / browsers, and saving all work **before** you proceed.

 

With all due respect, I urge Celebrity to fully beta test, and be certain the software actually works, BEFORE launching to the Public.

 

BTW... if you are wondering - tonight's survey questions were fairly standard. Nothing that's newsworthy.

[ORDMan]

In this day and age of privacy concerns, it's both brash and stupid of Celebrity to allow this kind of intrusive behavior. A survey is one thing but installing an application to monitor browsing is quite another. It's quite trivial to write a pop-up window with a brief survey. But this downloaded application opens Pandora's Box for privacy. Who says it stops logging when you browse other sites, and what is done with the data?

[pgintct]

I received the pop-up 2 days ago while I was looking at my booking. Like you I proceeded through the first set of questions which were "harmless." When it wanted to add software to my computer I chose to cancel out of the survey. Based on your posting I am certainly glad I did. :eek:

[emileg]

Andy,

 

It is within the realm of possibility that the Celebrity website could have been hijacked by a malicious phisher. Why would Celebrity download a program to customer computers or ask for contact information (if one is already logged in)?

 

At least your unfortunate experience may have two positive outcomes:

1. It provides a very useful warning about suspicious downloads.

2. Hopefully Celebrity IT will investigate to see if their site was hijacked.

Thanks so much for providing us this information. - Emile

[Andy]

Andy,

 

It is within the realm of possibility that the Celebrity website could have been hijacked by a malicious phisher. Why would Celebrity download a program to customer computers or ask for contact information (if one is already logged in)?

 

At least your unfortunate experience may have two positive outcomes:

1. It provides a very useful warning about suspicious downloads.

2. Hopefully Celebrity IT will investigate to see if their site was hijacked.

Thanks so much for providing us this information. - Emile

 

Hi Emileg,

 

While I greatly appreciate your comments, and your question makes sense - I doubt as it was phishing software. I use top-notch anti-virus & internet security software, and it hasn't failed me yet. I've since rebooted, and ran a complete scan, and all tests passed.

 

What matters the most to me - is that others are aware of the situation. I hope it saves our community members the headaches I've encountered this evening.

[Project_gal]

Hi Emileg,

 

While I greatly appreciate your comments, and your question makes sense - I doubt as it was phishing software. I use top-notch anti-virus & internet security software, and it hasn't failed me yet. I've since rebooted, and ran a complete scan, and all tests passed.

 

What matters the most to me - is that others are aware of the situation. I hope it saves our community members the headaches I've encountered this evening.

 

Andy

 

Hopefully, you are correct but a recent experience [not connected to cruising] has made me even more cautious. After downloading something seeminglingly harmless [i am always very cautious before downloading anything], I managed to infect my laptop with some very annoying [and potentially costly] Malware. Further investigation on the Internet revealed that it was of a type impossible for anti-virus/security software to detect. Certainly, nothing showed up on the scans I ran. [i, too, use top-notch anti-virus and security software having worked closely with computer security colleagues in the past.] The Internet also provided the instructions for the "cure" but it was a lot of work and took some considerable time.

 

As for surveys: I used to complete these happily believing that they aid an organisation to provide the service I want. However, these are now used far too often to the extent that they have become extremely annoying. If this was a genuine Celebrity survey, the request to download software to monitor your activity is of even greater concern because, even if you ignore the intrusion into your privacy, every piece of software on your PC to monitor your activity slows it down a little more.

 

Sue

 

PS If anyone does manage to become infected by similar Malware, google the text of the error messages you start receiving to find out what to do about it.

[c-legs]

Andy,

 

It is within the realm of possibility that the Celebrity website could have been hijacked by a malicious phisher. - Emile

 

Hi,

This is very highly possible. Similar ''pop-up'' show up while an unsuspecting person is in his/her bank site...: a favourite method for hijackers to seize your pssword. Happened to me once....quite a nsty outcome. My bank confirmed this is unfortunately a lot more frequent than people think...and advised to cancel all previous passwords and start fresh.

Also happens to some of the hotels brokers internet sites.

I'm sure this is such a case here and Thnaks Andy for the red alert

Cheers

[MicCanberra]

Andy

 

Hopefully, you are correct but a recent experience [not connected to cruising] has made me even more cautious. After downloading something seeminglingly harmless [i am always very cautious before downloading anything], I managed to infect my laptop with some very annoying [and potentially costly] Malware. Further investigation on the Internet revealed that it was of a type impossible for anti-virus/security software to detect. Certainly, nothing showed up on the scans I ran. [i, too, use top-notch anti-virus and security software having worked closely with computer security colleagues in the past.] The Internet also provided the instructions for the "cure" but it was a lot of work and took some considerable time.

 

As for surveys: I used to complete these happily believing that they aid an organisation to provide the service I want. However, these are now used far too often to the extent that they have become extremely annoying. If this was a genuine Celebrity survey, the request to download software to monitor your activity is of even greater concern because, even if you ignore the intrusion into your privacy, every piece of software on your PC to monitor your activity slows it down a little more.

 

Sue

 

PS If anyone does manage to become infected by similar Malware, google the text of the error messages you start receiving to find out what to do about it.

 

I too received the survey and proceeded. After entering the country of residence (about the third question in) it said I was not eligible to enter. At first I thought, typicalanother competition that we cannot enter, Why give us the false hope.

I am in two minds about this pop up. So on one hand if it is a phishing expedition why cancel me out. On the other the fact it just sounds dodgy with these downloads. Who knows.

Conspircy theory time:

Maybe it is because I am was a government owned PC with very good security protection that the pop-up detected and quickly shut itself down.

 

Beware:D

[sandancer]

This has just reinforced my theory that surveys should never be completed. Not on line, not in paper form either. There is far too much personal information circulating as it is. They ain't getting any more of mine.

[jt'scruisinmom]

Thanks for the warning, Andy. I also started the survey but stopped when they wanted me to download. I think most of us started off thinking this survey was Ok because we had gone on to the Celebrity site (which in itself is frustrating to me, but that's a different thread).

[hcat]

Sorry this happened to you Andy! How frustrating!

 

We find that the Celeb website only gets worse as time passes. At times it is actually an impediment to booking cruises and excursions etc. I used to enjoy browsing there but avoid it unless I have to check prices or book something.

 

Hope your computer is back up & running...

[boards]

Thanks for the headsup on this, much appreciated.

[Knolmom]

In addition to being unable to book my Med cruise through Celebrity using their site a few months ago, I was unable even to book the discounted beverage package last week.Just trying to complete the cruise personalizer has been virtually impossible after several tries.

And they say that Dan Hanrahan monitors these boards? This is the one topic that has recd the most negative comments for at least the last nine months, and it continues to only get worse. Dan, you are loosing customers because they can't book or buy! How much worse can it get???

[Celebrity Cruises]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

[emileg]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

Glad to hear that the Celebrity site was not hijacked and that the survey and download contain no malware. Thanks Celebrity for your quick response. Nevertheless, asking consumers to download an unknown program to their computer is bound to engender some suspicion among the cautious.

[Andy]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

 

Thanks for responding. Glad you've confirmed my PC wasn't hijacked - but then again, I did not believe this was the case. That was speculation by others.

 

FYI, this computer is 5 months old, and runs Windows 7 and IE9. I would think that qualifies as recent.

[cruisestitch]

Thanks to Celebrity for responding but I will not be downloading any unknown software just so you can collect data.

[FLACRUISER99]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

Maybe just fixing your website would give us the best possible user experience. Map from my cruises

Same cruise same website

[Presto2]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

 

I tried to but after admitting to being English we were informed that we didn't qualify -

 

----- have now booked 3 cruises with Celebrity ---- do we go back to P&O where we feel that our views are appreciated & valued ????

 

:confused::(

[cruisestitch]

If they really wanted to give us a better Celebrity.com user experience, I suggest that they read some of the dozens of threads here on CC and elsewhere pointing out the numerous errors,glitches, inconsistencies and user-UNfriendly features there. We've been discussing them for months. That would be a better start than adding yet another stupid "contest" (remember the contest where the prize was an Aqua Spa Suite on a ship that doesn't have Aqua Spa Suites?)

[texkan]

Thanks for the warning

[vistapat]

Just got this survey invitation today. Thank you, Andy, for saving me a lot of grief. I have already downloaded two viruses in the last 2 years, and that kind of tsouris I don't need. I like to think I learned my lesson, but then again, you tend to trust Celebrity's website (at least for integrity if not for efficiency!) Thanks again.

[MicCanberra]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

 

Apparently, the information provided by cruisers outside of the US and Canada is not worth collecting.:D

[Clydesmom7865]

Dear Guests

 

The survey that is currently being presented to some of our Web users is one of the many ways we collect information to provide the best possible user experience. The download required (if your computer doesn't already have it) is not a virus but may not work with browsers which are not among the most recent. If you are presented with the survey on our site, we encourage you to participate and assist us in delivering a better Celebrity.com experience.

 

I too exited out of the survey when I was asked to download the required software to continue. No survey should require this and it is really disingenuous to allow site visitors to get half way through the survey before requiring it to continue to or not have an "opt out" feature and enter the contest. Celebrity should really be honest and state that a software download is required to complete the survey and enter the contest.

 

I shouldn't have to download an unneeded and unwanted tool bar in order to get a better experience from your company or your web site.

[emileg]

I too exited out of the survey when I was asked to download the required software to continue. No survey should require this and it is really disingenuous to allow site visitors to get half way through the survey before requiring it to continue to or not have an "opt out" feature and enter the contest. Celebrity should really be honest and state that a software download is required to complete the survey and enter the contest.

 

I shouldn't have to download an unneeded and unwanted tool bar in order to get a better experience from your company or your web site.

Well said.