Celebrity VP Q & A thread```

[johhnnyt]

In about 4 days she responded to around four or five questions mostly just acknowledging the problem exists, or said that there was a long range plan.....

 

Aside from Bayley, Didn't they have someone else on here 6 months ago who did the same thing, came on for a week or so,they called her a Manager of Social Media or something, she seemed to dissapear too

[ORV]

Perhaps it was more of a challenge than what was anticipated. You would think that they would have scheduled a little more of her time towards this.

 

We'll see, there's the rest of today and tomorrow.

[Lois R]

Laura, would you know if there is something preventing her from answering

more of the questions? Or was she so stunned by all the threads it took

her off guard and it was too overwhelming?:eek:

[Lois R]

In about 4 days she responded to around four or five questions mostly just acknowledging the problem exists, or said that there was a long range plan.....

 

Aside from Bayley, Didn't they have someone else on here 6 months ago who did the same thing, came on for a week or so,they called her a Manager of Social Media or something, she seemed to dissapear too

 

Yes, they did...it was a guy named Brian. He was supposed to help with

"the web".....then memory tells me when Reflection came into the fleet,

he went on her and never came back...came back here anyway.

[uktog]

In about 4 days she responded to around four or five questions mostly just acknowledging the problem exists, or said that there was a long range plan.....

 

Aside from Bayley, Didn't they have someone else on here 6 months ago who did the same thing, came on for a week or so,they called her a Manager of Social Media or something, she seemed to dissapear too

 

I have posted elsewhere but I think as much as anything it is getting tricky for her and others to see what is available to answer still and what is answered.

 

In addition to MR Bayley and others there have been on other RCL family boards regular guests and all do try and answer a lot, often with a burst at the end of the week

[Lois R]

I have posted elsewhere but I think as much as anything it is getting tricky for her and others to see what is available to answer still and what is answered.

 

In addition to MR Bayley and others there have been on other RCL family boards regular guests and all do try and answer a lot, often with a burst at the end of the week

 

...a burst at the end of the week? You mean a burst with lots of answers?

Or a bust? Like it was just too much....

[johhnnyt]

Perhaps it was more of a challenge than what was anticipated. You would think that they would have scheduled a little more of her time towards this.

 

We'll see, there's the rest of today and tomorrow.

I guess the part I don't (and will never understand) is these aren't difficult questions, and there wasn't a lot of them, so just answer the ones you can directly.

I ran into a similar situation when we hired a company to revamp our web site & web prescence, they kept talking with vague unspecified dates for completion, and big picture what they "hoped" to do rather than what they could do with our time/budget. Finally had the contract drawn with specific milestones & dates, so everyone knew what was expected.

 

 

Laura, would you know if there is something preventing her from answering

more of the questions? Or was she so stunned by all the threads it took

her off guard and it was too overwhelming?:eek:

 

The threads seemed pretty simple to me. I do think many of them just won't happen because of cost/manpower hours involved, but many of them could be if managed right. I do think people would respect the answers more if they were just more direct.

[uktog]

...a burst at the end of the week? You mean a burst with lots of answers?

Or a bust? Like it was just too much....

 

Sorry using UK language, coming with a burst at the end means all coming together

[uktog]

I guess the part I don't (and will never understand) is these aren't difficult questions, and there wasn't a lot of them, so just answer the ones you can directly.

I ran into a similar situation when we hired a company to revamp our web site & web prescence, they kept talking with vague unspecified dates for completion, and big picture what they "hoped" to do rather than what they could do with our time/budget. Finally had the contract drawn with specific milestones & dates, so everyone knew what was expected.

 

 

 

 

The threads seemed pretty simple to me. I do think many of them just won't happen because of cost/manpower hours involved, but many of them could be if managed right. I do think people would respect the answers more if they were just more direct.

 

Problem will be given the structure of the thread now Ms Alexander will be having some difficulties tracking old vs new vs updated threads. I saw yesterday she ended up giving a second response on a thread she had already answered

[ghstudio]

I think Tina has left having answered roughly 7 of the points, many with "it will be great, someday". Not sure about others, but I am extremely disappointed in her participation...I am even more disappointed by the reappearance of the unnamed "Celebrity" ID saying, thank you we're going to look at all of these.

 

Tina asked for us to let her know of issues with the web site, yet she gave us no way to contact her or note the issues.

 

For me, it was a bust...no, worse than a bust because it certainly has the appearance of Celebrity trying to do a marketing fly by wanting to rave about the future and brush off of Cruise Critic as a serious place for meaningful information flow or dialog.

 

What do you think?

[Andy]

I think Tina has left having answered roughly 7 of the points, many with "it will be great, someday". Not sure about others, but I am extremely disappointed in her participation...I am even more disappointed by the reappearance of the unnamed "Celebrity" ID saying, thank you we're going to look at all of these.

 

Tina asked for us to let her know of issues with the web site, yet she gave us no way to contact her or note the issues.

 

For me, it was a bust...no, worse than a bust because it certainly has the appearance of Celebrity trying to do a marketing fly by wanting to rave about the future and brush off of Cruise Critic as a serious place for meaningful information flow or dialog.

 

What do you think?

 

Sorry GHstudio, but to label it a "bust" at this point, (IMO) is unreasonable. Why not be fair, and wait until Ms Alexander has completed sharing her insights, before passing judgement. Just my .02 cents.

[ghstudio]

Sorry GHstudio, but to label it a "bust" at this point, (IMO) is unreasonable. Why not be fair, and wait until Ms Alexander has completed sharing her insights, before passing judgement. Just my .02 cents.

 

Sorry, I thought she was finished.....I saw one sort of final post today and a note from "celebrity" that they thanked us for the input. If Tina is still responding, my apologies....I prejudged on bad assumptions.

[hughdm]

I agree with ghstudio. It looks all wrapped up and there were few if any substantive answers. Disappointing. I'll keep looking to see if anything good ensues, but I bet not.

[fredflint]

Celebrity could have scheduled and online interactive chat like a lot of companies do.

 

The also could have put something on their web site or here to just submit questions if the format here did not work well for Mr. Bayless.

 

I feel that Celebrity is just totally out of touch as far as the web site not working as it works as well as it needs to from a revenue standpoint and that is good enough.

 

I recently pointed out to a smaller restaurant chain that their web site had several badly misspelled words, they fixed the site but did not even respond with a thank you!

 

For the non US folks it is even more of a pain to deal with and that is unfortunate. On my last Alaska cruise there were quite a few folks from "Across the Pond".

[johhnnyt]

I'm sure Tina tried her best with the limited responses she made, but I'm guessing she's probably not in much of a position to provide the planning and implementation of new changes, more that's she is the IT manager of the current website with a new title.

 

I did appreciate her taking the time to answer questions, but really didn't gather any new information from the answers she provided other than these are all known problems and sometime in the future they might be addressed

 

"Definitely on the radar! We are in conversation with several vendors that create compelling experiences."

 

"We are certainly taking your concerns seriously but do require some patience to realize the improvements."

 

"Cabin selection and availability has become a popular request, so we will definitely devote more time to improving this experience."

 

The only new piece of information I saw was this

"One of the key changes we've made on the web team is dedicating one person to what we are broadly describing as satisfaction concerns. Her job is to continually monitor Cruise Critic, connect closely with our customer service and direct sales team, and communicate with our market research groups to make sure we identify the most pressing concerns so we can address them in priority order. Every month we will release enhancements to make it easier for you to access what you need from the website."

 

They did the same thing about 6 months ago as Lois mentioned with a guy named Brian "Yes, they did...it was a guy named Brian. He was supposed to help with "the web".....then memory tells me when Reflection came into the fleet,he went on her and never came back...came back here anyway."

 

Usually when answers to specific question are vague and without specificities for completion, the solutions are usually the same

[Andy]

Sorry, I thought she was finished.....I saw one sort of final post today and a note from "celebrity" that they thanked us for the input. If Tina is still responding, my apologies....I prejudged on bad assumptions.

 

Hi Ghstudio,

 

No worries. I do not believe she's finished, though I could be wrong. I will see what I can find out. Stay Tuned !

[Lois R]

Hi Andy, to be honest, I thought she was finished too:eek:.......

especially with the "Celebrity" post.

[ghstudio]

Andy...if you are going to contact Tina, would you please ask her how she would like us to respond to her request :confused:

 

This was her response

 

All of the Celebrity teams that provide information to our customers communicate on a regular basis. It is our goal to update and educate each other as we learn more about questions that come up over the phone or in emails. We generally receive updates on internal changes at the same time, and my teams is constantly updating our website with the latest information. Please give me specific examples of inaccuracies, and I'll have my team investigate.

 

How would she like us to let her know inconsistencies with either what the agents tell us or what happens on the ship (eg. the vegetarian menus)?

 

Note: I asked this when she responded with the above...she never answered.

[Andy]

Andy...if you are going to contact Tina, would you please ask her how she would like us to respond to her request :confused:

 

This was her response

 

All of the Celebrity teams that provide information to our customers communicate on a regular basis. It is our goal to update and educate each other as we learn more about questions that come up over the phone or in emails. We generally receive updates on internal changes at the same time, and my teams is constantly updating our website with the latest information. Please give me specific examples of inaccuracies, and I'll have my team investigate.

 

How would she like us to let her know inconsistencies with either what the agents tell us or what happens on the ship (eg. the vegetarian menus)?

 

Note: I asked this when she responded with the above...she never answered.

 

Will do Ghstudio !

[fleckle]

The explanation becomes apparent if you take a moment to check out her background.

Her priorities are very different from ours.

 

Ms Alexander's background and training, are in product management and marketing,

Her interest is to come up with an innovative website that attracts customer and drives sales.

 

Notice that her job title is AVP of Web Innovations,

not AVP of Information Technology, and for very good reason,

Her goal is similar to that of the people who design the displays and layouts for large stores, aiming to entice customers with attractive displays, rather than taking them directly to their target the most efficient way.

 

As customers, we want a rock solid, reliable, efficient, easy to use website that takes us directly where we want to go and shows us what we want to see; not what the sales people want us to see.

 

So from our viewpoint, it would have been preferable if X had instead assigned the redesign of their website to an experienced technical geek with a strong background in systems analysis and design.

 

I believe that Ms Alexander wanted our feedback because she does not want to implement features that will chase away or antagonize the current customer base.

 

Some of the problems pointed out here would be quick and easy to correct and will likely draw effusive praise if done. It will definitely be to her advantage to see that they are implemented, knowing that she will then get the credit.

Therefore, I think that she will try to give us at least the minimum improvements necessary to keep us placated, while placing priority on the features she deems more important to her own agenda.

 

Her replies looked like they came right out of a 21st century version of Mad Men (the TV program). :D

[ghstudio]

The explanation becomes apparent if you take a moment to check out her background.

Her priorities are very different from ours.

 

Ms Alexander's background and training, are in product management and marketing,

Her interest is to come up with an innovative website that attracts customer and drives sales.

 

Notice that her job title is AVP of Web Innovations,

not AVP of Information Technology, and for very good reason,

Her goal is similar to that of the people who design the displays and layouts for large stores, aiming to entice customers with attractive displays, rather than taking them directly to their target the most efficient way.

 

As customers, we want a rock solid, reliable, efficient, easy to use website that takes us directly where we want to go and shows us what we want to see; not what the sales people want us to see.

 

So from our viewpoint, it would have been preferable if X had instead assigned the redesign of their website to an experienced technical geek with a strong background in systems analysis and design.

 

I believe that Ms Alexander wanted our feedback because she does not want to implement features that will chase away or antagonize the current customer base.

 

Some of the problems pointed out here would be quick and easy to correct and will likely draw effusive praise if done. It will definitely be to her advantage to see that they are implemented, knowing that she will then get the credit.

Therefore, I think that she will try to give us at least the minimum improvements necessary to keep us placated, while placing priority on the features she deems more important to her own agenda.

 

Her replies looked like they came right out of a 21st century version of Mad Men (the TV program). :D

 

I have to agree.... I think she came with the thought of talking about the future of the web site.....and probably felt blindsided because our focus, for the most part, was on the current web site....not her responsibility. In fairness to us though, we have never had anyone from Celebrity indicate an interest in fixing any part of the web site, so Tina caught our frustrations.

 

Some of the suggestions should help her design a better or should I say a more customer friendly web site....show more cabins, show all free cabins, easier linking of reservations or making select reservations and so on. Yes, some of those things take time...I think most of us realize that. But when you can't book an excursion because they don't show, your reservation disappears, information on the web differs from what happens on a ship, etc I think she should understand that someone, perhaps not Tina, should participate here...or provide a link of some sort so things can be fixed. I honestly believe that they think the web site is accurate and easy to use....and Tina, for the IT department, was probably shocked that there are current problems.

 

Hopefully Andy will figure out with Celebrity how to move forward together with CC participants to fix the current site...likely that's not Tina....but maybe someone else might participate here or use some other vehicle to get the current site working correctly. Calling Customer Service to report issues/problems clearly doesn't work based on actual experience...those calls go into the round filing cabinet below the customer service reps desk, as far as we can tell.

 

The ball is really in Celebrity's court. They can ignore the problems with the current site, they can try to find and fix them themselves, or they can work with input from those of us that have sailed on Celebrity ships and know where there are mismatches...and know when things disappear from the site.

 

Celebrity....hopefully you're reading...and hopefully Tina or that mystery person, "celebrity cruises", will respond....

[fredflint]

I think that Tina did a pretty good job of addressing my concerns -- about why the online check-in process is so darn complicated and difficult to complete. She said that she actually went through the process, and agreed that there are too many steps! She did point out that streamlining the process is complicated by the fact that it has to be a secure website. I'm hoping that she and her crew will be able to fix this, and the myriad other website issues. At least it's nice to know that someone is really listening, and trying to understand the problems. :cool:

 

Secure web site causes an issue that is a total joke secure web site uses https most any mail program uses it as well as banks and pretty much any travel site!

[ghstudio]

More responses tonight....and a final thank you.

[Lois R]

I just noticed that too...she posted a "Thank You" thread.

I guess now it is just wait and see what/if/when any changes/upgrades

will come into play.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

Update.... Ms. Alexander has posted some new replies, and thanked us for our feedback.