Problems with poorly written NCL website

[Tim-n-Gina]

I am furious from trying to interact with NCL's poorly written website.

 

We are trying to book reservations for excursions, dining, entertainment, etc..

 

The NCL Website is extremely frustrating to use. If you place anything in your "Cart" it times out after 5 minutes. When that timeout occurs, a pop-up message appears and no matter how you interact with that message, the page on which you were currently working re-sets and all of your work (payment info, current informational page, etc.) gets cleared, leaving you with no choice but to start all over again. It is extremely annoying to be discussing plans and options with a cruise companion while constantly under the gun of this arbitrary time wasting 5 minute clock.

 

I understand the need to keep the cart fresh and not tie up reservations. A message that prompts the user to refresh their cart is necessary, but it should NOT refresh or change the user's current page.

 

If this is merely a poorly written page, it should be an easy fix.

 

 

However, if my experience with this "Feature" of the page is out of the ordinary, I am willing to help them troubleshoot.

 

Tim

Edited June 29, 2018 by Tim-n-Gina
Clarity

[RD29P5]

So maybe you should be calling their tech services department. No one here can fix the issue or give you access to the coding.

[Moby0215]

While I agree it is a little quirky, I have not had the issues you are describing. Maybe break up your reservations and do it piecemeal? Or you can always just call and make your reservations.

 

 

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[FLAHAM]

Never had a problem with making reservations online.

[Tim-n-Gina]

So maybe you should be calling their tech services department. No one here can fix the issue or give you access to the coding.

 

Thanks for the reply. If I ran NCL I would be sure to have someone monitor this Forum... Not looking to re-code their page, just try to get a problem fixed.

 

 

While I agree it is a little quirky, I have not had the issues you are describing. Maybe break up your reservations and do it piecemeal? Or you can always just call and make your reservations.

 

After several instances of this problem 2 weeks ago, I resorted to taking written notes of what reservations we wanted, then trying to speed through booking them all, only to have the offending message appear just as I was about to submit my payment info. Another 10 minutes of my life that I will not get back... I then had to book and submit 1 reservation at a time to appease the angry website timer gods... A truly frustrating experience. Never had to work so hard to try spending my hard earned money.

 

 

I am hoping to see if others are having similar problems, or if I am just the lucky one. Could be my browser, who knows.

 

But a "Cart" is somewhere you should store proposed purchases, not be enslaved to a timer that disrupts your work flow. And again, the timer is not the problem. There is a real need to keep people from tying up reservations in an inactive cart. If the message had a 'Keep-Alive' function allowing an extension of the timer while the user was actively working, that would be normal. Many websites that sell time sensitive bookings have handled this same issue in various satisfactory ways.

 

 

The fact that this timer message resets the user's page is the problem.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Tim-n-Gina
Clarity

[BirdTravels]

We sail multiple times a year and book online with no problem. Probably user error.

 

 

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[rdmurray]

I didn't have that problem, but I did have an issue with the website. No matter when or how I tried all the restaurants wpuld only lst me reserve for 1 person . I finally called and the guest service person said I wasn't the only one reporting that issue and they would pass to web/it/tech (whatever its called)

 

You should call, they may not realize.

[Tim-n-Gina]

We sail multiple times a year and book online with no problem. Probably user error.

 

LOL, If that is the case, I can live with it, and admit it.

 

So far, in this small sample, I seem to be alone.

 

 

I'll try a different browser if I get a chance soon.

[nvaccaro]

I also had this problem booking dinner reservations. I was on the phone discussing, trying to map it all out and took a little too long discussing/deciphering the dining plan ... this led to my losing my cart a couple of times.

 

Finally I quickly booked standard meals for most of the trip and came over here to have my dining plan questions answered before booking the last three nights.

 

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

 

I was on a VPN on my work computer (shhh), maybe work pc has a setting that doesn't agree with the site 100%.

[Laszlo]

I am furious from trying to interact with NCL's poorly written website.

 

We are trying to book reservations for excursions, dining, entertainment, etc..

 

The NCL Website is extremely frustrating to use. If you place anything in your "Cart" it times out after 5 minutes. When that timeout occurs, a pop-up message appears and no matter how you interact with that message, the page on which you were currently working re-sets and all of your work (payment info, current informational page, etc.) gets cleared, leaving you with no choice but to start all over again. It is extremely annoying to be discussing plans and options with a cruise companion while constantly under the gun of this arbitrary time wasting 5 minute clock.

 

I understand the need to keep the cart fresh and not tie up reservations. A message that prompts the user to refresh their cart is necessary, but it should NOT refresh or change the user's current page.

 

If this is merely a poorly written page, it should be an easy fix.

 

 

However, if my experience with this "Feature" of the page is out of the ordinary, I am willing to help them troubleshoot.

 

Tim

 

 

I think its a your end or your browser. I just added a few things to my cart, 30 minutes later its still fine

[zqvol]

I don't see the issue, other than the OP wants to tie things up. You can download and review all the options before you try to book. If necessary book the items one at a time and you never run into an issue with the five minutes.

[LrgPizza]

Figure out everything you want to book, THEN put it all in your cart, and complete it. 5 minutes is more than plenty of time. Should take about 1. Why are you so slow?

 

 

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[twochromic]

I'm with OP here. Having just finished a cruise with 29 other family members, I have to say that NCL's web site is among the worst designed I've seen. It took ages to get everyone registered and signed on to the site. At least half the group wound up calling their service to get it cleared up.

Entering your information is fussier than other cruise sites.

Once finished, finding the place to download the boarding documents and luggage tags is not clear for those of us less savvy in such things.

It could do with an overhaul.

[GUT2407]

All cruise websites seem to be pretty poor.

[Something fun!]

Well ...according to the NCL website, when you place a reservation in your cart, it is saved for 15 minutes. If you can't figure out if that is what you want within 15 minutes, you should call NCL rather than tie up the schedule for your shipmates.

[roscoe123]

I’ve had similar issues with the shopping cart timing out too quickly or with not being able to book a restaurant for 2 people (only allowed to book one). I use Safari as my browser.

 

 

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[wdsted]

I booked a couple of things online yesterday and got a pop-up message warning me about the 5 minute expiration. Clicking "OK" gave me another 5 minutes. Maybe it's a browser issue? I use Chrome.

[PTC DAWG]

Sounds like a user error to me...

[FL-Cruzer]

I'm with OP here. Having just finished a cruise with 29 other family members, I have to say that NCL's web site is among the worst designed I've seen. It took ages to get everyone registered and signed on to the site. At least half the group wound up calling their service to get it cleared up.

Entering your information is fussier than other cruise sites.

Once finished, finding the place to download the boarding documents and luggage tags is not clear for those of us less savvy in such things.

It could do with an overhaul.

 

May I suggest that you find yourself a travel agent to do your booking. They only get paid from the cruise line the day you sail. Mine does all my reservations and has saved me money, as they get specials that you do not see. They will print or email you your required documents prior to sailing. Good luck in the future

[havanadaydreaming]

never had an issue with ncl.com

 

I thought it was very easy to use and navigate.

 

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[MS52]

I was just booking and I received a message “items will be held in your cart for 15 minutes. Each time you revisit your cart, time will be reset.”

 

Maybe try checking your cart often?

 

 

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[Two Wheels Only]

All cruise websites seem to be pretty poor.

I agree.

There are just different levels of poor. :D

Celebrity and MSC often have more problems than NCL but if you use them enough, they are all less frustrating than if using them for the first time. Weekends are usually the worst because nobody is available to fix issues.

[Tim-n-Gina]

I was just booking and I received a message “items will be held in your cart for 15 minutes. Each time you revisit your cart, time will be reset.”

Maybe try checking your cart often?

 

I will try revisiting my cart every few minutes, that may just be the step I've been missing.

 

 

I booked a couple of things online yesterday and got a pop-up message warning me about the 5 minute expiration. Clicking "OK" gave me another 5 minutes. Maybe it's a browser issue? I use Chrome.

 

The whole point of my frustration is the popup '5 minute warning', And this may well be a browser issue, but no matter which way I tried to interact with that warning popup (The X in the upper right corner, or the "Continue" button in the middle), I suffered having my page reset. Leaving me to navigate through several pages to find where I was before the popup.

 

I use Firefox, but I will try Chrome and Opera when I get back to NCL again.

[fshagan]

The whole point of my frustration is the popup '5 minute warning', And this may well be a browser issue, but no matter which way I tried to interact with that warning popup (The X in the upper right corner, or the "Continue" button in the middle), I suffered having my page reset. Leaving me to navigate through several pages to find where I was before the popup.

 

I use Firefox, but I will try Chrome and Opera when I get back to NCL again.

 

Do you have any ad blockers or security plugins (Ad Block+, Privacy Badger, etc.?) Try adding ncl.com to the exception list / white list to all of those, and temporarily turn off the Firefox Do Not Track feature when you go to the site. I work for a SaaS company and we have recently had a large number of problems with new versions of Chrome and Firefox related to security and tracking. And our site is not as complex as a cruise line web site.

 

It can drive you absolutely nuts, but it's helpful to know that others are not seeing it. At least then you can start to investigate things on your end that might be a weird combination of browser and plugin settings that makes you unique. Good luck!

[hladygirl]

Same issue here. Went to book 6 dining reservations yesterday 2 days into booking window. Nothing I wanted was available. Neither day or times. That darn 5 minute warning popped up before we could decide on days and times. Booked all dining reservations but hate them all. I am hoping they hold an amount of reservation to book onboard. We are platinum so will be some of the first onboard. Will head right to dinner reservation area and change to what we like. Never had this problem ever booking dining on the Dawn last 7 cruises. Frustrating!