Almost gone are the days when we booked our cruise, received our confirmation of deposit , ship, sale date and itnerary, in the meantime we could sit back and wait for our friendly Postman to deliver our 'tangible' cruise ticketMore and more change? YES! Have you been contacted yet for a cruise booked or were you by the Cruise Line to complete 'Your Cruise Personaliser'?
My thinking on this as a Cruise Consultant is it's messy for me and confusing for some of my clients, not all of us have instant access to a computor and so many times when this first came into play and I would ask the cruise lines...what can we do, my client doesn't have a computor? the answer....'they can go to a local Library or Internet Cafe' all well and good if you know how to work one and I understand my clients are reluctant to spend their valuable time...even if they know how, booking a lovely cruise should not have to have become a chore? What do think?
Cruise.co.uk have added access from our website http://www.cruise.co.uk/ so you can go straight to the Cruise Line you are cruising with and complete your 'Cruise Personaliser' this will hopefully save you time looking for the official site, after clicking on the link above, click on 'Payments and Check in'
I have offered to complete the 'Cruise Personaliser' for a few of my clients and this is being honest a chore for me too, usually having to get hold of my client time after time to get either a password to access the information needed or to get other details not normally required but as you have been good enough to book with me, then it's become another aspect of my job, please be clear that I'm not complaining but isn't this new system supposed to benefit? or just benefit the cruise line, after all no more wallets containing tickets and labels to tell us it's Bon Voyage!
This really comes down to the Cruise line valuing the customers. It seems not.
ReplyDeleteA lot of travellers will be fine but the juicy wallet and maps and so on was part of the cruise experience.
Sad times for the travellers and eventually the cruise lines, as they cut corners to end up at a point of no return.
Booked My cruise through an agent 20 days gone, have not yet received confirmation from the cruise line in question is this correct?
ReplyDeleteCruise lines cutting corners again. Just had this issue with Celebrity, its a shame that as this is quite a change from the past, that they do not highlight it clearly on their web sites or ask the agent to advise you at the time of booking. It's all becoming DIY to save the cruise lines a few dollars.
ReplyDeleteRumour has it self catering is on the way!! I can't wait for self drive.
Thank you for your comments, with regard to not recieving confirmation from the cruise line...you probably won't hear untill two weeks before you sail, but cahse up with your agent if not.
ReplyDeleteJanice
Janice,
ReplyDeleteYou raise a very valid point.
It is one thing to insert your passport details and contact online as in the past but now it is expected to printout numerous boarding documents and Luggage tags.
This is of no benefit to the cruiser as even local libraries do not have printers.
I'd rather, even though I earned my living by designing computer software and have two computers at home to pay the agent to do all the work.
Good grief, we pay a large amount of monies for a cruise knowing full well we will pay for addons during the trip and now we have to work through a menu designed by someone who has not used it themselves in real life.
In our case , we will fly to Barbados as we have family two weeks prior to the cruise and I will not be pleased if the web site or final mailing / instructions is not uo to date.
Once I get to Barbados our access on the East Coast is MODEM not DSL and flaking at times.
I think agents and ourselves should complain
btb: Luv your blog and pictures
Cheers
Rob