Thread: Which cruise line has the best and worst web site?

I have been bouncing around the cruise line web sites and I have seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Which cruise site do you like the best and worst and why? As an aside, what could the lines do to improve their sites?

Princess is the best for me! No problems using it!

Have never had a problem with HAL either.

RCCL (RCI or whatever you want to call it) was a total pain when taking a B2B. The second sailing would not show up on their my cruises/personalizer thingy. RCCL was aware and told me it was a problem so I wouldn't be able to use it for the second sailing. Also, our TA said it was always a problem with a B2B on RCCL. I could get to it by using the booking number. Thing is ... I had to do twice what I should have had to only do once plus key in the booking numbers each time.

On the other hand ... Princess knows more about me than I wish they did!

To me HAL is the ugliest and unfriendliest. I like Princess too.

I'm totally used to using RC, so when I had to use Princess I seemed to stumble. But I got used to it pretty fast. I like both of them.
I've looked at NCL and thought they were a bit more on the hard side to use.

Celebrity is not too bad, HAL on the other hand drives me nuts every time I try to use it. They are always asking me for my country of origin not matter what page I save.

Cunard is a bit difficult to find general cruises. It is great if you know exactly what you want.

I mainly use RCL and dislike their reservation system, just needs a good programmer to get his/her hands in there. Other wise the site is okay, hard to find stuff, so I usually just search and it comes up.

I have played with Carnival, NCL, and Cunard too - I am sure some others... I navigated around okay, I mean I found what I was looking for.

I find most websites have navigation issues since some project manager who has never used a computer before decides where to hide what.

Amen to that. I wonder if any of them ever use a focus group or a product testing area to actually check and evaluate their websites?

Originally Posted by nealberk

Amen to that. I wonder if any of them ever use a focus group or a product testing area to actually check and evaluate their websites?

According to what I have learned the users are to test and even be involved in the project during its life cycle - however I am assuming it never happens?

Who is the user at that point? Some Q/A or Q/C person that knows nothing of web programming?

I wonder too, would be nice if a web programmer is a member here and can give us a little inside from where he gets his direction...

I know what you mean about the Cunard site Neal, it's great if you know where you want to go and when, or which ship, but not much good for looking at what's on offer.

P&O's site is good for doing a search if you know where you want to go, it will tell you which ships are going and when. Also they have links to the webcam and it tells you where the ship is which is always good to know

We generally cruise Carnival. Their web-site is familiar territory for us. We've no problems with it.