Traveler

I finally figured out what is going on its not really about IT issues but more of a marketing  trick .

Here is what I think might happened  :

The CEO got some survey about  how people do not like the RC website and keep complaining about it over the social  media (mainly in some message boards)  

He ask the CIO what can be done to improve it , which he replays (very enthusiastic) that they create a new project with new site and  a new DB throwing  in the air  buzzwords like "Digital, Micro services, DeBOPS , clouds, big data etc ...".

The only thing, this project will cost more than 700 M $ (which we all know will be at least twice) and I will need 500% increase in the IT team + some new executives IT manager to run the project 

The CFO that heard the required budget automatically refused and remind the CEO about the stakeholders + the board that will not like it , not to forget the  yearly E level  bonuses which will be under risk as they are tied to the EBIT. 

The CEO, who remembered suddenly  the new cars he promised to buy to his kids (I wanted to say the new boat he wanted to buy for himself but , well not sure how much a cruise line  CEO wants to have a boat as his hobby) understand that a new project is not an option and ask what else can be done.

Then the marketing come with a wonderful idea  , create a mock up site that will imitate a new site , this site will stay for two three weeks.

The site will be so terrible that RC customers will beg them to bring back the old site and no one will dare  complain anymore about the current site.

And all of that without spending too much money , I think its genius 

Might be that they are sold out but even the 14 is sold out and still there .oh well another wonder about the site 

Hi , 

I am on the 14-April Symphony cruise , until today when I have done some mock up reservation (to check what is available ) I always got the 31-March 5 day pre cruise , and 3 7 nights dates in April (7,14,21) + the 8 nights on the 28.

Today I saw that the 31 and the 7 gone , and I can see cruises only from the 14-April (which is fully booked).

Dose anyone heard  anything about it ? is there some delays ? Usually when cruise is fully booked they still show it with the fully booked indication.

I hope it is no more than another glitch in RC site.

Nothing here yet  , I do not think they will send anything before they will first fix their site.

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I have a friend that did database work for them a few years ago.  Its a beast.  I'm sure they modeled all they could off line but at some point you need to need to migrate production and sometimes to make significant leaps forward you need to take a hit.  Migrating a database that contains every record for hundreds of thousands of guests and for all things on all ships is no small task and it's constantly changing.  

I'm imagining they are finally migrating off that old, open source database platform and moving to something that can scale.    While these few days are ugly, it will all be worth it in the end and going forward that old baggage won't be holding them back, preventing them from doing all the awesome things they want to do. 

The tech they want to implement can't be done with the old backend systems.  Just wait.  Be patient. 

I agree with you , we do not know the complexity of the data base and the old system , not how many records and what is the size , I Will give them that .

Yes , it might take 4,5 days , and since it is being done rarely it can also be acceptable , but they could at least send people an email before explaining the system will be under upgrade for the next few days so if anyone want to reserve something he better do it before.

Well even if they planned that it will be only for one day and something happened and now it is 5 days then they could put some message on the site or even send an email .

Lets hope that the issue will be gone soon and we can all enjoy from a new wonderful site that will help us to enjoy the to cruise on our favorite cruise line  

3 hours ago, PrincipalTinker said:

You know, I would be much more understanding and accepting of these issues if I received any communication regarding the issues and timeline. Instead, I continue to get emails telling me there is a sale and I should book another cruise. Just one little email, “ we are experiencing difficulties and please accept our apologies. We expect this issue to be resolved no later than than March....” 

Totally agree with you , even now they could have send some email ...

1 hour ago, mworkman said:

Okay all you IT guru's, help me understand the process of the migration to a new website. I'll list the steps as I would think it should be done, let me know what I've missed as I'm not an IT person.

Step1. Developed new website offline on a server with database.

Step 2. Bring in small group for website testing online. Seperate from main server.

Step 3. Fix problems.

Step 4. Migrate new website online after weekend starting Sunday night 11:00pm until complete.

What did I miss?

You are right  with  the steps but there are more to it :

1. Decide the migration method (everything on the same time or in groups) if you decide the second method you need to create some  bridging application so it can route you to the right application (new and old) and allow the customer cares to find you in the right DB . Also you need to think about catch-up process  (if you migrate history data first and just migrate the online data during the rollout window)

2. Non functional testing to the new site - will it be handle the required load , how to operate it , security , security etc ...

3. interface testing - test no issues to connect to the external interfaces (for example credit cards) and no handshake  issues.

4. Roll-out testing - test how long all the migration and interfaces pointing process is taking , do try runs, repeat it until your team know what they are doing and you are ngetting it done in the time which the business can agree with. I have the feeling here the RC upgrade process was lacking 

5.Train your CSRs and help desk people with the new site so they will be able to handle the support.

6. Bring more help in the first few weeks post migration to handle the extra load on your call centers as many people will call with issues , check that your current facilities (switchboard, PCs, office space) is enough to support the extra load.

7. Rollback method - decide on your rollback method , practice it , decide when is your no rollback point and most important , do not be afraid to take the call to do rollback.

8. BCP - Business continuity plan - decide how the business will  continue to work , messages on the website for people what to expect , manual operation during the transition period, catch up if needed , etc (actually point 5,6 is part of it) 

9. End user training - create a videos , demo site, FAQ  and other materials to explain the end user how to work with the system , whatever you can to reduce the questions and calls.

There are much more things that need to be done , but ,well not sure if this is the forum :-)  , usually such projects ct can take many month, mainly if the system is very old.

Things starting to change now with DEVOPS methodology but still tons of work to do.

Although I could login with the direct link (thanks @rjac and I I found a dissimilar that "even if you do not see same things between the site and apps do not worry it will be ok"  I would wait with any updates until the site will be stable.

My recommendations, if your cruise is not in the coming week  wait with any updates transaction on the site (cruise planner changes for example) as RC did not finished the migration/upgrade process and things can be lost during this process.

So unless anyone wants to spend hours with RC customer care trying to find were is the special restaurant your order and paid for , just wait for Monday or Tuesday . My next cruise is in one month from now and that is what I am planning to do.

By the way , if anyone looking for a CIO job  in a major  cruise line  , it seems to me  that one going to be available soon  

Wow , this is a poor production roll-out , I just do not envy whoever responsible for that, it look like very bad planning .

Yes, as @twangster  said such upgrade  projects are very complicate but there  are ways  to avoid it. as part of my  job I am responsible to bring projects to production  and it can be much better (well if I want to keep my job anyway):

1. Dress Rehearsal until you have perfection the plan , timing and automation.

2. If your migration takes so much time (4-5 days !! , which I do not really understand why), migrate all the history first (which is not changing) and during the roll out period update the online information (which you have much less) , do not try to migrate something and than catch up.

3.Notify you customer before so they can do urgent changes if they needed , put some message on your website with estimate time to return to normal , do not wait for people to try and catch you on the phone.

4. Your planned upgrade takes much more time ? , rollback, bring the old site on , do some  lesson learn and more DRs and try again on another date.

5. Your data is too big to migrated in few hours , create some co living application between the old and new sites and divide the population to several migrations while keeping the other customers on the old system

There are many other things that can be done , but I think it was boring  enough  

One good thing I can take from this indecent  , next time when one of our customers will complain why  I am asking his system to be partially down for few hours during major upgrades I can refer him to what happened here.

Just booked a day ago Symphony OTC 14-April-18 , hope it will be ready by that time , if not I have my old Symphony booking for September

Seems to work for the sail I just book on Symphony OTC for this April , it looks like almost every excursion has some discount.

Sorry for it , its sound like a very bad experience.

I see here few issues that RC could handle it better :

First , the guest service should not ask you to handle it directly with the SPA they should have handle it themselves .

We should not care if the SPA is an external company , for us the customers there is one focal point RC.

The second thing that could have been better is the SPA management who should find a way to give the discount .

I hope you wrote about the incident in the online review which you should get from RC , Maybe you should also call them directly and discuss it.

By the way this is why almost everyday I am looking on my online bill on the TV to find any issues (and many time you find , like wrong charge from a bar while you have drinking package and other stuff). once I find such issue I try to close it ASAP with the guest services while there are still no lines.

I hope your next experience will be much better,

33 minutes ago, twangster said:

I was thinking about that.  That and possibly some savings as well by not having to manage and print a separate dessert menu. 

Service was good.  No complains. 

I think it is a good approach, not to have to find the waiter for the dessert menu.

The best would be if they can do two options like in some of the airlines business classes , one traditional menu were you wait between the different plates and one executive menu were you order everything and get most of the things on the same time , it can be good for people that still wants to eat in the MDR but do not have 1.5 - 2 hours (because shows or any other reasons).

Oh  and for sure I am going to follow , was wondering when is the next live blog :-)  

9 hours ago, redgrapes2 said:

Hi all - thanks for all the help planning our June 2018 Med cruise on Symphony.  Question on debarkation times, we are looking at potentially booking a 10am flight out of Barcelona.  It looks like the port is close to the airport, so I'm hoping someone with experience might know whether a 10am flight is doable with priority walkoff or if we should look for a later return flight home.  Thanks in advance!

As said @DocLC I would not take a flight before 12 PM , I went to the airport twice after a cruise from Barcelona, one time we went of the ship around 8 and one time around 7:30 AM ,  

Take into consideration at least 30 minutes drive to the airport , I would not risk it.

28 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

It's been quite some time since I've seen drink vouchers.  Maybe they are using them on the smaller ships still.  Mostly these days, we've gotten the casino VIP sticker on our seapass cards; these give you pretty much unlimited free drinks any time you want them.  I'm not sure what would happen if you started guzzling drink after drink but I will say that I have seen people drinking pretty continuously and never seen anyone's free drink privileges revoked.  That doesn't mean it's never happened.

From what I understand (knowing that the program is always in flux), if you accumulate at least 1000 points on your previous cruise you will be given the casino VIP sticker.  We've been Club Royale VIP members for over 10 years and we have never failed to get free drinks and waiver of the 5% convenience fee so I think they are keeping those amenities pretty standard.  The issue of casino rates on cruises and free or discounted cruise certificates is another matter entirely.  Those rules have changed significantly and continue to evolve.  I am hearing that the final rules for the "new" (at LEAST 4 years in development, at this point) program will be finalized by April of this year.  I'm not holding my breath.

Regarding changing in the plans , something is not that good happens , I have called to try and reserved another cruise , they asked me if I have a voucher which I did (for 1000$) and gave me the regular rate minus the 1000 , when I asked to check casino rate instead they said it would be less than using the voucher , this is first time which is happening ...

1 hour ago, Haligonian said:

It kinda does, you need to get 1000 points to get a VIP sticker, since the OP got a certificate for $500 than means that the OP accumulated more than 1000 pts and there would qualify Was "VIP"..that being said, all of that that is changing in the next month or so!

What are the new changes ? 

14 hours ago, twangster said:

Pushing any crew in that manner should have been enough to warrant cabin arrest or a trip to the brig to sober up.  I'm sure they have CCTV cameras all over that ship which should have provided them ample evidence to deal with that guy right then and there.   

Herein lies part of the problem I suspect.  Security staff are often there to swipe cards as you enter or leave the ship.  I've seen some pretty lightweight "security guards".  They aren't ready to be a bouncer at a biker bar.  250 lb. drunk guy could throw two small security guards across the pool deck.   

On most of the major cruise lines you have two types of security people , 

One are the majority which has basic training and they are there to do the crowd control, general security and other ship safety.

The second group is the core security of the ship which is lead by the security officer , they are mostly ex army people who served in combat units (and some time in special units). the security officer will be an ex officer at the army. Yes they are not ex police but I would not try to pick a fight with them . usually they will also supervise the other group.

The number one task of thous teams is to keep the passenger safe from any terrorist/piracy  attempt.

Now the captain is the one that determine the policy what to do in such case of 23 people that started the fights , I guess he needs to consider many aspects  like should he change course now to get them off the ship which will effect all the cruise or to confine them to their cabins.

Per what we see from videos and some of the people there were on the ship , it seems they could have handled it better. 

Sep 23  for us ,

This time it will be all around the ship as it will be our 3rd time doing the same itinerary (last  time with Harmony)  

I will go and search good spots  for @twangster  to take pictures from  

Now I am looking if I can squeeze another cruise before.

1 hour ago, hayley_bopp said:

Booked to go on our second cruise with RC later this year - 14 night med on Independence 

We are trying traditionl dining this time round - having done MTD on our first cruise on Navigator. 

We have the second seating - 8pm. Looking at previous Cruise Compasses it looks like geneal times for the shows are 7pm and 9pm.

Obviously we will still be dining during the second show. Am I correct in assuming that the shows are only an hour or less, allowing us to attend the first show before going for dinner?

Most are around one hour , but one expectation for Grease which is full Broadway show around 90 + minutes 

13 hours ago, D Murphy said:

My wife checks on the prices of our cruise regularly (we are booked on a 12 day Grandeur of The Seas out of Baltimore) and she sees that the Deluxe drink package has dropped to $39/day per person.

I am still not going to purchase this package because of the required "2 person" rule but I am going to ask another question. 

T was comped a free room on a 3 or 5 day cruise by Casino Royale We decided instead to take a $500 credit to our 12 day cruise. After reading some of the other posts regarding this topic my question is...Will this qualify me for complimentary drinks in the casino?..If so..and being Diamond members..this will make my decision for the DDP easier..Thanks for your advice

Well , the question is did you got the VIP sticker on your last cruise ? 

If you will get the VIP sticker you will get free drink at the casino , 500 credit that you got is not guarantee  it 

6 hours ago, DBeas0106 said:

First time with an Embarkation Day that has a Late Evening Departure (8:30PM).  Just a general question about luggage, where/how to be luggage free during the day. 

• What to do with luggage if we wanted to explore San Juan during the day, before Embarkation?

We do plan to travel into San Juan the day before & have a hotel, but: 

• Curious if the hotel would hold the luggage for the day, even after check-out time (assuming a fee perhaps)?
• Could we drop it at the ship porters earlier in the day? 

Thanks All! 

I had the same issue in a cruise from Hong Kong that was due to 23:59 ... 

We did a checkout from the hotel we were in and left  our luggage at the hotel storage , we went to travel around the city and came back to the hotel took our luggage out and used a taxi to get to the port.

Almost any hotel will have a storage room for you , it is very common but if you want to be on the safe side you can check in there web site or just call them and ask.

Usually no extra fee is required for this service.

20 hours ago, twangster said:

I agree about the crew kicking.  Unacceptable.

Recording video of police has got a lot of attention here in the US.  In almost all cases the law sides with the civilian recording the police as long as they don't interfere with police executing their duties.  However, Carnival security are not law enforcement, they are not a police department.  They are a private security force on private property (the ship).  Legal rights to record while on a ship does not come with the same protections or rights for civilians with respect to their government (and police).  Try recording a cabin crew on an airplane.  In the US that is grounds for major legal trouble and a flight ban.  I'm not sure where an individual stands with respect to recording security personnel on a ship.  It's likely something the Master of the vessel could enforce at their discretion.  

I also agree with the comments above that Carnival should have dealt with this earlier than day 8.  If this group was causing trouble since day 1 Carnival should have dealt with it on day 1.

I also find it interesting the Federal police simply gave them a boat ride to shore and let them go to catch a flight home.  No charges filed yet.  Free to board another cruise line and repeat.  Hoping they don't pick Ovation next January when I sail her.

Although it looks very bad (the security behavior) and should not happen, I guess we are missing some information and some videos .

For why they were kicked off only on the 8 days , well this is should be the captain to decide , it might be that he was waiting to get to Australia and did not want to leave them in one of the Islands which will be more complicate to charge them (and also to get them fly back home), I think it is wrong and at least they could have been confine to their room.

1 hour ago, amdunlea said:

Where do you get this 'cruise planner' that you're referring to here? Thanks from a newbie :)

Once you booked a travel you can connect it to your user in the website then you can choose cruise planner to book restaurants , shows (in Oasis Class) and other 

When you happy that the production date of your project postponed as it was planned on the same week you can find a great cruise rate.   

57 minutes ago, twangster said:

I often do this.  I don't change my towels everyday at home and I know how to make a bed.

On another forum I see people leave negative reviews and complain that sheets aren't changed everyday.  Seriously?  Do these people change their bedsheets everyday at home?

Totally  agree , I also prefer that people will not access to my room to often .

I am on business travels quite allot and I always try to reuse towels and have the do not disturb sign during many of the days, actually in Sheraton chain  they have this program in some of the hotels named green choice where you are getting extra  points for each day you choose that your room will not be cleaned.

But , I also found out that in some hotels the room attended  are getting credit only for room they really cleaned ...  in other places if they finished all the rooms ahead of time and there is one room with do not disturb they are stuck until the end of the shift, which explains why every time I went out from this hotels (mainly weekends) they jump and ask when they clean.