Carnival's New Website Booking Format - A Walkthrough

I've seen a few threads pop up about Carnival's new booking format on their website. Mostly people who don't like it, but also quite a few who have trouble navigating the new "shopping cart" style of booking. So I thought I'd create a walkthrough to help anyone who'd like to give it a chance. Right now it's optional, but I assume they'll make it permanent at some point, so it doesn't hurt to give it a go to try to avoid the shock later.

First, if you haven't chosen already, Carnival's site will ask if you'd like to try the new format or not. As the wise Master Yoda once said, "Do or do not. There is no try." :D Don't worry, if you click yes and don't like it, there's a way to get the old way back...for now. More on that later.

We still search for and pick a sailing like we always have. Once you pick one, you'll see this screen:

Here you can change the date and number of cabins & guests by clicking their respective boxes at the top of the page. Otherwise, click on Explore Room Options (red arrow) to begin picking your cruise details.

Next you'll pick the type of room you want using the drop-down menu (arrow 1). In this case, there were only Interior rooms left. Once you pick your room type, click Choose Room Location (arrow 2) to move on.

That last step opens a new shadowbox on your screen. This is where you'll not only start picking your room location, but you can also change the type of promotional deal you'd like. Let's start there. Along the left side of the shadowbox you'll see four choices. Clicking Edit next to the promotional deal (red arrow) will lead you to the following window:

Carnival has automatically selected a deal for you, more than likely the cheapest. If you'd like to view other available deals, click Show More Deals (red arrow).

That will bring up this window. Click on the promotional deal you'd like and click Select & Continue when you're ready to move on.

Here you'll select the section of the ship you'd like. Simply click on Back, Middle, or Front. If any are sold out, it will tell you. Then click Select & Continue.

Here you will pick a deck. Simply click a deck from the vertical list. As you can see, if they are sold out, it tells you. Those decks will be grayed out and you cannot click on them. Once you've picked a deck, click Select & Continue (I know, big surprise).

Here you'll select your room. It will be the last step before reviewing the booking. Scroll up/down the deck map (arrow 1) to pick a room. Available rooms are highlighted green. It's to my understanding that the Carnival booking engine will not show you all available rooms on a deck. I've been seeing that it'll show you 10, if there are that many available, I assume. I don't know if redoing the mock booking process will show you different rooms. In my experience with the old booking system, it did not. You may want to call Carnival if you don't see any of the other rooms that are available. Once you pick a room here, click Review Selections (arrow 2).

Now you'll see the same window you did earlier. You can make changes by click Edit along the left side for each category. If everything is to your liking, click the big red Add To Cart button. Also, if at any time during the last several steps with the shadowbox open on your screen you need to change the date or the number of cabins or guests, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the shadowbox. Keep in mind, though, you will have to start all over again if you do.

Once you've added the sailing to your cart, you'll see this summary screen. Here you can add Vacation Protection, Prepaid Gratuities, move the sailing to your Wish List, Remove it from your Cart, or proceed with Checkout.

If you chose in the very beginning to try out the new format, but don't like it, in order to go back to the old way, you have to clear your internet browser's cookies. For those of you not familiar with how to do that, you can do a Google search for instructions. Just search for how to clear cookies in whatever browser you're using (Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc.).

That's it, folks. I hope you've found this walkthrough helpful. The time is probably coming when we won't have a choice whether to use the new format or not, so you might want to give it a go and see what you think. I've gotten used to it and don't think it's so bad.

Thanks for taking the time do put this together. I absolutely hate the new format. I will try it again using your walk through - perhaps it will grow on me.

thanks for the update.

Thank you for this. I absolutely failed at my one try with this new system. Now that I can see how to change the booking rate, I will give it another shot one of these days.

Two thumbs up on this tutorial!! [emoji106][emoji106]

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Thank you for taking the time to help your fellow Carnival fans! 😎 Much appreciated!

dont like the new website , for us brits we can,t book on the uk site any more they have closed it, we have to book via usa site which with the exchange rate makes it more expensive , dont know why they have decided to do that

Thanks for posting this info.

I just booked a cruise yesterday and did not get the option to try this new format. I wonder how they decide who gets to try it and who gets the old format automatically??

I'm glad to see people are getting some use out of this. My guess is that the new format is basically in its beta testing stage, allowing the public to use it to test for any bugs, which is why we still have the option to opt out. Then at some point this format, or something similar, will probably be made permanent.

Thanks for posting this info.

I just booked a cruise yesterday and did not get the option to try this new format. I wonder how they decide who gets to try it and who gets the old format automatically??

I'm glad to see people are getting some use out of this. My guess is that the new format is basically in its beta testing stage, allowing the public to use it to test for any bugs, which is why we still have the option to opt out. Then at some point this format, or something similar, will probably be made permanent.

 

 

That's odd. I use two different computers at home and have been given the option on both. As well as my wife on her own laptop. You could try to clear your browser's cookies anyway just to clear out any Carnival site cookies. Maybe that'll bring up the option.

No option for me, it just randomly appears and then then next time it will be the old way. I didn't have that big of an issue when they changed it last time, although I still prefer the one before the "Squares". This one is just awful no matter if you understand how to use it or not.

Mine's just the opposite, I get the option and have to choose every time I go to the site. But that might be due to my browser set-up, though. I do allow cookies, but I have a couple extensions that prevent tracking, so that may be why it doesn't remember my choice.

Oh my goodness! That is aggravating!

If they would just leave things alone.

If they would just leave things alone.

Then we would still be reading text-only, black-and-white websites, using the tab key to go from link to link. (Anyone else remember surfing the web using Lynx?)

These changes reflect changes in how your fellow website users use websites, increasingly with mobile devices. It is a shared space, and so things have to change so it works best for the most lucrative portion of the customer base. We've seen these changes applied to this cruise line's website as well as several other cruise lines' websites, and even to Cruise Critic itself.

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

Mine's just the opposite, I get the option and have to choose every time I go to the site. But that might be due to my browser set-up, though. I do allow cookies, but I have a couple extensions that prevent tracking, so that may be why it doesn't remember my choice.

Thanks for the tutorial. Tried it before and couldn't figure it out. The first time I tried it, I had no options. It picked a cabin for me and I couldn't change it. With your tutorial, I realized I needed to click on box at the top that says 1 room, 2 guests, change. Then I had to check the VIFP # box. After I did this, I was able to follow the rest of your tutorial.

I also have to choose the beta option each time.

I don't care for it. It seems the computer geeks at Carnival are bored again and trying to find the most complicated way to book online. :rolleyes:

dont like the new website , for us brits we can,t book on the uk site any more they have closed it, we have to book via usa site which with the exchange rate makes it more expensive , dont know why they have decided to do that

So do you not like the website or the fact that you now need to book on the US website?

Some people just don't like change no matter what the change is.

I don't mind change, but I feel that if I need a tutorial to figure the site out, then it has issues.

Too bad they call them rooms instead of cabins.

I didn't get the option to do the new way.

I don't mind change, but I feel that if I need a tutorial to figure the site out, then it has issues.

^^^^^ THIS, ABSOLUTELY! ^^^^^

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I don't mind change, but I feel that if I need a tutorial to figure the site out, then it has issues.

I agree with that. I'm a pretty tech savvy guy and it took me a couple go-rounds to figure out how to make a couple of the changes. For one, the option to change the promotional deal (e.g. Early Saver, etc.) is a tiny little link that's easy to miss. It could certainly be a bit more user friendly. With that said, I feel like once you figure out where everything is, it's really not all that bad.

Thank you SO much for doing this! I tried it once and hated it, cleared my cookies...but thanks to you wont panic when I dont have a choice later on :-)

Thanks, I appreciate it. I also got stuck on finding the promotional deal and went back to old format. At least I know if they put this through officially I'll be able to work it.

appreciate it.

Nanb