Has Anyone Figured Out the New Carnival Web Site?

[cruzzza]

Where is the "bait & switch". Re-naming the "categories doesn't make it "Bait & Switch" You simply convert your old Category to the new Deck-Fwd/mid/aft Categorization and follow the menus and if the cabin fare is lower than your current cabin fare, submit your claim? ken

Since the ES form requires you to submit a separate fare for each person, where do you suppose we get this information???? And, no, I can't divide the total by 3 because the 3rd person rate isn't the same as the 1st/2nd. They have made it impossible to determine these fares on their website. When you have an obscure category booked with more than two people, it's not as simple as you would have us believe.

 

And no, they didn't re-name the categories. The old categories are still there, they just hid the pricing information from us.

[blyle]

I don't believe that as true. As I recall, the charging more for mid-ship than forward and aft just began within the last few years. It used to be each entire deck was the same price.

 

But if no one else remembers it that way maybe I'm imagining things.

 

You are correct~~~ Back in the Bob Dickinson days all cabins on the same deck were the same price no matter what the location except the suites were more. Carnival was the easiest to book, no need for a TA. All you did was find your deck and choose a cabin and it was all the same price. Then Gerry Cahill came in and since then things have changed and not for the better if you ask me. We've taken many cruises and have watched it change.

[flyawayca]

I just wish I could get the page to load :mad: It just has the circle thing going saying "Loading search results". Doesn't matter how many times I try, clean out cookies, etc.

 

I have an ES rate booked for my cruise in May and hate the fact that they have made it so difficult for me to look for price drops. I have better ways to spend my spare time.

[Ken076]

I don't believe that as true. As I recall, the charging more for mid-ship than forward and aft just began within the last few years. It used to be each entire deck was the same price.

 

But if no one else remembers it that way maybe I'm imagining things.

 

No you're correct!!! I should have said "It's been the case for quite some time, and isn't being introduced with the new layout"!!!

 

ken

[Ken076]

Since the ES form requires you to submit a separate fare for each person, where do you suppose we get this information???? And, no, I can't divide the total by 3 because the 3rd person rate isn't the same as the 1st/2nd. They have made it impossible to determine these fares on their website. When you have an obscure category booked with more than two people, it's not as simple as you would have us believe.

 

And no, they didn't re-name the categories. The old categories are still there, they just hid the pricing information from us.

 

I spoke with the Department that handles the ES Price Adjustment requests; you only have to compare the total Cabin Cost for your current ES fare with the total cabin cost as displayed in the new layout, and submit same and they will take care of the details. It really doesn't matter as the ES price match is computed on the total cabin fare for all the passengers anyway.

 

for the purposes of the new layout, they've dispensed with the old Category system - you'll see the old nomenclature eventually disappear and be replaced by Deck-Fwd/Mid/Aft "identifier".

 

ken

[Mary Ellen1]

Hi there,

 

Here's what I learned: don't get hung up on the cabin category. Forget about it. Try to price a cabin that is nearly identical to what you've booked: same deck, same location (forward/mid/aft), same type (inside, OV, balcony, suite). If cabins that are "twins" to yours have come down in price, you'll get the OBC price difference.

 

I got $70 OBC today. I booked a 4C, but Carnival is now upgrading new 4A bookings to my same deck & location. "Twin" cabins to mine are $35pp cheaper than what I paid, hence the $70 OBC.

[Ken076]

Hi there,

 

Here's what I learned: don't get hung up on the cabin category. Forget about it. Try to price a cabin that is nearly identical to what you've booked: same deck, same location (forward/mid/aft), same type (inside, OV, balcony, suite). If cabins that are "twins" to yours have come down in price, you'll get the OBC price difference.

 

I got $70 OBC today. I booked a 4C, but Carnival is now upgrading new 4A bookings to my same deck & location. "Twin" cabins to mine are $35pp cheaper than what I paid, hence the $70 OBC.

 

....or just locate your exact cabin on your ship's DeckPlans under the FunShips link, and see that it's in the Fwd/Aft/Midship sections. ken

[Mary Ellen1]

....or just locate your exact cabin on your ship's DeckPlans under the FunShips link, and see that it's in the Fwd/Aft/Midship sections. ken

 

Exactly! The cabin that's a twin to mine *was* considered a 4A. Now, it's just a Midship/Interior/Deck 2. Twin to my cabin and $35pp cheaper. :)

[DGP1111]

I don't believe that as true. As I recall, the charging more for mid-ship than forward and aft just began within the last few years. It used to be each entire deck was the same price.

 

But if no one else remembers it that way maybe I'm imagining things.

 

Correct.

[cruzzza]

OK, so I guess I can go along with this if it means that the old category system is done away with - rather than them just simply not showing it to us in the pricing. If they are trying to simplify categories, then they should have at least warned us rather than letting us think they are being sneaky by hiding the info.

 

I do still have a problem with them not telling us pp price, however. That's how I compare cruises and it's a much easier way to quickly at a glance look at different dates and cruises, or even compare different categories on the same cruise. I really want a "chart" type of pp list to be reinstated. That opinion of mine won't change.

 

I guess if I am lucky enough to be able to get a price drop, I'll submit the ES form and leave the pp prices blank. Is that how we're supposed to do it?

[marcyjane]

ken

 

 

Ken, My sailing is for Novermber 14, 2010 on Freedom Lido Deck which is or was 8E cabin 9282. My orginal booking was ES cat. 8C cabin I believe 6*** something.

I'm now showing according to Carnvial listed as booking Past Guest although in the beginning I did book early saver and for some reason with out my knowledge due to a sale that was before my final payment Carnival was offering 8c to free upgrade to 8E and changed me to past guest. The cruise was paid in full at the end of August a few days before our final payment was due so it's paid in full. I was just hoping for a OBC now as Past Guest.

Thanks,

Marcy

[lovepea]

How do I track prices for the category 1A room I have booked? Other 1A rooms are still available for my cruisedate but I cannot get access to the price through the website.

[k2excursion]

ken

 

Ken, you've given some great advice on this thread, and helped many of us figure this crazy thing out. But, there's one monsterous thing that has yet to be answered: how in the world do we find the price for a 1A??? I know that it won't technically be called a 1A anymore, but what is it? I can't find it anywhere on the website. It was somewhat hidden on the old system, always cheaper than the cheapest price they were stating. If it's somewhere hidden with this new system, I haven't found it yet. Have you? or has anyone else? I have a 1A porthole, and there's no doubt that my room has not been reclassified as simply a porthole room.

 

Even though this new system can be figured out, and we can learn to work with it, there's no doubt that it is now more difficult to research for future cruises. I pull up countless cruises every month, and pull up that page showing the pp price of all categories, to get a good idea of what I might want to do and what kind of room I might want. Doing this keeps cruising on my mind and makes me more likely to book another cruise. But I now have to go through about 10 more steps for each cruise, plus write down everything and calculate things myself, to get the information I need. I don't have time for that, which means less opportunity for Carnival to tempt me to go for another cruise. Now, RCCL will have more opportunity to tempt me, since I can see what I need to see with much fewer steps there. Doesn't sound like good business to me, but I understand that if I'm in an extreme minority on this, Carnival won't miss me.

[hill6]

the new website is horribly confusing to use. took a few tries but I got the price I wanted

[beachseasand]

How do I track prices for the category 1A room I have booked? Other 1A rooms are still available for my cruisedate but I cannot get access to the price through the website.

 

I have called Carnival and had a ESolutions specialist try to coach me thru the website to check a 1A category. LO and behold it could not be done. The specialist stated we would have to call Carnival and check our 1A price. They did tell us they were going to notify web design about this glitch in the system. He could give no estimate on how long it will take to fix it or even if it will be fixed.

 

Not too happy with Carinival right now:mad:

[Ken076]

I have called Carnival and had a ESolutions specialist try to coach me thru the website to check a 1A category. LO and behold it could not be done. The specialist stated we would have to call Carnival and check our 1A price. They did tell us they were going to notify web design about this glitch in the system. He could give no estimate on how long it will take to fix it or even if it will be fixed.

 

Not too happy with Carinival right now:mad:

 

I noticed that and I'm researching that quirk? My guess is that the old CAT 1A's, which now have 200% supplement like any other cabin, are going to be merged with all the Inside categorizations & their associated pricing by deck and fwd/mid/aft location - so a "CAT 1A on Deck 3 might in the future be more expensive than a CAT 1A on Deck 1. We'll see. ken

[Ken076]

I just noticed that the Ship DeckPlans under FunShips include the new Category Identifiers for Deck-Fwd/Mid/Aft alongside the old Category identifier. All you have to do is locate your Cabin and old Category on the DeckPlan and there will be a cross-reference to the new Category. Then proceed to the new menu system to determine the Cabin's fare.

 

I'm told that you can submit ES Price Adjustment form with your current total fare for the cabin (not to include Govt Fees & Taxes) and the current total fare for the cabin from the new layout (not to include Govt Fees and Taxes). If you want, you can calculate the PAX 1/2 fares by entering two travelers, then repeat the process entering 3 Passengers to determine the PAX 3/4 fare, by subtracting.

 

CAT 1A's look to be a special case, whether by intent or accident I don't know yet. I'm wondering if they've been blended into regular Inside Cabins instead of being identified as a separate "category".

 

ken

[DGP1111]

CAT 1A's look to be a special case, whether by intent or accident I don't know yet. I'm wondering if they've been blended into regular Inside Cabins instead of being identified as a separate "category".

 

Ken, my personal assumption would be they would have to remain a separate category, otherwise that budget-minded couple who chose the least expensive cabin (or have it selected by a travel agent) would open the door and be quite surprised to realize they'd be sleeping separately for the next few evenings.

[maryann2]

 

CAT 1A's look to be a special case, whether by intent or accident I don't know yet. I'm wondering if they've been blended into regular Inside Cabins instead of being identified as a separate "category".

 

ken

 

Watch out all those who book "guarantee inside" LOL.

[near the beach]

If Categories are going to be a thing of the past Carnival should remove them from all the ship deck plans. Ship deck plans still show all the Categories.

[Ken076]

If Categories are going to be a thing of the past Carnival should remove them from all the ship deck plans. Ship deck plans still show all the Categories.

 

IMO the old categories will disappear - note that they new categories are displayed alongside the old Categories on the FunShips DeckPlans, presumably as a transition! ken

[CruisinManiac]

....or just locate your exact cabin on your ship's DeckPlans under the FunShips link, and see that it's in the Fwd/Aft/Midship sections. ken

 

I had trouble trying to decide if my cabin was Forward or Mid-ship. Decided it was Forward, clicked on Forward, and no cabin. :rolleyes: Went to Mid-ship an there it was! Just printed out my luggage tags and guess what...they say Forward. lol :rolleyes:

 

Anyway, got our $40 OBC.

 

UPDATE: Ken, I just checked the deck plans and don't see any difference. Could you direct me to a link?

[vacation_junkie]

the new website is horribly confusing to use. took a few tries but I got the price I wanted

 

It won't let me check a 4S when I change thet ravellers to 3 people. It says Panorama is not available..does that mean its sold out?

[crp640]

So, if they are really phasing out the old cabin categories then as long as I found a lower rate for a cabin in the same area - ie my 8E balcony is now a Lido Midship Balcony (and if I recall correctly, Panorama Forward was also 8E...), it wouldn't matter if the cabin was that lower rate because of a free upgrade (ie, a past guest rate with an 8A to 8E upgrade)? In some ways, that makes ES better - or well, more fair to people who commit to a higher category early. I feel the "free" upgrades they often offer so often on the past guest rate are used to fill a higher category without lowering the higher category's fare by $20-$50pp, thus protecting carnival from issuing price adjustments to people already booked in that category.

 

On the other hand, if they've old cabin categories still exist, just are hidden away in some database...and still matter when requesting a price protection...then the new site really does just benefit them.

 

Did anyone else notice that you can no longer manually change the booking codes? Despite unchecking over 55 and checking past guest and New York, in the old booking system, I'd sometimes end up at a screen that show the fun select, fun saver and senior rate but not past guest or residency. So I'd just continue to the next screen where I'd have the option to change the booking details and could then fill in the proper booking codes (dp3 for past guest or pr5 for residency) and to see what was available at those rates, if they were available (granted, it wouldn't necessarily tell me if my state were eligible for the residency rate at the time).

(just found a work around or this one - i need to make sure that the url ends with &isOver55=N&isPastGuest=Y&stateCode=NY)

 

And while they do they price the upsells per day, which from a sales standpoint makes sense - $8.60pp/day sounds so much nicer than $120, it will show you on the left the total price for each of your choices - category subtype (ie, extend aft balcony, picture window, etc), location (fwd, aft, midship) and deck that you chose to the left - so that doesn't really bother me. Although I do miss looking just at the catagory list - so much easier to make a quick price comparison.

 

If they are going to still require people to price match to "old" cabin category that they booked ES, they should make that information visible, even if it's just until everything is transitioned. Not cause the way it not only creates more hassle for us, it'll cause them problems too - they want pvps want to be booking people, they don't want to be fielding daily calls from people who just want to know what their existing category's rate is. And they want whomever processes the early saver price protection forms to not waste their time denying claims that never would have been filed if people had known the cabin category for a rate really was.

[cruzzza]

So, if they are really phasing out the old cabin categories then as long as I found a lower rate for a cabin in the same area - ie my 8E balcony is now a Lido Midship Balcony (and if I recall correctly, Panorama Forward was also 8E...), it wouldn't matter if the cabin was that lower rate because of a free upgrade (ie, a past guest rate with an 8A to 8E upgrade)? In some ways, that makes ES better - or well, more fair to people who commit to a higher category early. I feel the "free" upgrades they often offer so often on the past guest rate are used to fill a higher category without lowering the higher category's fare by $20-$50pp, thus protecting carnival from issuing price adjustments to people already booked in that category.

 

On the other hand, if they've old cabin categories still exist, just are hidden away in some database...and still matter when requesting a price protection...then the new site really does just benefit them.

 

Did anyone else notice that you can no longer manually change the booking codes? Despite unchecking over 55 and checking past guest and New York, in the old booking system, I'd sometimes end up at a screen that show the fun select, fun saver and senior rate but not past guest or residency. So I'd just continue to the next screen where I'd have the option to change the booking details and could then fill in the proper booking codes (dp3 for past guest or pr5 for residency) and to see what was available at those rates, if they were available (granted, it wouldn't necessarily tell me if my state were eligible for the residency rate at the time).

(just found a work around or this one - i need to make sure that the url ends with &isOver55=N&isPastGuest=Y&stateCode=NY)

 

And while they do they price the upsells per day, which from a sales standpoint makes sense - $8.60pp/day sounds so much nicer than $120, it will show you on the left the total price for each of your choices - category subtype (ie, extend aft balcony, picture window, etc), location (fwd, aft, midship) and deck that you chose to the left - so that doesn't really bother me. Although I do miss looking just at the catagory list - so much easier to make a quick price comparison.

 

If they are going to still require people to price match to "old" cabin category that they booked ES, they should make that information visible, even if it's just until everything is transitioned. Not cause the way it not only creates more hassle for us, it'll cause them problems too - they want pvps want to be booking people, they don't want to be fielding daily calls from people who just want to know what their existing category's rate is. And they want whomever processes the early saver price protection forms to not waste their time denying claims that never would have been filed if people had known the cabin category for a rate really was.

 

WELL SAID. I agree with everything you said, and I do so miss being able to compare pp rates (easily) with different ships, sailing dates, and cruise lines. C'mon, give us our pp rate chart back!