I hate this new Carnival site, anyone else?

[luv2trvlnow]

I'm sure it feels fun to say that but it simply isn't true. Marketing is actually a real thing and it actually does make a big difference with regard to the success of an enterprise. Just good people doing good work, maligned for no good reason.

 

And I can tell you from both third-party observation and first-hand experience companies couldn't care less about web developers keeping their jobs! :)

 

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

So I assume you are associated with marketing which was my thought. I am not maligning those people. They are doing what they believe. But they are only one part of a large company like Carnival.

I have had marketing classes in college, comes with a degree in Business Administration. But all CEO's have to increase that bottom line and that means they will make changes. If publicly traded the stock price must rise. Marketing will look for a different way to make that happen. Web developers will make a website, but they always seem to have some problems. So much time, energy, and money has been invested in that website, so they need them to help fix it. Therefore the web developers keep their jobs. It takes time and money to start over with another web developer which will affect the bottom line. Sometimes it should and does happen.

 

I am sorry you feel attacked. But unless you are the one responsible for the current Carnival website I hope you won't take people's unhappiness with the website so personally.

[Towel Critter]

The solution is simple. Go to a certain site with the initials VTG, which has a wonderful search engine that allows you to fill in search criteria at the start of your search, find a cruise or two you like (which couldn't be easier with this search engine), then go to Carnival to compare prices (which are usually the same) and book. Browsing cruises at the Carnival site is a pain in the a**. Not trying to push the other travel site, just their search engine. I think Carnival has over-thought the whole process. Everybody wants to reinvent the wheel these days. And you know what? Simpler is almost always better.

[bUU]

So I assume you are associated with marketing which was my thought. I am not maligning those people. They are doing what they believe. But they are only one part of a large company like Carnival.

During my career as an accredited third-party, my primary responsibility was the evaluation of corporate strategy and operations management, and that included the work of marketing groups and other groups that contributed to customer satisfaction and loyalty. So I know very well that they are one part of a large company.

 

But all CEO's have to increase that bottom line and that means they will make changes.

Change or die. Absolutely.

 

Web developers will make a website, but they always seem to have some problems. So much time, energy, and money has been invested in that website, so they need them to help fix it.

I think the "problems" are a red herring. That's not what people are responding to. The primary negative responses are to what is actually working as it should on the website. In a way, things being deliberately changed in a direction that people don't like inspires even more vitriol than actual problems.

 

I am sorry you feel attacked.

I was never a marketing researcher, myself, but I don't like it when people casually attack good people doing a good job no matter who they are. It think that sort of thing fosters a bad direction within society itself. And I'm especially concerned about this confounding of (legitimate) concerns about (comparatively minor) problems with the software and the (illegitimate) concerns about marketing's professional discretion as if affects our customer experience. Things are going to be changing, and there's no "consumers revolution" coming anytime soon, so that's not the direction that things are changing. I keep wondering how demonizing of marketing actually helps anyone enjoy their cruise vacations better. By contrast, understanding marketing by way of respecting it and learning about why they're doing what they're doing may actually help someone enjoy their cruise vacations better, since they wouldn't feel that they're being subjected to something "lesser" due to negligence.

[spiritkat090909]

Yes...hate it. Yesterday...entering gift certificates and the website FROZE (Firefox) and one of the certificates got 'lost' in internet land. Emailed my pvp and it was 'found' when I looked this morning. So no loss...but really freaked me out overnight. I long for the old easy to use pick this, this and this ON THE SAME PAGE without having to load, load, load to get to the bottom line. I have started using other websites/companies to find rates and THEN go to book on carnival, or just tell my pvp...what I found/where. OR...sometimes...since I have found a better rate on those OTHER sites, book on Carnival THEN transfer to the other agency. The new makes me do more work...but I find savings ELSEWHERE.

[crusinpsychRN]

Is the VTG site all phone calls or can you book on line?

[Towel Critter]

Is the VTG site all phone calls or can you book on line?

I can't answer that definitively, since it's been a few years since I booked through them. I believe I called the couple of times I booked through them, but on line may be an option now for all I know. I just go there for the search engine these days. The couple of times I did book with them I got good customer service though and zero issues. Sorry I can't answer your question.

[Towel Critter]

Just looked and it's still phone calls only. There IS a form you can fill out to have them call you about the cruise you are looking at. Now that I think about it, the lack of on line booking is likely why I don't book through them anymore. I'm not really a "phone person." You can't beat their search engine though. Fill in a few fields and boom! You get a page filled with every cruise that matches your criteria. Couldn't be simpler or faster.

[crusinpsychRN]

I've been fighting with the CCL site all day. The number of guests is in a weird place, easy to overlook. Tells me no cabins in my search criteria for a cruise in April of 2018. Other on line sites have plenty of cabins I searched for. Having to search through dates is also a pain. Just put the dates up!

[Towel Critter]

I've been fighting with the CCL site all day. The number of guests is in a weird place, easy to overlook. Tells me no cabins in my search criteria for a cruise in April of 2018. Other on line sites have plenty of cabins I searched for. Having to search through dates is also a pain. Just put the dates up!

I could not agree more on the hidden dates. That is the single biggest irritant for me and a prime reason I search for cruises elsewhere.:mad:

[Live to Dream]

It is terrible!

 

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[n6uqqq]

I've been fighting with the CCL site all day. The number of guests is in a weird place, easy to overlook. Tells me no cabins in my search criteria for a cruise in April of 2018. Other on line sites have plenty of cabins I searched for. Having to search through dates is also a pain. Just put the dates up!

 

Exactly my problem. Tried to Search Miracle cruise for Nov 4 2018 two people extended balcony. Comes up not available on Carnival but there are dozens of rooms available. Called Carnival tech support to let them know of issue but all they wanted to do was transfer me to phone booking agent.

[BamaLady#13]

Apparently they plan on going out of business soon. Any company that decides to stop making their product available, looses customer base, sales stop, profits go to zero, company goes bankrupt. Glad I don't own stock. Bye bye Carnival.

[E@syPe@zy]

Exactly my problem. Tried to Search Miracle cruise for Nov 4 2018 two people extended balcony. Comes up not available on Carnival but there are dozens of rooms available. Called Carnival tech support to let them know of issue but all they wanted to do was transfer me to phone booking agent.

Bingo! I was just thinking that the web site makes people call their PVP or find a TA.

[bUU]

I'm unclear about what we get out of ignoring reasons why the cruise line would be doing what they're doing.

 

 

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

Edited June 11, 2017 by bUU

[bUU]

That seems very reasonable but that's about the result not about the reason or lack thereof.

 

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

[bUU]

No. I prefer someone else have the last word that explains what I'm unclear about.

 

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

[Drazil65]

I just needed to get use to the new format but the initial search setup where you want to sail from and in what month/year was same as always. Once I get the page of all the cruises for that criteria, then the new format kicked in, found the number of guests once I chose the cabin type and price type selection.

 

Once the number of guests was put in I was able to see all the deck choices. Choose a deck, front, middle or back and it will show you the available cabins. It seemed to take a little longer to get to the end result to choose a cabin but it worked out.

 

It is different and a change, will take a little working with it like anything else that is new. I was able to book a cruise for 2018 with little trouble although slower than normal. Not sure I like the new format or not, its just new that is all.

[tlw440]

I don't like the new site.

[Towel Critter]

Yep it is new/different/reinvented/reimagined, etc, etc, etc... Those things don't inevitably mean improvement though (anybody remember "New Coke?"). User friendly products and services are always preferable... at least from the customer's point of view. Perhaps there IS a reason Carnival chooses to go with such an unwieldy search format and perhaps they do benefit from it some cases - though I'm dubious about that - but I have to think that of the folks who are put off by it and resort to searching on a different site, where competing cruise lines are present, a few might end up finding a better cruise/deal with a different line, which negates any monetary benefit Carnival might theoretically get from the practice. In fact, that has happened with me. A business that offers a good product at a fair price, offers good customer service, and is always mindful of the needs and opinions of their customers, and makes it as easy and simple as possible for customers to BUY their product will always win out in the end.

[summersigh]

When I click on links for FAQs I often get

Bad Request

 

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.

Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.

 

Doesn't matter if I'm using Firefox or Microsoft's Internet program

This is the only site where I have these problems.

Also when searching for a cruise I often have to click each filter (like date) 3 or 4 times before it registers.

 

Takes the fun out of searching :(

[MamatoJack]

I find it frustrating, asks me to put in my VIFP to check discounts, do so and it never registers or gives me the "past guest" discounts... I am just not clear on what the advantages of the changes were supposed to be for people trying to book? I like to price out a few cruises for the same period to help me choose, compare prices. I like to compare the prices for interior vs outside, and it is much harder now to switch between them, if I can even get it to work and show me the prices for the deal I want.

[E@syPe@zy]

Yep it is new/different/reinvented/reimagined, etc, etc, etc... Those things don't inevitably mean improvement though (anybody remember "New Coke?"). User friendly products and services are always preferable... at least from the customer's point of view. Perhaps there IS a reason Carnival chooses to go with such an unwieldy search format and perhaps they do benefit from it some cases - though I'm dubious about that - but I have to think that of the folks who are put off by it and resort to searching on a different site, where competing cruise lines are present, a few might end up finding a better cruise/deal with a different line, which negates any monetary benefit Carnival might theoretically get from the practice. In fact, that has happened with me. A business that offers a good product at a fair price, offers good customer service, and is always mindful of the needs and opinions of their customers, and makes it as easy and simple as possible for customers to BUY their product will always win out in the end.

Bravo! Well Put! Exactly...the "New Coke"!

Amazon doesn't seem to have a problem with making its site user friendly and it appears they have made a nice profit by following 2 important guidelines; user friendly and ample choice.

I am so tired of outsourced, over-paid third parties making recommendations to companies that have far too little understanding of the company or it's customers and refuse to accept the simple facts of human nature. And that simple fact is that we want to see "all" of the available choices and the pricing in a quick user friendly fashion.

I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the Carnival web site and spent far too much time getting far less information than I can get from other online travel sites. So that leads me to exit out of Carnival's web site. Is that what Carnival wants?? Seems counter productive to me if they do. But...hey if that's what their consultants tell them and they agree, then by all means...continue on that path. Who am I to disagree with such amazing ingenuity? Luckily I have the freedom to spend my $$ where I choose.

And I have decided if I do choose Carnival, I will use a travel agent of my choice. At least they will get paid to traverse that joke of a website.

[summersigh]

I just tried to do a mock booking for the Magic in December - it was very, very confusing and I've done this bunches of times on the "old program" :(

"New and Improved" is a phrase that never seems to bode well .... I normally prefer to wait until it's "new and improved and the bugs worked out" before investing my time :p

I taught school for years and perhaps that's where I developed my phobia :D Every time we got a new program that we were expected to implement up and running and actually showing some promise ... somebody with a pay grade way above mine decided we needed something NEW!!! .

........... sigh ............

[sammee]

When I click on links for FAQs I often get

Bad Request

 

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.

Size of a request header field exceeds server limit.

 

Doesn't matter if I'm using Firefox or Microsoft's Internet program

This is the only site where I have these problems.

Also when searching for a cruise I often have to click each filter (like date) 3 or 4 times before it registers.

 

Takes the fun out of searching :(

 

I was getting that garbage too. Clearing cache/cookies fixed the browser error. Wish it would clear the new site problem

[Gigi115]

I have been fussing to myself about it the last few days. I don't like it at all, and it quits working so often, then I have to start all over. :mad: