Carnival Reorganizes Cabin Categories

Carnival was one of the last holdouts among the mainstream lines with regard to their cabin categories. In general, they didn't segment their decks with too many cabin categories - for example if you were on Main deck, there was one oceanview category and one (sometimes two with 1A cabins) inside category. That's all about to change as they announced today a fleetwide cabin recategorization.

Since most people prefer "midship cabins", most lines have responded by making these a different category, ostensibly to make it easier to book the, but in reality to be able to have a bit higher charge for these popular cabins. Count Carnival in that company now, as their recategorization will split the decks into different zones, with potentially different categories and of course prices.

The change is effective starting with bookings made today, August 15, and will start with the Carnival Valor. Existing bookings will not be effected in pricing or cabin assignment, but all future bookings are subject to the new categories and pricing structure.

I'm actually surprised Carnival didn't go to this several years ago, when they acquired Princess as a sister company under the Carnival Corporation banner. Princess is the queen of maximizing revenue...er, prioritizing cabin categories based on location. Carnival's system is much more simple, but along the same lines.

If you have questions, give me a call!