I was trying last night to book 2 excursions on the Carnival Glory, which is sailing on Dec. 13, 2009 for a Western Caribbean Cruise.  I could not get the booking to work and it kept taking me in a "Do Loop".  I tried today at work and got the same thing.  So I called carnival today and found out because carnival changed the itinary that we can no longer book shore excursions.  I was told that it may get fixed prior to sailing, but if it does not we will have to wait until we board the ship.  The reason I was told is because of the complicated computer glitch that happens when itinaries change and there is alot of behind the scenes work that takes place to fix it.  I was also told that carnival no longer books excursions by phone.  I really do not understand why carnival does not allow booking excursions by phone when the online does not work.  I would think the majority of individuals would book online if they could, but I would think it would be in Carnivals best interest to allow booking excursions by phone to ensure the customers remain happy.  Not to mention that you still have individuals who do not use the computer much and would think that you would want to cater to whatever mechanism is convenient for the customer. 

What's carnivals opinion on this subject?

 Not sure why they could not update their website faster than 6 weeks other than it is just not a priority.  I have a degree in Computer Science and it is not that complicated to fix unless they just don't have the man power to do it or it only impacts a few upcoming cruises so they don't feel it is worth the time to change just a few of them.

 I have never pre-booked a shore excursion other than this up coming cruise.  Never had a problem getting what I wanted.  I know the TA told us we could pre-book excursions through the agency but not sure how they do this as I just booked through Carnival site. Personally, I understand not having to pay a phone bank to take excursion calls as you know people will have a zillion questions when calling in.  If this is the case, it is best to do it onboard.

I'm sure if they don't fix the computer I should be able to book the excursions I want when I get on the ship.  The funniest part is they do answer questions on the excursions they just won't book them over the phone, which I would think the questions are the toughest part. 

Spicysalsa:

I have a degree in Computer Science and it is not that complicated to fix unless they just don't have the man power to do it

That's one of my degrees as well.  And it's fairly trivial.

But as you spend more and more time on the Carnival.com site -- both their cruise site and their babble board site -- you'll see hole after hole after hole in their applications that they continually fail to address.  Even when told about them.

Either the lack of manpower, or lacked of trained and knowledgeable manpower, or a lack of desire to assign the manpower.

It is often very frustrating.  I'm a database wonk, myself, and I see symptoms of issues that I can address in about two minutes that'd make being here so much easier for hundreds. 

I'm not sure what your problem is but we booked our shore excursions online last night with no problems.

I just tried again, still will not let me book. Not sure if you are on the same cruise as I am, which is Carnival Glory December 13th.  If you are not you probably won't have a problem, because Carnival Glory is only having a problem because of the changes in ports that they made.  I was told to keep checking back every week to see if it gets fixed prior to arriving.  I know someone else who is on the same ship and they are also having the same issues.  Either way I'm sure I'll be fine, I was just hoping to have the details finished prior to the cruise. 

We are on the Glory for the 11/29/09 sailing, booked it around 10/16/09, fully pd, and have been told ever since that the itinerary was reversed for our sailing( sometime in Sept.) and all the previously booked excursions would have to be canceled, excursion operators in ports for correct dates confirmed, and then people could book, maybe not until shipboard.  This is my third Carnival cruise, and the first time this has happened.  I've booked an outside operator for Belize, and if the web site doesn't start letting me in soon, I'll be doing the same for the others.  I don't relish leaving it to a mad rush on shipboard, nor do I look forward tofighting it out for an early tender to make outside operator plans.  Frankly, if I'd known planning through Carnival wasn't going to be available, I'd have booked another line.