Simple UX Sells — Choose Fun with Carnival Cruise
Analyzing website UX for the Carnival Cruise website on desktop and mobile.
What is UX?
UX stands for “User Experience.” User experience refers to the interactions a user has with a company, product, or service. UX is important because it focuses on fulfilling a user’s needs and aims to provide a positive experience. When looking at website UX, having an easy to navigate website with no confusion and great design allows users to have a seamless process and ensures a positive digital experience. The experience a user has with a website can affect business success.
First Impression
Despite the coronavirus still existing, people are still going on cruises. “Life goes on.” In the meantime, let’s take a look at the Carnival Cruise website.
First impressions are important. When looking at the homepage of the Carnival Cruise website, I found the design to be simple and clean. The font looks great, the colors complement each other well, and the images give off a fun and exciting vibe, which reflects the personality of the brand.
There are different navigations at the top to explore, plan, and manage. Without having to scroll through the homepage, we can already see an option to search for cruises to book based on location, dates, and duration. This is useful for someone who enters the site with a purpose to find or search for a cruise. As we scroll down the homepage, we can find deals and explore different destinations. At the bottom of the page, we can find links to their social media pages and an “Away We Go” page. This page has written articles by the Carnival Cruise Line to persuade you to go on a cruise and book with Carnival.
Whitespace helps balance elements on a page and makes it easier for users to navigate through the content. Although there is not a lot of whitespace, I did not find the information on the site to be overwhelming or cluttered.
Overall, I think the website is innovate and insightful. The aesthetics were visually pleasing and on point. It was a pleasure to use for the most part, but I believe that there can be some improvements. Responsive design is the ability for content to adjust to different screen sizes and devices. I do not believe that the Carnival Cruise website employed responsive design because it does not automatically adjust the website when the zoom changes or when the browser gets resized.
Similarly, when looking at the UX for mobile, the same things can be said about the font, colors, and images since these were consistent. A difference I noticed was that the desktop had a banner with a specified amount of time left for a deal, which was not seen on mobile. In addition, I believe that the responsive design for mobile can be improved.
The content on their website and social media pages are entertaining, convincing, and educational. Based on the content published, I think it is user-centered and easy to convert customers. People can go into the website and find what they are looking for, learn more about cruise options, and explore different cruise destinations.
Currently, there is no AI used. There is a “Contact Us” page with phone numbers to help with booking, questions, and technical support. The website can take advantage of this option and have AI for customer service in the form of chatbots. Having chatbots can help facilitate customer support, engage visitors, improve customer satisfaction and lead to an increase in conversion rates. With AI increasing efficiency and transforming the way businesses operate, I look forward to seeing Carnival Cruise employing AI on their website.
