Already the most visited cruise industry site on the Web, Carnival Cruise Lines’ carnival.com, continues to earn accolades, placing first in overall customer experience in a recent study commissioned by Keynote® Systems (http://www.keynote.com/), the global leader in on-demand test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online experience.

    In the annual study, eight major cruise lines and select on-line travel agency Web sites were evaluated by a panel of more than 2,400 consumers, 50 percent of whom are experienced cruisers.

The carnival.com site earned top honors in the overall Keynote Customer Experience Index for the first time and placed first in three different categories: Keynote Customer Satisfaction Index, which evaluates consumers’ satisfaction as they complete tasks on the site; Keynote Brand Impact, which measures consumers’ perception of the company’s on-line presence; and Keynote Customer Conversion Impact; which indicates visitors’ desire to return to the site.

    Study participants also acknowledged carnival.com for its ease of use, overall design and organization, research capabilities and customer support.  Carnival.com was also perceived by participants as being “exciting,” “fun,” and “friendly” and offering “good value” – all of which are core elements of the brand.

“The Web is the perfect vehicle for consumers to dream and plan their cruise vacations and travel agents tell us that better online content creates a more engaged and motivated customer,” said Jim Berra, Carnival’s chief marketing officer.  “Keynote’s Customer Experience study validates that we are on the right track as we continue to enhance the site’s content, design and functionality.”

“In analyzing consumers’ experiences with carnival.com, Keynote found that consumers cited appealing special offers, easy navigation, bright colors and fun photos all as reasons they’d want to come back to carnival.com when researching their next cruise,” said Christopher Musto, general manager of Keynote’s competitive research group.

With more than 5 million visitors a month, carnival.com is the most popular cruise line site on the Internet, offering a wide variety of information on the “Fun Ship” vacation experience.  Through an unmatched combination of vibrant images and informative videos and content, along with a user-friendly navigation and layout, carnival.com provides visitors with a comprehensive overview of the line’s ships, destinations, shore excursions, on-board offerings and more.

The site continues to evolve with new features added on a regular basis. Most recently, carnival.com has been expanded to include a micro-site focusing exclusively on the new 130,000-ton Carnival Dream, the line’s newest and largest ship set to debut September 21. Located at carnival.com/dream, the site utilizes exclusive images, videos, interviews and blogs to showcase the ship’s many on-board innovations and features.

    Carnival is the largest and most popular cruise line with 22 “Fun Ships” operating three- to 16-day voyages to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, Canada, New England, Bermuda, and Europe. The line currently has two new 130,000-ton ships scheduled for delivery between now and 2011.