The two characters that decide your week

Carnival stateroom codes, explained

Every Carnival booking is made in a two-character category code, not in a room name. The code is what decides the deck, the position and the price — and it is the single thing most likely to be wrong when someone books themselves a “balcony” and gets a view of a lifeboat.

How to read a code

What the codes mean

Two characters. The first is the tier, the second is where on the ship — and the second is where the money goes.

First character — the tier

  • 1 — interior with upper and lower berths
  • 4 — interior
  • 6 — ocean view
  • 7 — cove, obstructed or junior balcony
  • 8 — balcony
  • 9 — premium balcony
  • Letter-letter codes are suites or themed areas: H Havana, F Family Harbor, T Terrazza, and S/G/O/J/C/V/E for the suite tiers.

Second character — the position

The letter ranks deck and location within the tier, with A the cheapest. So 8A and 8V are both balconies; one is low and forward, the other is where you would rather be. That letter, not the tier, is where the money goes.

A warning about lookalike codes

Carnival’s booking engine also uses a separate set of meta-codes on the fare grid — IS, OS, OB, SU, UL. Those collide with real category codes on this page, where OS is an Ocean Suite and OB is an obstructed junior suite. If a quote looks odd, that is usually why. Ask us.

How sure we are

V Verified
Verified on at least one current-ship source (CruiseMapper cabin page and/or a cruisedeckplans category listing) for the ships named, or seen first-hand by our agents on Carnival’s own agent booking screens.
P Partly verified
Partially verified: a single source, or a code confirmed on one ship in the class and assumed for its sisters.
U Unverified
Not found on any current source — retired-ship-only, inferred, or possibly no longer offered. Ask us to confirm before you plan around it.

Browse

By tier

Pick a tier to see what it actually is, and the first few codes that sit in it.

The full list

Every code we have on file

Filter to one hull, or search for a code, a name or a note.

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Loading stateroom categories

Which ships carry a given code is on that code’s own page — the fleet mapping is large enough that putting it in this table would make it unreadable. Filter by ship above to narrow the list to one hull.

This is the part we are for

Not sure which code you want?

That is the normal state of affairs. Tell us who is travelling and what matters — quiet, cheap, a real balcony, room for five — and we will name the category and the deck before you commit.