A disgruntled Carnival Cruise Line passenger released a social media video to publicly protest the sudden and unexplained cancellation of her family’s $12,000 cruise booking. After the internet rallied to support her, another video claimed it was not Carnival’s fault.
Out of sheer frustration, Tiffany Banks, a naturopathic doctor and mother of four from Lexington, Kentucky, shared her story on TikTok a week ago.
The day before her cruise, she checked her shore excursions online. She discovered a bigger problem: the Excel Presidential Suite she reserved and paid for onboard the Carnival Celebration had been canceled.Â
Banks spent hours on the phone with Carnival trying to sort the issue. The customer service rep confirmed that the booking had indeed been canceled. However, they refused to issue her a refund.
Banks stated that the best they could do was replace her pricy accommodation with two interior rooms, the ship’s most affordable staterooms—a far cry from her original booking.
“We have nearly $15,000 tied up in for this vacation… The room itself was I think $12,000 or $13,000, and then we’ve got a few grand tied up in excursions, and actually with almost $2,000 for flights,” she explained on TikTok.
@thathippiedoc We will never book with carnival again … #carnival #celebration #carnivalcelebration ♬ original sound – Tiffany Banks
Banks and her online viewers offered various theories without knowing what had transpired. The TikTok video went viral and quickly gained over 750,000 views.
“They canceled you to book a special guest with a huge tip for the accommodation. Call a lawyer!” responded one social media user.
“Get a lawyer IMMEDIATELY! Sue them for ALL of your costs—cruise, flights, hotel stay, vacation time off work, etc!!,” advised another sympathetic follower.
In the end, Banks opted to stay behind in Miami and turned down Carnival’s offer.
So, what happened to the Carnival reservation?
Banks followed up her viral video, which received over 32,000 likes, with another clip inferring that it was a case of fraudulent activity.
Another TikTok user, Kelly Thompson, explained in greater detail what had happened. Someone else logged into Carnival’s system and canceled Banks’ booking.
| In her post to the social media platform, Thompson narrated, “At some point, she posted a picture of her boarding pass online and some person took her booking number, created a fake profile on Carnival, added their booking number to their account, and then canceled her $15,000 cruise.” |
According to Thompson, Carnival still refuses to issue a refund. However, the cruise line offered Banks $10,404 in future cruise credits, contingent on her sharing on social media that Carnival has resolved the issue. Kelly has not given another update since her last video was posted.
We have tried to contact her, but it’s safe to say she’s currently inundated with requests and direct messages.
The lesson? Never share documents with personal information online.
![First Time Cruise to Europe + Cruise News [Podcast]](jpg/1681310099-msc-world-europa-maiden-call-genoa-italy-1-300x206.jpg)
