As many {couples} do, Tiffany and Jamie Banks had been counting down the times to their household’s Japanese Caribbean cruise onboard Carnival Celebration, which they booked over a 12 months in the past.
The 6-night crusing, which embarked from Miami, Florida, with out the Banks household on Might 12, 2024, referred to as on Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; Puerto Plata/Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Nassau, Bahamas; earlier than disembarking in Miami on Might 18.
Within the time main as much as the cruise, Tiffany, who goes by @thathippiedoc on TikTok, shared her pleasure about her upcoming keep within the unique Excel Presidential Suite – the largest and most luxurious cabin onboard the Excellence-class ship.
Nevertheless, solely in the future earlier than the couple was on account of head to the port, Tiffany acquired a regarding e-mail from Carnival informing her that two of her excursions had been cancelled. She rapidly adopted up with a cellphone name, throughout which she realized her reserving had been cancelled.
The upset passenger documented her expertise in a now viral TikTok, which has garnered greater than 159,000 views on TikTok because it was posted on Might 12, 2024.
“Yesterday morning I received an e-mail from Carnival saying two of our excursions have been cancelled,” Tiffany started her video. “So at 9 o’clock I referred to as and so they mentioned your excursions have been cancelled as a result of your cabin was cancelled. Full blown panic.”
The shocked influencer spent roughly 2.5 hours on the cellphone with representatives from the cruise line, making an attempt to grasp what had occurred to her reserving and what her choices have been.
Because the one and solely presidential suite had already been booked by one other passenger of the busy crusing by the point Tiffany referred to as (Carnival Celebration can accommodate as much as 6,500 passengers), the consultant was solely capable of supply the Banks household two inside cabins as a last-ditch effort to get them onboard.
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“We talked for nearly, or over, two and half hours, and the one answer they have been keen to supply was two inside rooms – I simply can’t even fathom how they assume that’s proper – for a Presidential Excel Suite which we’ve practically $15,000 tied up in,” Tiffany mentioned.
Because the excel presidential suite value roughly $12,000 (USD) and the household had already spent round $3,000 extra in prices for extras, excursions, and airfare, Tiffany didn’t discover this answer to be passable.
How Might A Confirmed Cruise Reserving Be Cancelled With out The Household’s Consent?
A cruise line randomly cancelling a passenger’s crusing can be an especially uncommon incidence. Whereas there are uncommon situations the place a crusing is overbooked or a cruise needs to be cancelled for potential questions of safety or due to pressing repairs, what Tiffany describes on TikTok is nearly extraordinary.
Throughout the hours the TikToker spent on the cellphone with Carnival, she labored to resolve her trip’s cancellation. Initially, the cruise line thought a glitch might have occurred, however in actuality, Tiffany was a sufferer of id theft.
“The unique individual that I talked to mentioned that the system cancelled it, after which the second individual was a supervisor or lead… mentioned that the web system had been logged into and it had been cancelled,” she mentioned.
Sadly, evidently somebody was capable of log into Tiffany’s reserving and cancel her reservation – however they solely acquired entry to her reserving as a result of she posted her reserving ID and her cabin quantity on social media for all her followers to see.
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As Carnival solely requires a visitor’s final identify and reserving ID to hyperlink a cruise reservation to a brand new on-line account, it could have been easy for somebody with malicious intent to cancel the TikToker’s cruise – which on this case, the unidentified individual did 48 hours earlier than the crusing.
In a subsequent video that Tiffany posted on Might 14, 2024, the TikToker expressed her frustration with the cruise line for not offering acceptable compensation.
On the finish of the 3-minute lengthy video, which has been considered 136.5K occasions, the influencer included clips of her cellphone dialog with Carnival.
“This was not a safety breach on Carnival’s half. We strongly consider that you just have been sadly a sufferer of a type of id theft. The reserving was added to a profile that was created on our web site the identical day that the reserving quantity was posted on Fb,” the customer support consultant says on the recording.
Sadly for Tiffany, posting her non-public reserving particulars set her as much as change into a sufferer of id theft, which is her personal fault.
One TikToker, named Jenn (@cruisinwithjenn) went as far as to submit a video on Might 15 compiling all of the locations the place Tiffany shared her cruise reserving particulars publicly.
“Alright yall, in the event you submit your reserving quantity publicly. PUBLICLY. Anybody can take this info and your final identify and put it into ‘handle my reserving’ on Carnival and entry your cruise,” Jenn wrote within the caption.
“Does it make it proper, that somebody probably took this information and used it to do hurtful things- no. However why would you submit such non-public information like this publicly…that is negligence on the visitor,” continued Jenn.
Relying on the submit, social media customers are divided between siding with Tiffany or blaming her for the state of affairs.
Cruise Line And TikToker Nonetheless At Odds
As Carnival Cruise Line is probably going not chargeable for Tiffany’s cancelled cruise, the corporate technically isn’t obligated to compensate her in any means. Firm coverage explains that it’s the passenger’s duty to guard their reserving info.
“You’re solely chargeable for sustaining the confidentiality of your password and account, and are totally chargeable for all actions that happen underneath your password or account. Additionally it is your sole obligation to right away notify Carnival of any unauthorized use of your account or every other breach of safety,” reads Carnival’s cruise contract.
Even so, Carnival has tried to make issues proper – first by providing the Banks household a substitute for nonetheless be part of their supposed cruise – and in line with Tiffany’s video on Might 14, the cruise line had provided her a $10,000 future onboard cruise credit score in change for posting “a optimistic decision on social media.”
Tiffany deemed that decision as unacceptable, claiming {that a} coverage ought to have been in place to stop somebody from stealing her reservation – regardless that she publicly posted it on social media – and that if Carnival had acted quicker, she might have been capable of get better her authentic reserving.
The second difficulty is that Tiffany feels that John Heald, Carnival’s model ambassador, has disparaged her on social media.
“I’m seeing an increasing number of feedback or screenshots from individuals who have despatched stuff that John the ambassador for Carnival is stating and each simply makes it appear like he’s implying various things. One in every of them, you realize, he’s implying that I’m simply mendacity,” Tiffany mentioned in one other TikTok.
As a part of her compensation, Tiffany now desires an apology from the cruise line for making an attempt to make it appear like she was “mendacity or hiding one thing and even worse.”
However in line with Heald, Tiffany had by no means reached out to him – and there are quite a few feedback from Heald responding to curious social media customers the place he states as a lot and chooses to maintain the state of affairs non-public.
“I can actually let you know with out worry or trepidation of anyone saying in any other case that she has not posted on my web page. All she has to do is like my web page after which anyone can submit something throughout the time the web page is open…So there’s nothing additional that I will likely be saying on this till such time as both the woman herself writes to me or I’m requested to by my colleagues in Miami,” Heald responded to a Fb person.
Carnival’s model ambassador additionally reminded Fb customers that there are two sides to each story.
“We all the time take nice care of our company and there’s all the time one other aspect to every thing. If the visitor wish to talk with me instantly, I will likely be right here standing by to assist,” wrote Heald.
As of Tiffany’s most up-to-date TikTok submit on the matter, which was two days in the past on Might 18, the matter has nonetheless not been resolved.
