Family’s $15,000 Carnival Cruise spot stolen just 2 days before trip

A Kentucky family missed out on a cruise worth an eye-watering sum likely due to an identity theft scheme.
Tiffany Banks, a nurse practitioner and mom of four, took to TikTok to share that the $15,000 Carnival Cruise vacation she booked for her and her family a year ago was canceled just two days before the ship was set to sail and a day before their flight to Florida.
Upon investigating what she initially presumed was a glitch, she was told that her booking number had been accidentally shared online, which resulted in identity theft.
A Carnival spokesperson told the Daily Express US that it will not “comment on any specific guest complaint or incident.”
“it is never a good idea to post personal information about your travel plans, including a confirmation number for a booking, which could allow a bad actor or identify thief to use that information in inappropriate or even illegal ways,” the spokesperson said.
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Banks said she found out via an email about off-ship excursion cancellations, so she called to investigate.
A Carnival customer service representative told her that she had canceled her $12,000 reservation, which she paid for in full online, for the ship’s largest room.
Banks said she went into “a full-blown panic,” which brought her and her four kids to tears.
“We have nearly $15,000 tied up in for this vacation including excursions,” she explained. “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.”
Banks said she never canceled the trip and wondered if it was a system glitch.
Carnival said the room they had booked had been reserved by another customer. The company offered the family two interior rooms, which was the cheapest on the ship, but the mom felt it was insufficient.
Carnival would not offer a full refund because its cancellation policy states that no money will be returned within 15 days of the cruise date.
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She said the family flew to Miami in hopes of finding a last-minute solution, however, they were not able to get on board.
Instead, they stayed at an Airbnb in Florida and tried to make the best of their circumstances.
A few days later, Carnival called Banks to explain it determined upon investigation that she was the “victim of a form of identity theft.” They claimed there was no security breach on Carnival’s part, per a recording of the call shared on TikTok.
The clip revealed that she and her husband accidentally shared their cruise booking reference number when posting a screenshot of an email with the countdown to their vacation on Facebook a few weeks prior.
The same day they posted, a online Carnival account was created that added the booking number to their profile.
Then, 48 hours before the cruise sail date, the person canceled the family’s entire cabin booking, the rep said per a recording shared on TikTok.
Banks said Carnival told her the IP address of the person who canceled was traced to British Columbia, however, they were unable to obtain the identity of the fraudster.
The company offered her future cruise credit for $10,404 if Banks agreed to post a follow-up, “something to the effect of Carnival has now resolved the issue,” on social media.
However, Banks rejected the offer and questioned the company’s verification process after her experience.
“We’re not sailing with Carnival ever again,” she said.