A family's was left heartbroken after learning that their $15,000 Carnival Cruise had been canceled just days before they were due to depart.
And it was all down to a common social media blunder.
Tiffany Banks and her family were left devastated after finding out that the vacation they had planned for over a year was canceled due to a case of identity left.
The family, from Kentucky, were all excited to be going on their trip, but less than 48 hours before the ship was supposed to set sail from Florida, Tiffany was shocked to find an email from Carnival confirming her cancelation of their places.
The mom had booked the ship's largest room - the Excel Presidential Suite - for $12,000, and paid an extra two to three thousand for different excursions set to take place while they were on the trip.
But all that excitement was snatched from them after an online fraudster created an account pretending to be her and canceled the entire vacation.
In a video posted to TikTok, Tiffany recalled the events.
“We have nearly $15,000 tied up in for this vacation including excursions. 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 said in a video posted to the platform on May 12.
After panicking, she rang up the company to try and get to the bottom of the issue, but was told that another customer had already reserved the room she lost.
Instead, they offered the family two interior rooms, which were the cheapest on the ship, but Tiffany was not satisfied with the replacement.
After further investigation, it was discovered that there had been a security breach and someone with an IP address leading back to British Columbia had created an account using Tiffany's booking number.
However, the company stressed that it was not a mistake on their end and instead cited a screenshot of a countdown email containing the family's booking reference which was posted to Facebook.
That same day someone added the number from the email to their Carnival profile and canceled the booking.
The company offered her future cruise credit for $10,404 contingent on the mom posting on social media “something to the effect of Carnival has now resolved the issue.”
But Banks was still not satisfied with their response, and instead questioned how someone was able to access her details so easily with just a booking reference.
“We’re not sailing with Carnival ever again,” she said in an emotional update video.
People were divided on the issue.
"I’ve been invested in this story and I am appalled that a company as big as Carnival is so greedy that they didn’t refund you immediately. I’ll never cruise with them!" wrote one user, while another added: "I don’t understand why they can’t simply issue a full refund!! So upsetting."
A third also chimed in stating: "You shouldn’t be able to cancel or modify any reservation that easily. It’s ridiculous!!!"
However, others blamed the mother for posting the reference number online.
"I definitely feel for you but you cannot post a booking number online and Carnival will do what they can to get out of paying you back. I would take the $10,000 credit, or more, and rebook," this TikToker commented under one of Tiffany's updates.
Another agreed, writing: "Girl, take the Carnival credit, book balcony rooms, use the rest for excursions and food, and take the vacation you deserve! Chalk this up to a life lesson (for us all)! So sorry this happened!"
In an update, the family stated that they tried to get on the ship on the day but were refused access so they booked a "cute" AirBnB instead, though they would have rather been on the cruise.
Carnival has not yet publicly made a statement addressing the issue.
