A Carnival Cruise Line passenger has allegedly been banned from sailing with the company after posting a viral TikTok video that appeared to show her breaking onboard rules.
The video, posted by TikTok user Courtney Murley (@courtneynicolemurley), shows her seemingly smuggling alcohol aboard the Carnival Conquest during a trip at the end of March 2025.
The clip quickly gained traction online, garnering over 400,000 views.
“Def waited until after I got home to post this! Hahahaha but it worked,” Murley captioned the video, which showed how she concealed the alcohol in a fake tampon.
“Forget a drink package lol…. okay we ended up drinking probably what we would’ve paid for a drink package anyways, but still was fun to try and see if the rum runners would work.”
Comments flooded in, warning Murley that publicly posting about rule-breaking could have consequences.
“You post that stuff they will ban you from cruising with them,” one user wrote.
Another added: “Wow. The last thing to do is post this and when you get banned whine about it not being alcohol. You ratted yourself out.”
Soon after, rumors surfaced that Carnival had responded. A screenshot began circulating online that appeared to show an official letter from the cruise line banning Murley from future sailings.
“This letter is to inform you that you will not be able to sail onboard any Carnival Cruise Line vessel in the future due to the smuggling of alcohol onboard the Carnival Conquest on March 31st, 2025, and subsequently posting about it on social media platforms,” the unverified letter stated, per Yahoo.
It continued: “Your attempt to book a future cruise will result in cancellation and a possible loss of deposit monies.”
But in a twist, Murley later claimed the entire stunt was fake, and that no alcohol was ever actually brought onboard.
“What I’m mad about is that they are banning me for something that didn’t happen,” she said in a follow-up post, per Don's Family Vacations. “They said for smuggling alcohol. I did not smuggle alcohol. Not one ounce of alcohol was smuggled onto the ship.”
She doubled down on her denial, insisting she “did not take a single drop” of booze onto the vessel, and suggesting she only filmed the video for views, not to break the rules.
Carnival Cruise Line has not publicly confirmed whether the ban is real or if Murley’s video prompted an official response.