Cruise line issues warning after family's £12k cruise is cancelled following simple social media mistake

A cruise line has issued a warning after one family's £12,000 holiday was cancelled.

Tiffany Banks, from Kentucky, had booked a Carnival Cruise with her husband and four children.

But just two days before their dream getaway and Tiffany discovered that her booking had been mysteriously cancelled at the last moment.

Initially, Tiffany thought there was some sort of glitch with the booking system.

But when she phoned the company to find out what was going on, she was told that her reservation - which had set the family back thousands of pounds - had been cancelled via the online system.

Going into ‘full-blown panic’ with the family all in tears, the mum explained on TikTok: “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.”

Tiffany was adamant she did not cancel the trip and was completely baffled over what had happened.

She also claims the company refused to issue a refund.

While the cruise line offered her another room, the mum didn't feel it was an adequate replacement.

The family even headed down to the port to see if they could board, but sadly the cruise left without them.

It wasn't until later that the truth over what really happened emerged.

Turns out, the mum and her husband had accidentally shared the booking reference number of their trip on Facebook when posting a countdown to the family holiday.

And on that same day, someone made an account with Carnival and used the number before cancelling the family’s trip at the last minute.

Following the concerning incident, Carnival Cruise Line has issued a warning to others.

In it, they emphasised the importance of keeping personal booking details private - and away from social media.

They told LADbible in a statement: "While we are not going to 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."

Following the upsetting incident, Tiffany says she won't ever be travelling with Carnival Cruise Line again.