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Carnival Sends Sanctions Reminder To Travel Partners
Carnival has issued a reminder to travel partners and agents about international sanctions laws and not being permitted to book travelers who reside in certain geographical regions. The cruise line is required to be in compliance with applicable laws from the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union.
In turn, travel agents booking sailings for Carnival Cruise Line and all cruise lines owned by Carnival Corporation are likewise required to be in compliance with those laws for the associated cruise lines.
"In response to the adoption of increased Sanctions Laws following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, all Carnival brands previously implemented a policy to no longer sell cruises, including through any travel agent partners, to guests resident in Russia, Belarus, the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine," the email reminder read.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. At that time, cruise lines quickly began cancelling port visits to Russia – visits that have not yet resumed as tensions remain ongoing.
The US, UK, and EU have all adopted financial sanctions against Russia and associated regions. In the US, these sanctions are handled through the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence from the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control.
These economic sanctions are intended to have direct consequences on the Russian Federation's economy in the hopes of impacting war efforts and other aggressive actions.
A cruise might seem to be a relatively innocuous transaction, not having anything to do with weapons, training, or other direct aggressive activities. It is important to remember, however, that a cruise supports local retailers, hotels, restaurants, travel agents, tour guides, and more, even far outside designated ports of call.
This reminder applies to all cruise lines owned by Carnival Corporation & plc, including Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, P&O Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, and luxury line Seabourn.
Furthermore, the reminder also encompasses other regions currently under economic sanctions. This includes Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and the Crimea region of Ukraine.
"You are required to continue to ensure that you do not accept any booking from a guest resident in any Restricted Countries/Regions," the email clarified.
"We would like to reiterate the importance of ensuring accurate guest details are input into our booking systems; in particular we require that you collect full details of each guest's residency address at the time of booking and input this accurately into our booking system."
Travel partners and travel agencies working with Carnival Corporation & plc are also obligated to ensure they have adequate technical measures in place to prevent guests in those restricted areas from making bookings through online portals or websites.
Read Also: How Russia's Invasion of Ukraine Is Impacting the Cruise Industry
All finance and legal departments, individual agents, and customer-facing staff need to be apprised of these restrictions so everyone will be in compliance.
The email from Carnival Corporation & plc does not detail what penalties may be implemented if a travel partner was to create bookings for guests from restricted regions.
The US Department of the Treasury, however, stipulates that "civil monetary penalties of up to the greater of $250,000 or twice the amount of the underlying transaction may be imposed administratively against any person who violates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a violation" of the applicable restrictions.
It is also likely that Carnival could revoke an agency's partnership or may impose their own financial penalties or loss of commissions if such transactions were noted, though such penalties have not been confirmed.
Fortunately, with Carnival Corporation posting record bookings across its brands with stocks on the rise, there is no reason for travel partners to even consider violating the sanctions, as there are many other opportunities to bring great cruise vacations to eager travelers.
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A Kentucky Woman's Dream Carnival Cruise Holiday Was Cancelled At The Last Minute
A travel agent has explained why a scammer would cancel a $15,000 cruise after one woman made a devastating mistake on social media.
Mom Tiffany Banks, from Kentucky, had planned a Carnival Cruise vacation with her husband and four children.
But what was expected to be the trip of a lifetime turned into a disaster after Tiffany found out her booking had been cancelled at the last minute.
A representative told her that she had cancelled the $12,000 reservation for the ship's largest room, the Excel Presidential Suite, through the online system. (thathippiedoc/TikTok)Tiffany was confused when two days before the trip - which had already been paid in full - she received an email about the cruise, explaining her excursions had been cancelled.
She called the company to find out why this had happened, and was told that she had cancelled the $12,000 reservation for the ship's largest room, the Excel Presidential Suite, through the online system.
Totally bewildered over what could have happened, Tiffany went into panic mode, wracking her brains trying to figure out what had happened.
Speaking on her TikTok page, @thathippiedoc, she said she and her kids broke down in tears when they discovered what had happened.
"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 explained in TikTok videos.
Carnival explained that the room had already been reserved by another customer and although they offered her another room, Banks said she didn't feel it was an adequate replacement.
She also claims the company refused to issue a refund and insisted it was against their cancellation policy.
Hoping for the absolute best, the family flew to Miami anyway hoping to board the ship - but unfortunately it left without them.
Tiffany Banks' Carnival cruise vacation was cancelled. (@thathippiedoc/TikTok)It wasn't until later that Banks discovered she had been a victim of a type of identity theft after she and her husband accidentally shared their cruise booking reference number on Facebook.
The same day that it was posted, someone made a Carnival account and added the number to their profile. Then, two days before the cruise departed, the person cancelled the entire booking.
Ever since Tiffany shared the news, people have been flooding social media with questions about what happened.
Why would a scammer cancel their booking? What would be to gain from doing so?
Well, one travel agent has weighed in on Reddit - and the reason why makes a lot of sense.
They said: "I can shed some light on this. I used to be a travel agent, and had a client who posted his airline reservation on social media.
"Scammers were able to cancel the reservation, and also obtain their phone number. They called the person, pretending to be United, and advised them that the reservation was canceled.
"The person checked online, and sure enough, it was canceled. The scammer told the guy that he could rebook the family on the same flight, but they had to sit in business class, and they had to pay with an Apple gift card."
The travel agent explained they had received a phone call from the man's wife, who was concerned about what had happened.
"I got a call from the guy's wife, who found this suspicious," they continued.
"When she told me, I immediately told her to call her husband, who was already at CVS buying Apple gift cards. While she called her husband to stop him, I called United, explained the situation, and they reinstated the family's booking. Same flight, same price, no extra payment needed.
"Not saying this cruise situation is necessarily the same scam, but just wanted to give an example of an angle scammers can use."
The travel agent explained that a booking number should always be treated as confidential.
"Always treat booking number like a password. Never ever post them on social media," they added.
A Carnival Cruise spokesperson told LADbible Group: "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."
Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@thathippiedoc/David SacksTopics: Crime, Money, Travel, Cruise ship
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