They took the wind out of their sails.
Carnival Cruise Line is catching a strong wave of backlash after it canceled customers’ bookings due to a brief website glitch that showed extremely reduced pricing.
Instead of honoring the cheaper prices, it simply canceled clients’ reservations and provided refunds.
The Florida-based company also sent the crestfallen customers an email explaining the falsely advertised price tags — which occurred during a round of IT maintenance — were “far below any reasonable promotional fare.”
They also pacified them with a measly $100 credit if they rebooked before Aug. 31.
Typical prices for a five-to-seven-day stay on Carnival run between $600 to $1,500 per person, and during the website issue, one passenger was able to secure one for only $300.
“I was able to book a solo balcony on a 6-day cruise for $300 yesterday … Hoping Carnival will honor the price because it was quite literally a steal,” one passenger wrote on the r/CarnivalCruiseFans Reddit page, according to Fox News.
Critics argued Carnival should have honored the bookings, because many had already booked flights to get to the ships.
“Sometimes when a company makes a mistake, they should just take the loss,” one Reddit user wrote.
Others disagreed.
“You took advantage of a ‘glitch.’ They don’t have to honor that,” one said.
Carnival ticket policy does clearly state that if an incorrect fare is listed on any website, it “reserves the right to correct the erroneous fare by requesting the Guest to pay the correct fare intended (and associated fees, expenses and taxes), or by canceling the cruise in exchange for a full refund.”
