PSA: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Share Your Travel Plans on Social Media

A family apparently posted details of an upcoming trip to social media- only for someone to cancel the dream vacation.

The Cruise That Sailed Before It Even Started

Tiffany Banks posted a series of TikTok videos detailing her family’s crazy experience in the days leading up to what was supposed to be a fantastic cruise aboard the Carnival Celebration. (Beware that there’s some NSFW language in a few clips.)

The family was due to set sail from Florida in early May. According to Ms. Banks’ videos, they spent almost a year planning the trip — and shelled out about $15,000 for the cruise. That included booking the Carnival Excel Presidential Suite (the ship’s biggest, snazziest room) and some excursions. They paid for the cruise in full.

They traveled to their port city a few days before their cruise (which is a smart move). Early that morning, Ms. Banks received an email saying one of her excursions was canceled. She called Carnival to find out what happened — but their office wasn’t yet open. A couple of hours later she finally got a hold of someone who allegedly told her the entire reservation — room, excursions, the whole shebang — was canceled. (It sounds like flights were booked separately.)

The cancellation initially sounded like a glitch or error on Carnival’s part. By this point, the Presidential Suite had already been reserved for someone else.

She said Carnival’s only compensation was two interior rooms (and a small refund for two excursions), which was unacceptable.

Ms. Banks and her family traveled to Florida anyway. On cruise departure day, they went to the dock and, unsurprisingly, were turned away. (Hey, why not try?)

Carnival eventually contacted her again. They told her the trip was canceled in Carnival’s “online system.” In other words, no one from inside Carnival canceled her reservation. (It’s basically akin to you or I accessing an airline, hotel, or other travel website to cancel a trip.) But Carnival still wasn’t budging in terms of a refund or other compensation. The trip was canceled too soon before the departure date, and thus, she wasn’t entitled to a refund.

When Carnival followed up again with Ms. Banks, they told her she was the victim of identity theft. Ms. Banks posted a “countdown tracker” to Facebook, announcing how long it was until her trip. In the picture, she apparently held a receipt or booking confirmation displaying the trip’s pertinent information — including the confirmation number.

You know where this is going.

Carnival said someone took the Banks’ confirmation number, created a Carnival profile, added the confirmation number to their account, and then canceled the trip. The IP address was traced to somewhere in British Colombia, Canada.

In another video, Ms. Banks said Carnival called her and agreed to award her a $10,000 onboard credit during a future sailing. However, she’d have to post on social media that there was “a positive resolution” to the problem.

Her videos are still up.

In an interesting (and dark) twist, Ms. Banks said she was asked at the dock if she was someone we’ll call Jane Doe. (Ms. Banks posted the person’s actual first name online.) Jane Doe apparently occupied the Presidential Suite that the Family Banks reserved initially. Ms. Banks posted the room and Jane Doe’s real name, wanting answers about how that person got the room.

A Few Questions

First, how did the person who allegedly canceled the Banks’ trip benefit? Is he or she some maniac who enjoys “teaching people a lesson” about posting personal information online? Were they the people who ended up in the Excel Presidential Suite? (That’s kind of identifying themselves as the culprit, but what do I know?) Did someone else pay them to do their dirty work and cancel the reservation on their behalf?

Or was this a stunt for TikTok? (I genuinely don’t think it is.)

Can she get her credit card company involved and have them refund her money? I’ve had fraudulent charges on several credit cards before, but certainly not situations like this.

Legal experts: does the fact that a British Colombia IP address hinder her in terms of recourse? The purported identity thief could’ve used a VPN and been based in the United States or anywhere else.

If Carnival is playing hardball and refusing to refund her cruise because of identity theft involving their own reservation system, shouldn’t they call it a day and give Ms. Banks her money back? Are lousy publicity and some sort of potential lawsuit (because you know there’s one probably coming) really worth $15,000? Or are they just used to it by now?

Unless you really like high-end food and beverages and want to upgrade your trip, what will you do with $10,000 in onboard credit?

Sharing Your Trips is Fun — But Be Smart About It

For many of us, sharing travel is part of the experience — even if it’s just with our friends and family on social media.

But we’ve clearly just seen the dark side of sharing travel plans on the internet.

“I have been a travel blogger for a long time now and rarely over the decades do I ever ‘live share’ information about myself or my trip or my plans or where I am staying,” my fellow blogger René deLambert wrote in a post that also touched on this story. “The reasons for this are quite simple because A) I don’t want people to know I am gone from my home and B) I don’t want issues wherever I am.”

With that, keep in mind a few points:

Before the Trip

Posting about your trip ahead of time — especially if your social media isn’t set to “Private” — lets people know you’ll be out of town. Folks love tagging their locations in social media posts. So, if you live in Lincoln, Nebraska, tag your social posts that you live in Lincoln, all some enterprising crooks have to do is search posts tagged in Lincoln — and see who’s going on vacation and when. Search for them on the internet, and they’ll be in business.

If you’re comfortable with that, great. But as one of my neighbors tells us (with a wink and nudge) before she travels, “Hey, I’ll be gone for a few days. I’m not expecting any furniture removal. So, if you see any movers going in and out of my house, they aren’t legit.”

During the Trip

If you really, really must post items like your boarding pass, redact as much sensitive information as possible: flight numbers, travel dates, confirmation numbers, frequent flyer member numbers, ticket numbers, etc. Even QR and bar codes aren’t “bulletproof.”

Posting your exact whereabouts (i.e., a hotel or Airbnb) isn’t necessarily a great idea, either. Some psycho (like the one who apparently canceled Ms. Banks’ cruise) could cancel your reservation just because. I vaguely recall a blogger who wrote a post during a trip — and mentioned the hotel where they’d be staying next. Someone contacted that hotel and canceled the reservation. Just to be a jerk.

My colleague Matthew Klint at Live and Let’s Fly “live blogged” a road trip to Las Vegas — but he posted the series when he got home. I like that approach.

After the Trip

We write trip reports for this blog. I’m wary of disclosing too much information about my flight and hotel details even after the fact. Really, you should be, too, when posting your travels to the internet. Again, there is no need to show everyone every detail on your boarding pass.

Quick Caveat

These aren’t “musts” or “absolutes.” Think of them as guidelines. People living in secure buildings might not have as much to worry about as those living in houses with minimal security. Those of us who’ve personally dealt with stalkers and other unstable people are a little more hyperaware of certain situations, let’s say.

Final Approach

A woman accidentally posted her cruise’s confirmation to a Facebook page — and someone allegedly canceled her trip for some unknown reason.

This is another reminder that we must be careful about what we share in the growing digital age.

What do you think about this entire situation? Do you have any tips about sharing (or not sharing) travel information?

Disclosure: I am a (very, very, very, very, very minor Meta stockholder. Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.