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. 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. What issues you ask? Take a look at one of the latest examples.
Most airlines (even Spirit now) offers you the chance to cancel with no fee. Some airlines may have restrictions on say BASIC economy fares but as long as you are in main cabin you can likely cancel and at least end up with a travel voucher for another flight. But cruise lines are a bit different.
The above screen shot is from NCL.com and shows their current cancellation policy. Once you hit 30 days or less you had better be able take your cruise as not just the money you paid in will go poof if you cancel but so will any shore excursions you may have prepaid and booked. These types of harsh cancellation rules can have another nasty impact on us.
Dailydot recently featured in a post a Tiktok video that has gone viral about some guests who had booked a suite on a Carnival cruise and guess what happened next? They chose to share information online about the upcoming cruise, including their name and booking number, and some evil person apparently jumped online and canceled their cruise.
In the video the person shares they were not allowed onboard their ship because Carnival resold their cabin and no refund was given and they are simply out well over TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Yikes!
So who is at fault here? While I agree that cruise lines should do all they can to verify you are really you before they allow changes to a booking, the responsibility in this modern digital age really is on us to keep our specific travel plans private. In other words don’t share (and not just about cruises):
- Your reservation numbers / barcodes online
- The dates when you will be gone
- The airline / hotel / ship you will be on
Trust me – those who follow you on whatever social media account will be just as exited to see whatever you have done the week you get home compared to the weeks before hand or during your travels.
Lastly, especially when it comes to cruises, be sure to download the cruise line app and check-in before you travel to the port city to make sure everything is as it should be because fixing issues at home are much simpler than in the middle of your travels! – René
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