Kevin135i

Thank you very much for the insight! Good to know how it actually works!

What I don't understand is, when I inquire about who made the request and who approved it. Carnival themselves says it won't show on their system and they can't tell which agent made the changes. So even if a scammer imposed as me to make changes with my name and booking number, then wouldn't Carnival be like "Oh you called and made that request... didn't you?" but on their system they claimed that it's very odd and that it wouldn't show the details on their end as well. So are you saying Carnival also got a virus? Like I get what you're trying to say but the whole ordeal comes up more as a shady agent versus a scammer pretending to be me.

Like I've mentioned before, we've explored this possibility and confirmed that we had the correct email addresses. We were on the phone directly with Carnival and while speaking with an agent, they have confirmed the responding emails between us. So unless they hacked our multiple phone lines and email address and somehow intercepted the official phone number of Carnival, meanwhile having full live access to our email and was able to correspond with us and imposed as Carnival themselves... then yeah it could most definitely be a possibility. The fact that Carnival themselves got to the bottom of it and reissued the cheque that has now been successfully deposited, just like how our other companions whom successfully got their refunds (We had multiple families part take in this vacation plan and all paid separately). It's safe to say, the situation is resolved. I mean, if my family just happened to be the unlucky one who been communicating with scammers this entire time... I must say they are very nice scammers, since they felt enough guilt and return thousands of dollars to their victims. It's a win win I guess?

We pretty much had to bombard them with phone calls and emails. The explanation they gave was definitely still lackluster. They claimed that they are still looking into how it happened, however they resent a new cheque to us. They said until further investigations, they will not be refunding us the bounced cheque fee as it's not part of their policy. (Which I think is absurd and BS since this was 100% fault on their end). At the ends we have decided to cut our loss in terms of time and call it a win now that we have the original refund. A part of me still believe there were definitely some funny business going on internally and to avoid negative feedback or media catching wind of it, they are playing dumb but ultimately corrected the issue. I understand that disclosing that they had internal fraud from the inside would definitely not be something they want to leak out. How can they NOT know who requested the address change and etc without it going through an approval process and having their payable accounting department approve a huge cheque without noticing? It just doesn't add up for me. Either way, I'm glad I can finally move on from this and plan my next cruise. Hopefully a nice Southern Caribbean one so I can destress LOL

Update: Finally got the cheque reissued and deposited without any issues. So glad this is resolved! With that being said, we do plan to keep crusing with Carnival in the future despite this negative experience.

I am not sure about what their refund policies are when it comes to refunding airfare, but the fact that we know people who got theirs refunded and successfully deposited it, then it must means that they do. As well as Carnival (on the phone) themselves have confirmed that they SEE the check being issued on their system (which means they obviously DO refund airfare when their ship breaks down and people are out money). Now I completely understand why people think the email have been spoofed or the email have been hijacked, but when Carnival themselves can see on their system that changes were authorized and made on their end, it definitely screams internal fraud instead of some random spoofing email from Nigeria. If they told us that they have NO records of any communication between us and that there is NO such thing as refund for airfare or a paper check ever being mailed out as that's now how they process things, then 100% I agree that I'm not communicating with Carnival authentically.

Yes, this is why we are so frustrated because it looked good at first but shortly after it started to look like a scam, however because the channels were through Carnival themselves officially, it's started to seem like there are an organized corrupted crew working for them. The fact that they can fully see the check being issued but then also see that some changed were made but unable to verify how it happened, is odd. Especially when our friends (who were also booked for the same trip) all got their checks back and deposited with no issues. Makes this seems like a random selection for fraud attempt and we happened to be the ones. We are looking into getting the contacts of the departments you have listed but it's rather difficult to find them. I have a feeling, unless we take legal actions, those contacts are simply not made accessible to the public.

I certainly hope not since originally we called the customer service number 800-764-7419 Who sent us a confirmation email with our booking numbers and all the names on our travel. Which came from guestadmin@carnival.com And they cc'd guestcare@carnival.com The original contact was definitely via phone to carnival themselves. We even called back again later one after the check bounced and Carnival confirmed they see the check mailed out under our name and incident number but there was also a request to have the check cancelled due to change of address. This is where they can't seem to figure out what went wrong. They can't see which carnival agent authorized the change of address nor can they see what the address was changed to. This was all confirmed via Carnival phone line. So not sure how a guy in Nigeria got onto carnival's phone system.

Carnival is covering the cost of people's flight due to the cancellation. They sent out a mass email stating that eligible guests will qualify, which we do. The check comes from Carnival themselves directly. The check we got (that bounced) was already confirmed by Carnival themselves that they do see it on their system but it was also cancelled because of a request for change of address. The problem is, they are struggling to see which agent processed it and whom even made such request. So it's clearly something going on internally. The refund is from Carnival themselves.

His FB doesn't allow messages but I did leave him on on IG. Hopefully he'll see it

Why is message disabled? I never even noticed. Maybe via Discord - Kevin135i Instagram - Kh.viet86

Honestly, I think you're onto something. Originally the contact was made via phone call after Carnival sent out the Mass-Email regarding the cancellation and the mechanic issues on Panorama. This was when we reached out to them. The phone number was in that email and it matches the one on their official website. They then emailed us regarding the steps required to process the refund. That's the email we been corresponding with and as far as I know, it's legit since it also matches their emails on the website. Due to that, I'm thinking their system is compromised and that someone managed to get in and took over one of their account(s). We triple checked the email and all the email between us back and forth also cc'ed every carnival guest related email addresses. So it's not just 1 email recipient, there's multiple ppl involved in the emails, hence why we ruled out the phishing scam part. As a matter of fact, their initial email included information like our names, booking number and incident number, which a scammer wouldn't have without us telling them it first. So this leads me to believe that if there is a scam/fraud attempt, they're definitely internal staff doing it. You're right though, scammers knows what they are doing and are quite resourceful, so regardless of how or when they managed to get in. If, that is truly the case, they clearly managed to do so successfully. So far so good on our banking, we called to check today and informed them of the potential threat(s) and they have confirmed that no random transactions or attempt of transaction has been made. As for reimbursing the airfares, the email they sent out did include information about how "eligible guests" can submit a request for refund for their flights. We have traveling companions who got their refund successfully. So I'm not sure why some guests are being denied of such refunds when Carnival themselves offered it. We called Carnival again (another different agent answered) yesterday and they can confirm that based on our file number, a cheque was mailed out and approved, and they can also see the "request of change of address", but the odd part is they are unable to open up the request to see which agent handled it or see any further information about it. Now THAT'S the part that makes absolutely no sense to me. Part of this seems fully legitimate, but part of it sounds almost like an organized internal fraud thing. It's very frustrating and confusing.

Yeah they were final sales, and Carnival approved the reimbursement. They were extremely helpful and cooperative. It's the part after that with the mailing of the cheque that seems to become suspicious

It didn't seem that way at first but it definitely feels that way shortly later. However we double checked the emails and it's going to the correct ones. Even the response we get are cc'ing all the proper emails. Guestadmin@carnival.com Guestcare@carnival.com airreimbursements@carnival.com They all seem to check out