Everyone has a story, here's mine. I booked an amazing deal, approx $1000 for 2 of us for 9 days Bermuda/Bahamas out of NYC. It was canceled. I was offered $600 OBC and FCC. I took it, rebooked for Nov 2, 5 days (Bahamas for family of 4), essentially same price. Now I'm in for $600, $500 of which was gift cards ( I saved about $50 by buying discounted gift cards). $100 was on my Carnival credit card, which I had the points to cover. So out of pocket, I've spent maybe $450, plus 10,000 points. I owe $412, $200 of which will be covered by 20,000 points.
But why would my ship on Nov