Carnival Bans Couple From Eight Cruise Lines, For Negative Reviews

While cruises aren’t the aspect of the travel industry that I cover most (I prefer airlines and hotels), I still find it interesting to see how different travel brands respond to online criticism. Along those lines, the world’s largest cruise line has just banned a couple for five years, and the logic is pretty questionable…

Carnival bans cruise influencers for five years

Jay Cannon and Daniel Wailing are what you might call cruise influencers. They run a print magazine about cruising (Sail Away Magazine), and also have a YouTube channel about cruising. However, their ability to cover the industry has changed in recent weeks, when they received a letter banning them from Carnival.

Keep in mind that Carnival is the world’s largest cruise line, and the parent company has a total of eight cruise brands, including Cunard, Holland America, P&O Cruises, and more. The letter they received was from a guest relations manager from P&O Cruises, interestingly. Here’s the content of the note:

Following a review of your recent interactions with us, we believe that you have both clearly demonstrated that we cannot offer the holiday that you are looking for. It is thus no longer appropriate for you to travel with us, or any of the Carnival group brands. This includes Cunard, P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises.

I am sorry to have to convey this decision to you. Please note that this letter represents our final decision on this matter, and you will therefore not be permitted to travel with us for a period of 5 years, after which we may review. Please note that no further correspondence on this matter will be entered into.

If you have a lot of time on your hands, you can see their 30+ minute analysis of the ban below.

This letter came shortly after they published their review of the Carnival Miracle, which they “hated.” In fairness, it sounded pretty bad — there was a three hour queue to get on the ship, and then when they got to their room, it was filthy, with pubic hair on the counter.

However, the service recovery was very good — they were then upgraded to a suite, and even got their whole cruise comped. Still, they were pretty down on the experience. For example, here’s a small part of what they said about the ship’s design:

“In all the ships we’ve ever sailed on, we have never encountered anything quite like this. And honestly, it’s weirdly impressive. The sheer effort and thought that must’ve gone into making this the most hideous ship we’ve ever set foot on, is remarkable.”

It’s odd how the ban letter comes from someone at P&O Cruises, as they reviewed one of those ships about a year ago, and it was a negative review, but not as negative as the Carnival Miracle review.

This is a bizarre reaction from Carnival

One interesting angle here is that these guys seem to sort of straddle the line between customers and influencers in terms of how they interact with cruise lines. For example, last year they got married onboard a Holland America ship (owned by Carnival), and the cruise line comped their wedding, given their influence in the industry.

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Similarly, when they had a bad start to their recent Carnival cruise, their cruise ended up being comped, and they were upgraded to a suite. I can’t say so with certainty, but I’d suspect it’s because they were “known” influencers to the cruise line.

So my guess is that Carnival was basically fed up with their negativity, and no longer wanted to have anything to do with them, given all they had done for the couple. That being said:

• It’s one thing if Carnival made the decision to no longer partner with them in any way, but to ban them as paying customers seems unreasonable
• People can disagree on whether their negativity toward some aspects of the cruise line are unfair, but the cruise line has a lot to learn, if people are walking into a room at the start of their cruise, and it’s dirty
• It seems disingenuous for Carnival to argue that “we cannot offer the holiday that you are looking for,” when they’ve raved about some ships and experiences, like the Holland America cruise on which they got married

Anyway, I don’t think this is a great look for Carnival, and I wonder how high up this decision was made. It feels to me like some mid-level manager decided they were fed up with the pair, and instructed someone else to make the rash decision of banning them, without really thinking it through.

Bottom line

Carnival has banned a couple who are cruise influencers, claiming that the company “cannot offer the holiday that [they] are looking for.” This seems like a pretty extreme approach for a cruise line to take, given that until recently, the company partnered with them in many ways.

I can understand not wanting to make any exceptions or comps for this couple, but banning them from all eight cruise lines the company owns, even if they’re paying like any other guests? Wow…

What do you make of this cruise banning?