Key Aspects:
- Carnival Cruise Line cancelled some reservations booked during its extended May 2026 system outage.
- Originally scheduled to last 18 hours, the outage extended for days and disrupted bookings, with guests reporting unusually low fares.
- The cruise line is refunding the bookings and offering an onboard credit.
A days-long Carnival Cruise Line system outage that disrupted bookings, payments, and customer service has now left some guests without cruises they thought they had scored at unbelievably low prices.
During the extended outage tied to the company’s IT maintenance project, travelers began spotting cruise fares that appeared far lower than normal rates. Reports quickly spread across social media as guests rushed to lock in the deals.
One passenger claimed on Reddit that he booked a solo balcony cabin on a 6-day cruise for just $300 total.
“Hoping Carnival will honor the price because it was quite literally a steal,” he said.
Turns out, the cruise line will not honor the prices that some say went as low as $130 for balcony fares.
On May 12, 2026, the cruise line began sending cancellation notices to guests whose bookings were made during the outage period tied to the extended IT maintenance project.
Carnival said some fares displayed during the disruption were “far below any reasonable promotional fare” and confirmed those reservations would not be honored. Any money paid is being refunded to guests’ original form of payments.
“Following a planned IT maintenance project this past weekend, some guests saw a random display of prices that were far below any reasonable promotion fare. The reservation you made was one of them,” explained Colleen Oliverio, vice president of guest services – contract centers.
She continued, “We regret to inform you that we will not be able to honor your reservation request.”
However, Carnival Cruise Line isn’t leaving would-be guests completely in the lurch. It is offering an onboard credit of $100 per stateroom applied to future bookings made by August 31, 2026, as a gesture of appreciation.
“Since your travel plans were just made with us, we hope you will find another itinerary that suits your vacation needs,” Oliverio said.
Outage Stretched for Days
What Carnival Cruise Line initially described as a planned 18-hour maintenance window turned into a multi-day disruption to its website.
The company warned that systems would go offline beginning May 8, 2026, at 9:00 p.m. ET and were expected to return by May 9, at 3:00 p.m.
The outage impacted both Carnival.com and GoCCL.com, preventing guests and advisors from making new bookings, managing reservations, processing payments, checking in online, purchasing Fun Shop items, or accessing booking dashboards. Carnival’s contact centers were also unable to support reservations during the downtime.
By the afternoon of May 9, the cruise line acknowledged the outage was lasting longer than expected, adding that it would be restored by 5:00 p.m.
It also warned, “there remains a possibility that the downtime could extend beyond this time.” It did.
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On May 10, Carnival sent another update confirming maintenance was still in progress, but also said, “Please be assured that no bookings will be cancelled as a result of this downtime.”
With incorrect pricing exposed during the system glitch, Carnival Cruise Line has reversed course and automatically cancelled bookings tied to the mistaken fares while thanking guests for their understanding.
