Key Aspects:
- A family member was removed from a Carnival reservation due to a case of mistaken identity.
- They were somehow banned by P&O Cruises, a sister brand to Carnival, without ever sailing with P&O Cruises.
- It took several days and no shortage of stress to get the impacted spouse cleared and re-booked.
One family experienced an unusual situation that took away from the excitement for their upcoming Carnival cruise after one spouse was temporarily booted from an upcoming reservation due to a case of mistaken identity.
The cruisers stated that one spouse had been banned due to an incident that occurred on a P&O Cruises’ ship, which is a sister brand to Carnival Cruise Line.
While this would be understandable if the guests-to-be had acted out on a previous sailing, they had never actually set foot aboard a P&O ship and could not have done what they were accused of doing.
“I was scheduled to go on a Carnival cruise in a couple of weeks with my spouse and children. My spouse got an email today from Carnival that our cruise had been updated, and the update was I was removed as a guest from our cruise,” one partner shared on Reddit on May 19, 2026.
“My spouse contacted Carnival and Carnival stated I was removed by Carnival security. An email was exchanged with Carnival security and Carnival security stated that I was on the no sail list because of an incident that occurred on a P&O cruise. The problem is I have never been on a P&O cruise,” the post continued.
It’s unclear which specific sailing the family is booked on, but it’s officially the summer peak season and prime time for families to take to the high seas on the Fun Ships.
Situation Takes Days to Resolve
Typically, once a guest winds up on Carnival’s “no sail” list, they are banned for life from all ships that operate under the Carnival Corporation. Appeals are sometimes possible, but they are rarely successful.
“The email from Carnival security also states that there is no appeal and their decision is final,” the cruisers-to-be went on to explain.
However, exceptions have to be made for cases like this, where the guests in question didn’t actually do anything wrong.
In an early update on May 19, the cruiser noted that they had reached a customer service agent at Carnival who instructed the family to contact P&O Cruises. Despite being sister companies, the agent claimed that they were unable to review P&O records.
The bad news is that P&O Cruises does not have an American phone number listed on its website. This means the guest would either have to shell out the funds to make an international call or wait for an email response.
“Update: I spoke with a customer service representative with Carnival who was great. He escalated to another team, and my final response from Carnival was I have to get P&O to clear my name from the no sail list,” the Redditor posted in the comments.
“Carnival claims that they are unable to review P&O records to review the incident, and they only have access to the P&O no sail list,” they added.
In a second update posted hours later, the guest stated that the situation wasn’t resolved but that Carnival security had asked for a picture of their photo ID. This at least indicated that things were moving in the right direction.
It wasn’t until the morning of May 21, 2026, that the family finally learned the spouse had been cleared and their booking was reinstated.
“Update: I received an email from Carnival security this morning. I have been cleared for sailing, and my booking has been reinstated. I’m relieved, but this whole situation was ridiculous,” they said in a final update on May 21.
The family will get to enjoy their vacation together, but the joy and anticipation certainly isn’t what it once was. It’s unclear if Carnival apologized or gave any compensation for the mix-up.
What Caused the Mistaken Identity?
No explanation was given publicly as to what led to the mistake and how it could be prevented in the future. The guest likely had the same or a similar name and/or birthday to the actually banned passenger.
This also isn’t the first case of mistaken identity to occur on a Carnival ship this year. In January, Cruise Hive reported that ICE agents burst into a guest stateroom onboard a Carnival ship in Miami due to confusion over a passenger’s name.
Of course, safety is the top priority for Carnival and an argument can also be made that it’s better to err on the side of caution rather than let potential offenders slip through the cracks.
But given other recent controversies with the new Rewards Program and mass-cancelling unusually cheap bookings that were made during a website glitch, this is likely more bad press that the cruise line does not need right now.
