Ticketing Glitch Nearly Costs Carnival Cruise Line

As quickly as the email went out, and as quickly as would-be cruisers tried to jump on it, that’s how quickly Carnival Cruise Line saved what could have been tens of thousands of dollars – hundreds of thousands? – in losses.

According to CruiseRadio.net, Carnival sent out a promotional email on Friday morning touting some new sales for some new sails. But under the heading of ‘If it looks too good to be true it probably is,’ several of Carnival’s promotions for seven-night and six-night cruises were listed at $100.

Total.

For the entire trip.

Even $100 per day would have been a great sale but, no, those who read the email read it correctly – $100 for the entire cruise.

As CruiseRadio pointed out, a six-night Western Caribbean cruise departing on February 9 aboard Carnival Magic was selling for $100 via the email promotion as opposed to its true price of $509 for the week.

But Carnival got to the heart of the matter in a hurry.

Someone mistakenly sent out a promotional email for the $100 cruises to Carnival’s entire mailing list, instead of just the intended targets — members of its ultra-exclusive loyalty VIFP Club. VIFP stands for Very Important Fun Person Club and has varying levels of membership based on previous sailings.

CruiseRadio spoke to one potential customer who tried to book the $100 rate but was told it would not be honored.

“They told me that I would never find a fare that low a month before a cruise this time of year,” a reader of CruiseRadio noted.

They were referring to wave season, which begins in January and is when cruise lines sell the majority of their tickets.