Woman Whose Mom Died Before Cruise Couldn't Get Refund for Her Grieving Dad — Until TikTok Rallied Around Her

When a woman named Caitlin shared a heart-wrenching dilemma on Tiktok, her followers came through for her.

The Titkok user, who goes by catbai on the app, shared that her parents, who had been married for 38 years, had booked a trip for Dec. 31 for $2,134 through Carnival Cruise Lines back in May, but her mom unexpectedly died several weeks before their departure date.

When she called the company to help her dad get the money back, she says she was told, “So sorry for your loss. But since your mother did not purchase Carnival Cruise protection, it’s gonna cost you $1,371 to cancel this booking.”

Caitlin says she was also given an email address to contact with her mother’s death certificate, but was told it might take up to 30 days to get a response. 

“So because my mother unexpectedly passed away without purchasing Carnival Cruise Protection, my dad is going to be out $2,134,” she says. “How is that okay?”

“You’re a multibillion-dollar company, but how is that okay? Please help me,” she adds.

The video was viewed more than 1.9 million times, and the comments were filled with suggestions for how to handle the situation — including advice to reach out to Carnival’s senior cruise director and brand ambassador, John Heald.

Days later, Caitlin shared an update on TikTok, revealing that the viral post had gotten Carnival’s attention.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone that tagged them, commented, shared, liked. It did blow up and we did get their attention," she says in the follow-up video.

"For everyone that told me to reach out to John Heald, thank you," she adds. "He was a great help, and he was very quick and empathetic, and he had actually lost his mom a couple months ago. So I think he was feeling some type of way about it as well.”

Caitlin says she also heard from an executive resolutions officer for Carnival named Julia, who said Caitlin’s dad would be getting a full refund in one to three business days.

“It’s very overwhelming just because it happened so quick. But yeah, so Carnival is doing the right thing and going to help my dad. And I’m just very appreciative.”

"Obviously I’m still grieving, and I haven’t really gotten to grieve just because this is the stuff I’ve been dealing with," she continues. "So, for everyone that was nice in the comments, thank you. We will go on Carnival again, and we will get that cruise protection.”

She ended the update by sharing a photo of her mom.

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“She was so beautiful,” she said. “I miss her so much, and I cannot thank everyone and Carnival enough for helping us out and remove some stress.”