If You’ve Cruised Carnival Recently... Watch This

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]If you've cruised with Carnival, anytime in the last few years, you might want to pay attention to this video because Carnival just confirmed a massive security problem involving almost 6 million of its passengers. [music] And honestly, the reason this supposedly happened is kind of hard to believe. One person got fooled. That's it. And now this fool has a lot of people wondering exactly what information of theirs may be out there as a result. And it's a near certainty that someone watching this video was probably affected.

[00:00:42]Hey, what's up? It's Corey. And today we're going to talk about this Carnival data breach situation because there's a lot of confusion floating around online right now. Some people are acting like hackers stole everybody's life savings, while other people are brushing it off like, "Eh, no big deal. This happens all the time." And the reality is probably somewhere in the middle, like normal.

[00:01:06]But if you've sailed Carnival, Princess, Holland America, honestly, any Carnival Corporation brand over the last few years, there's a decent chance your information could potentially be part of this whole mess. Real quick though, if you're planning to book a cruise in the future, before you do, you should head over to midshipscruise.com.

[00:01:26]It's my website where I curate fantastic cruise deals. I post new ones every single month, and you can book your cruise directly from there. All thanks to my channel partners at Cruise is it.

[00:01:39]It supports me and my work, and you'll probably get a banging deal on your next cruise. All right. So, here is what happened with Carnival. Carnival Corporation confirmed this week that hackers gained access to parts of their systems earlier this year. And according to those reports, this apparently started with a social engineering attack, which is basically the digital version of somebody talking their way into access at like a concert or somewhere where they really don't belong, but they end up getting there from some sort of way. Except instead of sneaking into a concert, they're alleged to have gained access to systems connected to millions of us cruise passengers. Now, Carnival would say they discovered this suspicious activity back on April 14th and quickly started locking it down, but investigators later determined that data had apparently been copied before the access was shut off.

[00:02:35]Basically, your neighbor comes over, turns on your garden hose, puts your water in their pool before you notice it. And this is where people start getting nervous about their own personal info.

[00:02:48]Because cruise lines collect your information and they collect a lot of it. This isn't 1997 anymore where to book a cruise you go down to your local travel agency storefront and give them a personal check. No, Carnival has a lot of your personal information. They've got your name, your birth date, your phone number, your passport info, your emergency contacts. As a matter of fact, these cruise lines have so much information, they probably know the exact time some of y'all hit the pizza buffet line right before you go to bed every night. [clears throat] Now, Carnival says not every guest had the same amount of their information exposed and that's important. And at least right now, there's no indication that direct banking or payment card numbers were taken, but still, it could have happened. And the amount of personal information gleaned potentially involved is massive. Reports are saying that nearly 6 million people may have been affected, which is nuts when you actually stop to think about it. That's more people than live in some entire states. And apparently, the group claiming responsibility, the hacking group, they're named the Shiny Hunters. It's a funny name, but this group has reportedly been connected to a bunch of major hacks over the last several years involving casinos, tech companies, retailers, all kinds of places. So, this isn't just like a random dude in their basement smashing their keyboard. It's apparently pretty organized. And I think stories like this are going to become increasingly more common across the cruise and travel industry in the future because cruise lines are becoming insanely digital. So are places like hotels. Think about how different cruising and traveling is compared to even 10 years ago. Now, before you even board the ship, you're uploading your documents, you're downloading and signing up for cruise apps, you're connecting payment methods, and you're using facial recognition and biometric technology. Everything gets connected and saved, and unfortunately, it's super convenient. I love walking off a ship, walking up to those stupid facial scanners, and taking my glasses off, and just scanning and going instead of standing in line to have your passport checked. It moves so much faster than the old-fashioned ways, but the trade-off is all that convenience creates a giant mountain of our data, and bad people know that, or as my friend Tony would call them, ne'er-do-wells. And we as cruise passengers are honestly the perfect target. Think about it. Cruisers, we spend money. We travel a lot. A lot of us are from generations that are not as tech-savvy as the kids are these days, and most of us are constantly looking and responding to our emails quickly.

[00:05:41]So, after a breach like this, the real danger might not even be the initial breach itself, what data was taken. It's what comes next for us. Because now scammers or ne'er-do-wells have a potential goldmine to sort of try to reach into our pockets and get more. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a term called phishing. It's basically where somebody gets your info and they generate fake emails or fake texts designed to trick you into giving away more and more information or money.

[00:06:15]And trust me, I guarantee these naughty naughty scammers at the Shiny Group are already cooking up some fake cruise emails right now. Like, "Dear valued diamond, platinum, super mega VIFP member, have we got a deal for you?"

[00:06:32]Being serious though, you will probably see fake emails like refunds, future cruise credit offers, loyalty account warnings are going to be a big thing, or just a simple verify your booking email, "Your booking's going to cancel soon," or "Your account is being locked." All of these should be massive red flags for you, especially if they're coming from what looks like Carnival. And the scary part is that some of these scams are going to be totally convincing, even to people who are really suspicious of them. And it's actually even worse because in the same time frame that we're now talking about this, Carnival has sent out a legitimate email to everybody that has ever cruised with them and is a VIFP asking them to click a link from the email to log into their account and surrender themselves, I I mean, opt in to the Carnival Rewards Program. Now, to Carnival's credit, they are offering free credit monitoring to affected US guests, which is definitely the right move here, though I think legally they kind of have to, so wow, so generous. If you've cruised with Carnival recently, it's probably smart to change your password today, but I do think this situation raises a bigger conversation about cruising in general because cruise lines today aren't just transportation companies anymore. They are ecosystems that have been taken over by the tech bros. Everything runs through apps and connected systems now.

[00:07:58]Your personal and financial and travel documentation info are all there. Most people probably never stop to think much about how much they're handing over every time we book cruise. That's because you're just excited to get back on another huge ship, not do dishes for a week, and go to some amazing ports with unlimited ice cream and guys burgers, which is fair. I'm excited for that, too, and excited for you.

[00:08:22]Hopefully, you've got a cruise on the books. If not, midshipscruise.com, you can click the big pink book a cruise button and get a good deal on one right now if you want. But, here's the downside of the modern digital world.

[00:08:34]And before anybody says, "Well, this is why I'll never cruise with Carnival again." It's not [clears throat] just a Carnival issue. Every major company deals with these threats now. Hotels, cruise lines, airlines, your bank. At this point, if your email hasn't been leaked somewhere online, you may actually be the final boss of cybersecurity.

[00:08:56]Or you just use a jitterbug as your cell phone. But, because this topic involves cruising and cruising feels personal to a lot of you, stories like this, I think are important to talk about. We as guests trust these cruise lines a lot.

[00:09:10]We give them our passports and disappear for a week into our floating city, leaving our worries and our problems behind. Anyway, let me know what you're thinking about this down in the comments. Does this make you nervous about cruise apps, digital check-in, and just the reality of modern travel? Or is it just a way of life and it's only your name and email address? And stick around because you should absolutely watch this video right now to hear about why I quit Carnival almost a year ago and haven't been back.

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