Getting denied boarding your cruise is probably one of the worst ways to celebrate your birthday. Just ask this Carnival Cruise Line passenger.
Carnival Cruise Line had terrible news for two friends as they happily attempted to board the ship Jubilee, bound for the Caribbean. Really terrible news.
One of them did not have the required documentation to sail. She was denied boarding and her bestie refused to take the cruise alone. In the end, both missed their much-anticipated vacation.
These ladies are convinced that their ruined cruise plans were the result of a misunderstanding by Carnival employees. They’re asking for their money back or a replacement cruise. They hope Consumer Rescue can help negotiate that outcome.
But whose mistake really caused this cruise fiasco? The resolution of these cruise ship passengers’ case hinges on the answer to that question.
Planning a Carnival cruise to celebrate a special birthday
A year in advance, Savannah Frasier decided to take a Caribbean cruise to celebrate her 30th birthday with her best friend, Leanne Despault. They chose a seven-night Carnival cruise that would sail from Galveston, Texas.
For the next year, Leanne and Savannah excitedly looked forward to their Caribbean cruise. They intended to celebrate Savannah’s birthday in style with tropical drinks, sunshine and lots of laughs.
Unfortunately, none of that would happen. All of their happy cruise anticipation would come to a sudden end on embarkation day.
Carnival Cruise Line: “You can’t board the ship.”
On the day they were scheduled to finally begin their celebratory Caribbean cruise, Leanne and Savannah showed up early at the terminal. There was Jubilee, towering above them. They were eager to get on board the ship and get started on their adventure.
Stepping up to the check-in counter Savannah was quickly approved for boarding.
But when Leanne presented her documentation, the agent nearly immediately rejected what she had.
“Savannah had no issues boarding the cruise,” Leanne told me. “But when I handed over all my documentation, there was an immediate problem.”
Like so many other cruise ship passengers you’ve read about on Consumer Rescue, Leanne was about to be denied boarding by the Carnival agent.
“You’re making a mistake. Why am I being denied boarding my cruise?”
The Carnival representative shook his head and told Leanne there was no way she could cruise with the documents she’d brought to the terminal.
Leanne is a U.S. green card holder traveling on a U.K. passport. U.S. green card holders must present a valid passport from their originating country and an unexpired green card to be approved to take a cruise to international destinations.
But Leanne’s green card expired during the pandemic.
She’s been waiting for nearly three years to receive her renewal approval. And she’s not alone by any stretch of the imagination. The current wait time for U.S. green card renewals is extremely long.
Leanne understood that she could not cruise with just her passport and expired green card. However, she also brought along proof of her pending renewal – an I-797 issued by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. This document confirms that she has submitted her green card renewal application and it is pending.
In the terminal she attempted to explain the complicated I-797 and why she should be allowed to cruise with it.
“I believe they [Carnival Cruise Line] made a mistake not allowing me to board the cruise with my I-797,” Leanne told me.
The Carnival employee walked away from his station, only to return with a supervisor. That person told Leanne she could not use the I-797 to take the cruise and handed her a denied boarding card while a stunned Savannah looked on.
It was evolving into the worst birthday of Savannah’s life.
Two friends but only one can take the cruise
Next, the Carnival supervisor turned his attention to Savannah, who was already approved to board the ship. He told the birthday girl that she had to make a rapid decision about taking the cruise alone or not. Like Leanne, she would not be eligible for a refund or cruise credit if she chose not to take the trip.
Put on the spot, she chose not to take her birthday cruise by herself. The Carnival employee then handed Savannah a different card. This one noted that she had voluntarily decided not to sail on Jubilee and would not be receiving a refund.
As all the other passengers bustled through the Carnival terminal and successfully boarded the cruise ship, the two friends gathered their belongings and headed back to the parking lot. There would be no sail-away party with tropical drinks and a birthday cake to celebrate the occasion.
The drive home was excruciatingly difficult, especially for Leanne who felt responsible for the situation they found themselves in.
“I let my friend down – and on her birthday,” Leanne explained. “I didn’t know how to make things right.”
Asking Consumer Rescue for help
Searching for ways to make things right with her best friend, Leanne came across an article I had written about another Carnival Cruise Line passenger’s experience being denied boarding. In that case, Carnival had made a mistake and rejected a passenger, even though he had all the documentation he needed to take the cruise.
After a thorough investigation, I was able to prove to the cruise line that it had made an error when it refused to let the passenger sail on Mardi Gras. Carnival refunded the entire family in cash and even provided additional compensation for their trouble. (You can read the full story of that family’s cruise fiasco here.)
After reading about that success, Leanne was hopeful that we might be able to help. Her entire focus was corrected the problem between her and Savannah.
“My friendship is on the line,” Leanne told me. “I love my friend and I’m heartbroken. If you could help get something back for her, I would be grateful.”
Was this cruise ship passenger denied boarding by mistake?
Of course, I felt terrible for Leanne, especially since she believed her friendship was teetering on the brink of collapse over this situation. However, I also was doubtful that Carnival had made a mistake when it denied her boarding of Jubilee.
Except in emergencies, expired green card holders should never book travel outside of the United States while their renewal is pending. That’s true even with an I-797.
The I-797 is a U.S.-issued document that provides proof to U.S. Immigration that the holder can re-enter the United States. It’s not an official travel paper that other countries are obligated to accept – and most will not.
But because of the backlog of pending renewal applications and the endless wait, some travelers have decided to take their chances. This is almost always a costly mistake, which will end in ruined vacation plans.
Did Carnival Cruise Line overlook something here?
I asked my colleague, Dwayne Coward, what he thought of Leanne’s case. He suggested that Carnival might have overlooked the fact that she was traveling with a valid U.K. passport.
On a closed-loop cruise, she would definitely have to provide both the UK passport and green card i797 to board (since they have to check for US re entry prior to boarding), but technically she could have entered Mexico with just the UK passport as a visa isn’t required for UK citizens.
Dwayne Coward, Consumer advocate, Consumer Rescue
For a moment it seemed that the tide might be turning for Leanne. But then I looked more closely at her I-797.
This I-797 seems to be expired
The I-797 is only valid for two years past the date the green card expired. The document that Leanne provided to Carnival and to our team was stamped with a December 2021 date.
In Leanne’s case she was already just about at the three year mark and so the I-797 didn’t appear to be valid. That meant she had no official proof that she could re-enter the United States legally. As a U.K. citizen, she would have needed to apply for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). Leanne did not have an ESTA.
Leanne should most certainly not have attempted to leave the country while her green card renewal was pending. Things could have ended much more dramatically had she taken the cruise. She would have been risking getting denied entry back to the United States – permanently.
But I hoped that Carnival might take pity on these two friends.
It isn’t often that I present a goodwill case to a cruise line, but I decided to send this one over to Carnival. The reason I did was purely because of Leanne’s belief that her friendship with Savannah was on the line. (Since Savannah had not contacted me, I can’t say if Leanne’s concern was well-founded.)
Asking Carnival Cruise Line
I sent a short request over to our executive contact team at Carnival to see if there might be any chance for a do-over for these two friends.
Unfortunately, the answer remained the same – no fare refund and no future cruise credit. Carnival would refund the port taxes and any pre-paid excursions however. This is standard practice across the cruise industry.
I broke the news to Leanne and had a few parting words for her.
I’m very sorry you and your friend missed your cruise. Unfortunately until your green card is renewed, you shouldn’t attempt to travel internationally.
I hope your friendship isn’t on the line over this as you say. This wasn’t something you did on purpose and I know from our case files that many people have made this very same mistake.
Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer advocate
Hopefully after the initial shock of this fiasco wears off, the friendship will recover. And maybe next year after Leanne’s green card is finally renewed, they’ll be able to take that Caribbean cruise after all.
How to avoid getting denied boarding
Getting denied boarding a cruise is a costly and traumatic experience. But the good news is that it’s almost always avoidable. Here’s how to make sure you don’t get rejected at the cruise terminal.
Don’t ask friends, the cruise line, Facebook groups, ChatGPT, Reddit threads or Quora what you personally need to take your cruise. That’s an easy way to end up being denied boarding. It’s important to remember that requirements can be different for each individual cruise passenger.
Fact: It’s always the cruise passenger’s responsibility to know what they need to successfully complete their entire trip. It isn’t the cruise line’s responsibility to tell you what documentation you must have in your possession to fly to your embarkation point, board the ship and visit all the destinations on your itinerary.
The authoritative place to get that information is:
- The U.S. State Department if you’re a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
- The consulate of any and all of the countries you’re visiting.
- International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) free tool which can tell you exactly what you need to board your flights and to enter the international destinations on your itinerary.
- If you’re not a U.S. citizen or if your citizenship is complicated, you will need to be more diligent in your pre-cruise preparations. Cruise lines and airlines aren’t known to conduct in-depth investigations into complicated situations. That means it is up to you to make absolutely certain you have what you need to board the ship.
The bottom line
Planning a cruise isn’t just about picking a destination and packing your suitcase when it’s time to go.
If you are denied boarding a cruise or airline because you neglected to confirm and reconfirm what documents you need to travel, you will not be getting a refund. You’ll be missing out on your vacation and the money you spent on it.
Always dedicate time to researching what everyone in your party needs to board the ship – even if you think you already know the answer. Because if you don’t, the repercussions can be far-reaching. You might even lose a friend over it.
Don’t let that happen to you.
Be smart – do your research and enjoy your trip! (Michelle Couch-Friedman, Consumer Rescue)
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Granted carnival can’t open the floodgates doors but would have been nice to do some gesture for them.
Def makes me think even less of carnival.
Yes carnival was right to deny boarding….
Wish a goodwill had come through .
I did some googling and it seems that as of Sept. 10, 2024 all permanent resident cards had their validity period automatically extended by 36 months. If the LW’s embarcation date was after 9/10 then this may be a possible angle to consider.
Yes, I did see that as well, Dan. Unfortunately, the US Immigration Service appears to have neglected to provide expired green card holders anything in writing to say their green cards are extended and I’m not sure if that particular blurb you read applies to all expired green card holders. Airline and cruise lines make decisions about a person’s ability to travel based on the documents presented by the traveler. All Leanne had were several expired documents and nothing at all to prove that she could travel and return to the U.S. As I mentioned I did send this over to Carnival and they held firm on their decision.
I keep telling everyone, get your passport, get all of your paperwork in line. Don’t trust ANYONE you talk to online!
Not only that, this person was missing a crucial piece of documentation! Sad it happened, but not for her. She’s a grown up and should have known better. *smh*
I know hindsight is 20/20 but could she have applied for ESTA a few days before the cruise and used that and her UK passport to board?
Yes, that may have worked but it also may have interfered with her green card status. It’s all very complicated.
The bottom line is that It is very precarious for any expired green card holder to attempt to travel internationally. Especially with no official valid documentation from immigration services. Most airlines and cruise lines will rightly reject the traveler for boarding.