“A Carnival customer service representative told her that she had canceled her $12,000 reservation for the ship’s largest room — the Excel Presidential Suite — through the online system.”
According to the article the cruise was cancelled on line a few days before the cruise. That seems bizarre unless your first thesis is correct.
BTW- $12K for the largest room on the ship?? Unless this was a 4 days cruise, that’s a bargain.
Had a coworker who, when he was in his 20s, would pick a cruise, go down to the cruise port with his GF and ask about last minute cancellations. He’d always go for a suite but sometimes had to settle for a balcony. He said he’d haggle with them right up to last boarding and could usually get around 80%+ off a cancelled suite.
Pre-Biden of course