Having looked up the date I received the email I think I might know what happened.
We were cruising three people, myself as passenger #1, my husband as passenger #2 and our child as #3. Passengers 1 and 2 were to receive OBC of $100 per person and when I realized they were not giving my husbands OBC I went to guest services to inquire. I figured Carnival would automatically treat our daughter as passenger #2 and since passenger #3 is sailing at a deeply discounted rate I wasn't going to put in a claim with my Carnival insurance (Cancel any reason for 25%). Guest Services rep said no, husband stays as #2 passenger (No OBC) and daughter stays as #3. I asked if I were to use my Carnival insurance would it go towards my husband as #2 passenger and therefore refund his cruise fare (significantly higher than #3) at 75%? She said yes and now I'm thinking she went ahead and cancelled my husband and got the "refund" started but all I received was the notification of the penalty amount. Whew, sorry, that was long!! Now I just need to call Carnival and see if my thought process is correct. Thank you for the questions, it made me think a little harder! 😆