Should the no soda or water policy be dropped?

Current policy on Royal Caribbean is no beverages [other than 2 750ml bottles of wine per stateroom] be allowed on board.

In reality the enforcement of this policy is uneven.

Should this policy be dropped or amended to more closely match lines that allow personal water and soft drinks to be brought aboard?

Thoughts and opinions welcomed

i have ro be very honest...i have been on alot of cruises in the last 25 yrs and i have seen plenty of folks put thru with their cheked in luggage at the pier cases of water and soda with tags on them to get to their cabin...NOT CARRYING IT ON...but allowing the porters to take them and the porters putting a room tag on it...unless something has changed in the last 12 months...the policy is not being enforced...but that is just my observation...;)

i have ro be very honest...i have been on alot of cruises in the last 25 yrs and i have seen plenty of folks put thru with their cheked in luggage at the pier cases of water and soda with tags on them to get to their cabin...NOT CARRYING IT ON...but allowing the porters to take them and the porters putting a room tag on it...unless something has changed in the last 12 months...the policy is not eing enforced...but that is just my observation...;)

Enforcement is uneven. Uneven enforcement leads to resentment. Why not just remove the policy or amend it to allow a certain amount.

We have found no need to carry soda/water onboard as the ship has plenty so no/don't care

Don't drink soda, but always carry on a half dozen 16-oz bottles of water just to put on ice to have in the cabin in the evening/morning. Otherwise, we just use the water that's available on board.

If they started enforcing the ban, it wouldn't affect us, and if they eliminated the ban, we wouldn't change how much we brought on. We definitely wouldn't pay the $4/bottle that they charge for their bottled water in either case.

There is only one and only one reason they don t want people to bring there own and that reason is money!!!! To say you don t mind paying $4.00 per bottle of water tells me you either have alot of money or your foolish!!!!!!!!!

I don't care either way I just wish there was consistency.

Some of the issues seem to be the embarkation ports, rather than the ship.

Often, Port Canaveral will not allow a luggage sticker to be placed on a case of water. They require the passenger to carry it on board. In the past, at Port Canaveral we are told that all water/wine/soda cannot be in any luggage sent through, and it must be carried on.

I heard of some recent accounts of folks at Port Canaveral ( new terminal 1) being denied bringing water and other non alcoholic beverages on board.

Again, not a deal breaker either way for us, but it is nice to understand the rules and not have surprises when sailing from various embarkation ports.

M

Current policy on Royal Caribbean is no beverages [other than 2 750ml bottles of wine per stateroom] be allowed on board.

 

In reality the enforcement of this policy is uneven.

 

Should this policy be dropped or amended to more closely match lines that allow personal water and soft drinks to be brought aboard?

 

Thoughts and opinions welcomed

and hockeypapa that is your honest opinion but it makes the world go round...people:) will continue to do what thy want to do...

The policy allows them to be strict during times such as spring break, when more people try to use the "water bottles" as a means of bringing on 24 half-liter bottles of vodka.

:rolleyes:

That's true, Carol, but if they check it and it is INDEED water......I just don't see what the big deal is. We were recently denied bringing on a small case of water in Port Canaveral and we were treated like criminals!! We had been on 11 other cruises this year and took water on with no problems. My husband needs it for health reasons and they demanded proof of this. (And not in a nice way) So....I guess we will be bringing a doctor's letter with us from now on.

We have found no need to carry soda/water onboard as the ship has plenty so no/don't care

There is only one and only one reason they don t want people to bring there own and that reason is money!!!! To say you don t mind paying $4.00 per bottle of water tells me you either have alot of money or your foolish!!!!!!!!!

I happen to agree with Setsail and have found no need to carry water onboard in 16 cruises that we have taken up to now. We do bring collapsible water bottles to fill so we can have water while in the gym, but that is it....everywhere else, water is easily available for our needs.

To Hockeypapa, I think calling others 'foolish' is unnecessary. I don't judge people for how they choose to spend their money, nor do I want others to judge me for spending my money differently than they would spend theirs.

There is only one and only one reason they don t want people to bring there own and that reason is money!!!! To say you don t mind paying $4.00 per bottle of water tells me you either have alot of money or your foolish!!!!!!!!!

I can't find anyone on this thread that said that:confused:

I guess to rant about something that doesn't exist would be equally as foolish;)

I know it's expensive, but I like to have an 8 pack waiting in our room when we arrive. I just reuse the bottles to refill as needed. I don't drink so it's not as if I'm running up a bar bill! One more thing, thanks for calling out Hockey Papa. Communication on the internet can be so much fun and quite informative, there's no reason that I know for that type of wording. :o

We've always brought on a 6 or 12 pack of small bottled water that we use when in port and a 12 pack of soda with no issues. It's simply a matter of convenience. Water is only available in the WJ or cafe so it's handier if we have water available in our room with the water bottles we refill from said locations. I don't want to haul more home than I need to so it's handy to toss the water bottles as needed.

That's true' date=' Carol, but if they check it and it is INDEED water......I just don't see what the big deal is. We were recently denied bringing on a small case of water in Port Canaveral and we were treated like criminals!! We had been on 11 other cruises [u']this year[/u] and took water on with no problems. My husband needs it for health reasons and they demanded proof of this. (And not in a nice way) So....I guess we will be bringing a doctor's letter with us from now on.

and Port Canaveral has a large number of spring break cruisers and those who use the many 3/4 day itineraries as one long drunk fest. also the people who're telling you you cannot bring it aboard are NOT necessarily CRUISELINE employees, but PORT AUTHORITY employees. you do not actually deal with cruise line employees until you get PAST the security screening.

There is only one and only one reason they don t want people to bring there own and that reason is money!!!! To say you don t mind paying $4.00 per bottle of water tells me you either have alot of money or your foolish!!!!!!!!!

We've never tried bringing water onboard, and, am guilty of falling under the "foolish category" because we don't really have a ton of money, and still pay for the stupid water that probably costs them no more than 20-cents a bottle, even for the 1-liter size they force us to take in our cabins by advance order.

Funny...I can buy a 24 bottle case of Spring Water for $2.49 on sale, even though it's the 16.9 oz. size. That's not even 11-cents a bottle!

So, I'm not saying what's right or wrong, but if my wife and I drink a one liter bottle per day on an 8-night cruise like last time, that was 16 bottles we went through. Never thought of this until this post, but I think we paid around $60 total!!

For $60, I could have purchased at home, (24) cases of 24, 16.9 oz bottles. Thats, 576 bottles!!! I could passed out water to our entire deck. lol

Dave

and Port Canaveral has a large number of spring break cruisers and those who use the many 3/4 day itineraries as one long drunk fest. also the people who're telling you you cannot bring it aboard are NOT necessarily CRUISELINE employees, but PORT AUTHORITY employees. you do not actually deal with cruise line employees until you get PAST the security screening.

Security screening at PC is done by an RCI contractor guard company. The same contractor has the check in agents on their payroll. All under a contract with RCI. Port Canaveral Port Authority has no employees who perform such functions.

These contractors then work at the direction of RCI.

and Port Canaveral has a large number of spring break cruisers and those who use the many 3/4 day itineraries as one long drunk fest. also the people who're telling you you cannot bring it aboard are NOT necessarily CRUISELINE employees, but PORT AUTHORITY employees. you do not actually deal with cruise line employees until you get PAST the security screening.

In our case.....security had no problem with the water.....it was the bar staff from the ship that wanted to take it away.....and Mr. Officer Bar Guy was really ugly about it. It was indeed, deemed water and that should have been it. Especially if one has a medical need and can't drink the de-salinated water. Yes.....PC has a lot of 3 and 4 night cruises and they definitely have to be careful about alcohol smugglers. I'll bet there are a lot. But for this particular sailing.....I've never seen anything like this.

A Pinnacle Family that we know had Gator Aid taken away from them that they needed for their son who takes meds that severely dehydrate him. They were given all kinds of hassle about it. They finally relented and gave it back to them late at night.

i have ro be very honest...i have been on alot of cruises in the last 25 yrs and i have seen plenty of folks put thru with their cheked in luggage at the pier cases of water and soda with tags on them to get to their cabin...NOT CARRYING IT ON...but allowing the porters to take them and the porters putting a room tag on it...unless something has changed in the last 12 months...the policy is not being enforced...but that is just my observation...;)

Just because you see the porter taking a case of water doesn't mean it gets to the cabin. We sailed on Voyager with some friends who checked a case of water (still in the shrink wrap) at the port. And they received the nice little "prohibited items" letter noting their water would be returned at the end of the cruise.

In our case.....security had no problem with the water.....it was the bar staff from the ship that wanted to take it away.....and Mr. Officer Bar Guy was really ugly about it. It was indeed' date=' deemed water and that should have been it. Especially if one has a medical need and can't drink the de-salinated water. Yes.....PC has a lot of 3 and 4 night cruises and they definitely have to be careful about alcohol smugglers. I'll bet there are a lot. But for this particular sailing.....I've never seen anything like this.

 

A Pinnacle Family that we know had Gator Aid taken away from them that they needed for their son who takes meds that severely dehydrate him. They were given all kinds of hassle about it. They finally relented and gave it back to them late at night.[/size']

One of the reasons why it's always in our carry on luggage. ;)

One of the reasons why it's always in our carry on luggage. ;)

Yes.....that's probably a good idea for Port Canaveral from now on!!

It absolutely should be changed. I always purchase a replenishment pass. So they are already getting my money. But in order to drink a soda in my cabin l have to take my souvenir cup to the nearest bar to get it filled and then back to the cabin or pay an addition $3 for a can from the mini fridge. not too much to ask to be able to bring a 12 pack of soda on board

It absolutely should be changed... not too much to ask to be able to bring a 12 pack of soda on board

I agree. Passengers should be allowed to bring at least a 12 pack of soda and/or water on board.

I am not a coffee drinker, so I have my morning Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Coke and I drink a lot of water during the day, especially when out in the sun. Being able to have some in my room would be so much more convenient. Having to go all over the ship to get either at 7/8 am is a pain. Besides, RCC will get plenty of money from us at the bar :p

There is only one and only one reason they don t want people to bring there own and that reason is money!!!! To say you don t mind paying $4.00 per bottle of water tells me you either have alot of money or your foolish!!!!!!!!!

Its always amazing when people are shocked or angered that for-profit companies do things to maximize their profits. The reason why the base fares for cruises are [relatively] low is because they make their money in add-ons (booze, drinks, excursions, etc.). If RCI decided to abandon the prohibition on water and soda and, to compensate for projected lost revenue, raised base fares, I bet the same people would be complaining that its getting more expensive to cruise.

Personally, I think they should allow people to bring on soda or water or beer and charge them for the privilege (Princess has tried this with wine, charging $15 per bottle over 2). I know that I'd pay to bring on a couple six packs of beer of my choosing, particularly if I found something interesting in port. If water and soda are cheap at home, would you be willing to split the difference with RCI to bring on what you wanted?