Thinking about smuggling in liquor?

[boscobeans]

 

Hmm, last time I looked at my account I paid quite some money to get onboard so it's not exactly a comparable situation.

 

Bar.. All paid for by the profits made on alchohol sales....An air conditioned, heated, comfortable place to sit, drink, snack on nuts and pretzels, watch sports, socialize, listen to music or just relax and chill out. Sounds like some of the things that are done on a ship.

 

Maybe some of the money you paid went towards a few of the things that are part of a cruise, like, food, fuel, movies, theatrical shows and entertainment, your stateroom and all the other things onboard that you can take advantage of at no charge.

 

I'm just saying that beverage revenue is part of the entire profit that a company expects to make and if one part of that profit is reduced at has to be made up by increased revenue from other sources.

 

I don't want to have to go to the naughty room and have never had to in the 13 cruises my wife and I have taken.. We do pack shampoos and other liguids in our checked luggage and maybe we've been lucky but it has always made its way to our stateroom.

 

If their searches are as drastic as stated on this board it must be due to a large amount of smuggling or it would make no sense.

 

OMO

 

bosco

[Pushka]

Uh, didn't you just list at least 6 bottles of liquids that you carry? :rolleyes:

 

BTW, what is Fess?

 

Yes, all of which are entirely normal items used in travel. But RCL would immediately assume I am smuggling alcohol and even accuse me of that should my bags get held up.

 

The basic problem with Prohibition is that it makes criminals out of people who aren't (ie people who get dragged to the "please explain" room) and encourages others to "smuggle" items onboard which creates the issues for the people who don't.

 

Hell, even Queen Mary 2 allows people to bring on alcohol and I saw no drunk people (not even tipsy) on the recent cruise. Nobody smuggles alcohol, no naughty room - it just works.

 

Fess is saline spray used for congestion during plane flights.

 

Bar.. All paid for by the profits made on alchohol sales....An air conditioned, heated, comfortable place to sit, drink, snack on nuts and pretzels, watch sports, socialize, listen to music or just relax and chill out. Sounds like some of the things that are done on a ship.

 

Rubbish. My fare paid for those things, how can you isolate what the fare pays for and what it doesn't! And you also assume I spend time at the bar. If I only drink alcohol on my balcony then your argument kinda fails.

[KathyPet]

Why is RCCL so tough on this? I was reading a discussion ( not on CC)giving a first time cruiser some advice prior to their first cruise and someone mentioned this policy as a warning not to try it. Several posters chimed in with examples from other cruise lines FAQ's and not all of them forbid carry on liquor, wine or soft drinks although they may limit the amount you can bring on board. WIth RC it sounds almost like they put you in the stocks!

[maxx]

Yes, most drinks are around the $6 - $8 as shown in the attached menu posted earlier this year so don't know where you read the prices of $12 - 15 and even more importantly that they are watered down, I can assure you they are not in my experience.

 

 

http://www.scribd.com/full/33759184?access_key=key-bkjmazztxk8nbrcj108

Wow, much cheaper than I'm used to paying. Good old P&O $12 for a Long Island Iced Tea.

Thanks for the heads up.

[America097]

Yes, most drinks are around the $6 - $8 as shown in the attached menu posted earlier this year so don't know where you read the prices of $12 - 15 and even more importantly that they are watered down, I can assure you they are not in my experience.

 

 

http://www.scribd.com/full/33759184?access_key=key-bkjmazztxk8nbrcj108

 

Thanks for the info. I feel better about what we budgeted.

[time4u2go]

Yes, all of which are entirely normal items used in travel. But RCL would immediately assume I am smuggling alcohol and even accuse me of that should my bags get held up.

 

.

 

I don't disagree with this. It's just that your original argument was that it's only one bottle, and it's only 2 or 5 shots of booze (remember?). But then you went on to agree that it could be more than just 2 or 5 shots, and now you're saying that, oh, by the way, it's not just one bottle, it could be 6 bottles!:eek:

[boscobeans]

Rubbish. My fare paid for those things, how can you isolate what the fare pays for and what it doesn't! And you also assume I spend time at the bar. If I only drink alcohol on my balcony then your argument kinda fails.

 

1. I assumed you spend time at the bar...? Did I? Sorry if I did??

 

2. Even if someone has one smuggled drink on their balcony the revenue that is lost comes from the entire ship's revenue. If the entire ships revenue is reduced the revenue has to be replaced from somewhere.

 

If only 500 passengers each bring on 1 bottle of liquor that's 500 liters of alcohol.

500 liters eguals 500,000 ml. Each drink uses about 50 ml. of liquor (just under 2 ounces).

500,000 divided by 50 equals 10,000. That's 10,000 drinks.. At even $7.00 a drink that turns out to be $70,000.00 lost from the total ship's revenue.

 

Let's say the average fare for that cruise is $2,000.00 per passenger.

 

Given the above, the ship is giving away 35 free cruises. I wouldn't do it if I operated a ship...

 

Again this entire subject boils down to what rules can be broken when taking a cruise.

 

Dress code, Booze smuggling, Smoking, mustering and a few others that are always poppiong up.

 

People can break the rules if they wish.. I couldn't care less.

After all, rules are meant to be broken and since it is the opinion of many that if they paid for the cruise they can do what they want.

 

bosco

[Sequim88]

why do they have a mini bar to take from. Why do they bring drinks to your room.

 

Minibar part already answered - no booze there.

 

Yes, they will bring drinks to your room and the charge goes on your account where the monitoring software will alarm when it notes consumption over a certain pace. The main issue for no in-cabin self serve hard liquor consumption is monitoring - or rather not being able to. Granted individual tollerance level may vary so wine could be an issue but as they distribute it from a package (or single bottle from bar) that too will be counted - probably with presumption that it will not be re-corked so will be entirely consumed in near term. If it is re-corked then that would not be a consumption issue anyway.

 

From posts over the last 11 years that I have been reading them it has come up occasionally that they DO monitor Sea Pass charges for alcohol. If red flag is raised it might not mean getting cut off but does seem to allow staff to observe and make a judgement call. People who have been told they could no longer be served at one bar have reported being able to order elsewhere. Same flag in system but different observation or attitude by bartender.

 

Again, they could easily satisfy the people who smuggle only for convenience (not cost) by allowing bottle purchase (for extra take to cabin fee) and at same time decrease smuggling and increase revenue - but they don't. This is totally inconsistent with it being a revenue issue because they are inhibiting revenue with the no bottle sale policy. So the need to be able to monitor consumption has to be stronger than the need to increase revenue - mighty strong indeed becaue revenue is usually foremost priority.

 

The only thing that comes to mind that would force them to deny revenue in order to monitor consumption pace is a third-part or external influence and the most probable is something that came out of the Smith case that is specific to RCI - thus why other lines are not similarly burdened.

[BILLSFAN83]

1. I assumed you spend time at the bar...? Did I? Sorry if I did??

 

2. Even if someone has one smuggled drink on their balcony the revenue that is lost comes from the entire ship's revenue. If the entire ships revenue is reduced the revenue has to be replaced from somewhere.

 

If only 500 passengers each bring on 1 bottle of liquor that's 500 liters of alcohol.

500 liters eguals 500,000 ml. Each drink uses about 50 ml. of liquor (just under 2 ounces).

500,000 divided by 50 equals 10,000. That's 10,000 drinks.. At even $7.00 a drink that turns out to be $70,000.00 lost from the total ship's revenue.

 

Let's say the average fare for that cruise is $2,000.00 per passenger.

 

Given the above, the ship is giving away 35 free cruises. I wouldn't do it if I operated a ship...

 

Again this entire subject boils down to what rules can be broken when taking a cruise.

 

Dress code, Booze smuggling, Smoking, mustering and a few others that are always poppiong up.

 

People can break the rules if they wish.. I couldn't care less.

After all, rules are meant to be broken and since it is the opinion of many that if they paid for the cruise they can do what they want.

 

bosco

 

 

Way too many variables for this to be anything closer to fact than it is fiction. Like I have mentioned before, drinking changes inhibitions, therefore you would have to take into account the events of a "drunker" mindset, including, increased gambling (hey there is a reason why real casinos give out the booze), increased shopping (I am sure I am not the only one that bought things I may not have on the ship if I was sober), even increased drinking, snacks (cupcakes) and recovering the next day (specialty coffees, an earlier morning hair of the dog) as well as the happy vacation drunk that is going to tip a little better.

 

Now these may or may not happen for everyone, but the point is they may or may not happen just the same as the argument that people smuggling are spending less on RC drinks.

 

 

EDIT - added some thought.

 

Lastly, you don't want to forgot about the goal of a cruise experience... customer retention. In your worst case scenario, you may be losing 1-2% margin tops. However, the volume from having a repeat customer, or customers that had positive thoughts that they pass on to their at home friends and family is much more important.

[CaroleSS]

While I understand the idea of monitoring, what if I am particularly generous and want to buy the people I'm socializing with around the pool a round of drinks? That would put a flag on my account and I potentially would not be able to purchase a drink at dinner.

I keep going back to the cruise lines that DO allow you to bring onboard a few bottles of wine. How do THEY monitor consumption? I know it's their cruise line and they can set the rules, but to set a rule arbitrarily like this is akin to me, as a parent, saying to my kids “you’ll do it because I said so”.

[BILLSFAN83]

While I understand the idea of monitoring, what if I am particularly generous and want to buy the people I'm socializing with around the pool a round of drinks? That would put a flag on my account and I potentially would not be able to purchase a drink at dinner.

 

I keep going back to the cruise lines that DO allow you to bring onboard a few bottles of wine. How do THEY monitor consumption? I know it's their cruise line and they can set the rules, but to set a rule arbitrarily like this is akin to me, as a parent, saying to my kids “you’ll do it because I said so”.

 

There isn't monitoring in the sense of anything proactive. In the event that something happened, or someone was drunk and a problem than I could see that information being looked at.

I have bought rounds for friends I have met, or family and there is no problem with that.

[CaroleSS]

All of this is beginning to smell like a case of CYA!

 

"We can't be held liable for your behavior because we told you to not bring on alcohol, we keep a record of everything you did, our staff is trained to cut you off, and if you smuggled on alcohol and we didn't catch you and you got drunk and fell off your balcony, oh well!!"

[Sequim88]

While I understand the idea of monitoring, what if I am particularly generous and want to buy the people I'm socializing with around the pool a round of drinks? That would put a flag on my account and I potentially would not be able to purchase a drink at dinner.

 

One of the posts way back (around 2007 I believe, before our transatlantic) was this exact scenario. They guy that posted was livid over being cut off becuase he bought drinks for the dinner table. He was not som much so becuase of the monitoring but because he had obviously not drunk too much but had instead irritated a bar tender who would not serve him.

 

"We can't be held liable for your behavior because we told you to not bring on alcohol, we keep a record of everything you did, our staff is trained to cut you off, and if you smuggled on alcohol and we didn't catch you and you got drunk and fell off your balcony, oh well!!"

 

Probably. Their lawyers made them do it. ;) Cheaper in the long run than extra liability insurance so maybe the bean counters got involved as well.

[kyriecat]

I'm not sure how much leeway the staff has for overriding the system if someone if cut off for buying too many drinks. I'm also not sure what the cut-off limit is but there seems to be one.

 

For our anniversary, my husband bought several rounds of drinks (about 20 drinks total) for our table of 8 at dinner. I had 2 mixed drinks and my husband had 3 beers during dinner. The remaining drinks were consumed by the other 6 people at the table. We talked quite a bit so dinner took over 2 hours and no one had more than 3 drinks. None of us were drunk. Our dining room server came by after the 3rd round to see if anyone wanted another drink. At that point, no one did. I'm not sure if she was overriding a "red flag" on our account since she knew the drinks were being consumed by more than 2 people.

 

My husband and I went to the Schooner Bar after dinner to hang out for a while. We ordered a couple of drinks. The bar server came back with my husband's Sea Pass and said that he couldn't serve us because we had over-consumed. We explained that most of the drinks we bought were for others and the bar server agreed that we did not appear to be drunk, but he said he could not override the system. I asked if I could buy the drinks using my Sea Pass instead but was told no because my Sea Pass account was linked to my husband's. We had to wait 12 hours before buying any additional alcoholic beverages.

 

It seems like a silly system to me. I can understand cutting someone off if they appear drunk or are disruptive, but we were neither of those things. They cut us off solely based on the number of drinks we had purchased. It's not unreasonable to me to buy drinks for others onboard so that should be taken into consideration.

 

I've sailed on HAL and Celebrity but I don't know if either of those has a consumption limit. I haven't drank enough onboard to find out. HAL allows you to buy bottles of liquor to consume in the cabin, similar to RC's policy prior to the George Smith incident, so we buy a bottle or two from them. HAL charges 2-3X what we pay for the bottle at a liquor store, but I'd rather pay HAL for a bottle to consume at my leisure than make the effort to smuggle. I think Celebrity also lets you buy bottles onboard but it's been a while since I sailed with them so I'm not certain. I'll find out in a few months.

[CaroleSS]

I posted this on another thread, but thought I'd plast it here just in case you missed it on the other thread!! :p

 

Last month a D+ cruise brought on an "emotional support" dog. The dog yapped the whole cruise and the dog was allowed to EAT off the plate of the owner in the MDR!!!

 

OK, so my question is, which is worse - bringing on a DOG or bringing on alcohol?? RCCL's policy says you can bring on a SERVICE dog, but not a therapy/support dog, but the dog was brought on publicly and no one said anything to the owners about correcting the behavior of the dog. They were not 'cut off' from activites or to locations - regardless of the complaints.

 

RCCL all but does a cavity search for alcohol, so why the double standard??

[reallyitsmema]

I posted this on another thread, but thought I'd plast it here just in case you missed it on the other thread!! :p

 

Last month a D+ cruise brought on an "emotional support" dog. The dog yapped the whole cruise and the dog was allowed to EAT off the plate of the owner in the MDR!!!

 

OK, so my question is, which is worse - bringing on a DOG or bringing on alcohol?? RCCL's policy says you can bring on a SERVICE dog, but not a therapy/support dog, but the dog was brought on publicly and no one said anything to the owners about correcting the behavior of the dog. They were not 'cut off' from activites or to locations - regardless of the complaints.

 

RCCL all but does a cavity search for alcohol, so why the double standard??

Reread the cruiseline policy, they specifically say if the dog is not a service dog but is needed for a disability to contact the cruiseline.

[CaroleSS]

If you read the post, you'd realize that in reality it wasn't for a disability as it was left multiple times in the cabin (I have a disablilty and need the dog NOW, but two hours from now, I might not have that disability and will leave the dog in the cabin to bark and disturb those in the cabin next to me!!) - something that their policy strictly prohibits.....AND was allowed to eat off the table - another thing that is strictly prohibited!!

[Pushka]

I don't disagree with this. It's just that your original argument was that it's only one bottle, and it's only 2 or 5 shots of booze (remember?). But then you went on to agree that it could be more than just 2 or 5 shots, and now you're saying that, oh, by the way, it's not just one bottle, it could be 6 bottles!:eek:

 

Fair enough.

Again this entire subject boils down to what rules can be broken when taking a cruise.

 

Dress code, Booze smuggling, Smoking, mustering and a few others that are always poppiong up.

 

People can break the rules if they wish.. I couldn't care less.

After all, rules are meant to be broken and since it is the opinion of many that if they paid for the cruise they can do what they want.

 

bosco

 

No, that is not what i am saying. My point is that I have no intention of breaking the rules. I have already ordered wines for our cabin. I have bought two soda cards. I plan on dressing appropriately. I will go to muster. I don't smoke. BUT I could still be made to go to the naughty room and be made to wait in line and be accused of smuggling because that is the message they leave on the phone, simply because I only have normal items for daily, just because they are over zealous in policing their prohibition policy. And this is what makes me :mad:

[Cindy]

I know if I were cruising during spring break, I would carryon anything that might cause my luggage to be held.

 

But people who follow the rules are punished, too. Is RCI to the point where all liquids are suspect? Pity if so.

 

We just got off the Mariner yesterday. Even though we checked in early, we didn't receive our bags until about 6:00, and we were among the first on our side of Deck 10 to receive our luggage. My suspicion is that since it was Spring Break, they were carefully scrutinizing every piece of luggage before it was sent upstairs. We don't smuggle -- we had no contraband or liquids of any kind in our suitcases, so I can't imagine the delay could have been for any reason other than carefully looking at each and every bag for suspicious items. In that respect, smuggling does impact everybody, because everyone, whether they're trying to smuggle or not, is inconvenienced by the careful inspection.

I had plenty of liquids in my carry-on bag, including a bottle of coffee creamer and a single bottle of Diet Coke that I grabbed on my way out the door! I wasn't even asked to open my carry-on.

 

I really dont know....I have never order room service. I think even if you preorder a wine package that doesnt go to your room. I have heard you can take whats left over of your wine bottle from dinner back to your room....which really wouldn't be much since a bottle is about 2 or maybe 2.5 glasses per person. I dont know but my guess is if its a drink with ice in it ...it would be watered down but who knows. Its just not as convenient but it is what it is.

 

You can have bottles of wine sent to your cabin, or you can also purchase a bottle at any of the venues on board and take it to consume in your cabin.

[boscobeans]

Fair enough.

 

 

No, that is not what i am saying. My point is that I have no intention of breaking the rules. I have already ordered wines for our cabin. I have bought two soda cards. I plan on dressing appropriately. I will go to muster. I don't smoke. BUT I could still be made to go to the naughty room and be made to wait in line and be accused of smuggling because that is the message they leave on the phone, simply because I only have normal items for daily, just because they are over zealous in policing their prohibition policy. And this is what makes me :mad:

 

 

 

No real problem just can't understand how this entire thread or those like it improve anyone's knowledge about cruising.

 

Over and Out.

 

bosco

[Cindy]

I'm not sure how much leeway the staff has for overriding the system if someone if cut off for buying too many drinks. I'm also not sure what the cut-off limit is but there seems to be one.

 

For our anniversary, my husband bought several rounds of drinks (about 20 drinks total) for our table of 8 at dinner. I had 2 mixed drinks and my husband had 3 beers during dinner. The remaining drinks were consumed by the other 6 people at the table. We talked quite a bit so dinner took over 2 hours and no one had more than 3 drinks. None of us were drunk. Our dining room server came by after the 3rd round to see if anyone wanted another drink. At that point, no one did. I'm not sure if she was overriding a "red flag" on our account since she knew the drinks were being consumed by more than 2 people.

 

My husband and I went to the Schooner Bar after dinner to hang out for a while. We ordered a couple of drinks. The bar server came back with my husband's Sea Pass and said that he couldn't serve us because we had over-consumed. We explained that most of the drinks we bought were for others and the bar server agreed that we did not appear to be drunk, but he said he could not override the system. I asked if I could buy the drinks using my Sea Pass instead but was told no because my Sea Pass account was linked to my husband's. We had to wait 12 hours before buying any additional alcoholic beverages.

 

It seems like a silly system to me. I can understand cutting someone off if they appear drunk or are disruptive, but we were neither of those things. They cut us off solely based on the number of drinks we had purchased. It's not unreasonable to me to buy drinks for others onboard so that should be taken into consideration.

 

I've sailed on HAL and Celebrity but I don't know if either of those has a consumption limit. I haven't drank enough onboard to find out. HAL allows you to buy bottles of liquor to consume in the cabin, similar to RC's policy prior to the George Smith incident, so we buy a bottle or two from them. HAL charges 2-3X what we pay for the bottle at a liquor store, but I'd rather pay HAL for a bottle to consume at my leisure than make the effort to smuggle. I think Celebrity also lets you buy bottles onboard but it's been a while since I sailed with them so I'm not certain. I'll find out in a few months.

 

I would be quite upset if that happened to me. I would love to be able to bring wine aboard, and I always do when I'm on a line that allows passengers to bring their own wine. Since RCCL doesn't allow it, I follow and will continue to follow their rules when I'm on one of their ships.

What I would object to is being treated with suspicion or like a juvenile delinquent for engaging responsibly in a legal adult activity. To me, it would diminish the quality of the cruise experience and leave a sour taste in my mouth. Meanwhile, the folks who just bumbled and stumbled their way down the pier after 8 hours in Senor Frogs get back on the ship and keep right on drinking because the computer can't see them and can't keep track of how much they've had.:(

[Cindy]

 

On a port day though, I heard of a cruiser who purchased a bottle of

purified drinking water on the the ship, put it in his/her waist belt water

bottle holder and went on a tour. This person emptied the water and

half-filled it up with vodka (bought on shore)....and walked back on ship

no problems.

 

Oops, guess RCI knows about this trick now too.

 

:cool::cool:

 

 

Last Friday in Cozumel, security not only shook our water, they actually uncapped it and smelled it. Since the security person's nostrils were a little too close to the drinking surface for my liking:p I ended up pouring out the rest of the water!:eek:

[Ocean Boy]

Last Friday in Cozumel, security not only shook our water, they actually uncapped it and smelled it. Since the security person's nostrils were a little too close to the drinking surface for my liking:p I ended up pouring out the rest of the water!:eek:

 

I might have been tempted to pour it out in front of the person and then thanked him/her for contaminating it.

[Ldyandrea]

Egads, I am so tired of this argument. Much in the same way I'm tired of the chair hog, smoking, and dining room formalwear arguments. Everyone will whine about some darn thing just because they can, regardless of the logic or practicality involved.

 

Message to everyone on the CC Boards: Please grow up.

[Pushka]

I think it's funny when people bother to open and read a thread and then say they are bored with it. I wonder who really needs to grow up?

 

 

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