If travel kettles are forbidden - can I hire one?

[Skipper Tim]

I read that one of the privileges of Costa's spa themed cabins is that they have kettles provided so, by implication, other cabins don't have kettles Yet, no electrical goods except chargers and electric razors are permitted to be brought aboard. A kettle is pretty fundamental to my elderly mother. She will take a travel kettle if a certain hotel does not provide one - over 50 years of overseas travel. For those cabins without a kettle provided, is it possible to rent one or is this just another revenue-generating exercise, i.e. room service charges? She may not go on the cruise if she can't make her own cups of tea. 

 

We will be boarding at Santos and have very low-powered folding travel kettles. Will they be confiscated?

 

Any advice? This is a very serious matter I will have to discuss with my mother. 

[At7Seas]

No kettles for rent and if security works well kettles should be confiscated.

 

Reason is simply fire protection. The eletrical network is not designed for using kettles or other high rated electrical devices throughout the ship. BTW most cruise lines have similar rules.

 

In the buffet restaurant there is hot water available and tea bags are for free, so there is no financial question behind these rules.

[gerryuk]

On 4/6/2023 at 6:48 AM, At7Seas said:

No kettles for rent and if security works well kettles should be confiscated.

 

Reason is simply fire protection. The eletrical network is not designed for using kettles or other high rated electrical devices throughout the ship. BTW most cruise lines have similar rules.

 

In the buffet restaurant there is hot water available and tea bags are for free, so there is no financial question behind these rules.

Don't most cruise lines put kettles in rooms if the cruise starts from the UK, even if they don't on other itinerary's? 

[Skipper Tim]

Revenue not fire protection. Ships built 60 years ago were wired for kettles, irons etc. in every stateroom. Is a modern cruise ship wired to inferior standards? No.

 

Every cabin has its own consumer unit which will trip the individual circuit if excessive power is drawn on it. 

 

Forbidding low-power travel kettles is purely about generating revenue from room service. 

[At7Seas]

Most is not all. I am aware that Marella is very generous with electric appliances, allow personal equipment as long as regarded by them as being electrically safe and generally provide kettles. Cunard has kettles at least in some if not in all cabins. And what does Cunard state?
 
“Passengers are not permitted to bring on board irons, kettles or …”
 
Just compare to P&O: “… items which may pose a risk to the safety of guests and crew are not allowed to be brought onboard our ships including: Irons, kettles, coffee machines, baby bottle warmers…”
 
Technically you need to understand two things. First the wiring determines what electrical consumption is permitted. Second that there is a huge difference in consumption between two appliances of the same kind.
 
For example hairdryers. They are standard available throughout all cruise ships - and banned by most cruise lines as well. Cruise lines have influence on the consumption to force you to use theirs only, and these are relatively low rated. Why? You can buy one with 1000 W and one with 2400 W as well. If we now reduce for keeping it easy to the connection to this appliance in the cabin only, regard short cables, and not the technique used to wire the cabin (all these things are of influence), the 2400 W hairdryer needs a cable with twice the cable cross-section already. Identically is the situation with kettles. And of course the more high rated appliances are connected the thicker the cables need to be. All this is a still quite low scale question until you take into account that we are talking about a small town at sea. Breakers for a single cabin provide overuse of a single cabin, but this doesn’t take away that parts of corridors need to be protected as well and if everybody is boiling water the same time having a blackout mans cabins at once? No good idea, while this protection is absolutely needed technically.
 
Revenue? Ships built 60 years ago were smaller, built for another public and at different comfort levels. Add this to the fact that we use much more electricity today compared to 1963. So yes, ships today are much cheaper built. Revenue by saving already on cables when building a ship. Where free tea is offered at some places in the ship the cabin service is not boosted so much.
 
What is now the secret of Marella? I expect that when they refurbished their ships they have replaced the relevant part of the wiring to make guests from their home market happy. Yes, you can do so, but of course there is a price tag for doing so.