RCI's New Alcohol Policy effective 7/28/06? (merged)

[Autumnrose]

"The new policy applies to any sailing that leaves from N. America - Transatlantics are included if they leave from here. Alaska is included, because it is N. America. All of RCI's Caribbean sailings leave from N. America unless it is some special sailing, or repositioning, so they are included too.

 

Europe is the only one that will probably remain under the old policy but nothing has yet been published. "

 

You should tell your rep that it has been "published" already. Sounds like she/he doesn't know anymore than res and cust. service. It has been my experience that most sales reps hear about changes after TA's ask them about the changes.

[caviargal]

"The new policy applies to any sailing that leaves from N. America - Transatlantics are included if they leave from here. Alaska is included, because it is N. America. All of RCI's Caribbean sailings leave from N. America unless it is some special sailing, or repositioning, so they are included too.

 

Europe is the only one that will probably remain under the old policy but nothing has yet been published. "

 

You should tell your rep that it has been "published" already. Sounds like she/he doesn't know anymore than res and cust. service. It has been my experience that most sales reps hear about changes after TA's ask them about the changes.

 

She is actually very good and a source of great info, unlike the external site and the CSRs. My experience has been positive and I have been aware of the policy since last week.

[navigator2006]

I'm confused...are you saying that when you turn the legal age, you suddenly understand your responsibilities? If you're 19, do you suddenly understand your responsibilities once you cross the border into Canada? Do teens understand their responsibilities at the dinner table with a few glasses of wine, or at a wine tasting? I'm betting you're a wine drinker...=)

 

I'll take a boatful of 18-20's with the parents keeping an eye on them then 21-23's any day of the week. Besides...telling an 18 y/o they can drink isn't a rule....it's a challenge.

 

I agree with you. I am college and I can tell you that the people that are 21+ around here are ALOT wilder than the 18-20 year olds.

[caviargal]

 

I'll take a boatful of 18-20's with the parents keeping an eye on them then 21-23's any day of the week.

 

Any age group is fine if the parents are behaving responsibly but this is not the case too much any more.

 

And Security will deal with the "adults" but hesitates with the under 21 set because then they have to deal with irate parents as well who just do not want to be bothered.

[navigator2006]

I just talked to American Express Travel (who booked our cruise) and they said they went to a travel agent's internal website and it doesn't say anything about this policy changing. It will says 18-20 year olds can drink with a signed waiver by their parents. Im not saying I don't believe that it might change, but rather I am just saying I will believe it when I see it.

[skandls]

I am SOS in 3 weeks and will post about personal experiences then. I am bringing along my 19YO nephew and his best friend so it will be interesting to see about the waiver.

 

CG

 

Looking forward to your report. We willl be on the Radiance in Sept. I sure don't want to fly with my 2 bottles per person only to have them stored and returned. Are you taking any wine in your carry on?

 

I did enjoy the wine bar and selections on the Navigator. However - to get a decent bottle of wine required at least a $50 purchase. So why doesn't the cruise line just raise the corkage. That would discourage the people who want their special bottle of 2 buck chuck.

[seamama1]

I really hope for caviargirl that you are kidding here. I am really, really, really tired of the textual beatings she takes on this board.

 

We are all entitled to our opinions without being ridiculed.

 

If you are in jest, then I'm relieved, and apologize.

 

Of course it is a jest.....should have put a smilie - so here 'tis::p

 

Caviargirl: did not mean to sound like a diss.....believe me, ok? another smilie for ya

[seamama1]

I wasn't at any internet site - I was talking to customer service at RCCL.

 

Then may I suggest you keep in touch with RCCL. Many times, the reservation staff either haven't been promptly updated or have not had the time to review all of the information that gets tossed at them. Please keep in mind that TA's make the majority of the reservations for cruiselines. They are usually notified immediately because not passing this information on to their customers can cause big legal troubles for the agent/agency.

 

This type of major change in policy is not usually sent by a miscellaneous memo of some sort to thier own reservation staff or customer service people...this is a big deal and will be handled by RCCL according to their protocol.

 

I would put all faith in a TA that has access to the very latest information almost instantly. Most TA's are professionals and wouldn't pass on rumor or speculation. Websites operated by cruiselines, airlines, hotels, etc have special areas strictly for TA's to access. This area is constantly updated. I would not rely on RCCL customer service only but would certainly make it my business to explore all options.

 

Again, call again after this policy is set to kick in....

[Autumnrose]

I just talked to American Express Travel (who booked our cruise) and they said they went to a travel agent's internal website and it doesn't say anything about this policy changing. It will says 18-20 year olds can drink with a signed waiver by their parents. Im not saying I don't believe that it might change, but rather I am just saying I will believe it when I see it.

 

It wasn't easy to find. Like I said I had to tell the Customer Service Rep exactly where to find it. It was under food and beverages not under alcohol. If you want to call them back just tell them to go under Trip Detail, then Quick Reference, then Royal Caribbean, then Food And Beverage, then it is about half way down the page under Alcohol Policy. :D

[navigator2006]

It wasn't easy to find. Like I said I had to tell the Customer Service Rep exactly where to find it. It was under food and beverages not under alcohol. If you want to call them back just tell them to go under Trip Detail, then Quick Reference, then Royal Caribbean, then Food And Beverage, then it is about half way down the page under Alcohol Policy. :D

 

What is the exact name of this internal travel agents website called so that when I call my travel agent back they will know exactly what I am referrring to.

[zqvol]

It is not that long ago that the legal age to drink alcoholic beverages in most states in the US was 18. The federal govenment indirectly mandated that the states raise the age to 21 by threating to withold highway funds for states with a drinking age lower than 21. The reason was to reduce deaths by drunk drivers. There was no other reason to change the "legal age".

 

There are some 18 year olds that will consume alcoholic beverages in a very responsible fashion, and there are some 35 year olds that will be the most irresponsible drinkers imaginable.

 

The issue is not one of age but of maturity. Generally the older you are the more mature, but not always. However the rule will be what it is, but whatever the drinking age on RCCL minors will manage to obtain alcohol and "adults" will manage to get drunk and make fools of themselves.

[RDeagazio]

OK people-- here it is-- cut and pasted DIRECTLY FROM RCI'S AGENT SITE.. Cruising Power...

 

Those of you who fail to believe this is a fact are living in denial-- RCI Reservations staff are some of the dumbest people on planet.. Example.. I called today to book a client on the Monarch and was told by the RCI Res Agent that I needed to call Celebrity as the Monarch isn't an RCI ship!!

 

 

Quick Reference

 

 

 

Alcoholic Beverages

 

We apologize for any inconvenience but due to recent regulatory and licensing requirements guests are not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages of any kind onboard for consumption or any other use. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased duty-free from the Shops On Board or at ports of call will be stored by Royal Caribbean and delivered to guest staterooms on the last day of the voyage. A member of our staff will be at the gangway to assist with the storage of any purchases.

 

For guests who wish to bring "fine" wine aboard, and Royal Caribbean is unable to accommodate their selection, we will, with prior approval from Royal Caribbean, allow a maximum of two bottles of wine to be brought by the guest or group. A corkage fee in the amount of $12.00 per bottle will be charged. This policy may not apply to every ship or itinerary depending on local laws, customs, or license requirements but Royal Caribbean will try and accommodate requests. Royal Caribbean is not responsible for fines imposed or items confiscated by local authorities.

 

 

 

Alcohol Policy

 

While a ship is at sea, Royal Caribbean International will not serve alcoholic beverages to guests under 21 years of age.

Note: An individual's age on the date of sailing determines his or her status for the entire cruise vacation.

 

 

 

Alcohol Policy

 

Effective as of all sailings commencing on or after July 28, 2006, the minimum drinking age for all alcoholic beverages on all Royal Caribbean International ships is 21.

 

However, on cruises departing from European and South American countries, where the legal drinking age is typically lower than 21, a parent who is sailing with his or her son (s) and/or daughter (s) who is between the ages of 18 to 20, may sign a waiver allowing the 18 to 20 year old to consume alcoholic beverages.

 

The 18- to 20 year-old must agree to comply with Royal Caribbean's policies, including among other things, agreeing to not provide alcoholic beverages to any other person, regardless of age. Restrictions apply, and this policy is subject to change without notice.

 

 

An individuals age on the date of sailing determines his or her status for the entire cruise vacation.

 

 

Guests are not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages onboard for consumption or any other use. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased

in ports of call or from onboard shops will be stored by the ship and delivered to guest staterooms on the last day of the sailing. Security may inspect containers (water bottles, soda bottles, mouthwash, luggage etc.) and will dispose of containers holding alcohol. Royal Caribbean’s Guest Vacation Policy may be enforced, up to and including disembarkation, if a guest violates any alcohol policy. Guests under the age of 21 will not have alcohol returned to them.

 

Guests who violate any alcohol policies, (over consume, provide alcohol to people under age 21, demonstrate irresponsible behavior, or attempt to conceal alcoholic items at security and or luggage check points or any other time), may be disembarked or not allowed to board, at their own expense, in accordance with our Guest Vacation Polices.

 

Royal Caribbean reserves the right to revoke or otherwise restrict drinking privileges of any guest, regardless of age.

[navigator2006]

I just talked to a RCI rep (and yea, I know she is probably wrong) but she said she got a memo about this change back on Monday and that it was only going to affect celebrity cruise line, not rccl.

[Cruising89143]

OK people-- here it is-- cut and pasted DIRECTLY FROM RCI'S AGENT SITE.. Cruising Power...

 

Those of you who fail to believe this is a fact are living in denial-- RCI Reservations staff are some of the dumbest people on planet.. Example.. I called today to book a client on the Monarch and was told by the RCI Res Agent that I needed to call Celebrity as the Monarch isn't an RCI

 

That's sad but doesn't surprise me in the least. RCI does need to get their act together on things like this and insure that all of the associates that are dealing with customers are up to date on policy changes and they should have already updated the RCI website for the general public. I feel sorry for the shoreside agents that are going to be telling folks this weekend that the rules have changed. They are going to be hammered by some folks on this.

[RDeagazio]

Cruisingator-- Unfortunately the cruise lines (all of them, not just RCI) have horrible front line employees for the most part-- these people are paid minimum wage and some have never cruised or even seen a ship before. Training is minimal, but what I find inexcusable is for an RCI reservations agent to not know the Monarch is one of their ships!! Every time I call RCI it seems I have to educated (sometimes train) the person on the phone before I can even get my clients reservations made. Don't get me wrong, there are some good ones out there, but trust me they are few and far between.

 

I do agree that RCI should update the consumer site at the same time it does the agents site.

[TPKeller]

Those of you who fail to believe this is a fact are living in denial-- RCI Reservations staff are some of the dumbest people on planet.. Example.. I called today to book a client on the Monarch and was told by the RCI Res Agent that I needed to call Celebrity as the Monarch isn't an RCI ship!!

That is classic! I wonder if you can get an RCI agent to book you on the Fantasy or maybe the Queen Mary 2? :D And the puzzling thing is that there are still many folks out there who insist that TAs should be avoided like the plague! But there is no guarantee that your next call won't go to that very agent.

Quick Reference

 

Alcoholic Beverages [1]

 

[...]

For guests who wish to bring "fine" wine aboard, and Royal Caribbean is unable to accommodate their selection, we will, with prior approval from Royal Caribbean, allow a maximum of two bottles of wine to be brought by the guest or group. A corkage fee in the amount of $12.00 per bottle will be charged. This policy may not apply to every ship or itinerary depending on local laws, customs, or license requirements but Royal Caribbean will try and accommodate requests. Royal Caribbean is not responsible for fines imposed or items confiscated by local authorities.

 

Alcohol Policy [2]

 

[...]

Guests are not allowed to bring alcoholic beverages onboard for consumption or any other use. Alcoholic beverages that are purchased in ports of call or from onboard shops will be stored by the ship and delivered to guest staterooms on the last day of the sailing. Security may inspect containers (water bottles, soda bottles, mouthwash, luggage etc.) and will dispose of containers holding alcohol. Royal Caribbean’s Guest Vacation Policy may be enforced, up to and including disembarkation, if a guest violates any alcohol policy. Guests under the age of 21 will not have alcohol returned to them.

 

Guests who violate any alcohol policies, (over consume, provide alcohol to people under age 21, demonstrate irresponsible behavior, or attempt to conceal alcoholic items at security and or luggage check points or any other time), may be disembarked or not allowed to board, at their own expense, in accordance with our Guest Vacation Polices.

 

Royal Caribbean reserves the right to revoke or otherwise restrict drinking privileges of any guest, regardless of age.

Nobody has yet offered an explanation for this apparent conflict of rules. You can't have it both ways, they are mutually exclusive.

 

Theron

[RDeagazio]

It's more of an exception than a total conflict. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed to be brought onboard, with the exception of 2 bottles of wine and the restrictions are stated clearly in the policy.

[TPKeller]

It's more of an exception than a total conflict. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed to be brought onboard, with the exception of 2 bottles of wine and the restrictions are stated clearly in the policy.

I guess the point of this entire thread is that we can guess, but we can't know for certain what their intent really is. The fact is that their new policy does say:

 

"...will dispose of containers holding alcohol. Royal Caribbean’s Guest Vacation Policy may be enforced, up to and including disembarkation..."

 

And yes, that is just a snip, but the words are there, and we all know what a security guard with a bad attitude is capable of.

 

Their policy writing skills are not exactly stellar, and as we have all seen, neither are their policy dissemination skills. I would conject that you would seriously risk losing your two bottles of "fine wine" if you tried to board with them during the first few days of this new policy being in place.

 

Theron

[navigator2006]

RDeagazio,

 

does this cruising power still say the gambling age is 18 or has it changed to 21 also?

[Borat]

RDeagazio,

 

does this cruising power still say the gambling age is 18 or has it changed to 21 also?

id like to know this too! though i cant see them raising it to 21

[Merion_Mom]

They "suddenly" instituted the $3.95 fee at Johnny Rocket's, didn't they? The cruiseline seems to have survived the backlash.

 

They "suddenly" took away our ability to buy liquor in their onboard shop, pay a $9.50 fee and take it away on the spot, didn't they? The cruiseline survived THAT backlash, too.

 

They seem to be well-practiced in ambushing passengers and getting away with it. :)

[Catnip]

 

They seem to be well-practiced in ambushing passengers and getting away with it. :)

 

 

Amen! :mad:

[crzn4fun]

The TA portion of the site says gambling is 21 for RCI and 18 for X. This is new because we were on the Explorer in March and it was 18 for RCI. We booked a 12 day Baltic cruise for June 2007 because the age was 18, my DD will be 19 at that time. I am seriously considering shopping around to find another cruiseline which would allow gambling at 18. My dd is physically challenged because of a recent stroke and enjoys playing the nickel slots. This decision by RCI will probably not impact a majority of its guests, but it sure will impact us. Enough so that I will look elsewhere.

[l929]

The alcohol policy is so inconsistent! We were on Explorer on 5/28/06, I had been reading the boards and the general opinion was that you could bring on 2 bottles of wine that the ship did not have and pay a corkage fee. We took our chances and brought about 5 bottles on and a bottle of expensive champagne. We did it openly and obviously, in a shipping box marked "wine." We checked it with our luggage. No one said boo. We brought it each night to the dining room. Our waiter the first night looked up the wine and mistakenly thought it was on their list (a similar bottle was, from the same winery, but they didnt have that specific wine) so he said we had to pay the corkage fee. We were confused, but since we expected to pay a corkage fee each night, we didnt dispute it. The next night we brought something that totally was not on their list, so the waiter waived the fee. (????) Then it clicked, he thought that if it was on their list we had to pay a corkage fee and if not there was no fee at all. It did not even dawn on him that we werent supposed to bring our own wine.

So here is the even stranger thing, we went to Portofinos with our champagne that they clearly sell, (for a lot more than I paid in the store), we even had the concierge bring it there before dinner to chill it, and they still did not charge us a corkage fee!

So, basically, it seems that it does not matter what the cruise line's policy is or what is on which website because the ship's crew does not seem to know and they are the ones who implement it. You take a gamble.

We will be on Mariner in November and unless I hear that they are really enforcing this policy, we will be walking on with our box of wine bottles. (Dont worry, they will still make plenty of money off of all my cosmos in the disco and frozen drinks at the pool. DH even buys those stupid after dinner drinks they come around with in the dining room.) Like many others who have said before, if you drink wine you dont want to pay $50 for a bottle on the ship that costs $5 in your liquor store that you wouldnt even drink for free!

Go ahead, flame away, I can take it!

[pediatric-rnp]

The TA portion of the site says gambling is 21 for RCI and 18 for X. This is new because we were on the Explorer in March and it was 18 for RCI.

 

 

This would be VERY new - as I mentioned earlier, we just got off FOS 4 days ago, and as of Sat evening, the casino was still open to 18 year olds! My 18 yr & 20 old sons were there throughout our 7/16-7/23 cruise. The 20 yr old was never carded, but the 18 yr old had to show proof of age with drivers license and also had to show his seapass every time he was at a table. I was with them twice, and both times the crewmember at the table explained that the age was 18 to gamble, and they were being especially careful checking age on our cruise as it was carrying a particularly large number of kids.