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

[Cruise Junky]

Where is the person that always puts the dead horse on one of these threads? This is all starting to sound very familiar....

 

Denise :)

 

Are you asking the people just roll over and accept whatever the cruise line wants to enforce without voicing their opinion?

 

I agree that we have a choice and that is to not cruise them again, but surely people have a right to voice their opinion here?

[Merion_Mom]

Where is the person that always puts the dead horse on one of these threads? This is all starting to sound very familiar....

 

Denise :)

You rang?

[Joie58]

People the rules are clear.

 

NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 21 ALLOWED TO DRINK ALCOHOL

 

Pretty much cut and dried, why keep complaining, just deal with it!

 

Sorry people, the Vet checked, time to get off this subject... this Horse is DEAD!:D

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[Cruise Junky]

After reading 18 pages of this, now I know why Bush is still President. Scary.

[seamama1]

royal caribbean is known for not enforcing their policies...theres no reason to believe any of this until someone comes back with a story.

 

do you really believe someone will come back with a post saying "i got kicked off for having alcohol in my suitcase"...answer that honestly

 

No, I don't really expect to hear that. What I expect to hear is the griping about having the alcohol confiscated upon embarkation. I believe the only ones who will be denied boarding are the ones who make a big stink about it - or who try to smuggle it back from a port of call - or who supply alcohol onboard for underage people.

 

In the near future, I expect to hear about people who have been taken off the ship by consistently ignoring onboard instructions concerning alcohol and bad behavior. We won't hear from the people themselves, just from those who witnessed it.

 

RCCL has cracked down and a lot of people don't like it. That's what has fueled many threads here. But, it is a bit of "too bad". RCCL has every right to try and protect itself from liability. Like it or not!

[seamama1]

Wow, someone didn't get enough sleep last night.

 

Nah! Doesn't bother me, fer sure. I am more than familiar with the term "knuckle-dragging mouth-breather" and consider the source.

[Borat]

No, I don't really expect to hear that. What I expect to hear is the griping about having the alcohol confiscated upon embarkation. I believe the only ones who will be denied boarding are the ones who make a big stink about it - or who try to smuggle it back from a port of call - or who supply alcohol onboard for underage people.

 

In the near future, I expect to hear about people who have been taken off the ship by consistently ignoring onboard instructions concerning alcohol and bad behavior. We won't hear from the people themselves, just from those who witnessed it.

 

RCCL has cracked down and a lot of people don't like it. That's what has fueled many threads here. But, it is a bit of "too bad". RCCL has every right to try and protect itself from liability. Like it or not!

 

i think it will depend on the bartender or crew member who is supplying the alcohol. I mean i can see where in certain situations, certain crew members would certainly not take well to people serving alcohol to minors..but some of the crew..honestly...they wont "tell" on you.

 

last month...when i was on the freedom...I would order wine/champagne at dinner...and never did they even ask for my age or anything. I couldnt believe it.

 

there ARE ways around all of this. I will be cruising with 2 of my buddies in January, who are both 20...and one of my friends is 21, along with me...but whos to say i cant order whatever i want through room service?? say i order a bottle of something, or some beers, or whatever. Are they going to deny me the alcohol because of my friends?? honestly think about it. If an 18 year old was in a room with their parents and their parents ordered alcohol, would they deny them the alcohol because their daughter was in the room? I think they will let me purchase what i want, as i will be 21, then they will leave. Therefore, giving my 2 buddies who are 20 an opportunity to drink. Its not like they have cameras in the room and are going to monitor who drinks the drinks from room service. What do u think?

 

p.s. where abouts in jersey? im in rockland county, NY

[Cruise Junky]

Ohhh...you'd better watch out... those 20 year olds can:

 

Get Married and divorced multiple times

Father multiple Children

Die for their Country

Vote

 

But god forbid you give them a beer...you might be thrown off the ship ;)

[Borat]

Ohhh...you'd better watch out... those 20 year olds can:

 

Get Married and divorced multiple times

Father multiple Children

Die for their Country

Vote

 

But god forbid you give them a beer...you might be thrown off the ship ;)

 

hahahaha thats an amazing post...thank you for that!

[Bobblsc]

I had a complete post of info to you washed out. So I'll be short. most info is on early pages. I was interested in 145 on page 8. I have sent an e-mail to RCCL asking for approval to bring two bottles of French wine on board the Jewel Sept. 11 sailing. If this thread is still up tomorrow, I'll try to fill you in

 

Bob :)

[MortgageChick]

Call RCL 10 times and you will get 10 different answers. I have read the news release and I think it is very strongly worded, especially the points about all soda, water bottles etc. to be searched, and passengers who are denied boarding due to having alcohol in their luggage/carry ons will not be given a refund.

 

As for the drinking age. As pointed out the age of 21 is a USA rule, and now their ships, who mostly sail non US waters ,and are Non US registered ships are imposing US rules.

 

I grew up in Calgary ALberta where the drinking age is 18, I started drinking at 18 and have not had any negative effects from that. The drinking age is 19 where I currently live, and I have supervised my daughters drinking prior to that age, she is now 22. She was 18 when we cruised RCL and enjoyed wine with me at dinner on our mother /daughter cruise.

 

Most of the obnoxious drunks I have seen on cruises are way older than 21, and most of the drunks who fall overboard seem to be older, witht he exception of the young man , I think it was in June.

 

As far as buying liquor from RCL instead of bringing your own. COnvenience is the reason we have always brought our own on board. I do not sit in bars at home and drink in public and I rarely do it on board ship. DH and I prefer to sit on our balcony and our our drinks the way we like them.

 

Who on this board honestly believes that they can thoroughly search 3000 plus pieces of checked luggage and 3000 plus carry ons at embarkations and then another 3000 carry ons every port day. What time will we h ave to arrive at the ship?? I think they are hoping the threats they are making about kicking you off the ship will keep passengers in line, and it probably will make the majority think twice.

However, the bad publicity from kicking people off the ship with or without refunds will be as crippling from a PR standpoint as the passengers going overboard.

 

After 16 cruises we have not yet had our alcohol confiscated. We are on the Jewel in 3 months and I will be interested to see what new techniques they will be deploying to track down liquor that they have not had in the past.

I suspect it will still be random searches of suspect luggage, because searching and thoroughly scanning each piece would result in still delivering luggage on day 2.

 

I am sure that this policy is less about underage drinking and mostly about profit.

[caviargal]

 

As for the drinking age. As pointed out the age of 21 is a USA rule, and now their ships, who mostly sail non US waters and are Non US registered ships are imposing US rules.

 

I grew up in Calgary ALberta where the drinking age is 18, I started drinking at 18 and have not had any negative effects from that. The drinking age is 19 where I currently live, and I have supervised my daughters drinking prior to that age, she is now 22. She was 18 when we cruised RCL and enjoyed wine with me at dinner on our mother /daughter cruise.

 

Most of the obnoxious drunks I have seen on cruises are way older than 21, and most of the drunks who fall overboard seem to be older, witht he exception of the young man , I think it was in June.

 

As far as buying liquor from RCL instead of bringing your own. COnvenience is the reason we have always brought our own on board. I do not sit in bars at home and drink in public and I rarely do it on board ship. DH and I prefer to sit on our balcony and our our drinks the way we like them.

 

Who on this board honestly believes that they can thoroughly search 3000 plus pieces of checked luggage and 3000 plus carry ons at embarkations and then another 3000 carry ons every port day. What time will we h ave to arrive at the ship?? I think they are hoping the threats they are making about kicking you off the ship will keep passengers in line, and it probably will make the majority think twice.

However, the bad publicity from kicking people off the ship with or without refunds will be as crippling from a PR standpoint as the passengers going overboard.

 

I am sure that this policy is less about underage drinking and mostly about profit.

 

Where the ships are flagged is a matter of taxes and requirements to provide benefits to employees and it has always been this way. This new 21 and over rule is not a reflection of U.S. drinking laws, but is RCI's stand on drinking.

 

While I agree to an extent that is about profit it is also about liability, which impacts profit at another level. One could make an argument that the smuggled absinthe in the George Smith case resulted in a tragic accident that cost RCI an undisclosed amount, not to mention lots of negative publicity. Personally, I believe it is the individuals responsibility not to drink oneself into oblivion, but our litigous society prefers to place blame somewhere else other than the individual.

 

There is no doubt that there are obnoxious drunks over 21 and I have seen many instances where the bartenders should have cut off folks who were falling down drunk on cruises (and in bars).

 

I do not personally think it will be possible for RCI to completely prevent smuggling. But I think they will make an example of some to drive the point home. I also think there will be a lot more control exercised over the point at which bartenders stop serving passengers who have already had enough.

 

There will always be those that smuggle and now there are potential consequences. These new policies provide a legal statement which perhaps will help RCI with future cases.

 

I do not think it will impact RCI success as a cruise line even a little.

[MortgageChick]

Apparently over consuming will now be a violation of alcohol policy, and make you subject to being removed from the ship "at your own expense" (no refund) They best not be serving too many of those profitable cocktails to any one person.

 

"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 andor 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."

 

This sounds like not even a bottle of wine for the dining room. What other use is there than consumption? Medicinal rub (ha!)

 

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

 

 

Personally I don't care for drunks any more than anyone else, but I am going to be interested in how all this plays out

[peterv]

Where the ships are flagged is a matter of taxes and requirements to provide benefits to employees and it has always been this way. This new 21 and over rule is not a reflection of U.S. drinking laws, but is RCI's stand on drinking.

 

While it may be a matter of taxes as to where the ship is flagged, I'm sure the rationale for the drinking age IS because of US law. I'm sure the cruise lines would love to sell as much alcohol to the 18-21 crowd as they can, but are afraid of the backlash from the moral minority in the US about allowing their little dears to taste the demon alcohol aboard their ships.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[caviargal]

While it may be a matter of taxes as to where the ship is flagged, I'm sure the rationale for the drinking age IS because of US law. I'm sure the cruise lines would love to sell as much alcohol to the 18-21 crowd as they can, but are afraid of the backlash from the moral minority in the US about allowing their little dears to taste the demon alcohol aboard their ships.

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

I really do not think the moral majority has anything to do with it. I believe it is the extensive bad publicity and the lawsuits.

 

As a TA, when I am discussing options with clients I hear concern about Princess (fire and two steering issues resulting in scared and injured passengers, and RCI (isn't that the cruise line that has all the "accidents"?).

 

JMHO

[spectatorsports]

anybody have an opinion on this?

 

Sounds reasonable to me but everyone will tell you there is no way to get alcohol if you are under 21. The alcohol police will catch you and you will be kicked off at your own expense.

[Host Karen]

While this thread has been informative, the moderators have recently spent too much time removing posts that are directed at other members rather than discussing the topic at hand. As a result, this thread is now closed.

 

Karen

HostKaren@CruiseCritic.com