Bringing nonalcoholic beverages onboard

[jer_l]

An article here on the Cruise Critic site on Carnival's ban on bringing bottled water onboard states:

 

Carnival's not even the first line to implement such a restriction. In a little noticed policy shift, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity already prohibit bringing nonalcoholic beverages onboard.

 

Is this true? If so, when did this happen? We were able to take sodas and bottled water onboard in January.

 

Jerry

[MrsKinsey]

I'm wondering that myself! From reading these boards I was told we could bring as much soda as we could lug onboard. I searched the Celebrity website and couldn't find a shred of information on this. Has anyone had any experience with being denied bringing non-alcoholic beverages onboard??

 

Celeste

[MrsKinsey]

Okay, this is very interesting. I just got off the phone with X and was told that it is their policy that they DO NOT allow you to bring any soda/water/etc onboard!! I asked how long the policy had been in effect and she said she had been there over 2 1/2 years and it had always been the policy.

 

This is a link to a post about bringing soda onboard: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=516311&highlight=soda that was started only a couple of weeks ago. Apparently X says one thing but allows another??????? I'm so confused. :confused:

 

Celeste

[LV2COOK]

I'm not a soft drink drinker...but I always bring several large bottles of Evian. I don't drink tap water on the ship and can't see paying $3.50+ for a bottle. I sure hope they don't stop people from bringing water onboard.:mad:

[Allis154]

I have also searched the celebrity webpage, but haven't found anything. We brought on stuff last September without issue, and was planning on doing so again this fall.

[JCDeck]

When you bring soda,water, etc on board how much do you bring on and how do you transport it? Thanks,

Jennifer

[texkan]

I purchased a 6-pack of Coke in St. Kitts and was allowed to bring on the

Constellation Jan. 2007. There was NO problem from ship staff.

[jfrs]

I just read this myself on another board. I didn’t read any thing about celebrity but understand that RCCL started the whole thing quit a while ago. This is all about revenue. People are disguising vodka as water, rum as Listerine, etc. because of the very high prices for mixed dinks, beer and wine aboard ships. They have a captive audience. We sailed the Celebrity Mercury last march and didn’t have a problem bringing any alcohol aboard. I hope that on our next cruise in 4 days on Celebrity Zenith will go the same way. If not, we’ll be looking for a new cruise line. If they all go this route, we’ll vacation without the cruise lines and suspect so will many others. The cruise lines can tell you all sorts of reasons for the ban on booze, water and pop but the only one to believe is corporate greed. It certainly is not to curb the alcohol consumption aboard ship as they say. Cruisers can have all they want ashore when in port or drink as much as they want in the bars aboard ship or can have as much alcohol as they want delivered to their room at the cruise line’s unbelievable prices. Just another smoke screen to bilk the people that pay their wages. I do enjoy cruising but definitely will not do so if this trend continues. I refuse to be made to feel like a criminal when I go on vacation and refuse to pay $60-$80 for a $20-$30 bottle of booze. That’s the real crime. If the cruise lines would be a little sensible about their prices all this would either go away or be greatly diminished.

Jerry

[Donnaluv2cruise]

Well said, Jerry.;)

[tom_uk]

To be fair, I can see the cruiseline's point if someone starts unloading a pallet of beverages out of their pickup and then tries to wheel it onto the ship!

 

I've mainly fly-cruised out of european ports where the issue of bringing large amounts of drink (alcoholic or otherwise) doesn't really arise: everyone who's boarding has got to the port by air. I have enough trouble keeping my baggage within flight limits as it is, without trying to load drink as well.

 

As regards during the cruise, I'm going to continue to assume that no-one's going to mind if I return from ashore with a half-finished bottle of locally-bought water tucked into my bag.

[LV2COOK]

We usually bring 2 bottles of water 32 oz. each for the first 2 days and then purchase a couple bottles in each port. We have never had a problem bringing water on. In Cozumel a large bottle of Evian is $1.50 compared to the ship price of $3.50...for 3 people we could easily spend nearly $22. per day just for water!! We spend plenty of money on the ship for drinks and other stuff...I agree with the other poster...the cruise lines are getting VERY greedy and will lose pax.

 

 

When you bring soda,water, etc on board how much do you bring on and how do you transport it? Thanks,

Jennifer

[Blondie007]

To be fair, I can see the cruiseline's point if someone starts unloading a pallet of beverages out of their pickup and then tries to wheel it onto the ship!

 

I've mainly fly-cruised out of european ports where the issue of bringing large amounts of drink (alcoholic or otherwise) doesn't really arise: everyone who's boarding has got to the port by air. I have enough trouble keeping my baggage within flight limits as it is, without trying to load drink as well.

 

As regards during the cruise, I'm going to continue to assume that no-one's going to mind if I return from ashore with a half-finished bottle of locally-bought water tucked into my bag.

 

Well said Tom..it beats me how people can spend thousands of $$$ on a cruise, and then whinge about buying sodas!

Its like going into a restaurant, and saying "No way am I paying "that" for a bottle of wine when I can buy it in the supermarket for half the price"..

Surpise surprise..businesses DO make a profit! Imagine that eh!

[Donnaluv2cruise]

It's not that I don't think the cruise shouldn't make a profit. Believe me, they make a profit off of us. We usually leave the ship with quite a hefty bill. But one of the parts we enjoy most on our cruise is our veranda. And we like to hang out there, have other people over, and have cocktails. And we pay mucho bucks for the large veranda too. So it's just nice to have it there.

[MrsKinsey]

I guess what surprises me the most is that while most are well aware of the policy that restricts alcohol, I doubt that anyone knew about their policy prohibiting NON-alcoholic drinks.

 

Every thread I had seen on the subject, everyone was coming on and saying "Go ahead and bring it". This to me has nothing to do with WHY Celebrity wants to ban people bringing their own drinks onboard. To me, that is obvious.

 

What I had wanted to know was why nobody seemed to know about this policy. Has anyone ever had their soda/water confiscated before?

 

Celeste