New teeth in liqour policy?

[vjmatty]

You go girl!!!

 

You gets points from me for just being able to READ the whole thing...I couldn't even get thru it!

 

:) Thank you .... I am growing a little tired of people warning me against MSC, whether because they hated it or their suggestion that I don't know what I am getting into based on my prior cruises.

 

I am 40 years old and know how to read reviews :rolleyes:

[PatnJudy]

you are so right about that: actaully the one time we had to surrender ours was on Celebrity and this has been about 4 years ago,even before NCL started cracking down. Now, it was an usual situation: We were boarding in San Juan, for those who have done this, you know there is a duty free shop right at the port. I am sure that is why the not so nice little man was sitting at the table as we approached the ship. He knew there would be any number of people shopping duty free before boarding. We just blew it off, but were pretty upset when it took us and several others a few hours the last night to track our booze down.

 

Nita

I've had booze I'd bought in port taken away almost every time the past few cruises. They tag it and you have to go claim it at the end of the cruise. It's a pain in the butt and always worry me because if I buy it in port it's ususally fairly expensive stuff I can't get stateside.. like the 23 yr old rum I got in Guaemala.

 

Personally, I think the ship could still do a good business if they let you buy a bottle onboard and take it straight to your room. People would still buy the mixed drinks. The only downside would be there would be a WHOLE LOT more drunks onboard. But then as long as tehy don;t get sick, who cares?

[PatnJudy]

I have over-indluged on occasion, but never have been out-of-control on a cruise ship. And what does that have to do with smuggling, anyway? I think most people can afford to buy cruise ship liquor in enough volume to be semi-comatose if they want.

 

Here's one reason I like to bring my own booze: when you go to the bar, your drink pays for more than the alcohol and mixer. It pays for the bartender, the insurance, the fixtures, furniture, music, and profit for the owner.

 

If you drink at home, you just pay the cost of what you consume. So, if I smuggle and drink in my cabin, should I be charged bar prices? If I drink in the bar, absolutely! If I drink in my cabin, no sir!

It may seem funny but even though you see a few people who drink way too much, you don't seem to see alot of problems as a result. I don't know if they are 'helped' to their rooms or thrown overboard, but you don't see anybody laying in the hallways puking his/her guts out or being so rowdy they are disruptive..at least for long.

[PatnJudy]

In answer to #12:

Just gotta make a comment here aboutt he cardiologist recommendation.... it isn;t for the warfarin or coumadin. That is a blood thinner (anticoagulant) often used for patients with valve replacements ro maybe peripheral vascular problems. You don't need wine to make the stuff work.

 

Red wine has long been used in cardiac cases. Has to do with blood pressure issues (specifically MAO inhibitors) but I'm not gonna go and look it all up right now. But basically wine helps and doesn't hurt.

 

If I thought the cruise line would let me take some booze on board, I'd ask one of cardiac surgeons I work for a prescription. "Please give Pat a couple ounces of booze upon request so he doesn't keel over and die"

[vjmatty]

In answer to #12:

Just gotta make a comment here aboutt he cardiologist recommendation.... it isn;t for the warfarin or coumadin. That is a blood thinner (anticoagulant) often used for patients with valve replacements ro maybe peripheral vascular problems. You don't need wine to make the stuff work.

 

Red wine has long been used in cardiac cases. Has to do with blood pressure issues (specifically MAO inhibitors) but I'm not gonna go and look it all up right now. But basically wine helps and doesn't hurt.

 

If I thought the cruise line would let me take some booze on board, I'd ask one of cardiac surgeons I work for a prescription. "Please give Pat a couple ounces of booze upon request so he doesn't keel over and die"

 

I was actually being kind of facetious in my response.... while I have heard that red wine is good for many things I am far from knowledgeable in cardiovascular health.

[MrLee]

I was actually being kind of facetious in my response.... while I have heard that red wine is good for many things I am far from knowledgeable in cardiovascular health.

 

Red wine and dark chocolate are good for the heart. It's almost worth it! :D

[magsis]

I note that you have an MSC cruise booked over Christmas.

Living in Europe I have sailed the Med with them a few times. It might interest you to learn that it was in 2004 they changed their policy.

No longer could customers bring their own spirits aboard. No longer could customers buy spirits at the on board store and take it back to their cabin.

 

MSC is a Family owned company a family who have a very hands on approach and directly involved with the company. I am quite sure that they are astute enough to reakise if they had made a poor business decision and to reverse it.

 

Going off topic a bit and being personal. Unless you have done considerable pre cruise research or cruised with MSC before you possibly have made a bad decision. I hope not.

MSC are not and have no desire to be like Cunard, Princess, RCI, Costa/Carnival etc etc. They cater to a truly international passenger base. The family have their own very definite ideas on how a true Italian ship should be and have built a loyal passenger base amongst Europeans .

Just to give a few examples of what you might find -

few people who talk english,

large family groups who will have little respect for buffet queues..and have children running everywhere unchecked and this even late at night.

There will be very few if any "death by chocolate" style desserts.

Dining times of an evening will be later.

Different cultures/nationalities will have different behaviour.

That said I believe there is no real reason why you cannot have a truly wonderful if different cruise experience.

 

 

 

Wow, this sounds really interesting. I don't know if the op intended to disuade you from this cruise or not but I am now intrigued. The most facinating vacations I have ever taken have been when I was immersed in another language and way of life. I think it's one of the only ways you can begin to truely understand a different culture. When you learn to respect the differences from your own way of thinking and acting you can then appreciate other people for who they are. It makes me want to go on a MSC cruise. Wouldn't life be boring if we all thought and acted the same?

[lil buddy]

Was sitting at a bar tonight, having drinks and I was telling my husband about this topic.....then I thought wouldn't it be funny to say...I am going to the bar and I will pay the drink prices, but I am going to bring

my own food,;) because their prices are outrageous and they don't need to make such huge profits.

I guess, as I read these boards, sometimes, I find the arguments and

opinions utterly ridiculous...but like a car wreck, they keep me coming back....lol

Provides great entertainment for those of us, who just do our thing and

don't get all "high and mighty" about it.

Have a fun discussion:) ;)

[msmarvel]

what happy hours, where? I was the one that gave the example of $2000 because the average cruise today will cost $2000 for two. Just an estimate. I assume you are referring to only 1 person, if you are cruising for $750. If not let us all know where 2 people can take a 7 day cruise for $750? I guess you must drink a little more than we do, we do not spend 7 days on a cruise living in the bar....

 

Now, tell us where you are getting $1.00 drinks during happy hour? Not anyplace we have lived, that is for certain....not even the Moose Lodge, now do we get free drinks anywhere. This is not to say, we have never gotten a free drink, but not on a regular basis, maybe it is because we do not frequent bars that much...

 

Nita

 

 

Maybe re-read the part that says I get a room mate and spend about $750.

 

There are plenty of bars around Philly with $1 bottles of Bud or whatever. A bar I used to go to gave you 3 glasses of beer (not bottles) for $1 if you sat at the bar. This weekend I'll be in Cape May, at Aleathea's at the Inn of Cape May drinking either $2 margaritas or $2 Yuenglings.

 

While I highly doubt anyone lives at a bar, it's hard to avoid them as they're all over the ship. And there are all the sailaways with the special drinks, meeting your friend for a drink before dinner, having a glass of wine before dinner, having a cocktail in someone's room before dinner (this only counts if they paid for the bar set up;) ), having a drink in the casino since they don't seem to comp them anymore....

 

Unless you're a teetotaler, lots of people meet for drinks or enjoy more drinks than usual on a cruise (since they don't drive) than they do during a regular work week or even a week at the beach. Well, maybe not my friends that I hang out with at the beach, but "normal" folks.

[msmarvel]

Shoplifters were justifying their actions "Because the shops made a big profit". The fact that shops increased their prices to allow for their shoplifting losses thus penalising everyone else never crossed their minds or if it did they did not care.

 

Apples and oranges - I'm not jumping behind the bar stealing liquor from NCL. Besides, stores always mark down their clothes at some point, cruises don't mark down their drinks - except for maybe the drink of the day, if you like what it is.

 

This was a sentence that made me sit up

I'm not living in that bar for 7 days in a row, where on a cruise ship you are living there - captive audience

I have heard cruise ships called many things but never a 7 day 24/7 bar nor that the purpose of a cruise is to be a 7 day bar fly. No wonder folks run up big bar bills if this is the thinking

 

Merely pointing out that you are a captive audience. You can't go to another deck where the Ocean bar is having a happy hour special on a cruise ship, like you can at...say.. an expensive seaside resort (which is where I'll be this weekend and I'll be able to get $2 drinks).

 

msmarvel you asked

Besides, isn't there something more important to get all up in arms about??

It seems you think not or surely you would not be joining in and when you find it so entertaining.

Big difference between being entertained and getting up in arms and telling people what to do! lol I'm not here chastising anyone because they don't think you should bring your own booze aboard. Guess I'm up there with all the parents who sneak juice boxes into movie theaters when they take their kids. :D

[msmarvel]

I just wanted to point out when you are in your cabin you are not at home and they still need to cover that same overhead.

 

I thought the price of the cruise covered that. Silly me! :D

[PatnJudy]

Yeah, figured you were kinda having a laugh... But I still think if I could get a script for booze and chocolate too...would make a vacation even more fun..

 

By the way, what is MSC? I've seen people refer to it...

[terrymtex01]

Although I am against people breaking the rules and their agreement with NCL, I have to say I have never seen a problem on an NCL ship with a bunch of drunk people. Now to be fair, we don't usually hang out at the pool and we don't hang out in the bars. We are more casino people. I have encounted one or two in the casino, but usually they are harmless, almost always funny, actually.

 

To me, these threads are silly because bottom line is it is a moral issue. Either you find it immoral to break your agreement or you don't. I do not think the people that break the agreement they made with NCL to be bad people, just people that have different morals than I do. Doesn't make me any worse or any better either way, just different. The reason I am saying this is, we could drag this thread along for a year and I would bet at the end of the thread, the ones who abide by their agreement will still abide by it, and the ones that don't still won't.

 

There are two people specifically on this thread that I have been reading posts of theirs for some time now and I believe they are good decent moral people, but this is an area we just disagree on. Do I think any less of them? Not one bit, and I hope they don't think less of me because I try to not break the rules.

[bowlegs2]

I just have to say that this entire thread has made my morning. I haven't laughed like this at 9 am in a very long time.

 

 

Thanks guys!!!

 

Careful now you are not supposed to laugh and have fun unless you have in hand your favourite one and only alcohol that you cannot live without for 4/7/10/12 days. Maybe I am wrong to guess that you did not LOL.

[Ron & Kristy]

Although I am against people breaking the rules and their agreement with NCL, I have to say I have never seen a problem on an NCL ship with a bunch of drunk people. Now to be fair, we don't usually hang out at the pool and we don't hang out in the bars. We are more casino people. I have encounted one or two in the casino, but usually they are harmless, almost always funny, actually.

 

To me, these threads are silly because bottom line is it is a moral issue. Either you find it immoral to break your agreement or you don't. I do not think the people that break the agreement they made with NCL to be bad people, just people that have different morals than I do. Doesn't make me any worse or any better either way, just different. The reason I am saying this is, we could drag this thread along for a year and I would bet at the end of the thread, the ones who abide by their agreement will still abide by it, and the ones that don't still won't.

 

There are two people specifically on this thread that I have been reading posts of theirs for some time now and I believe they are good decent moral people, but this is an area we just disagree on. Do I think any less of them? Not one bit, and I hope they don't think less of me because I try to not break the rules.

 

Terry & Doug,

 

I highly commend you for while you don't agree with the smuggling of alcohol you voice your opposition very eloquently with class and graciousness. There are others who could take lessons from you. Thank you for one small bit of sanity in this otherwise insane thread! ;)

 

Kristy

[bowlegs2]

I am a Greek citizen by birth and speak three languages. Many of my summers growing up were spent in Europe with my father who lived there, in fact both my parents were born in Greece.

 

We are taking this MSC cruise with a hope that it will be different than the mainstream lines, that is why we cruise Cunard also. Not saying Cunard and MSC are the same nor do I expect them to be, but I like to cruise outside the box.

 

People warned me about the Carnival Destiny and we loved it.... they warned us about Martinique and we loved it there... we tend to have a rather eclectic palette when it comes to, well, just about everything. Something European-based with no American influence is perfectly fine with me, in fact I look forward to it.

 

And don't worry, two of the unruly children will be ours. ;)

 

This should be the NCL discussion board so I forgive me for a few more MSC words

 

May I highlight some lines from my post

Living in Europe I have sailed the Med with them a few times

Unless you have done considerable pre cruise research or cruised with MSC before

MSC are not and have no desire to be like Cunard, Princess, RCI, Costa/Carnival etc etc. They cater to a truly international passenger base. The family have their own very definite ideas on how a true Italian ship should be and have built a loyal passenger base amongst Europeans .

That said I believe there is no real reason why you cannot have a truly wonderful if different cruise experience.

 

 

I am an MSC fan and one of the loyal passenger base otherwise I would not have cruised with them e "few" (6 times) I would not have said "there is no real reason why you cannot have a truly wonderful cruise experience"

 

I have a very close friend living in America but with Italian parentge. They cruised in the Med and hated MSC. All the things I mentioned you should expect were things they complained about bitterly and so have others on the MSC forum over and over. Reading the comments of these people it is obvious .they do not do pre-cruise research. Now I am glad I never mentioned the food issue which is another source of bitter complaint.

 

One cruise there were a group of 4 and every time they came into sight we disappeared since we could no longer stand the constant never ending criticism of everything on the Lirica. They were determined to make every one else miserable and climb on to their misery bandwagon.

 

Since I started to read at Cruise Critic I finally had to give up on the MSC forum. The blood pressure was rising as there was just so much ridiculous untrue and anti comment There are countless dire warnings that unless the company change to suit ***** tastes and become like all the others they will fail.

 

Ginny clearly you have done considerable research and know exactly what you might experience. I apologise I so offended and irritated you by writing "Unless you have done considerable pre cruise research "

 

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful suggestion about the prescription but I prefer to go ahead with my plan and pay for the wine I drink on NCL. Yes I am well aware that this makes me a foolish person with morals who should be mocked since in this modern world there is no place for morals. I will give them more ammunition now and admit that whilst I have many faults and flaws I am also a non smoking environmentalist so let them roll their bandwagon out on that . .

 

Ginny So far as the other issues go I am going to pass on responding as there is no point in continuing riding the roundabout.

Cruise ships have a policy and passengers either respect it or do not

 

I absolutely accept that you take on only one bottle of wine and pay corkage and honour the contract conditions. The fact that other people hate being confronted with the simple truth that they are smuggling is their problem - and the cruise lines.. Ultimately the cruise line will win.

 

Ginny You get double points from me first for not smuggling and second for actually reading words before deriding and making comment on them. So far you have not and I doubt you ever will though "blah, blah, blah" was an intelligent contribution.

 

Have a great cruise with both NCL Spirit and MSC.

[vjmatty]

This should be the NCL discussion board so I forgive me for a few more MSC words

 

May I highlight some lines from my post

Living in Europe I have sailed the Med with them a few times

Unless you have done considerable pre cruise research or cruised with MSC before

MSC are not and have no desire to be like Cunard, Princess, RCI, Costa/Carnival etc etc. They cater to a truly international passenger base. The family have their own very definite ideas on how a true Italian ship should be and have built a loyal passenger base amongst Europeans .

That said I believe there is no real reason why you cannot have a truly wonderful if different cruise experience.

 

 

I am an MSC fan and one of the loyal passenger base otherwise I would not have cruised with them e "few" (6 times) I would not have said "there is no real reason why you cannot have a truly wonderful cruise experience"

 

I have a very close friend living in America but with Italian parentge. They cruised in the Med and hated MSC. All the things I mentioned you should expect were things they complained about bitterly and so have others on the MSC forum over and over. Reading the comments of these people it is obvious .they do not do pre-cruise research. Now I am glad I never mentioned the food issue which is another source of bitter complaint.

 

One cruise there were a group of 4 and every time they came into sight we disappeared since we could no longer stand the constant never ending criticism of everything on the Lirica. They were determined to make every one else miserable and climb on to their misery bandwagon.

 

Since I started to read at Cruise Critic I finally had to give up on the MSC forum. The blood pressure was rising as there was just so much ridiculous untrue and anti comment There are countless dire warnings that unless the company change to suit ***** tastes and become like all the others they will fail.

 

Ginny clearly you have done considerable research and know exactly what you might experience. I apologise I so offended and irritated you by writing "Unless you have done considerable pre cruise research "

Thank you for your kind and thoughtful suggestion about the prescription but I prefer to go ahead with my plan and pay for the wine I drink on NCL. Yes I am well aware that this makes me a foolish person with morals who should be mocked since in this modern world there is no place for morals. I will give them more ammunition now and admit that whilst I have many faults and flaws I am also a non smoking environmentalist so let them roll their bandwagon out on that . .

 

Ginny So far as the other issues go I am going to pass on responding as there is no point in continuing riding the roundabout.

Cruise ships have a policy and passengers either respect it or do not

 

I absolutely accept that you take on only one bottle of wine and pay corkage and honour the contract conditions. The fact that other people hate being confronted with the simple truth that they are smuggling is their problem - and the cruise lines.. Ultimately the cruise line will win.

 

Ginny You get double points from me first for not smuggling and second for actually reading words before deriding and making comment on them. So far you have not and I doubt you ever will though "blah, blah, blah" was an intelligent contribution.

 

Have a great cruise with both NCL Spirit and MSC.

 

Interesting about your Italian friends..... I find many first-generation Americans of European descent had parents who assimilated into American culture to such a degree that they never even learned their parents' native language when growing up. No other language was permitted in the household except English and they never learned much if anything about their heritage. I feel this has been a disservice to their children, but I tend to have a multi-cultural mentality so I can't expect everyone to be like me. Perhaps this is what happened to your friends?

 

I have been on the MSC boards and I too have been shocked at those who complain that the experience didn't fit their narrowly-described mainstream expectations. The information is out there and I don't know why people don't seek it out first. I didn't mean to sound offended and I really wasn't, but I am getting tired of the suggestion that I may not enjoy my cruise because it is not up to some mainstream American standard. That isn't your fault, you are just one of the many making that suggestion.... although you did qualify it with the possibility I may have done some research, obviously there was enough assumption on your part that I may have made a "bad decision" or you would not have mentioned it.

 

You're right, I do follow the alcohol policies though I do think there should be some relaxing of the policy for in-room consumption. Perhaps to some degree I do expect passengers to show some decorum and not take their room-made drinks around the ship, because in my opinion it is tacky. I think leaving the lounge or pool area to go make themselves another drink in their room and bring it back is not only in bad taste but too inconvenient for the savings in alcohol purchases. People are willing to pay different amounts of money for different things. To me, convenience is worth a premium, which is part of why I cruise in the first place, so I won't be leaving a show or poolside or other ship venue to go make a drink when I can just by one and have it brought to me.

 

Thank you for your well-wishes on our upcoming cruises, and lets hope those storms forming after Gustav won't give us a rocky ride on the Spirit :)

[melthemadhatter]

Careful now you are not supposed to laugh and have fun unless you have in hand your favourite one and only alcohol that you cannot live without for 4/7/10/12 days. Maybe I am wrong to guess that you did not LOL.

 

 

 

This is where I say that ever since I have joined CC's boards, my breakfasts have been entirely liquid!!! ;)

 

This is a great thread!

[mpk218]

This is where I say that ever since I have joined CC's boards, my breakfasts have been entirely liquid!!! ;)

 

This is a great thread!

 

 

LOL ! Its always 5:00 clock some where :D .

[m steve]

The rum you mentioned is Zacapa and is now available in the states. If you stop at Total Wine before boarding from Ft. Lauderdale you could get a bottle and put it in your suitcase. (priced at $37.99/750 ltr. )HAL doesn't offer it on board.

Now for your other comment. Just because someone has a drink or 2 in their cabin(or Balcony) doesn't make them a falling down upchucking drunk. Those are usually the ones who don't drink daily but binge on the cruise buying drinks at every bar on the ship and sitting all day in the bars in port working hard to get smashed. Whether you buy the bottle from the overpriced ship's room service or bring it with you, you can drink responsibly.

[boatdrinks]

May this thread rest in peace.

Amen

[MrLee]

May this thread rest in peace.

Amen

 

I'll bet you believe in the toothfairy too don't you? :D

[msmarvel]

LOL ! Its always 5:00 clock some where :D .

 

Now you got the song stuck in my head! :)

 

Give me a hurricane

Before I go insane

It's only half past 12 but I don't care

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

 

One thing I wish NCL did that would probably alleviate some wine smuggling (except for people who don't drink house wines) would be a wine card. I got one on HAL last November and it was 20 pours for $70 - now that's a steal unless you're used to 2 buck Chuck! Under $4 per glass. They had a decent selection of reds and whites, and since you're eating food that, face it, is being mass produced in the dining room, a decent wine suffices. Oh well....

[mthayer295]

We were on the Dream a few weeks ago. We and our friends in the next cabin brought on a case of wine each. We paid the $15 per bottle corkage and were very happy to have our own hand picked selections on each night of hte cruise. I must say there were some complications at each restaurant as it was clear this is not a common occurrence. One issue is that hte orginal crew member who inventoried our wine and charged us the corkage, didn't provide us stickers for each bottle. We ended up having to continually show our receipt for the corkage. On the third day a crew member showed up at our cabin at 7:30 am with a string of stickers for our bottles. This helped end the confusion. My husband and I are headed back on the Dream tomorrow and we will be sure to insist on receiving the stickers when we board.

[*Wink*]

Same thing happened to us on Majesty. No stickers. This did cause confusion in the dining room, and because of that confusion, we were charged again for 3 bottles ($45) on our onboard charge account.

Fortunately, we were able to explain the situation and the charges were removed. Please make sure you ask for stickers when paying corkage, and keep your receipt handy just in case.