Just read on the carnival web site that as of 2/03 that they only allow one bottle of wine or champagne for a special occassion. And, no bottled water, juice , etc allowed on board.
What's the best way to bring in alcohol or juice? Any suggestions? Just would like a few cocktails in the room. Thanks for any advice
Just returned from Triumph yesterday 7-day Eastern Caribbean.
Funny story...
Stayed over in Miami on Friday night, went to the local grocery store called Publix on Sat. morning. Bought 12 pack Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Diet Vanilla Coke, and 12 pack bottled water, plus 2 12-packs of bud light. Had brought with us a collapsable cooler. Also, had packed a suitcase basically for shoes but with plenty of room for beer as well. Put all soda inside the cooler, water on top of the cooler and beer in the suitcase. When we checked in at the Carnival terminal, the porter almost fell over trying to lift the suitcase with the beer. He made a funny comment, and we tipped him well. Wheeled the cooler with our other carry on stuff on to the security check at the terminal. The cooler wouldn't fit through the scanner. Had to unpack can-by-can the entire cooler, and then repack the whole thing. Needless to say, the folks behind us weren't too happy with us, but we got our stuff through with no trouble and offered to buy a drink for the folks behind us once on board!
Room steward graciously filled our cooler every day with ice, and we were glad to have our cold soda and beer in the room with us for when we were sitting on our balcony or getting ready for dinner.
If I had to do it again...I would definitely bring the soda, but pass on the beer. It was too much of a pain to remember to bring it up on deck with us, and we ended up spending a fortune on alcohol drinks anyway. (I mean a real FORTUNE!!!) The kids came to the cabin to get a soda when they wanted one, so we didn't have to buy their Fountain cards.
Here's what it say's. And it does state you can't bring Soda's either darn.
What are your alcohol and consumption policies?
Effective February 2003:
Guests are prohibited from bringing beverages of any kind (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) on board the ship for consumption. This includes: sodas, juices and bottled water.
I have to say that I'm with you, Joeasu, on this one. They cross the line when water is outlawed!! What will stop them from charging whatever they want if there is no competition whatsoever?
Hmmm is it just me..but why is everyone so obsessed with bringing drinks on board?
If you can afford a cruise I would say you can afford to pay for some drinks, cause also there are plenty of free stuff to drink . I bought the soda card and it was well worth the 30 bucks of so I paid for it. For me at least I have saved for this vacation for a year and I want it care free, I don't feel like lugging drinks on board, after all I have enough to carry with clothes and stuff.
Mary Margaret
I don't see anything wrong with kicking back in your room and having some drinks. I am sure that you can bring a bottle or two of wine with no problem.
I can undertand preventing passengers from bringing alcoholic drinks onboard since most restaurants and clubs also do the same ( it's one of their primary sources of income), but banning water is going too far. I have to drink LOTS of water daily due to a chronic medical condition and it would cost me a fortune to buy bottled water on the ship. I wonder if a letter from my doctor would make a difference !
Just got off the Triumph Western on Feb 15. We brought two bottle of wine in our carryon and the bag was searched, but all ok. Also, brought a 60 oz bottle of vodka in a plastic bottle in our luggage. No problem. Heard of others who did the same. Sorry, but I disagree with the cruise ships forbidding alcohol or wine or anything for that mater on board for room consumption. REally, this is a floating hotel and all hotels allow booze in your room, why should this be different. They are getting really GREEDY.
Go to www.carnival.com Click on booked guests, at next screen click on welcome aboard, then scroll down to what are your alcohol consumption policies, click on it and the info is in the first paragraph.
Merry: That is a very good point. This is a floating hotel...not just a floating restaurant. And there isn't a hotel I know of that prohibits you from bringing alcohol, water or juice with you.
Enforcement of it will tell the tale. I can understand booze. A major source of revenue for a cruise line, that allows for the selling of [$b]inexpensive cabins[/$b],Business 101 !
I sailed on 2/2/03 and we carried on 10 bottles water, 2 bottles champagne and 3 bottles Citrona. At embarkation they balked at the Citrona but since it was 3 bottles and 4 of us going they let us through. There was no problem with the water or champagne however.
I disagree with you all on the floating hotel...ya got to remember you are being fed lots of free food...any time you want...and as much as you want..sorry but I have never been to a hotel that allowed me all this food and entertaiment for free..If the ships have to make money on the booze I say thats up to them, because I for one feel I get plenty of bang for my buck that I paid for the cruise.
Mary Margaret
Sailed 2-13, and brought on board by hand 1 bottle champage, 1 bottle red wine.
had 1 bottle vodka in checked luggage. not one word, except security guard said he was thirsty.
AND our waiter/busman opened with no corkage fee. very cool.
on our recent trip on the destiny while in port (st thomas) we asked security if we could bring beer back on board, they said it was no problem and we carried 3 cases of bud light back on board. The next day in the caper it said " alcohol is prohibited from being brought on the ship". I think that the rules are rarely enforced and the fear of bringing flamable liquids aboard is issue that the department of transportation is enforcing due to the threat of terrorism, bringing liquids is now also prohibted on aircraft.
duhhh, sorry but the food and entertainment ARE NOT FREE. You pay for a package. And just like a hotel, Carnival should charge what it needs to to cover the PACKAGE (room,food and entertainment) instead of charging for every sip of water.
Thank You so much for saying it. It is the truth. This is a vacation. I dont want to be packing all the booze and soda and water. I have never taken anything on board. We order what ever we want to drink. that is the point of cruising. Thanks again. Char
I think the booze is only fair game because of the tremendous amount of revenue that produces for the cruise line.
I don't like the idea of water, however, but I think this is because paxs are bringing in clear booze in water bottles.
Bring in an empty water bottle and fill it at the lido or almost any bar on the ship.
Carnival has had this "rule" forever. Don't know what suddenly sparked the concern for it. They used to say they allowed up to 2 bottles of wine for consumption in your cabin, or if you paid a corking fee of $10 at your dining table.
It'll all blow over, for the moderate smugglers. Those backing a beer truck up to the ship will most likely be out of luck, though.
Hey LHP..
Duhhh like I did not know its a package..but if you compare it to dinner meals in other situations...you will NOT find a comparison..like the food you are served on a cruise.....and that goes for the entertainment also.
We have a beach resort near us, and trust me....I can spend almost as much money renting a crummy place and having to buy all my meals and have no one to wait on me day and night. So if you re-think it, I think we get alot for our cruise money.
Mary Margaret
Donna do you realize that they type of gross ignorance of the rules that you exhibited is the reason for the rules change? Carnival never had a problem as long as customers kept it down to a couple bottles of wine or liguor and a few sodas? They can not and will not let us cruise for under 500 per person and then roll a beer truck up to the pier. I just dont understand people who want to cruise for 50 dollars a day and then have a sign and sail bill under 50 a day. I also smuggle booze but defineately not to the degree that you have. Its total disregard of the policies that will cause Carnival to be more restrictive.
Mary (Salem) No one is forcing Carnival to sell the cruises for such low prices. It isn't the consumers fault if Carnival is losing at the bottom line because they have overbuilt for the industry or have financially strapped themselves by trying to buy every cruise line to stay the biggest.
I am not a drinker or a gambler so this does not affect me. However, it is the principle that Carnival has built their business on the backs of consumers who have been promised an "all inclusive (excluding alcohol) " vacation and now Carnival is trying to nickle and dime everyone to death because of poor financial planning on their part.
Carnival should charge whatever they need to to make a profit on THE PACKAGE (room, meals and entertainment) instead of squeezing dollars out of loyal customers for water and worrying about it someone is going to bring on a bottle of jiuce.
I have cruised with Carnival for over 20 years (16 cruises) and this new policy on water and juice is just plan bad business.
If folks are so worried about Carnival making money to keep cruising fares low...why do they book their shore excursions on-line or at the port (to save money) and not through Carnival, who charges much more???
Okay, lets all take a deep breath now. Bringing on alcohol for personal consumption has always been againt the rules and it is the same on all major mass market lines. The sated policy is over the top in my opinion as I think they should just enforce the rules as they were stated before. It is the people that bent or just flat ignored those rules by bringing onboard bottles of alcohol or beer that have ruined it for everyone else. Alcohol is a major revenue maker for all cruiselines and I for one wouold much rather they make their money that way than increase the price for everyone. I don't want to subsidise a drunk. The no alcohol rule IS reasonable. The no water is dumb as the water onboard out of the tap or dispenser is perfectly fine and as pure and clean as bottled. Soda, well, some types are not available onboard and even though I am not much od a soft drink user when I do it is seldom the ones they have available. I feel that CCL is trying to stop those that are just tossing out the rules by bringing booze with them but this approach is wrong, enforce the rules you have, don't make new ones that they will also break. We do this all the time here inthe USA. Gun laws are a perfect example, (no let's not make this another topic, it is just an example), there are tons of them on the books that work if enforced but as they aren't enforeced we just make more that in reality do nothing to help.
Jim
To CruisePimp...
I beg to differ about cruise prices and the sign and sail account. We brought our own stuff on board, but still managed to charge over $700 in bar charges. Also, we paid WELL over that amount for our cruise. Believe me, Carnival got their monies worth from us. Big whoop if I bring soda and water on board. The security folks checked each and every can and let each and every can go through without a blink of an eye. I prefer to know what beverages my kids are consuming and didn't like the idea of them being able to dring 80 sodas a day if they felt like it if we bought them cards. Therefore, we told them if they wanted a soda, to go to the room and help themselves. I know they won't drink juice or iced tea, so I felt better knowing that they were drinking either water all day, or an occasional soda.
And I hardly call 24 cans of beer for 4 adults "a beer truck" Where do you come from? Beer trucks in my neck of the woods hold several hundred cases of beer, not one.
Get a grip...if Carnival objected to me bringing ANYTHING on board, I certainly would have obliged. If you read my comments above CAREFULLY, you also would note that I stated I wouldn't bring the beer on board again anyway cuz it really wasn't worth the $50 it saved us. But it certainly was worth the trouble of making sure my kids teeth didn't rot out from over-indulging in sugar drinks all week either.
Connect with Facebook
new alcohol rule
Linear Mode
