Alcohol Policy Change?

[kathi]

The checked luggage thing is totally a sham. People who follow the rules brought on liquor in their carry ons, as allowed. People who break the rules did whatever they wanted.

Do they think this new policy will stop the people who didn't follow the rules before from continuing to put booze in their checked luggage? NO - IT WILL MAKE MORE PEOPLE PUT BOOZE IN THEIR CHECKED LUGGAGE.

There is no logic in their statement at all.

 

[m_kasch]

Instead of implementing a fuel surcharge, they are changing their alcohol carry on policy perhaps?

Haha, maybe Like I said, I don't have a problem if they say everyone can bring abord one bottle of ALCOHOL (non specific) of a certain size or a six pack of ALCOHOL...but limiting it to beer and wine makes it obvious what their intentions are. I just hate it when companies try to make it sound like it is something else, when it is so clearly all about the money...it's like they think we are stupid and believe them. I would have a lot less issue with it if they just said...hey, we are losing out because everyone has a bar in their room. So now, we are limiting it because we want the money!!

At least they would be telling the truth...

 

[Minnie Monellen]

Sounds like they are trying to increase revenue. This may only be phase I, with Phase II being no alcohol or non-alcoholic beverages allowed to be carried on board, and no soda included in the cost of the cruise.

 

[vmedisneymom]

Haha, maybe Like I said, I don't have a problem if they say everyone can bring abord one bottle of ALCOHOL (non specific) of a certain size or a six pack of ALCOHOL...but limiting it to beer and wine makes it obvious what their intentions are. I just hate it when companies try to make it sound like it is something else, when it is so clearly all about the money...it's like they think we are stupid and believe them. I would have a lot less issue with it if they just said...hey, we are losing out because everyone has a bar in their room. So now, we are limiting it because we want the money!!

At least they would be telling the truth...

So now more bags will be ruined by people breaking the rules because they feel like Disney baited and switched on them which makes people feel vindicated and breaking rules to begin with!

 

[AlexandNessa]

Shirley???? I wonder if we can still have her deliver the goods to our room?

I have some issues with this ... we too justified the cost of DCL w/o kids knowing we could bring a case of beer on (and btw, is it 6 beers per person or 12?). With that, Disney still made out on our bar bill. And, we guzzle water. We go through a case of water pretty quickly. Now, we can only bring 6 bottles of water?


We sail 9/25. Hubby is not going to be a happy camper.

Boo.

 

[Minnie Monellen]

So now more bags will be ruined by people breaking the rules because they feel like Disney baited and switched on them which makes people feel vindicated and breaking rules to begin with!

I agree!

 

[TIGGERmetoo]

We were bringing one BOX of wine in our carry on. So we'll see what happens.

Will the boxes of wine fit in the refrigerators in the cabins?

 

[vmedisneymom]

Shirley???? I wonder if we can still have her deliver the goods to our room?

I have some issues with this ... we too justified the cost of DCL w/o kids knowing we could bring a case of beer on (and btw, is it 6 beers per person or 12?). With that, Disney still made out on our bar bill. And, we guzzle water. We go through a case of water pretty quickly. Now, we can only bring 6 bottles of water?


We sail 9/25. Hubby is not going to be a happy camper.

Boo.

loving the intelligence of my fellow dis-ers

 

[kathi]

Well, I just heard back from my wonderful travel agent (who I have been using for years and who knows me very well). I'm angry enough that i have asked her to start looking at other lines for the same time as our 7-day cruise ont the Magic. For the money I'm paying for a 1BR suite, I'm pretty sure she can find something nice for us to consider.


Excerpts from her email are below:

Well – unfortunately, this is true. I found out from the sales manager at DCL that this was announced this morning in-house. I went to bat for you and stated how extremely disappointing this is and that it is the main reason that you choose DCL concierge over other cruise lines. I urged them to at least gift an OBC to your stateroom or some sort of compensation for this change after booking. Sadly, DCL will not be offering any compensation.

I do have the manager checking into whether we can cancel out this cruise and receive a refund. I should hear back soon.

On another note, DCL is still allowing you to purchase liquor at Port and bring onboard for consumption. Must be unopened and according to US Custom allowances.

So sorry for the bad news – I know this is going to be very challenging for many folks.

 

[AlexandNessa]

P.S. Holland America doesn't care how much wine or champagne you bring on. Or how many bottles of water. Or soda.

Now I'm just annoyed.

 

[ragdoll]

The checked luggage thing is totally a sham. People who follow the rules brought on liquor in their carry ons, as allowed. People who break the rules did whatever they wanted.

Do they think this new policy will stop the people who didn't follow the rules before from continuing to put booze in their checked luggage? NO - IT WILL MAKE MORE PEOPLE PUT BOOZE IN THEIR CHECKED LUGGAGE.

There is no logic in their statement at all.

Agreed, total sham. DCL doesn't care how much alcohol that you buy from them and pack in your luggage to take home. The more they can sell you to take home the better. They don't worry about breakage when disembarking. It is all about the $$$.

 

[vmedisneymom]

Ok, I too am really irritated, but I am starting to get slap happy - so here goes - guess the mimosas and bloody mary's for $3 for room service are getting ready to get REAL popular! Haha!

 

[OceanLvr]

Just got off the phone with DCL reservations...

They got a memo about this policy change...It's true...They are now limiting the amount of alcohol that you can bring onboard...

"1 unopened bottle of wine or champagne or 1 6 pack of beer for each guest 21 years of age at embarkation." also NO hard liquor

Sorry, but I'm sure they have a good reason for the change...Believe me, we will miss being able to bring our own bar...but we will still cruise Disney regardless of the change.

 

[kingdomkeeper]

Count me in as EXTREMELY dissapointed with this news. We are not big drinkers by any stretch of the imagination ,but ONE bottle of wine or SIX beers.. really.. thats so little for a 7 night cruise. One of the ways we justify the higher cost of Disney compared to other lines is the little things like being able to bring our own alcohol, not paying for pop , and the larger room sizes ( oh wait , that ones already been downgraded as far as the new ship goes ).
A MAJOR selling point to us was to be able to sit on our balcony with a drink , watch the ocean go by and not have to worry about driving anywhere as that happens so rarely at home , we always have to drop off or pick the kids up from somewhere. What if we want to bring something other than beer or wine ? I guess we are out of luck.
Just waiting for the next announcement now tht the pop station will only activate when we swipe our pre paid pop cards and that the signed pillowcases etc cost 50 bucks each.
I am so so dissapointed in this news, when we pay the premium to sail with Disney purchasing on board alcohol is just not in the budget. We have sailed a number of times since 2005 and ( putting my triple layer flame suit on now ) have noticed that each time the quality has dropped a little, dont get me wrong we still love sailing with Disney and will sail again as planned next year but all these things add up and it makes us more inclined to seriously look at alternative cruise lines.

 

[Mickeygolf]

On another note, DCL is still allowing you to purchase liquor at Port and bring onboard for consumption. Must be unopened and according to US Custom allowances.

Quick question regarding this quote, you can bring liquor you've puchased at port back on the ship to drink, correct? Isn't the first port almost always Nassau for the Dream? So you'll really only be out the first night if you chose to buy liquor there, am I understanding this correctly?

I have to agree with many that this is really unfair to those who are fully paid. I was planning on bringing on a bottle of rum or vodka, so it is disappointing, but we'll make the best of it. Now if they limit how much Dt Mt Dew we can bring on than my wife might have a major problem

 

[mare73]

Excerpts from her email are below:

Well – unfortunately, this is true. I found out from the sales manager at DCL that this was announced this morning in-house. I went to bat for you and stated how extremely disappointing this is and that it is the main reason that you choose DCL concierge over other cruise lines. I urged them to at least gift an OBC to your stateroom or some sort of compensation for this change after booking. Sadly, DCL will not be offering any compensation.

I do have the manager checking into whether we can cancel out this cruise and receive a refund. I should hear back soon.

On another note, DCL is still allowing you to purchase liquor at Port and bring onboard for consumption. Must be unopened and according to US Custom allowances.

So sorry for the bad news – I know this is going to be very challenging for many folks.

So let me say, I think it would have been good client relations to have this rule go into effect for all new bookings only. But regarding the bolded portion of the above post, our 4-night cruise will stop in Nassau first. So perhaps we'll bring our 2 bottles in our carry-on (wine) and purhase the liquor in port for consumption durig the remainder of the cruise.

 

[nduf]

I posted this question on the beer mug thread and was told to come here. We are cruising on Dream on 9/4/11 before the new alcohol policy goes into effect. We are first timers on DCL. I plan to bring beer on board.

My question is how strictly is the no drinking your own beer in public places enforced? Are you truly limited to drinking in your own room? Can you disguise a beer in a cup and walk around with it? Is it worth buying the beer mug and fill it with your own beer, just so you can walk around with it? Will they know if it is an "outside" beer if you are drinking your own by the pool (eg. do they serve only cans on board?)

Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get an idea if I will be truly restricted to my room.

Thanks.

 

[kathi]

Have any of you tried to find fine wine or champagne in Nassau? WE HAVE - and it really doesn't exist or is at least extremely hard to find. You can buy a 5 gallon pail of rum for $10 that will make you blind - but no decent cabernets.

Again, they charge a significantly higher base price to get on the ship. We expected the perks that were advertised at the time of booking. We are not getting what we paid for. That is the real issue. We were not given the option of making an informed choice on what we were purchasing. And that is BAD BUSINESS.

 

[ksucats]

this is a very big deal for me. The alcohol policy was one of the ways I justified the DCL prices.

Same here. I am just reading about this & not happy.

 

[vmedisneymom]

Have any of you tried to find fine wine or champagne in Nassau? WE HAVE - and it really doesn't exist or is at least extremely hard to find. You can buy a 5 gallon pail of rum for $10 that will make you blind - but no decent cabernets.

Again, they charge a significantly higher base price to get on the ship. We expected the perks that were advertised at the time of booking. We are not getting what we paid for. That is the real issue. We were not given the option of making an informed choice on what we were purchasing. And that is BAD BUSINESS.

That is precisely the point!