DCL carry-on alcohol policy changing Sept. 30 2015

[sweetpee_1993]

@sweetpee_1993 I wasn't aware they sold whole bottles of hard liquor from the bars, but thanks for heads up!
I wonder what dcl's policy will now be if I go ashore in coz or key west, get absolutely blasted with my buddies in a bar, then get my light drinking wife to buy us guys a couple of bottles of patron from a bar to drink up on deck around 2am with cigars We would be very sensible and no trouble. Honestly!
It kind of negates @DISNEY FANTASY 's theory that there will be no trouble, rowdy behavior or vomiting?

Carnival sells them on their website pre-cruise. Go look at the onboard amenities section where you order stuff. It's interesting.

 

[C6PT7]

As noted, earlier, those who try to abuse the system will continue to do so.

As noted, those in HQ who decide to remove perks and abilities without even giving a reason or fair notice just to make even more money from those that have booked in good faith, that have paid in full, have non refundable airfare or other arrangements and no choice but to cruise. Well they will be met by opposition and utilize their abilities to get the same cruise they paid for. eye for an eye?

 

[JimGA]

Boy some of you must drink a lot if the DCL carry-on policy was how you justified the higher cost of the cruise.

Could not have said it any better! Bravo, bravo!

 

[AliceIn]

It is parents' responsibility to ensure their kids don't do things like that, not the cruise line's responsibility. If a parent doesn't trust his/her kid not to go into someone else's room and drink, then he/she shouldn't let the teen have free rein on the ship.

Look - I'm aware it's the parents responsibility to teach their kids how to behave. That said, kids at 14-17 sometimes don't listen to their parents wise words. They sometimes succumb to peer pressure. I wouldn't keep many bottles of booze in my cabin, but I don't know what other kids' parents allow. I feel grateful knowing that kids can't grab dad's bottle of Jack Daniels to drink in the stairwell with their friends anymore. I'm sorry it's inconveniencing others to forgo the hard stuff while on the cruise, but hopefully they will be able to save up enough money to afford a few drinks on the cruise one day.

 

[AliceIn]

People are people no matter what cruise line you are on. Sorry to bust your Disney bubble, but if you think that just because someone is sailing on a Disney Cruise means they are less likely to buy a minor a drink...

It's not about a Disney bubble - it's about not having all that extra booze around for people to give to the kids. I don't think the bartenders will be selling drinks to minors often on the cruise. Will a sleazebag try it? Of course, there are those everywhere. Since Disney does a pretty decent job of keeping the kids out of the bars, hopefully this wouldn't happen too often.

 

[Dug720]

Sigh....It's always the tequila's fault, Right???

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR!

Actually it just makes me hyper and really chatty. A friend teased me for years over the babbling about nothing message I left on her machine one night in college. (My senior year when I was legal I should add. Yes, I was a nerd who didn't drink until I was 21.)

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Look - I'm aware it's the parents responsibility to teach their kids how to behave. That said, kids at 14-17 sometimes don't listen to their parents wise words. They sometimes succumb to peer pressure. I wouldn't keep many bottles of booze in my cabin, but I don't know what other kids' parents allow. I feel grateful knowing that kids can't grab dad's bottle of Jack Daniels to drink in the stairwell with their friends anymore. I'm sorry it's inconveniencing others to forgo the hard stuff while on the cruise, but hopefully they will be able to save up enough money to afford a few drinks on the cruise one day.

I don't drink much either and would probably never have brought my own alcohol on the cruise, at least not in the foreseeable future. But I think it would be awfully selfish for me to say other people should not be able to either because I couldn't control my son/daughter. My son is only a toddler, but when he becomes a teen, if I am not able to trust him enough not to get into trouble, I will either insist he stay with us or not do a cruise vacation.

 

[MunFam]

It's not about a Disney bubble - it's about not having all that extra booze around for people to give to the kids. I don't think the bartenders will be selling drinks to minors often on the cruise. Will a sleazebag try it? Of course, there are those everywhere. Since Disney does a pretty decent job of keeping the kids out of the bars, hopefully this wouldn't happen too often.

My 4 year old had an alcoholic mixed drink that was prepared by a DCL bartender on our recent cruise...it was just a sip...but she wanted to taste it and I let her. I guess I'm just a sleazebag of a parent. And, last I recall, they had bartenders cruising around the pool deck selling drinks...and well, they definitely wern't kicking the kids out of the area, so its not just in bars..."ohhh...this lady over here ordered the drink of the day, evacuate the Mickey Pool!"

 

[JimGA]

Here's a tip, everyone can get some fake id's for their kids, then they can carry two bottles of wine and 6 beers each..lmao!

 

[Belle1997]

Because it's not "wine" or "champagne" or "beer". And I believe, by definition, Malt liquor has a higher alcoholic content than beer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malt_liquor

Smirnoff Ice is a cooler with Average 4.5% alcohol content. So it is in the same category as a beer if you are looking for alcohol content per bottle. They should allow coolers. Since many gals like Smirnoff ice instead of beer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smirnoff

 

[cub77cub]

I will be interested to see what other options you find that let you bring liquor aboard - I don't think any of the major cruise lines do...

Yes, but other cruise lines have promotions. Celebrity offered a complimentary beverage package as a promotion. Again, this is all about profit for Disney. If they want to change the rules, ok. However, don't do it a month before I cruise. $25 corkage fee?
I guess everything costs more on Disney!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

It's not about a Disney bubble - it's about not having all that extra booze around for people to give to the kids. I don't think the bartenders will be selling drinks to minors often on the cruise. Will a sleazebag try it? Of course, there are those everywhere. Since Disney does a pretty decent job of keeping the kids out of the bars, hopefully this wouldn't happen too often.

It would happen anyway. I cruised when I was 19 with other 18/19 yo friends, and we were still not allowed to drink on the ship (just on Bermuda when we got there.) People traveling with us who were 21 and older were still offering the 21 and younger crowd drinks. It doesn't matter if you ban alcohol coming on; if there is a will, there is a way.

 

[C6PT7]

Look - I'm aware it's the parents responsibility to teach their kids how to behave. That said, kids at 14-17 sometimes don't listen to their parents wise words. They sometimes succumb to peer pressure. I wouldn't keep many bottles of booze in my cabin, but I don't know what other kids' parents allow. I feel grateful knowing that kids can't grab dad's bottle of Jack Daniels to drink in the stairwell with their friends anymore. I'm sorry it's inconveniencing others to forgo the hard stuff while on the cruise, but hopefully they will be able to save up enough money to afford a few drinks on the cruise one day.

DO you question everyone of your kids friends parents to make sure they keep their liquor safe guarded as well?
how much wine or beer does a 14-17 have to consume before they start acting out? they are still allowed?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Smirnoff Ice is a cooler with Average 4.5% alcohol content. So it is in the same category as a beer if you are looking for alcohol content per bottle. They should allow coolers. Since many gals like Smirnoff ice instead of beer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smirnoff

OK, how about this - Their house, their rules. They chose Wine, Champagne, & Beer as the OK alcoholic drinks to be allowed to carry on.

Look, I'm in total agreement that DCL rolled out this change unfairly. I think that they should have picked a date a bit further out (like maybe Jan 1?) allowing anyone still in the fully refundable situation to cancel if this change is just too unpalatable for them.

All we can do at this time is let DCL know how we feel. If they think it'll make a difference in their future cruise bookings, they will rescind it (or change it, maybe). But I wouldn't really count on it.

Last time they tried to stop the flow of alcoholic beverages being brought onboard, it only lasted a couple of days, mostly because (IMO) of the PR aspect of the change - they only announced it, as I recall, as "effective immediately".

 

[C6PT7]

AliceIn, i don't think your opinion is unpopular. I just think it is flawed.
kids hanging around liquor stores at home asking a grown up to buy it for them, swiping a bottle or can from mom and dad's stash at home to share with freinds.
you CANNOT stop stupid teen activity. There was a report that a teen dived off deck from a dcl ship years ago as the ship was pulling in to port. it is fortunat that he survived and wasnt sucked into the side thrusters or propellors. kids to dumb stuff. drunk or sober. you cannot stop it. you can only do your best to educate them of the risks, conseqenses, and after affects. then it is up to them. how else do you learn if they sometimes do not listen to their parents?

 

[Ofinn]

Look - I'm aware it's the parents responsibility to teach their kids how to behave. That said, kids at 14-17 sometimes don't listen to their parents wise words. They sometimes succumb to peer pressure. I wouldn't keep many bottles of booze in my cabin, but I don't know what other kids' parents allow. I feel grateful knowing that kids can't grab dad's bottle of Jack Daniels to drink in the stairwell with their friends anymore. I'm sorry it's inconveniencing others to forgo the hard stuff while on the cruise, but hopefully they will be able to save up enough money to afford a few drinks on the cruise one day.

If teens are drinking on a cruise that's not my problem and it's not my responsibility as long as their not my kids. I shouldn't have to be inconvenienced as you put it. If your worried your kids might grab a bottle of jack to drink in a stairwell leave them home. They don't deserve to cruise.

 

[DisUniversal]

Not like.

Not care.

 

[C6PT7]

Kids sneaking alcohol, or bottles in fe's, not a big problem at all. It cannot be.
Health and safety of the pax, nope. not buying it. BS cover story given by a fanboy. Otherwise the policy would have been implemented with immediate affect. no warning, no notice.
people openly advocating bringing a glass of wine or beer or hard liquor out of there cabin, tips on how to do it, and dcl seeing this consistently on boards like this, and probably a gradual droop in their bar sales along with the intent to make more money..... YEP! 100% otherwise they could have handled this differently and released a press release and website document stating the reasons. reasons other than we regularly review our current policies and as of a date only a few weeks away (sorry about that haha! and here is a computer generated email reply) we have decided to remove our XYZ policy. Thank you for your understanding.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

ok this had me laughing for the fact they only times I drank I little too much were on Disney Cruises, all stuff I bought on the ships lol. This past cruise one night had a shot too many of Patron and was kinda drunk going back to the room. I chilled out after that night lol

LOL! As a parent you always try to imagine how you'll handle certain situations with your kids/teens. I always pictured my reaction to the totally hammered teenager a bit more on the angry side. In the moment I was just focused on getting him to a toilet and not disturb other guests at 1:30 am. You'd have thought me getting so little sleep that last night of the cruise I'd be fit to be tied. Nope. I was more afraid than anything. Remember that drunk teen who died on some other cruise line after Mom & Dad put him in bed? I can honestly say I've never seen even a puking drunk go thru some of what my son did. He was crying begging me to help him. I figured normal. But then he started saying he was freezing. His skin was icy cold to the touch. It wasn't really cold in our room. Then he started this super bad shaking which scared me enough to wake my husband to make sure we didn't need to take him to medical. He was breathing, upright, and sipping water so we felt that's about as okay as he was going to be. I never left his side. When that episode stopped he became way more coherent. I was able to get him to bed with a trash can next to him. We didn't hardly sleep keeping an eye on him. When we debarked the next morning he was still pretty pickled. No rest for that monster hangover day. Nope. We had to fly home. He had a rough day with zero pity from us. But, ya know, it surprised us we were never angry. Disappointed. We had quite the long conversation about it all. There have been consequences. Yep, at some point most everyone has the tequila lesson. I remember mine, too. Ugh!

 

[mevans9066]

Yes why couldn't they have picked a date and said for any cruise vacation booked after this date, this new policy will be in effect. Cause they are worried about people not booking with DCL now?