"Naughty room" for 2 airplane bottles of rum!

[LeesSummitCruiser1]

The uniformity in enforcing is not a good argument. I think it's obvious that the same people are not at every single port, therefore, the attention span of the people reading the scanners will vary. The policy set forth by the cruise line is 100% uniform, but can only be enforced by the individuals at the numerous embarkation piers.

 

Example....state law says speeding is illegal. However, every cop enforces it differently.

 

 

This is apples and oranges. Laws are passed by governments and enforceable in courts. The alcohol rule on royal Caribbean is a policy that is particular to RCL. Many cruise lines have a similar policy, but some due not. It is not against the law in the US to bring bottles of alcohol on RCL ships; it is not enforceable in court and carries no civil or criminal penalty.

RCL thinks this policy will generate greater revenue and lower risk than Princess policy of allowing passengers to bring 2 bottles of wine on board.

Yes if you get caught give it up, don’t raise a stink and nobody cares.

What is against the law is bringing liquor back into the US bought duty free with out declaring it. I wonder which direction has the greatest volume of alcohol smuggling?

[Cruise_Couple]

The reason behind RCCL's alcohol policy is simple... if they do not generate revenue selling their own alcohol then they have to raise the cruise prices to cover for the losses.

 

Alcohol sales represent a huge portion of the cruise lines revenue. Every time someone smuggles alcohol on board it potentially reduces the revenue for that cruise. Well, if it keeps happening then what will the cruise line do? They will of course raise the cruise fares. Then everyone gets pissed and switches cruise lines because they do not want to pay higher ticket prices. Then the cruise line that we all claim to love goes out of business.

 

The fact remains, the more people break the rules like smuggling alcohol the higher the cruise prices will be for everyone. The alcohol smuggler will wind up paying more in increased cruise fares than they saved by smuggling alcohol. When you smuggle alcohol you are LOSING MONEY!!!! Everyone is losing money because of you! This is not rocket science!

 

Now I am not even going to get into the moral and ethical implications of smuggling alcohol and rule breaking... that would be too tiring with this crowd and I am already too tired just from reading this thread.

[MrsPete]

This is the irony!

My assumption is that after several stories of people falling overboard, the cruiselines had to tighten up their rules due to insurance liability. A couple of bad lawsuits, and the insurance companies may have been the driving force behind this...

 

Youre probably right- it is more than likely about the liquor sales.

It doesn't have to be all or nothing . . . it's likely BOTH. I'd venture to say the RC rules are 90% to do with making money and 10% to do with being concerned about people going overboard.

[Hondu]

We will sail any of the mass market lines, but if our alcohol was ever confiscated at embarkation, on principle alone, we would not even buy a t-shirt. Our motto is, if we can't bring on a small stash for the cabin, our onboard account will have tips only.

[Mark_K]

My RCCL booze complaint is I found they now charge a $15 corkage fee per bottle to drink the wine bought from their packages, in the dining room.

 

WHAT?!! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? NO WAY!

 

We are social drinkers and most of the time do not bust on a cruise vacation we would always have a bottle of wine with dinner and we were generous to our table-mates. I could see it when people were allowed to bring wine from home. If someone wanted to drink that much (a wine pkg) in their stateroom they probably would not be drinking wine.

 

Either way RCCL shot themselves in the foot with this ridiculous fee they just saved me a small bundle (pkg + fees). Should I feel the need to be "social" there is always in port. :p

Only if you designate that you want it for in room consumption and then take it to the dining room. If you designate that you want it for the dining room it will be available for you there without a corkage fee.

[woof22]

Alcohol sales represent a huge portion of the cruise lines revenue. Every time someone smuggles alcohol on board it potentially reduces the revenue for that cruise.

 

I'm curious....

 

Does it also get to you when passengers...

 

-bring their own soda/water on board

-book their own excursions independently instead of through the cruise line

-not buy art at the art auction

-avoid the casino

-avoid bingo

-stay out of the specialty restaurants

-make it a personal goal to spend as little as possible on board

-etc.

 

Those are all ways that potential revenue is gone for the cruise line, thereby forcing the cruise line to raise fares.

[houstoncruisers2001]

I'm curious....

 

Does it also get to you when passengers...

 

-bring their own soda/water on board

-book their own excursions independently instead of through the cruise line

-not buy art at the art auction

-avoid the casino

-avoid bingo

-stay out of the specialty restaurants

-make it a personal goal to spend as little as possible on board

-etc.

 

Those are all ways that potential revenue is gone for the cruise line, thereby forcing the cruise line to raise fares.

 

Oh boy, they must hate me. I don't book ship excursions, i hate art, the casino is a rip-off, bingo is boring and we only eat in the main dining room. Oh yeah....and I smuggle.

[VickyMcG]

Only if you designate that you want it for in room consumption and then take it to the dining room. If you designate that you want it for the dining room it will be available for you there without a corkage fee.

Oh, yes, you are correct. I saw that last Nov. Whew! That must be what the poster means. He should have clarified that instead of panicking me.

[VickyMcG]

Oh boy, they must hate me. I don't book ship excursions, i hate art, the casino is a rip-off, bingo is boring and we only eat in the main dining room. Oh yeah....and I smuggle.

Ditto! But I do buy the wine pkgs.

[houstoncruisers2001]

Ditto! But I do buy the wine pkgs.

 

Well, I buy buckets of beer & Long Island Ice Teas too. I'm not a total cheapskate.

[VickyMcG]

Well, I buy buckets of beer & Long Island Ice Teas too. I'm not a total cheapskate.

Great minds! Let's party!

[cpj]

For the people that smuggle I hope you can continue to get away with it. I feel they overcharge for everything and try to make an excessive profit. So if they raise the cruise prices so be it. I try to spend the least amout because of there over charging. I never book a tour with them and never will. I will not purchase a picture with them because of there so overpriced. If they price things to make a fair profit I would spend more. Im in the retail business so I have a good idea of there costs on liquor and wine and believe me they are overcharging. So if your cruise price goes up to bad you pay for there overcharging and dont expect me to.

[Janet524]

That whinneying you hear is the sound of this dead horse being beaten to a bloody pulp again!

[wayne_trisha]

I think it's fairly straightforward as to which rules RCI enforces. They tend to enforce the ones that involve passenger health/safety, their liability, and their pocketbook. For the rest, they tend to rely on the passengers to follow them on their own. It's their ship, and their rules, I'd say how strictly they decide to enforce a particular rule is their business.

 

You are absolutely correct in what they enforce and how they enforce it. We love RCCL and we smuggle some alcohol on. My wife is not going to the naughty room if we get caught, I am. I'll go, say I'm sorry, and hand over whatever they find. We typically bring 32 ounces of liquor, not a whole bar setup for cabin parties. I know I could be denied boarding and that would forever end my relationship with RCCL if it occurred. We typically cruise 3-4 times per year. I'm sure another line would accept my booking. My in room consumption does not affect their bottom line nor anyone else on the ship. All the jackoffs saving chairs makes plney of people on board mad yet they don't do jackcrap about it.

[Aquahound]

For the people that smuggle I hope you can continue to get away with it. I feel they overcharge for everything and try to make an excessive profit. So if they raise the cruise prices so be it. I try to spend the least amout because of there over charging. I never book a tour with them and never will. I will not purchase a picture with them because of there so overpriced. If they price things to make a fair profit I would spend more. Im in the retail business so I have a good idea of there costs on liquor and wine and believe me they are overcharging. So if your cruise price goes up to bad you pay for there overcharging and dont expect me to.

 

Does your retail business spend $500,000 for fuel every 7 days.....per ship (or whatever you have)? No offense...but you may want to seek out that MSNBC special shown not long ago about cruise ship profits. You'll discover that your assumptions are not correct. It was an eye opener.

[wayne_trisha]

For the people that smuggle I hope you can continue to get away with it. I feel they overcharge for everything and try to make an excessive profit. So if they raise the cruise prices so be it. I try to spend the least amout because of there over charging. I never book a tour with them and never will. I will not purchase a picture with them because of there so overpriced. If they price things to make a fair profit I would spend more. Im in the retail business so I have a good idea of there costs on liquor and wine and believe me they are overcharging. So if your cruise price goes up to bad you pay for there overcharging and dont expect me to.

 

Everyone knows they are overcharging but I don't believe it is to make excessive profit. I would imagine that the total cruise fares paid by passengers are significantly less than the operating costs of a cruise. They have to make a profit somewhere or they go out of business.

[woof22]

That whinneying you hear is the sound of this dead horse being beaten to a bloody pulp again!

 

I think the horse is now goo. But it's still fun watching.

[houstoncruisers2001]

No offense...but you may want to seek out that MSNBC special shown not long ago about cruise ship profits. You'll discover that your assumptions are not correct. It was an eye opener.

 

No offense....but read "Devils on the Deep Blue Sea" or "Cruise Ship Blues" if you want to get a greater understanding of how the cruise industry really works.

[Aquahound]

No offense....but read "Devils on the Deep Blue Sea" or "Cruise Ship Blues" if you want to get a greater understanding of how the cruise industry really works.

 

Actually, I have a lot of first hand knowledge of how the behind-the-scenes cruise industry works. I also understand that it is a business and I am not forced to book with any of them.

[houstoncruisers2001]

Actually, I have a lot of first hand knowledge of how the behind-the-scenes cruise industry works. I also understand that it is a business and I am not forced to book with any of them.

 

Well, Carnival and RCCL have a freaking monopoly going on. They make money hand over fist and I wouldn't worry about them missing payroll any time soon. Sure the onboard cruise prices keep going up, so do my football season tickets. That's just the way it is. If none of us ever smuggled the prices would STILL be going up on the ship.

[marci22]

Sometimes you get caught and sometimes you don't. I definitely wouldn't get mad at them no matter what quantity it was as you're not supposed to have any at all.

[VickyMcG]

For the people that smuggle I hope you can continue to get away with it. I feel they overcharge for everything and try to make an excessive profit. So if they raise the cruise prices so be it. I try to spend the least amout because of there over charging. I never book a tour with them and never will. I will not purchase a picture with them because of there so overpriced. If they price things to make a fair profit I would spend more. Im in the retail business so I have a good idea of there costs on liquor and wine and believe me they are overcharging. So if your cruise price goes up to bad you pay for there overcharging and dont expect me to.

 

AMEN I don't care what the rest say, they do charge a lot, I just won't buy stuff like those pix. Man, guess what, I have a digital camera. Takes great pix.

 

That whinneying you hear is the sound of this dead horse being beaten to a bloody pulp again!

 

So is that old nag. People have this forum to air things out and aren't we sick of the dead horse analogy. Doesn't contribute. Why say it? Why open the thread in the first place?

[cpj]

Does your retail business spend $500,000 for fuel every 7 days.....per ship (or whatever you have)? No offense...but you may want to seek out that MSNBC special shown not long ago about cruise ship profits. You'll discover that your assumptions are not correct. It was an eye opener.

No I did not see the special. Im sure some of what they showed is true. Im sure some is not true. All I know if they where priced fairly they would sell a lot more and make more profit. Nothing wrong with making a profit as that is why I am in business. I just do not overcharge and make a fair profit. They overcharge and a lot of people pay there prices and a lot do not. One example I sell a cheap wine called Beringer white zin for $6.99 for a small bottle. I purchase one on the ship for my daughter and they charge me $30.00. Last bottle of wine that I bought. Also I have a 35 percent profit margin on that wine. Do you think that they overcharge for that one item. and believe me they paid a lot less for it due to the volume they purchase.

[Cruise_Couple]

I'm curious....

 

Does it also get to you when passengers...

 

-bring their own soda/water on board

-book their own excursions independently instead of through the cruise line

-not buy art at the art auction

-avoid the casino

-avoid bingo

-stay out of the specialty restaurants

-make it a personal goal to spend as little as possible on board

-etc.

 

Those are all ways that potential revenue is gone for the cruise line, thereby forcing the cruise line to raise fares.

 

Your question is a bit absurd. Sorry if I am sounding snippy now but it is really starting to bug me listening to people trying to justify not only dishonesty but foolishness as well. Obviously the cruise line has determined the amount of profit they need to generate from each revenue area of the ship. Carrying alcohol on board is an area they can control if they wish to. The others that you mention (and I have no idea why you mention them) are clearly areas where they can't "force" people to spend money. These areas provide a revenue opportunity and the cruise line calculates a basic percentage of profit they believe they will make in each of the areas you mention. That is why these areas exist. The rules are for areas they can control. Last time I checked I did not see anybody trying to smuggle a "specialty restaurant" on board!

[woof22]

Your question is a bit absurd. Sorry if I am sounding snippy now but it is really starting to bug me listening to people trying to justify not only dishonesty but foolishness as well.

 

Obviously the cruise line has determined the amount of profit they need to generate from each revenue area of the ship. Carrying alcohol on board is an area they can control if they wish to. The others that you mention (and I have no idea why you mention them) are clearly areas where they can't "force" people to spend money. These areas provide a revenue opportunity and the cruise line calculates a basic percentage of profit they believe they will make in each of the areas you mention. That is why these areas exist. The rules are for areas they can control. Last time I checked I did not see anybody trying to smuggle a "specialty restaurant" on board!

 

I don't think it's that absurd, yes, maybe a bit. You didn't sound snippy, so no need to apologize. I'm not trying to justify anything, just wondering.

 

Your original message said that

 

Now I am not even going to get into the moral and ethical implications of smuggling alcohol and rule breaking...

 

so I'm working on the assumption that the problem is revenue. Therefore I asked about other ways that they make money since it isn't just alcohol. I'm not sure if someone that drinks is responsible for the profit of RCI and someone who doesn't drink isn't. My personal feeling is neither are responsible for the profit of RCI, instead RCI is. But there are lots of ways that they make money.

 

I also disagree with ...

 

The alcohol smuggler will wind up paying more in increased cruise fares than they saved by smuggling alcohol. When you smuggle alcohol you are losing money.

 

If I follow your reasoning if a smuggler ends up not buying $100 worth of liquor then RCI must raise their overall fare by $100. But that $100 would be spread out amongst all of the passengers. This means that the smuggler won't pay more.

 

I do agree that would mean...

 

Everyone (else) is losing money because of you.

 

One of the things I mentioned was carrying on soda. That's a place that they do lose money. Those that carry on soda also are depriving the cruiseline of revenue. Those that book their excursions outside of RCI are also costing the cruise line revenue.

 

I'm just trying to include all of the ways a passenger could get around paying RCI while still doing whatever it is that they do.

 

And you say that the other things I listed are places where they can't force someone to spend money, implied in that statement is that alcohol is different. I think they put out a whole bunch of places people can spend money, but they can't force you to do any of them. Ugh. This is getting long.