which ships allow 18 - 21 to drink

[shelmo]

Trying to organise a cruise to celebrate a 50th, 18th and 21st in the med in July.I thought i'd found the right one on the Ruby Princess only to find out even sailing in the med the drinking age is 21. As my son wont be 21 until the September that rules him out and my daughter will be 18 while on board. Does any body know which ships will allow them an occasional drink while sailing. I have spent the whole day in and out of travel agents and not one has given me the same answer. Sat on the phone for 20 only to be cut off while they were finding the information from one firm. Any help would be appreciated.

[6rugrats]

Why not just use google or go to the cruiseline's web pages?

 

Read here:

 

http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/feature/alcoholpolicies-090707.cfm#axzz0orZrbsGa

[cruisinreunion]

NCL allows 18 year olds to drink beer and wine, with parental permission.

[Essiesmom]

P&O, possibly Cunard, Costa, MSC, Thomsons, Pullmantur, Iberocruceros, Louis Lines...Fred Olsen...Find a Europe based line sailing in Europe and your will probably be able to drink at 18, and book a cruise at 18. There are forums here for each of those lines (Some may be addressed under Other Cruise Lines), go on each one and ask. EM

[Gonzo70]

Celebrity would also be an option; they allow 18 & up to drink on sailings out of Europe with a parent's permission (for those 18-20).

[bluesea777]

NCL allows 18 year olds to drink beer and wine, with parental permission.

 

Yes, and the parent has to be on board to sign the authority form! You cannot print form in advance and carry the signed form aboard with you. Your parent has to be there on ship in person! :eek:

[Mydnite]

RCL sailing in Euope will allow it if parents sign a consent form.

[ashxoxo89]

i went on my first cruise at 17, second at 19 and third will be this august a month before my 21st birthday.. im a female and look young and have never been IDed on the ship!! this was with carnival

[6rugrats]

i went on my first cruise at 17, second at 19 and third will be this august a month before my 21st birthday.. im a female and look young and have never been IDed on the ship!! this was with carnival

I am not sure what your point is here. Are you saying you have ordered an alcoholic drink on Carnival and weren't asked for (not sure what Carnival calls it) your Sign and Sail card - the card that has your personal information on it, and the one you use to make onboard charges?

 

I really find this hard to believe; in another post you state you are 4'11".

[kitty9]

i went on my first cruise at 17, second at 19 and third will be this august a month before my 21st birthday.. im a female and look young and have never been IDed on the ship!! this was with carnival

 

Unless you used someone else's sign and sail card, the cruise line knows you're under age just by the info on that card.

[grgsgrl]

My DH and family I had not seen in 20 plus years took a cruise on NCL. I had been on this once before and LOVED it. Will never set foot on NCL again due to the large amount of underage drinking that happened while we were there. The kids, not more then 16, were allowed to drink until they were either passed out at random places or throwing up on the pool deck.

I am a party girl from way back but this was out of control. They hung out in the hot tub, ran all over the boat and just kept getting served. NEVER saw a crew member approach them nor a parent.

While we make our own good time, I will never cruise NCL again due to this

[ailuro]

NCL allows 18 year olds to drink beer and wine, with parental permission.

 

agree, it days so in our NCL docs which arrived today.;)

[ailuro]

p.s. for the person who saw drunk teens onboard NCL, how did they buy the drink without a S&S card?

 

Maybe they smuggled the booze onboard and were drinking it on the sly.

[ashxoxo89]

I am not sure what your point is here. Are you saying you have ordered an alcoholic drink on Carnival and weren't asked for (not sure what Carnival calls it) your Sign and Sail card - the card that has your personal information on it, and the one you use to make onboard charges?

 

I really find this hard to believe; in another post you state you are 4'11".

 

 

I am just saying that if you are 18-20 they probably wont say anything or ID you - at least in my own experience

 

and yes I used with S&S card. why would you find this hard to believe- or a better question - why would i make that up...

[6rugrats]

I am just saying that if you are 18-20 they probably wont say anything or ID you - at least in my own experience

 

and yes I used with S&S card. why would you find this hard to believe- or a better question - why would i make that up...

Why would you make this up? I have no idea; there are many strange posts on this board.

 

Why do I not believe you? Because your S&S card must be presented for every purchase on a ship, including drinks. The information on this card clearly shows you are a minor; on some ships, your card will be punched, or have some other simple way for people to just look at it to see you are underage. If it's illegal for you to drink, the crew would not risk their jobs simply to provide you with a drink. These jobs are much more valuable then making a minor "happy".

[ashxoxo89]

Why would you make this up? I have no idea; there are many strange posts on this board.

 

Why do I not believe you? Because your S&S card must be presented for every purchase on a ship, including drinks. The information on this card clearly shows you are a minor; on some ships, your card will be punched, or have some other simple way for people to just look at it to see you are underage. If it's illegal for you to drink, the crew would not risk their jobs simply to provide you with a drink. These jobs are much more valuable then making a minor "happy".

 

 

Well no offense but I am just telling you what my experience was. Believe it or not doesnt matter to me. Have a good day!

[AFS1970]

So many related issues on this one.

 

There is no such thing as allowing the occasional drink. This is a black and white matter. Either one can drink or not. It is not like the cruise line is going to allow drinking with dinner but not other times. However like all alcohol related issues, it is not the drinkers that will come up it is the over drinkers. No one would really notice someone who has been drinking but is not in some way impaired. As with most things, the youngsters are among those who lack the ability to control their drinking, although they are certainly not the only ones.

 

Each cruise line publishes their rules for drinking along with their other rules, it's in that section with the dress code for formal night and prohibited items that frequently gets ignored. Like with everything else, there are no surprises here.

 

As for those lines that require parental consent for 18-20 year old passengers to drink, this has always seemed strange to me. Those in the years between legal adulthood and the legal drinking age are in a strange place indeed, but one thing is certain. Their parents have no legal standing to allow or disallow them to do anything, they are adults, and their parents are no longer their legal guardians, this means they can not sign for them or take responsibility for them. The cruise line may have this requirement but it has no basis in the law (at least US law).

 

As for the rampant underage drinking on these ships, on my only cruise so far, there was a group of high school seniors taking their senior trip on the cruise. There were school staff members on board also. I met several of the students one afternoon in the hot tub. They freely told me about the young (but over 21) couple that was buying them drinks for ONLY twice what the bar was charging. On the one hand I thought that was an interesting way to make extra spending money, but on the other hand I thought what a wonderful way to get thrown off the ship if you get caught. Lets face it, the kids would absolutely rat you out if they get caught.

 

Now who is responsible for all of this? It is generally going to be shared responsibility. Half to the underage drinker, who should be following the rules and half to whoever provided the liquor. That could be a bartender who is obviously ringing up the sales the wrong way, or the parent or other adult who bought the liquor for the underage drinker.

 

I would think that no other passenger has any duty to report this, but to tell you the truth I would probably complain if I saw something really bad, as was describe in one post. However, since I have no real way of telling how old someone is, all I can do is report my suspicions to the crew. It is up to them to determine what further action if any they are going to take. I personally think that as long as the credit card on the sea pass is still good and no one falls/jumps overboard, they will do very little if anything.

[ThePatientOne]

AFS1970..

You bring up many very valid points here...

As for US departures, all cruise lines must follow US rules.. 21 to drink..

However

European departures are different..

You see, us Americans are hung up on way too many things.. Drinking is just one of them.. The Europeans have a different idea as to this subject..

I can speak from personal experience when I say, 16 YO's CAN drink in public in Germany. I was in the houfbrauhouse in Munich when 2 very nice young ladies struck up a conversation. We were having some beer and a light supper.. These young ladies were still in school and wanted to try out their English on real Americans.. The conversation turned to their age as well as the drinking laws there.. It is legal as beer is considered food.. (A bread if memory serves)

Here is another big difference between the two cultures.. Here in the US you get popped for DWI or the like, you are usually slapped on the wrist, slapped with a fine and let go.. There, they take it seriously, you WILL do some major jail time, even for a first offense..

Drinking is a responsibility, it starts with the parents and goes from there..

Now if a youngin drinks on board, and they are not of age and get caught, my feelings are that they as well as the parents are removed at the next port of call.. No Ifs ands or buts..

Just my humble opinion is all..

[jocap]

Most European countries will allow beer at 16. The age of an adult in Europe is 18, so it is impossible to put a different age-ban after that....you're an adult, so you abide by adult laws.

Unless you're a car insurer!

Jo.

[luvs2travl]

AFS1970..

You bring up many very valid points here...

As for US departures, all cruise lines must follow US rules.. 21 to drink..

However

European departures are different..

You see, us Americans are hung up on way too many things.. Drinking is just one of them.. The Europeans have a different idea as to this subject..

I can speak from personal experience when I say, 16 YO's CAN drink in public in Germany. I was in the houfbrauhouse in Munich when 2 very nice young ladies struck up a conversation. We were having some beer and a light supper.. These young ladies were still in school and wanted to try out their English on real Americans.. The conversation turned to their age as well as the drinking laws there.. It is legal as beer is considered food.. (A bread if memory serves)

Here is another big difference between the two cultures.. Here in the US you get popped for DWI or the like, you are usually slapped on the wrist, slapped with a fine and let go.. There, they take it seriously, you WILL do some major jail time, even for a first offense..

Drinking is a responsibility, it starts with the parents and goes from there..

Now if a youngin drinks on board, and they are not of age and get caught, my feelings are that they as well as the parents are removed at the next port of call.. No Ifs ands or buts..

 

Just my humble opinion is all..

Referring to the underlined (my doing) portion of your statement:

 

We were on the Norwegian Spirit in December of 2009 leaving from New Orleans. While we were still in port & awaiting our cabin to be readied, a family with two under-21 kids came in & sat down next to us in the Shanghai Lounge. The first thing their dad did was ask the bartender if the two boys could drink (couldn't help but overhear the conversation as they were seated right next to us). He asked the kids' ages (18 & 19, dad said) and the bartender said that the dad would have to go to the Main Desk and sign a release for them to be able to drink wine & beer only. The dad couldn't get there fast enough! Their first "Bucket O' Beer' was purchased and drunk by the boys while we were still in port. The dad & mom were drinking wine.

 

We saw both these boys very intoxicated later that day, and on several other occasions throughout the duration of the cruise. There parents were NOT with them when we observed them buying beer, so we assumed they must be using their own Sign & Sail cards to purchase it. Just one of the many, many reasons we will not be sailing on NCL again, believe me.