Alcohol to 18 year old?

[goofy559]

FYI, the on the Ocean Princess the age was also 18. We just returned from a baltic and all the signs had been changed from 21 to 18.

[gailjen]

Hi Everybody

 

I was the OP. We are back from our cruise which was on the Island departing Barcelona on 27 June. When we initially joined the ship the age was 21 after a couple of days it was lowered to 18. This was never officially announced but was on the small print on the back of the patter. The only reason I knew was I had been chatting with one of the Guest Entertainers and he told me they had lowered it. I can scan a copy of the back of a patter if anyone needs it. The staff were aware of the change. My daughter is a young looking 18 and was asked for ID - once the servers had seen it no issues.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

Shirley

 

I would love a scanned copy very much 😀 Thanks in advance Shirley

[skf]

I need photographic evidence so I can resolve an issue.

 

Gailjen...what you really mean is that you need a document to win a bet, right?

[junglejane]

We were on the Caribbean Princess Baltic cruise that left from Southampton on 6/27/15. On embarkation day, the Patter said the drinking age was 21 in small print under the list of hours for "Bars, Clubs & Lounges." Then on Day 2 it was changed to age 18 and remained that way for the rest of the cruise.

 

Even our waiter at dinner was confused. Early on in the cruise, we asked her to pour our 18 year old a glass of wine and she vehemently said no and that she would get in trouble. We showed her the Patter and she took it away and consulted with someone else. Then she returned and said we were correct but she definitely seemed surprised. She poured DD18 a glass of wine. DD18 took a sip, made a face and pushed the glass over to me. :)

 

One other time DD18 ordered a cocktail during happy hour at Skywalkers. The bar staff seemed to know the deal and there was no issue.

[gailjen]

I need photographic evidence �� so I can resolve an issue.

 

Gailjen...what you really mean is that you need a document to win a bet, right?

 

Like I said on a previous post,

 

it's Princess I need to convince which is why I need the photographic evidence.. But it can wait till I've sailed in August if I can't get before.

 

Skf you could call it a bet but if I'm right Princess will have to do some serious grovelling 😉

[Cruisin' Chick]

Hi Everybody

 

I was the OP. We are back from our cruise which was on the Island departing Barcelona on 27 June. When we initially joined the ship the age was 21 after a couple of days it was lowered to 18. This was never officially announced but was on the small print on the back of the patter. The only reason I knew was I had been chatting with one of the Guest Entertainers and he told me they had lowered it. I can scan a copy of the back of a patter if anyone needs it. The staff were aware of the change. My daughter is a young looking 18 and was asked for ID - once the servers had seen it no issues.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

Shirley

 

I wonder why the age minimum was changed DURING the cruise. Did some passengers storm the passenger services desk or was it that once the ship moved past a specific port, it was okay to change the age?

[shredie]

I wonder why the age minimum was changed DURING the cruise. Did some passengers storm the passenger services desk or was it that once the ship moved past a specific port' date=' it was okay to change the age?[/quote']

 

My guess is no one proofread the Patter.

[I_r_a]

Hey CC,

 

Whatever the details of the policy might be, it is highly unlikely that anyone will hassle you if you wish to share one of your drinks with your daughter.

 

Ira

[Pierlesscruisers]

I wonder why the age minimum was changed DURING the cruise. Did some passengers storm the passenger services desk or was it that once the ship moved past a specific port' date=' it was okay to change the age?[/quote']

Quite possibly it was because by that time the ship had moved out of one countries territorial waters into the waters of another country or into international waters.

 

Tom

[Colo Cruiser]

Quite possibly it was because by that time the ship had moved out of one countries territorial waters into the waters of another country or into international waters.

 

Tom

 

 

Not really, they just adjust their policy for the UK cruises/clientele.

[Cruising Crew]

I would love a scanned copy very much Thanks in advance Shirley

 

Hi - please see attachements - hope this helps. If you want me email them to you I can do so. These look very small.

Edited July 24, 2015 by Cruising Crew

[gailjen]

Hi - please see attachements - hope this helps. If you want me email them to you I can do so. These look very small.

 

I would appreciate it if you could email me at gj001b8706@blueyonder.co.uk

 

Thanks 😀

[gailjen]

Just wanted to update the thread....I can confirm on our Aug Emerald cruise the drinking age was 18 I have now resolved my issue with Princess and this is part of the Apology letter I received..

 

We all know where we stand now with the drinking ages 🍷🍺🍸

 

 

Good Morning Mrs Jennings

 

Thank you for your patience whilst this matter has been investigated with my colleagues in the US.

 

I am pleased to learn that you and your family did have an enjoyable time on board Emerald Princess, however I regret that your experience was marred due to the difficulties that you experienced prior to your cruise concerning the drinking age for Emerald Princess this season.

 

I can confirm that our drinking age policy is as follows, ' The drinking age whilst the Princess vessel is operating in Japan is 20 years of age. The drinking age whilst the Princess vessel is operating in Europe, Australia and China is 18 years of age'.

 

Upon further investigation it would appear that the change to the drinking age policy has not been correctly communicated to all areas of the business and I would wish to assure you that this matter has been taken most seriously. It is clear that there has been a breakdown in communication and for this I am extremely sorry. I can assure you that it is never our intention to knowingly provide inaccurate information to our guests and we understand the importance of such a situation.

 

Please be assured that senior members of our Hotel Services Team have been made aware of your experience for their information and corrective action where considered necessary. I can also confirm that our Marketing Team have been made aware in order for our brochures and marketing literature to be amended to reflect the change to the drinking policy.

 

Once again I would like to reiterate my sincere apologies for the upset and inconvenience that this matter has caused.

 

Mrs Jennings, despite your current feelings I trust you have all returned from Emerald Princess with many fond memories. It would certainly give us great pleasure to welcome you back on board one of our ships in the near future so we can restore fully your faith in the service that we know we can offer.

 

Assuring you of our best attention at all times.

[caribill]

Thanks for coming back with the update.

[mmckm]

A scanned copy of a previous patter is not worth anything. The age will be whatever Princess decides for that cruise. I can't believe you can have this many posts about this. Also why would a parent be so determined to give there 18 year old a drink. Whats the big deal. If its that important buy a drink for her and be discrete. Also you can drink when off the ship when in port if the age is 18 in that country.

[partybarbie]

On our recent Emerald Princess cruise, the drinking age was listed as 18 for both the TA, departing from Barcelona, and the Caribbean portion, departing from Fort Lauderdale.

 

Good, bad, or indifferent, it was posted in our daily Patter.

[john watson]

A scanned copy of a previous patter is not worth anything. The age will be whatever Princess decides for that cruise. I can't believe you can have this many posts about this. Also why would a parent be so determined to give there 18 year old a drink. Whats the big deal. If its that important buy a drink for her and be discrete. Also you can drink when off the ship when in port if the age is 18 in that country.

 

This is a major issue for some people; drinking alcohol at 18 years old is considered normal in UK and much of Europe. Finding out the minimum age is 21 could well be a major shock to some people as it is extremely strange and unforeseeable to many Europeans. The big deal is knowing the answer to the question before you book. This is very difficult to find out.

 

A number of people; if they knew the answer to this question prior to booking would not actually make a booking. You are correct in that; the age that the cruise line enforce is what is relevant, people simply need to know. How would you feel if when you turned up at the MDR the waiter tol you that you are not allowed to have wine?

 

Regards John

Edited November 1, 2015 by john watson

[notentirelynormal]

This is a major issue for some people; drinking alcohol at 18 years old is considered normal in UK and much of Europe. Finding out the minimum age is 21 could well be a major shock to some people as it is extremely strange and unforeseeable to many Europeans. The big deal is knowing the answer to the question before you book. This is very difficult to find out.

 

A number of people; if they knew the answer to this question prior to booking would not actually make a booking. You are correct in that; the age that the cruise line enforce is what is relevant, people simply need to know. How would you feel if when you turned up at the MDR the waiter tol you that you are not allowed to have wine?

 

Regards John

 

Agree 100%.

 

Shame on you mmckm for making it sound like they are bad parents or alcoholics because they asked about an 18 YO getting a drink legally like they do at home. You preach to them about drinking then encourage them to illegally giving them a drink. A little two faced don't you think?

[john watson]

Agree 100%.

 

Shame on you mmckm for making it sound like they are bad parents or alcoholics because they asked about an 18 YO getting a drink legally like they do at home. You preach to them about drinking then encourage them to illegally giving them a drink. A little two faced don't you think?

 

In the UK historically alcohol drinking has evolved from the consumption non potable water supplies which centuries ago led to mass illness in places such as London. Sterilisation by brewing beer made the water "safe" although you ended up with beer it is what society moved onto for safety. Toleration of younger people consuming the product is therefore historically understandable. This is not consistent with the history of alcohol consumption in the USA.

 

I do not like the phrase "two faced" and prefer to say duplicitous.

 

Regards John.

[mmckm]

Agree 100%.

 

Shame on you mmckm for making it sound like they are bad parents or alcoholics because they asked about an 18 YO getting a drink legally like they do at home. You preach to them about drinking then encourage them to illegally giving them a drink. A little two faced don't you think?

 

Take your 2 faced and stick it somewhere. I did not say it was bad parenting all I said was why so determined. I would not base taking a cruise on my kids being able to drink. My daughter was on a couple cruises with us before she was 21 but was legal to drink at home. She didn't drink on the cruise ship and if you feel they need a drink that bad then there is way. I don't care what anyone does and I don't judge people. 66 posts about this is a joke. If its that important don't cruise with princess. They make the rules about drinking on board. To think having a scanned copy of a patters will change anything is a bigger joke.

[gailjen]

A scanned copy of a previous patter is not worth anything. The age will be whatever Princess decides for that cruise. I can't believe you can have this many posts about this. Also why would a parent be so determined to give there 18 year old a drink. Whats the big deal. If its that important buy a drink for her and be discrete. Also you can drink when off the ship when in port if the age is 18 in that country.

 

 

That's actually not true as per my letter which confirms the drinking age in each area of cruising. I didn't want the thread to keep going I merely posted the correct details to help fellow young cruisers.

 

I can confirm that our drinking age policy is as follows, ' The drinking age whilst the Princess vessel is operating in Japan is 20 years of age. The drinking age whilst the Princess vessel is operating in Europe, Australia and China is 18 years of age'.

 

My son was 20 on this cruise and without going into our personal details all as I wanted to know was could he drink or not? Not a hard question, however it took Princess from June till last week to actually get me the correct answer.

 

You say in your last post having a patter would not change anything, it actually did, I proved to Princess that the age was 18 onboard for drinking & gambling and they have now admitted their staff were wrong.

Edited November 1, 2015 by gailjen

[mmckm]

That's actually not true as per my letter which confirms the drinking age in each area of cruising. I didn't want the thread to keep going I merely posted the correct details to help fellow young cruisers.

 

I can confirm that our drinking age policy is as follows, ' The drinking age whilst the Princess vessel is operating in Japan is 20 years of age. The drinking age whilst the Princess vessel is operating in Europe, Australia and China is 18 years of age'.

 

My son was 20 on this cruise and without going into our personal details all as I wanted to know was could he drink or not? Not a hard question, however it took Princess from June till last week to actually get me the correct answer.

 

You say in your last post having a patter would not change anything, it actually did, I proved to Princess that the age was 18 onboard for drinking & gambling and they have now admitted their staff were wrong.

 

Sorry I misunderstood the reason for you wanting the patter.