Smuggling Alcohol Onboard
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The second tip from the article about getting revenge mentioned smuggling alcohol on board. I have mixed feelings about this one. I don’t think that passengers should be forbidden to bring in their purchases from shore. We once did back to back cruises and had purchased a special Christmas beer in Mexico to take back home for the holiday. I mentioned this at the Royal Caribbean check in and they assured me that I would be nabbed. Surely enough, as soon as I went through security, I got pulled to the side and surrendered my beer.
I wasn’t too concerned as I hadn’t planned on drinking it anyway. Some cruise lines do allow a small amount of alcohol to be brought on board. I don’t understand the attitude of passengers who don’t think that the ship should be permitted to restrict alcohol or charge for it. After all, do these people not realize that when they go to a bar or restaurant that they are paying more than they would if they made their own drinks at home? Doesn’t the food also cost more than it would to prepare it at home? Do they complain that the bar is making money? Do they try to bring their own booze into the bar or restaurant? What about at the hotel bar?
In the long run, if everybody simply brought their own booze, the cruise lines would simply raise their fares to accommodate for the loss in revenue. Then others would complain because they would feel that they are subsidizing the drinkers.
On a recent cruise, we discussed the cost of wine at dinner. We all agreed that they might sell more if they dropped the price a bit. The bottle that costs less that $10 at home, cost us $30 on the ship. The formula for figuring revenue on a particular commodity might not be an easy one, but it seems that lowering the price of wine by one-third, might double the amount of sales. It made sense to us, but none of us run a cruise line.
The article mentioned that there were no age restriction or quantity restrictions for alcohol consumption at sea. That may be the case, but cruise lines do have their rules for the minimum age to be served alcohol. They will also cut off a person who has had too much to drink, especially if that person is disturbing fellow passengers.
What’s hardest for me about having alcohol purchases held to the end of the cruise is that my memory is poor. On one cruise, we remembered in the middle of the night before disembarkation that we had some alcohol purchases held for us. We completely forgot to pick them up when they would be available for collection. Even with a reminder from the ship, we forgot to go to collect our bottles. I wonder how many people like us also forget, especially if you made your purchase early in the cruise. And who gets to enjoy those forgotten bottles of alcohol?
Sail Away.
“In the long run, if everybody simply brought their own booze, the cruise lines would simply raise their fares to accommodate for the loss in revenue. Then others would complain because they would feel that they are subsidizing the drinkers.”
Your logic is SO wrong here. As a drinker paying $7 for a beer that would have cost me $3 in a restaurant at home, I feel as though I’m subsidizing those who don’t drink. If I brought my own liquor, and the lines raised their prices, this would just be proof that with policies as they are now, drinkers are ensuring the low prices.