Cruise lines walk a narrow line when it comes to passengers and alcohol. They want to sell as many drinks and beverage packages as they can, but they also need to make sure people stay at least somewhat under control.
That's a challenge, especially for Royal Caribbean (RCL) and Carnival Cruise Line (CCL), which offer lower-priced cruises that appeal to younger customers. Both cruise lines want to create a good time, party atmosphere, but they also want to keep things family-friendly. That's not always easy when passengers have purchased unlimited beverage packages.
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Carnival, unlike Royal Caribbean, actually limits passengers who buy its Cheers! unlimited beverage package to 15 alcoholic drinks a day. That sounds like a lot of drinks, but it's actually a pretty good control method for people who start drinking early and keep going late.
15 drinks in an evening would get nearly anyone drunk, but 15 drinks spread out over a 16-hour (or so) day when coupled with the overeating that's common on a cruise keeps more people somewhat close to sober. Both Carnival and Royal want to know what their passengers are drinking.
Both cruise lines do allow each adult passenger in a room to bring one 750ml bottle of wine onboard, but all other forms of beer, liquor, and other alcoholic beverage are banned. Carnival does sell some very limited in-room liquor, beer, and wine packages, while Royal Caribbean has stopped doing that.
For both cruise lines, the goal is clearly being able to track how much alcohol its passengers consume. Royal Caribbean and Carnival will shut a customer off, or slow them down if they are visibly intoxicated. That's much harder to do when the passenger has alcohol in their room.
Now, however, Carnival is at least entertaining the idea of putting some alcohol back in passengers' rooms.
Carnival Cruise Line
Carnival Considers Filling Its Mini Bars
Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald stands as the public face of the cruise line. He answers questions on his very popular Facebook page and he often uses polls to take the temperature of the cruise line's audience. What he does not do, however, is troll his audience.
So, while Heald talking about something publicly does not mean it will happen, it's not like him to seek feedback on something that's completely out of the question. He recently shared an interesting note he received somewhat related to adding alcohol into its cabins.
Message: I have a question for you John. Why is Carnival the ONLY cruise line to have empty mini bars. As well as beverages, sodas, beers they all cruise lines have packets of peanuts, packets of almonds with raisins, chocolate bars and cheese and crackers and Pringles. Why not at Carnival. Just saying.
First, the letter is not actually true. Royal Caribbean and MSC, two major Carnival competitors have empty minibars (essentially drink coolers, not quite refrigerators). But, that does not change the core question and Heald's response did not fully slam the door on the idea.
Thank you, well we tried this maybe seven or eight years ago, and the problem was that most of the items were not used [or] purchased which meant they went quickly out of date. However, that was then and maybe it’s different now. So, let me ask you this
Should we stock your mini bar with drinks and snacks.
A. Yes please
B. No thanks
Please answer A or B
That simple question got 5,400 responses, an enormous amount even by Heald's standards. The response was actually pretty evenly mixed with people who voted for B often sharing some version of the same reason as to why they didn't want the minibar to be stocked.
"B, we use it for our water."
Many people also made comments that they would only want a stocked minibar if the drinks were included in the Cheers package. Others were against it largely because minibars have a reputation for being very expensive.
Heald did not provide any follow-up comments.
