Some rules get broken on cruise ships because enforcing them would cause too much of a fuss.
Allowing passengers to wear shorts in the main dining room, for example, is simply easier than sending them back to their room to change.
If the main dining room staff turned people away, some would get angry, there would be fights and the line would grind to a halt. The prospect that one more person in the room will be wearing pants is not worth the risk of an ugly situation.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line shares a strict dress code warning
This example does not mean that the cruise lines don't have rules. Carnival Cruise Line will send someone away from the main dining room if they're wearing a bathing suit. In addition, crew members will get involved if a passenger is doing something that hurts the experience of other passengers.
If, for example, a passenger has a child watching a loud video without headphones, the crew may ask them to turn it down. The staff will also remove passengers who have had one too many, and they'll ensure that excessively loud groups don't interfere with the dining experience of others.
In some cases it's tough to know when and whether to get involved. At other times, the rules are very clear.
Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador John Heald recently addressed one issue where the rules are very clear.
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Image source: Carnival Corp.
Carnival's main dining room welcomes dogs (in one specific way)
Heald rarely rebukes a passenger, but he took a strong stance in response to one recent post to his Facebook page.
He did so, of course, with his usual slang and insider jargon.
"Talking of dogs, yesterday I had a few posts about the dinning room (sorry Beards but I still can’t say restaurant). One lady made an almighty fuss about how we allow dogs in there," he wrote.
"Dinning room" is his term for the main dining room, which is actually supposed to be called a restaurant, according to "the Beards," which is Heald's term for Carnival management.
"Now you would think from her post that there were packs of them in there, barking and stinking and getting in the way of the waiters carrying those towers of plates and being great stinky animals in a space that should be quiet and ummmm, human," Heald wrote.
"The actual truth was that on the ship she was on there was one dog, a guide dog for a blind guest who spent the entire meal under the table...the dog...not the guest."
Heald then actually (mildly) called out the passenger who wrote the post.
"Her lack of tolerance for this was quite extraordinary," he posted. "It is fascinating that as the years go on how people do seem less tolerant of others and what they do, especially at dinner. I have received comments about noisy children, the background music being too loud, and of course what some people wear. A guide dog under a table is apparently able to ruin the taste of a Caesar salad."
Carnival passengers share their dog thoughts
Most of the responses to Heald's post were pro-service dog.
"I have seen dogs on my cruises. And they are very well trained and very well disciplined. Never had a problem with them. Now the male and female Karens are a different story," wrote Liz Kriz.
Carnival allows only trained and certified service dogs on its ships.
"As for the service animals, more people need to stop and count their blessings that they don’t need one of those remarkable beasts. I feel better seeing them there with their owners," posted Regina Sharpe.
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Some passengers did complain about people faking the needed paperwork to declare a dog a service animal, but most were thankful for Carnival's efforts.
"As someone who works with special needs children who become special needs adults, I say bravo to Carnival for allowing a service dog in the dining room," added Perry Walden. "We have them in our school and they are as well behaved, if not more so, than some of the teens we have roaming the hallways and eating in the cafeteria."
Related: Carnival Cruise Line shares an important safety warning
