Cruise lines ban a variety of items from their ships. Some are well-known and are unlikely to change anytime soon, such as guns and illegal narcotics. Others aren’t quite so obvious, especially those who might be new to cruising.
For example, Carnival Cruise Lines’ prohibited items list currently includes scissors, hoverboards, roller skates, candles, and helium-filled balloons.
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Royal Caribbean recently made a significant change to its banned items list, and many customers with future cruises booked with the line aren’t thrilled about it. The change certainly has the potential to cause major inconvenience for travelers, and customers of other cruise lines have been wondering if Royal Caribbean might be just the first major cruise line to ban these particular items.
Image source: Carnival Cruise Line
Royal Caribbean quietly banned some popular travel items
Royal Caribbean recently made changes to its banned item list, and many cruisers aren’t happy.
Of course, there are some things that are generally not allowed on any major cruise line. For example, you can’t travel with weapons, nor can you bring your own alcoholic beverages except for (in many cases) one bottle of wine per guest.
However, one thing that many cruisers won’t board a ship without is a multi-plug charging device. On many ships – especially older ones – there simply aren’t many places to plug in and charge devices.
Some cruise cabins have a single American outlet and no USB ports. There have been times when I’ve used my laptop as a phone charger simply because there was no other way to have more than one device plugged in.
To be sure, multi-outlet power strips with surge protection have generally been disallowed for years. But bringing all varieties of multi-plug outlets that plug directly into the wall outlet hasn’t been an issue.
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Royal Caribbean recently made an update to its banned items list, which now includes “Extension Cords and Multi-Plug Outlets/Power Strips.” To be fair, Royal Caribbean has yet to address and clarify this change publicly, and it is unclear exactly how much of a ban this is, but as it’s written, typically safe items like multi-plug devices that don't have a cord have been banned.
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Carnival Cruise Lines responds
So far, Royal Caribbean has been the only major cruise line to make this change. But many in the cruising world have been wondering whether the company’s biggest competitor, Carnival Cruise Lines, will follow suit.
Well, Carnival travelers can breathe a sigh of relief. Multi-plug charging outlets are in no immediate danger, according to Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald. In response to a question from a Facebook user asking whether Carnival is going to ban these items, Heald replied, “There are no plans for us to change anything at this time so please don’t worry.”
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It’s fair to say that many cruisers rely on the ability to bring these types of devices on board. With the newest ships in both Royal Caribbean and Carnival’s fleets, where there are typically several USB ports and more outlets, it’s less of a must-have. But on any ship that is more than a few years old, the likelihood of having multiple places to charge devices in the standard stateroom is quite low.
Of course, Royal Caribbean could certainly have a good reason for its ban on these items. At the time of this writing, the cruise line has acknowledged receiving requests for clarification but has yet to provide any further details.
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