P & O Alcohol Policy

Does anyone know if P & O are adhering to their taking 1-bottle wine pp onboard, or are they flexible about this?

Look at the messages about this - the latest one is on 6 May and there are over 700 postings.

Just wondered if P & O had relaxed the rule at all or were enforcing it

As has been already said there are lots of posts already on this subject.

In my opinion P&O have sort fit to introduce this policy because passengers have taken advantage of previous no restrictions on drink.

Just wondered if P & O had relaxed the rule at all or were enforcing it

Getting off the ship recently after a 12nt cruise ,I saw a fair queue that were collecting beers etc that they had brought on board also for drinks from the ships duty free shop purchases.

The other recent post on this subject is here https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2538198

Getting off the ship recently after a 12nt cruise ,I saw a fair queue that were collecting beers etc that they had brought on board also for drinks from the ships duty free shop purchases.

 

The other recent post on this subject is here https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2538198

On Arcadia a couple of weeks ago, they gave handed in alcohol back on the last full day of the cruise so it could be packed. Very civilised and ordered collection and as we had called at Gibraltar, there was quite a lot that needed collecting. Bottles bought duty free onboard was given to purchasers the day before. I didn’t notice alcohol being returned as we got off the ship and would consider this to be unreasonably late unless they had set aside time (in our case a whole morning) the previous day and this was a final attempt to reunite people with their uncollected alcohol.

Yes they are, except when we got back on board in Gib with 3 bottles of whisky, my husband was told he could take it to the cabin! But loads of others were handing it in! Bizarre.

Thanks all, I presume its ok to take soft drinks onboard?

On Arcadia a couple of weeks ago, they gave handed in alcohol back on the last full day of the cruise so it could be packed. Very civilised and ordered collection and as we had called at Gibraltar, there was quite a lot that needed collecting. Bottles bought duty free onboard was given to purchasers the day before. I didn’t notice alcohol being returned as we got off the ship and would consider this to be unreasonably late unless they had set aside time (in our case a whole morning) the previous day and this was a final attempt to reunite people with their uncollected alcohol.

Sorry Pete , that should have read on the morning we were due to get off the ship.:confused:

It was still early 6.30 ish near the duty free.

They had given drinks back the afternoon before ,so as you say this must have been a case of a final attempt

to reunite people with their uncollected alcohol.

Yes Fastnloose you can take pop or water onboard ,no probs .

...Yes Fastnloose you can take pop or water onboard ,no probs .

Although rhetorical in nature I have to ask the following questions.

Could a bottle of water contain any clear liquid?

Or could a bottle of Coke contain anything of an identical colour?

Interesting!

Although rhetorical in nature I have to ask the following questions.

Could a bottle of water contain any clear liquid?

Or could a bottle of Coke contain anything of an identical colour?

I have considered this..........say, for arguments sake, one disembarks cruise ship in Cadiz, with a 500 ml bottle of P and O mineral water each (1 litre) or is "plastic friendly" and takes their own pre-purchased plastic drinking bottle ashore, and re-fills the said bottles with alcohol purchased in the port. Will the liquid be tested on return to ship?? :evilsmile::evilsmile::evilsmile:

In the early 70s my mother made a trip to Southern Ireland and obtained a small bottle of poitin which is "potato moonshine". She had it in a small "kia-ora" bottle and had primed herself with the story that if she got caught at customs she would say it was "holy water", but if the customs man tasted it, it would blow his head off!! ;p;p

Although rhetorical in nature I have to ask the following questions.

 

 

Could a bottle of water contain any clear liquid? I would say YES choose your fire water :D

 

 

Or could a bottle of Coke contain anything of an identical colour?

 

I would say yes, also some fire water provided you keep the colour of the coke ;)

Should you get found out just look shocked and turn to your partner and say ........

" Have you being messing about with my drink again" :evilsmile:

Not to worry as P&O do return your drink at the end of your cruise allowing you to do further research

into this new flavoured drink .:halo:

I wondered how long it would take to get P&Os first rum running thread:)

Playing devil's advocate here,and I don't mean to be rude,but it amazes me why so many people get wound up about this.If you can afford to pay a lot of money to go on a cruise,why is it so important to take your own alcohol on board? You surely wouldn't expect to fly on holiday with a load of alcohol in your suitcase?

As I say,I'm not being rude just curious as to why this particular issue attracts so much attention.

Eve

Playing devil's advocate here,and I don't mean to be rude,but it amazes me why so many people get wound up about this.If you can afford to pay a lot of money to go on a cruise,why is it so important to take your own alcohol on board? You surely wouldn't expect to fly on holiday with a load of alcohol in your suitcase?

As I say,I'm not being rude just curious as to why this particular issue attracts so much attention.

Eve

Well said.

Playing devil's advocate here,and I don't mean to be rude,but it amazes me why so many people get wound up about this.If you can afford to pay a lot of money to go on a cruise,why is it so important to take your own alcohol on board? You surely wouldn't expect to fly on holiday with a load of alcohol in your suitcase?

As I say,I'm not being rude just curious as to why this particular issue attracts so much attention.

Eve

I think you have to look back to last year when P&O said "enough" regarding the dress and drinks codes they changed .

Some of the two night cruises were full of hen and stag parties most to be fair caused little problems.

However regarding the drinks ,some would bring as much as they liked as word spread P&O allow this unlike other cruise lines.

Then P&O made it 1 litre each regardless of it being wine, spirit or beers.

Some now think this to be unfair but it's worth noting other ships only allow a bottle of bubbly for birthdays etc.

Me personally the rule change has no effect on me as we drink so little and buy a bottle of spirit

from room service with a few mixers so we can sit on our balcony and watch the world go by.

An odd drink bought in the bars and that's our lot.

The reply post to ONT-CA was a tongue in cheek light hearted reply ,which I would guess really does happen but which I take no part in .

I do understand the disappointment of the wine drinkers who used to take bulk box's onboard or maybe pick up a nice beer in a port and now find they cannot bring it back onboard to consume in their cabin.

It seems that some people got hit when P&O put a stop to the abuse of their old drinks policy,

or should we say a lack of one.

So to answer your question :- why this particular issue attracting so much attention ?

Maybe people returning to do a cruise with P&O only to find that the old anything goes drinks policy has now gone and they are limited to what they can bring onboard .

So they post in the hope that maybe P&O have had a change of heart.:confused:

Playing devil's advocate here,and I don't mean to be rude,but it amazes me why so many people get wound up about this.If you can afford to pay a lot of money to go on a cruise,why is it so important to take your own alcohol on board? You surely wouldn't expect to fly on holiday with a load of alcohol in your suitcase?

As I say,I'm not being rude just curious as to why this particular issue attracts so much attention.

Eve

I don’t think the cost is actually the main factor in this but I will stand correctly if others feel differently.

I think some pax are annoyed as P&O changed its rules after people had booked and gave a very short lead time to the change. People were used to being able to have a glass of wine on their balcony before dinner etc. And it’s the wine and beer drinkers who have been penalised the most.

It was nice to be able to take a couple of bottles of champagne and a box of wine for the fridge. It was convenient and saves the sometimes lengthy wait for room service. Also for a special occasion you could take a special vintage of wine that they don’t stock on the ship.

No you wouldn’t fly on holiday with alcohol in your suitcase however I have rarely been in a hotel where they don’t allow you to take exactly what you want to your room, purchased locally. Cruise ships are the only part of the hospitality industry that apply these sort of restrictions.

I agree with this; it's not about alcohol, it's about personal freedom. I really enjoy a drink on my balcony and don't always want to wait for Room Service, and I don't like the drinks in the mini bar.

I have always taken a couple of bottles (for variety) onboard; if there was anything left I'd decant into a water bottle and bring home, but that depends on the length of the cruise. I still think the new policy is unfair. I have successfully used both rum runners and decanting into soft drink bottles on other cruise lines, but have always preferred P and O because I was treated like and adult and didn't have to! Now P and O have lost the advantage they had for me, especially as their loyalty rewards are not particularly good. I would always have booked with them first in the past. Now they have lost that status with me.

I can’t drink much alcohol, but my husband enjoys a little most days (and his hospital cardiac advise after a cardiac arrest, was to have a glass 5 days a week). It’s a case of freedom, the feeedom to buy an unusual or nice local bottle of wine, from a foreign port, and drink it over a few nights on the balcony... A short cruise it doesn’t matter so much, but on a long cruise having choice and a change does matter. Choice and freedom. No hotel would limit this.

I'd hazard a guess that this new policy has as much to do with preventing the sort of drunken and outrageous behaviour that's marred quite a few cruises over recent years as protecting their alcohol revenues.

There's always a lot of talk about declining standards at P&O - but you could say the same thing about the passengers. There's a new code of behaviour these days which simply did not exist 10 years ago.

I don’t think the cost is actually the main factor in this but I will stand correctly if others feel differently. ....

Cost, yes, but better put, value. We all know the price we must pay when we purchase alcohol at our land outlets or at our local pubs and bars. The taxes and duties placed on alcohol are by far the largest part of the cost, some as much at 75%. Hence the cost of an alcohol beverage.

So as one is told that when the cruise line industry purchases the alcohol used for sale on the high seas, they pay neither tax nor duty. And yet they insist on pricing their drinks as if they did which, apart from making a huge profit, in essence taxes the passenger in doing so. Even the "Duty Free" sales of alcohol which to us appear to be a bargain are greatly marked up in price. Passengers tend to negate the cost of those things which appear to be unreasonably priced such as, for example, bottled water when there is a tap in the room. When I am forced to pay a price for an alcohol beverage much greater than that at my local, and knowing there were no duties or taxes paid in making it, I tend to find my own level of fairness. I suppose I would do the same for toilet paper should the same inequity exist.

Cost, yes, but better put, value. We all know the price we must pay when we purchase alcohol at our land outlets or at our local pubs and bars. The taxes and duties placed on alcohol are by far the largest part of the cost, some as much at 75%. Hence the cost of an alcohol beverage.

 

So as one is told that when the cruise line industry purchases the alcohol used for sale on the high seas, they pay neither tax nor duty. And yet they insist on pricing their drinks as if they did which, apart from making a huge profit, in essence taxes the passenger in doing so. Even the "Duty Free" sales of alcohol which to us appear to be a bargain are greatly marked up in price. Passengers tend to negate the cost of those things which appear to be unreasonably priced such as, for example, bottled water when there is a tap in the room. When I am forced to pay a price for an alcohol beverage much greater than that at my local, and knowing there were no duties or taxes paid in making it, I tend to find my own level of fairness. I suppose I would do the same for toilet paper should the same inequity exist.

Of course, sone unscrupulous passengers will claim that they are just bringing kitchen towels on board for cleaning purposes.

As the supporters of the new alcohol policy will say, "If you can afford a cruise, you can afford to pay for your own toilet paper. "

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It still amazes me that this subject seems to attract such discussion.Surely,in the scheme of things it's nothing to get so het up about?

It still amazes me that this subject seems to attract such discussion.Surely,in the scheme of things it's nothing to get so het up about?

If the new policy was just one bottle of wine per person, then it would have been understandable, as then the policy would have fallen into the corporate alcohol structure.

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