Alright, curious about the edible straws.....

[grandmarnnurse]

1 hour ago, dmdiver said:

So what do you do with the re-usable straw if you are having a drink in the hot tub?  Stick it in your top, which is now in the hot tub with other people?  If it clips to a lanyard, that would be either on your neck in the hot tub water or laying on the deck of the hot tub next to you.  

As I said in a previous post, I will not be one of the people with reusable straws. It is just not practical on a ship. What do you do, carry around dirty straws all day? And how? They are sticky after a frozen cocktail. No. Until they are absolutely forbidden, and they find a better product than the sugar straws, I will continue to bring my own disposable straws. Sorry, but that’s what many of us are doing. 

[grandmarnnurse]

6 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

But you are willing to carry around a plastic bag full of non reusable ones when all you need to do is a quick rinse. One reusable straw, including bringing the wash brush and carry bag takes up less space, possibly a few ounces more in weight.

 

If I really want a straw, I will go this far. It's the least **I** can do for our planet.

I will not carry a whole bag. I only usually have one frozen cocktail per afternoon. Carrying one will suffice. And I do recycle at home, as I do care about our planet. I’m just not using a sugar straw, nor am I carrying around dirty sticky reusable straws. 

[ShakyBeef]

18 hours ago, cmichael1279 said:

My 12 year old niece just spent a chunk of a gift card she received for her birthday on reusable metal straws, to do her part to protect the environment.  If she is smart enough to do that, you'd think adults could handle not stealing straws from Starbucks to bring on cruises or buy metal straws instead of bringing plastic straws on cruises and contributing to the problem!

 

I'm happy for you and your niece, really.  And for the record, I don't steal straws, I was one that spoke out against that upthread.  Yes, I am an adult and I do more in my everyday life for the environment than the vast majority of Americans.  I will not be shamed into doing this.

 

6 hours ago, familyoutdoors said:

But you are willing to carry around a plastic bag full of non reusable ones when all you need to do is a quick rinse. One reusable straw, including bringing the wash brush and carry bag takes up less space, possibly a few ounces more in weight.

 

If I really want a straw, I will go this far. It's the least **I** can do for our planet.

 

I'm glad that you are doing that for the environment, every little bit helps.  Good on you.  But I will be bringing my individually wrapped plastic, one-time use straws on my cruise.  And not feeling even a twinge of guilt about doing so.  It is well with my soul.

 

Oh, and I do not agree that "all you need to do is a quick rinse" on those reusable straws.  Sugar and saliva clings and grows bacteria.  But if you're good with that for your health and hygiene, that's cool.  It doesn't affect me.  I'll not be drinking from your straws.  And I'll not be reusing mine.

 

As I said earlier:

On 6/13/2019 at 9:46 AM, ShakyBeef said:

 

Nope.  I'm not washing out a straw on my cruise.  I use reusable straws at home, but I wash them in the dishwasher, thus ensuring they are sanitized without an annoying effort on my part. 

 

I will not be green-guilted into more inconvenience on my vacation than I am wiling to go through.  Especially for an environmental effort red herring such as straws.   Straws are the low hanging fruit.  The poster child for The Evil of Single Use Plastic that the masses can glom onto and raise their pitchforks against.

 

I regularly clean up beaches on my vacations and at home.  I never litter.  I will go out of my way to find the proper trash or recycle can.  I always reuse plastic shopping bags (often I refuse bags and carry my purchases in my arms), as well as all cardboard boxes (and packing material) from my online shopping.  I hate to waste and I reduce, reuse, recycle, re-assign, repair, and donate in my daily life, on a regular basis.  But I draw the line at reusable straws on vacation.  Good on y'all that are willing and going to do it, that's great, really. But I am not.  In this case, I am more concerned with proper sanitation and my valuable vacation time than the effect my properly disposed-of single-use plastic straws will make on the environment.

 

Oh, and to answer your question (sorry I rambled so much): I will discard the straws in the properly marked receptacle when out on Lido (assuming they still have those), in my suite's wastebaskets when in there, or will leave it on my table, in my empty glass at indoor venues, as usual, and as expected / requested by crew.

 

For those of you judging some of us for a tiny bit of single-use plastic, and feeling oh-so-Earth-friendlier and superior, how many of you, for example, actually pack trash bags (GASP- more single use plastic!😮) on your vacations and spend vacation time cleaning up beaches, including hauling that garbage (usually several bags at a time) to the dump? 

 

I do things all day long, every day for the sake of the environment that will never be noticed by others.  I don't do it to get notice or praise for how green I am.   I don't feel superior for doing it.  And I don't bash others for not doing it.  I just do it, usually without even thinking about it.

 

I will be enjoying my boat drinks sipped through my plastic straws guilt-free, thank you.🍹 

Edited November 12, 2019 by ShakyBeef
left out word

[Saint Greg]

9 hours ago, mafiadon said:

Lime flavored for the frozen drinks, I don't think I would like the lime flavored one in my Chocolate moca getaway or my straberry daiquiri. That is just down right gross

 

The one I had wasn't flavored but outside in August it started to melt and became sticky within 5 minutes.

[Saint Greg]

 

 

 

[grandmarnnurse]

2 hours ago, ShakyBeef said:

 

I'm happy for you and your niece, really.  And for the record, I don't steal straws, I was one that spoke out against that upthread.  Yes, I am an adult and I do more in my everyday life for the environment than the vast majority of Americans.  I will not be shamed into doing this.

 

 

I'm glad that you are doing that for the environment, every little bit helps.  Good on you.  But I will be bringing my individually wrapped plastic, one-time use straws on my cruise.  And not feeling even a twinge of guilt about doing so.  It is well with my soul.

 

Oh, and I do not agree that "all you need to do is a quick rinse" on those reusable straws.  Sugar and saliva clings and grows bacteria.  But if you're good with that for your health and hygiene, that's cool.  It doesn't affect me.  I'll not be drinking from your straws.  And I'll not be reusing mine.

 

As I said earlier:

 

For those of you judging some of us for a tiny bit of single-use plastic, and feeling oh-so-Earth-friendlier and superior, how many of you, for example, actually pack trash bags (GASP- more single use plastic!😮) on your vacations and spend vacation time cleaning up beaches, including hauling that garbage (usually several bags at a time) to the dump? 

 

I do things all day long, every day for the sake of the environment that will never be noticed by others.  I don't do it to get notice or praise for how green I am.   I don't feel superior for doing it.  And I don't bash others for not doing it.  I just do it, usually without even thinking about it.

 

I will be enjoying my boat drinks sipped through my plastic straws guilt-free, thank you.🍹 

Bravo!! My sentiments EXACTLY! I am so tired of the holier than thou environmentalists. I do my part, but on my vacation I am using plastic straws. 

[Sif]

I got an edible straw with my milkshake on the Horizon this past week and I thought it was pretty neat! They have a pretty neutral flavor which didn't bother me. The very top of the straw where it touches your lips falls apart after a few minutes, but I was sipping my drink and letting it sit in the cupholder for the duration of a Q&A session and I never ran out of straw or had it get to the point where it was too short to treat it like a normal straw.

 

I'm sure people will hem and haw about how single-use straws are literally the most important thing in the world to them, but the edible and paper straws are really no hardship and eventually people will adjust when it becomes the new normal. We only have one planet, so it's a small price to pay to take a step in the right direction of environmentalism.

[Joe817]

12 minutes ago, Sif said:

I got an edible straw with my milkshake on the Horizon this past week and I thought it was pretty neat! They have a pretty neutral flavor which didn't bother me. The very top of the straw where it touches your lips falls apart after a few minutes, but I was sipping my drink and letting it sit in the cupholder for the duration of a Q&A session and I never ran out of straw or had it get to the point where it was too short to treat it like a normal straw.

 

I'm sure people will hem and haw about how single-use straws are literally the most important thing in the world to them, but the edible and paper straws are really no hardship and eventually people will adjust when it becomes the new normal. We only have one planet, so it's a small price to pay to take a step in the right direction of environmentalism.

 How about taking one step back in the right direction by returning to paper straws. When I was a youngster, that's was the only kind of straw that was available. We didn't have plastic, or metal, or sugar, or cornstarch straws. We only had paper straws. And in my twilight years looking back, the use of those straws didn't do me or folks of my generation any harm. My vote is to take a step backwards from this progressive, forward looking nonsense, and return the paper straw to its former glory. And I am unanimous in my decision.  (anyone know where I picked up that term?)

[Host Carolyn]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

 

 

 

That Is exactly how my  friend's sugar straws looked. Drink up to avoid droopy sticky straw! There has to be a better solution. They were only using these for frozen drinks

[Sif]

I think sugar, metal, and paper straws are all viable options. Single-use plastics are an enormous problem for the environment and obviously the problem is much bigger than just disposable straws. But hopefully more and more companies moving away from plastic straws will be the first of many campaigns to reduce single-use plastics in other areas of life.

 

I think some of the sensitivity over straws comes from not understanding that no one is saying that paper straws are singlehandedly the solution to polluted oceans. Obviously they aren't—but they are a contributor, and one that can easily be replaced with more environmentally-friendly options. So it makes no sense to me to dig one's heels in. And that vocal monitory who goes as far as to film themselves dumping packs of straws into lakes because they believe they're "sticking it to The Man" does nothing to help.

[cathyz]

On 11/10/2019 at 9:40 AM, grandmarnnurse said:

I don’t know what the heck the big deal is all of a sudden about plastic straws. Nobody wants sugar or paper.

They're dangerous to marine life and are being outlawed  in many areas.  I personally have a little bag of metal reusable straws I carry in my purse.

[Organized Chaos]

16 hours ago, grandmarnnurse said:

Well, I can say that I do not intend to bring any reusable straws that I have to carry around all sticky until I can clean them I will continue to bring disposable plastic straws. Yes, I care about the environment, but this is going to far. 

 

Carnival Corp. doesn't care as much about the environment as they're letting on. If they did, why were they illegally dumping waste into the oceans, including inside protected areas like Glacier Bay, for decades? Carnival Corp. got caught, fined, and put on probation. Even then, multiple ships across multiple Carnival Corp. lines continued to dump illegal waste into the ocean, including plastics. That's why I believe eliminating some of these items had little to do with the environment in their eyes. They simply spun it as such for good PR. Not to mention a good cost-cutting measure.

 

If people want to use the provided biodegradable straws or take their own reusable straws, that's their prerogative. But don't lecture others with a self-righteous attitude. How many people throw plastic, disposable straws overboard into the ocean? Little to none, I'll bet. More plastics ended up in the oceans thanks to Carnival's negligence than careless passengers. Certain food wastes are legally allowed to be dumped overboard in open waters, but they have to separate out all the plastics first. Carnival wasn't doing that, they were just dumping it, so here we are. This is one reason why I don't like people trying to lecture individuals about plastics in the ocean. Passengers had little, or nothing, to do with the overall problem. And if Carnival had been doing what they were legally required to do (not dump plastic waste into the ocean) we may not be having this discussion.

[madge57]

these straws are NASTY!! full of sugar and dissolves quick. as for carnival dumping waste in the ocean they ALL DO IT!! so this discussion for edible straws would happen anyways! because then they

 would would be using plastic and you would have a fit because it that too

[Sif]

"Big corporations are hypocritical about environmental so don't praise them when they do something right," and "if you aren't doing everything you can to eliminate waste in every area of your life then you might as well dump a bunch of straws in a landfill" don't exactly hold up as well-reasoned, logical arguments in my view.

 

I don't think anyone is saying that people who use single-use straws are the devil, just that it's a really, *really* strange hill to die on.

[Organized Chaos]

3 hours ago, Sif said:

"Big corporations are hypocritical about environmental so don't praise them when they do something right," and "if you aren't doing everything you can to eliminate waste in every area of your life then you might as well dump a bunch of straws in a landfill" don't exactly hold up as well-reasoned, logical arguments in my view.

 

I don't think anyone is saying that people who use single-use straws are the devil, just that it's a really, *really* strange hill to die on.

 

No, I won't praise corporations who claim they're doing something "for the environment," when in all likelihood that has very little to do with their decisions. I'm not going to offer praise to a company for blowing smoke up the butts of the general public and just assuming everyone's naive enough to believe they actually care. "Oh yes, we do care about the environment. It was just a coincidence that we started caring immediately following our recent legal troubles and the threat of being fined millions of dollars per day."