Purchasing liquor for stateroom

[sapete]

I just booked the Carnival Dream for 25 March.  I haven't sailed since before the pandemic and I noticed that I couldn't find anywhere to purchase a bottle of liquor for the stateroom as I had been able in the past.  I talked to customer service and they advised me that the pre-sail purchase of liquor had been eliminated in just the last two weeks!  When I asked if I would be able to purchase liquor for the stateroom on-board.  They didn't know and the passed me to the Fun Shop, who didn't know the answer but they thought the program had been completely eliminated except for some beer and wine options.

 

Has anyone (in the last two week or so) been able to get a bottle for their stateroom?

[shof515]

unfortunately it is true they removed the liquor from the fun shop online:

 

[spleenstomper]

It’s done for, gone, pining for the fjords, tits up, popped it’s clogs. I also just found out. 

[hard_eight]

Such a terrible decision.

[Schoifmom]

[groundloop]

1 hour ago, sapete said:

I just booked the Carnival Dream for 25 March.  I haven't sailed since before the pandemic and I noticed that I couldn't find anywhere to purchase a bottle of liquor for the stateroom as I had been able in the past.  I talked to customer service and they advised me that the pre-sail purchase of liquor had been eliminated in just the last two weeks!  When I asked if I would be able to purchase liquor for the stateroom on-board.  They didn't know and the passed me to the Fun Shop, who didn't know the answer but they thought the program had been completely eliminated except for some beer and wine options.

 

Has anyone (in the last two week or so) been able to get a bottle for their stateroom?

 

 

You probably just started another multi hundred post thread.

 

And yes, we no longer have this option available to us so I suspect smuggling will be on the rise.

[hurricane0226]

It went  "Hasta la vista Baby"

[ShakyBeef]

Yep.  It went the way of crumb sweepers, tablecloths, sommeliers, warm fig & date cake, FCCs, fake chocolates on your bed with your paper FunTimes, twice daily cabin servicing, chia seed pudding, etc., etc., etc.  Le sigh.😔

[popeyesChickenSandwich]

7 hours ago, groundloop said:

 

 

You probably just started another multi hundred post thread.

 

And yes, we no longer have this option available to us so I suspect smuggling will be on the rise.

Smuggling is really the only option.

[1025cruise]

Yes, no more bottles delivered to the cabin, either pre-order or via room service. Due to the recent uptick in "questionable activity" on some ships, Carnival decided to do this so they can control how much alcohol is served. 

[EngIceDave]

The company lost their butts over the last few years. 

Not long ago, many of you were willing to do anything to help get cruises back.

Carnival and the industry in general has a choice....raise the price of the fare significantly, turning away customers immediately, or remove many of the small perks, most of which are insignificant, like crappy chocolate on the pillow

[hard_eight]

1 hour ago, 1025cruise said:

Yes, no more bottles delivered to the cabin, either pre-order or via room service. Due to the recent uptick in "questionable activity" on some ships, Carnival decided to do this so they can control how much alcohol is served. 

Has anyone verified that Room Service is still an option. I know pre-coof they started charging some fee on top of the $90/liter costs.

 

Makes Rum Runners seem much more viable. 

[ShakyBeef]

1 hour ago, EngIceDave said:

like crappy chocolate on the pillow

The crappy chocolates were not on the pillow.  They were on the FunTimes.  Get it right, man.

[mz-s]

25 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

The crappy chocolates were not on the pillow.  They were on the FunTimes.  Get it right, man.

 

Two cutbacks (printed funtimes and chocolates) in one post. Actually three if you consider the related turndown service that is also gone. That's got to be a record, Shaky.

[EngIceDave]

35 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

The crappy chocolates were not on the pillow.  They were on the FunTimes.  Get it right, man.

Hey, watch it or I'll have them take away your towel animals 

[ShakyBeef]

2 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

Hey, watch it or I'll have them take away your towel animals 

 

NO!!!  Not my towel animals, too!😧  Sorry, sir, I'll behave.😔

[sparks1093]

3 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

The company lost their butts over the last few years. 

Not long ago, many of you were willing to do anything to help get cruises back.

Carnival and the industry in general has a choice....raise the price of the fare significantly, turning away customers immediately, or remove many of the small perks, most of which are insignificant, like crappy chocolate on the pillow

Not sure what this has to do with eliminating something they sold at a hefty profit. All they had to do was raise the price and increase the profit margin (they would undoubtedly still hear complaining but many would just adapt). It probably is related to behavior onboard, but I don't think this is the way to address that problem.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

46 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

Not sure what this has to do with eliminating something they sold at a hefty profit. All they had to do was raise the price and increase the profit margin (they would undoubtedly still hear complaining but many would just adapt). It probably is related to behavior onboard, but I don't think this is the way to address that problem.

 

Well, they were able to balance out the loss of $ from the in-cabin liquor sales via the savings/profits from the reduced ice cream machine hours and all those third entrees in the MDR.  😉

 

Tom

[EngIceDave]

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Not sure what this has to do with eliminating something they sold at a hefty profit. All they had to do was raise the price and increase the profit margin (they would undoubtedly still hear complaining but many would just adapt). It probably is related to behavior onboard, but I don't think this is the way to address that problem.

I think they'd reach a tipping point on pricing, where no one will buy it anyway, like let's say twice it's present cost w/Carnival which already exceeds MSRP.

They want you out of your cabin. They've never wanted to keep you in your cabins, just like Las Vegas. Do all they can to keep you on the floor....ship is same.....do anything to keep you on deck and buying, putting stuff on your charge account.

The worst customer for them is a discounted rate with someone who doesn't drink, gamble and do not spend on any excursions or upgrades. Nothing wrong with them doing that, but they're not money makers for the company.

[Island Dog]

Also these passengers that traditionally bought these bottles aren't going to just abstain from drinking during the voyage. Drinker gonna drink. Especially on vacation. So they will do one of three things. Either buy a drink package, buy drinks from the bar or self-justify the bad behavior of smuggling out of frustration over the change. I think most are likely to just buy from the bar.

 

A $99 liter of alcohol has 22 servings. That's $4.50 a drink. Same amount of liquor at the bar is $9+ a drink. 

 

Although Carnival stated they did this to "monitor consumption", the consequences, whether intentional or not, will result in much more revenue for them.

 

Additionally, I'm not sure what monitoring does to prevent bad behavior when people get intoxicated THEN act up. If somebody is obviously impaired to the point of being cut off, I don't think they are capable of being much of a danger to anyone but themselves (or their traveling companion). From the haymakers I've witnessed in videos of fights, these people are not "falling down drunk". 

Edited November 9, 2022 by Island Dog

[spleenstomper]

19 minutes ago, Island Dog said:

Also these passengers that traditionally bought these bottles aren't going to just abstain from drinking during the voyage. Drinker gonna drink. Especially on vacation. So they will do one of three things. Either buy a drink package, buy drinks from the bar or self-justify the bad behavior of smuggling out of frustration over the change. I think most are likely to just buy from the bar.

 

A $99 liter of alcohol has 22 servings. That's $4.50 a drink. Same amount of liquor at the bar is $9+ a drink. 

 

Although Carnival stated they did this to "monitor consumption", the consequences, whether intentional or not, will result in much more revenue for them.

 

Additionally, I'm not sure what monitoring does to prevent bad behavior when people get intoxicated THEN act up. If somebody is obviously impaired to the point of being cut off, I don't think they are capable of being much of a danger to anyone but themselves (or their traveling companion). From the haymakers I've witnessed in videos of fights, these people are not "falling down drunk". 

My husband and I used to do the bon voyage liquor to the room. I’d have maybe one drink a day as I’m not much of a drinker… maybe 2 drinks one day if I wanted to let loose lol.   You know how many drinks per day I’m going to have in January? Exactly zero. Not going to smuggle and not going to fight the crowd for a drink at the bar. 
 

I’m going with my son with a group cruise. We aren’t buying cheers. My husband and I wouldn’t buy cheers because its never going to be worth it if I’m in the cabin. 
 

DH I guess will find a slower bar and get his drinks from there but he has no cruises planned. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by spleenstomper

[Joebucks]

1 hour ago, EngIceDave said:

I think they'd reach a tipping point on pricing, where no one will buy it anyway, like let's say twice it's present cost w/Carnival which already exceeds MSRP.

They want you out of your cabin. They've never wanted to keep you in your cabins, just like Las Vegas. Do all they can to keep you on the floor....ship is same.....do anything to keep you on deck and buying, putting stuff on your charge account.

The worst customer for them is a discounted rate with someone who doesn't drink, gamble and do not spend on any excursions or upgrades. Nothing wrong with them doing that, but they're not money makers for the company.

 

This is a poor assessment. What makes you think people wouldn't buy it? Liquor is mostly over $10. Cheers is $1000+ for 2 for a week. What makes you think people with bottles are in the room the whole time? If the worst customer is the discounted rate, who doesn't buy anything, all this does is remove one option. If the justification was that it is going to push more people into Cheers, I doubt that. They could have easily raised the price for this and made it very profitable.

[sparks1093]

3 hours ago, EngIceDave said:

I think they'd reach a tipping point on pricing, where no one will buy it anyway, like let's say twice it's present cost w/Carnival which already exceeds MSRP.

They want you out of your cabin. They've never wanted to keep you in your cabins, just like Las Vegas. Do all they can to keep you on the floor....ship is same.....do anything to keep you on deck and buying, putting stuff on your charge account.

The worst customer for them is a discounted rate with someone who doesn't drink, gamble and do not spend on any excursions or upgrades. Nothing wrong with them doing that, but they're not money makers for the company.

It's strange that they would have decided to cut off a revenue stream without even attempting a price increase. I spend most of my time outside the cabin, but I'm not spending money. We'll bring our two bottles of wine and make do with that and beer bought through fun shops.

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

 

This is a poor assessment. What makes you think people wouldn't buy it? Liquor is mostly over $10. Cheers is $1000+ for 2 for a week. What makes you think people with bottles are in the room the whole time? If the worst customer is the discounted rate, who doesn't buy anything, all this does is remove one option. If the justification was that it is going to push more people into Cheers, I doubt that. They could have easily raised the price for this and made it very profitable.

We typically get both Cheers and a bottle for the cabin so we can have a few drinks on the balcony before turning in and I'm pretty sure they don't want us out of the cabin then.🤣

Edited November 10, 2022 by sparks1093

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

3 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

We typically get both Cheers and a bottle for the cabin so we can have a few drinks on the balcony before turning in and I'm pretty sure they don't want us out of the cabin then.🤣

We do the same (drink package and a bottle of vodka in the cabin). Though we'll mostly have a drink or two in the cabin before heading to dinner... perhaps with a stop at the Alchemy Bar in between. 🙂

 

Tom