Alcohol

[karmac]

Glass of champers is around $6. As far as how much you get in a glass goes, it can depend on which bar & who is pouring it. I used to try & buy my champers at the outback bar coz they always seemed to fill it, whereas at the Gazebo bar, it was usually only 3/4 full.

 

Karen

[MsMinx]

On our last cruise one of the guys at our dinner table managed to put away more rum and coke than I thought possible. He spent about 80% of the cruise on the same chair in the Legends bar just drinking rum & coke! (The only time he got off the ship was in Port Vila so he could get some cheap duty free rum!) On the last night he got a print out of how many 'purchases' he made on his cruise card. He worked out that he had drunk 12 bottles of rum in just 9 nights! But he never appeared to be drunk. Tipsy and a bit loud, but never drunk or obnoxious! He was a lot of fun. P&O never cut him off, he just drank and drank and drank. One of the bar tenders even asked him to sign the football behind the bar as he considered the guy a legend for managing to drink so much and live!! This was prior to the new rules though, but in saying that there was a guy on night 1 of our first cruise that got so drunk and stayed so drunk for the first 3 days they actually put him off the ship when we got to Vila and sent him home! So I guess they've always had alcohol rules, they're just stricter now.

[leggyliz]

Let's do some calculations. If you spent $800 in 10 days, that is $80 per day. At $5/drink, that is 16 drinks or 8 drinks per person per day.

 

Does this suggest that you guys are at least potential alcoholics?

 

 

Possibly???:p Drinks were approx. $7.50 onwards though.

 

I had a guy standing in front of me in the pursur's line who was up to day 7 and had already spent (so he says) $2500.00 on alcohol alone for just himself. Needless to say he smelt like it too:( :D LOL!!!!

 

And we did hear of a few people getting their cards stopped for 24hrs from alcohol, but there were times when we were pretty wiped and we never had anyone say anything to us. (only when I tried to pole dance in the nite club - but that's another story) hehe.

 

Liz

[cruiserlu]

Hi again I wasn't really so much worried about the drinking as to the cost of it We don't drink all that much but do like a drink before dinner usually on our own as we're getting dressed and that is really why I can't see why we can't take in 1 bottle and also can't see why the drinks are so expensive If they are so worried how do passengers ever get drunk and how much have they spent to get that way

[fishtaco]

Hi,Cruiser lu,I wouldnt worry about the drinking while getting ready for dinner,Tracey and I have always done this while on holidays,but in hotels, for some reason it seems different on a cruise,we seemed to get dressed quicker to get topside for a drink before dinner,as I posted before ,we didnt even drink our (smuggled ) b.y.o .

 

Depending on the drinks waiter you get (and suppose your altitude to them)

the measures in a short are pretty big,most gin & tonics I had ,had to be toped

up with tonic as they were too strong (a first for me), some of the cocktails were a bit wishy washy though.

 

I found that most people would have had trouble getting drunk anyway ,due to the large amount of food that is placed in front of you,4 times a day if you want:D and your dinner table drinks waiter will always give you larger than normal shots.;)

And remember when at dinner you can have the "en tree and starter" with every meal,and as many as you want to force down:eek:,you can even have a caesar salad with it as well,and if like some of our table guests "chips" with every meal,They even had them on French dinner night:eek: with the cock o vin (I think they must have been french fries that night) Ha Ha .

Anyway most alcohol you consume will more than likely be soaked up by the food so have a few soft drinks.

Den.

[cruiserlu]

Thanks for that I'm sure we will enjoy Just a bit annoyed at the idea of P&O making extra out of this but I'm not sure they'll make all that much out of us Cheers Lu

[aussiedisneyfan]

There can be a big difference between drink quality and quantity between bars and waiters. We especially noticed with those shot glasses they serve at dinner. On the Star last Jan the waiter filled them to the brim (what value) and on the Sun 2 weeks later they were consistently only 1/2 full.

 

I'll confess my guilt, hubby took 1/2 bottle of baileys in the suitcase with him on the US cruise and had no problem at all. Aso vodka looks just like water when in a water bottle in your backpack. Up to you whether you want to break the rules. One thing you need to consider that is if they confiscate it then it might affect your duty free allowance as you are bringing back an extra bottle. I don't know about that, just wondering.

[fishtaco]

By the way Mr P&O who do those people work for in your dinning rooms,you know the ones who constantly come around with that trolley full of hard liquer and encourage you to have a "shooter" and would you like another or maybe you would like the whole 6 ? you can keep the glasses too,they are such cool colours,would your friend like one with his gin and tonic they would certainly complement the wine the table is drinking tonight :confused: They cant possibly work for your company with such stringent alcohol rules you have on board:confused:"can they":rolleyes: Oh they do:confused:

 

Den:D

[oysterfiend]

I have stayed in hotels with All inclusive plans and some of the customers have become drunk and abnoxious.

I have seen adult men and women be absolutely rude to the bar/waiting staff not to mention to other guests.

Falling over spewing, and loud.

You would be mortified it you were allowed to drink that much and then everyone avoided you the next day after you had made a spectacle of yourself!

 

Walking around drunk with big cigars hanging in their mouths,

Blowing smoke on other guests while they are eating.

What is the smoking policy as to a non smoker ignorant smokers are as bad as ignorant drunks- often they go hand in hand?:mad:

We all have the capacity to overdo it at times and yes the money factor is a huge deterrent in curbing your drinking.

I think they could be seen as doing some families a favour as nobody wants to go on a family holiday with a drunk.

PS.

I am as capable as anyone at getting drunk- so is my husband.

I want my holiday to be romantic not one that is spoiled be excessive drinking which numbs out any chance of action - if you get my drift.

[Fires]

It seems that alot of people are getting annoyed/upset about something they KNOW will happen. Lets be realistic, there are and will always be people who take it too far and act inappropriately whether it be alcohol, smoking, language, behaviour...etc.

 

Is it sad? Yes.

 

Is there anything you can do about it? No.

 

Most people have gone too far at one point or another in their lives and it has probably upset/offended other people at the time. I know I have.

 

P&O is not responsible for the actions of inconsiderate people.

 

Terry

 

P.s. you could double the price of drinks and there would still be drunks, just poorer ones.

[DucknChook]

I would probably risk it next time for the sake of a couple of bucks. Spent on close to a $800 of drinks for a 10 day cruise.:o

 

Liz

OMG Liz, how quick it builds up! speaking on behalf of Chez here too, we are away for 28 days and are potential alcoholics. If we don't try to sneak a tipple or 2 of scotch onboard, i will certainly be closing my eyes when we get our grog tab! Had better start saving now me thinks!

[fishtaco]

On the note of smoking (Yes I confess I am a smoker):eek:And coming from Perth which has quite strict public smoking laws,I was surprised at the amount of areas on the sun that you were allowed to smoke.Most smokers were fully aware of where you could or could not smoke,but some non smokers thought it was disgusting that you could smoke anywhere and it should be banned,

 

Portside open decks and cabins only whilst in Australian waters,cabins all open decks, Legends bar (1 meter from the bar) and the rear of the night club, when outside Australian waters. But I am sure that most smokers would be quite happy to have smoking restricted to portside rear open deck only for the entire cruise,(with exception to the heavy gamblers) after all it has not been that long since smoking was allowed on air flights:eek: now most smokers couldn't imagine somebody being allowed to smoke on a plane. Also I noticed that not one western drinks waiter worked in the smoke filled Legends bar (only behind the bar) only Asian waiters? could this be due to potential law suits that could be brought against P&O in the future?

 

And a note to all non smoking passenger: if you object" politely" to a smoker on board they would quickly extinguish or move away without complaint and possibly an apology, but if you object with a sense of demand you will more than likely be told to "get stuffed",smokers hate being told not to smoke when they are permitted to, but deep down they Know how wrong and disgusting this drug addiction is,so they dont really mean it.

 

Den.

[AussieKathy]

My brother just got back from cruising on the Pacific Star on Saturday tried to take on 2 bottles of spirit in his check in luggage. Unfortunately they found it and had to go with the porter to collect his bags. They just took it off him and returned it on the last day of the cruise.

[LizCruising2007]

Oh I just had a brain wave..... what is the one thing that guys NEVER want to know about.... anything to do with ahem..... feminine stuff. How about taking some alcohol on board but packing it surrounded by these 'products' - hahaha I could almost guarantee they wouldn't want to snoop any further lol and if they did you could just tell them it was for medicinal purposes only!:p

[aussiedisneyfan]

Oh, thats terrible. :D

[fishtaco]

Pump brand water bottles work really well for gin and vodka and lipton ice tea bottles are good for the darker houch,but don't tell anyone I told you ok;)

 

Den.

ps,you can clean bottles with contact lens sterilizing tabs or rinse with bi carb and warm water(For the ice tea variety) tried and tested:D

pps Don,t look so cleaver on the dresser,but if you want to save a few pennies:p

[cruiserlu]

Iv've been thinking about this and stopping duty free is out

The shipds do NOt stop people from spending heaps and getting drunk But they don'yt want an odd bottle coming in at a fraction of what it costs them

We were on a ship (Pacific Star ) and a guy fell through the net over the Childrens poool (drunk) The whole ship had to be turned around and he was let off at the bay of Ialands

Now this was nothing to do with duty free coming on board but completely do with P-&O Giving him drinks It would be interesting if a high powered Lawyer Contested this as it is an aboulute sham

[tgard76]

I think P&Os policy on NO ALCOHOL allowed is more to make money than for safety. I agree, taking bottles and bottles of the stuff onboard is not on, but come on, one bottle of wine (such as their previous policy) to enjoy in your cabin is not going to hurt anyone and will hardly get you drunk.

 

They have you trapped on their ship, so they can charge what they like, if you want to drink, you have to pay it. How much do they make on a can of coke for a start? I mean, $2 for a 300ml can of Asian coke, now that's a bit of a rip off. I'm not condoning smuggling at all, but I understand why some people will want to. Lower the price a little bit and you would find a lot of people will not bother, and ther would be less threads like this one.

[fishtaco]

I am pretty sure that P&O policies state that you may take aboard 2 bottles of wine or 1 bottle of champagne but you "will" be charged corkage!

Now we all know that it doesn't cost $7-$10 to open a bottle. Corkage is a way of re couping money lost on alcohol sales,so therefore it is a money making issue. I have never seen anybody take a bottle of scotch or vodka to a restaurant and be allowed to drink it and just pay corkage(as you can wine),so I think P&O are just following the norm with the wine thing.

Airlines have introduced a similar policy where you are not allowed to drink your duty free on board,but the difference is, air flights are usually not that long and are only taking you to your point of happiness:D as well as serving "free" alcohol in flight,so anybody wanting to drink more alcohol than the "free" alcohol given, has got to be a problem person, Their policy is totally justified.

But your cruise 'is' your point of happiness,and for many days:D and if your happiness includes drinking a bit more than you usually would in your normal land based life who are P&O to tell you that you must pay more money to do so, just to make sure that you are responsible:confused:

I do feel sorry for cruisers who have experienced drunken loutish behavior:eek: and am glad that I did not,But this happens everywhere in life and in actual fact is part of life. If a cruise line cannot be responsible for its passengers through "on board policing "of individual trouble makers then it should not be operating , if so it is already cutting cost to the determent of passengers (Where else is it cutting costs?)

I feel that prohibition in any form will not work and penalizing the majority to save the few is wrong.

Full price alcohol on a cruise is a money makings ploy pure and simple :cool:.

Alcohol consumption crosses the boundaries of the morals of different mind sets,but think about this,I watched one of the people on my dinner table(Yes Marge its you) pump $550.00 into one poker machine in the space of one hour,each time collecting $50.00 from her cruise card at the casino cashier,and not once did anybody from P&O intervene and tell her about the social consequences of gambling abuse.(I am from Perth so dont have pokies)

 

So Smuggle Alcohol in if you want, dont if you dont want to,it is really easy, after all I did it and it was my first cruise!

 

P&O alcohol policies stop drunkenness like speed cameras stop speeders.

Den .$$$

[Guest012]

Well said Kaz .... i agree and if people don't like Carnivals policies and they should read the fine print before booking......it's simple ....try another cruise line or don't go cruising.... As for prices.. thats life... this company is in business to make a profit...... just like pubs, restaurants, island resorts etc, whats wrong with that, I didn't consider the prices all that bad been in more expensive restaurants....... No profit.... no business.... no cruising..... cheers shiona

[chardonnaykmw]

As for prices.. thats life... this company is in business to make a profit...... just like pubs, restaurants, island resorts etc, whats wrong with that, I didn't consider the prices all that bad been in more expensive restaurants....... No profit.... no business.... no cruising..... cheers shiona

 

Well said Shiona.........

 

There has been much debate on this thread about policies and the evils of taking your own alcohol onboard and tips for smuggling it in your luggage and the reasons why P & O don't allow it and the list goes on and on. At the end of the day there will always be those that will push the rules (no matter what the rules relate to) and there will be those who abide by the rules. Whatever the reason, the rules are there. If you want to break them then do it, but do it without telling the whole world (or at least the CC world). Quite frankly I don't care whether you do smuggle on your own alcohol or not!!

 

 

cheers all!!!

 

 

Karen;)

[fishtaco]

Then why bother making a comment on it Karen,if you dont care.:confused:

Den.

[chardonnaykmw]

Then why bother making a comment on it Karen,if you dont care.:confused:

Den.

 

 

Last time I checked...it was ok to post a comment on these boards whether you agreed with the topic of the thread or not. My point was Den, that if someone wants to try and take alcohol on board good luck to them....and i'll say it again I really don't care whether they do take it on or not!!

 

cheers!!

 

Karen;)

[tgard76]

Well said Kaz .... i agree and if people don't like Carnivals policies and they should read the fine print before booking......it's simple ....try another cruise line or don't go cruising.... As for prices.. thats life... this company is in business to make a profit...... just like pubs, restaurants, island resorts etc, whats wrong with that, I didn't consider the prices all that bad been in more expensive restaurants....... No profit.... no business.... no cruising..... cheers shiona

 

Lucky you, you seem to be wealthy enough to choose. What about those people who are watching their pennies and are taking the trip of their lifetime or families with kids trying to have a great holiday on a budget, should they miss out on cruising? Maybe they should just stay down in steerage with the other drunken "yobbos"?

 

Yes, they need to make a profit, I don't deny them that. The point is, where else are you going to go? On a land based holiday, pubs, clubs resorts, you can shop around for best deals/specials (including drink specials) I resent the fact that they are now getting greedy and trying to fleece the poor public for all they can. Even just $1 cheaper can make a big difference to some people.

 

BTW, Kaz, P&O's booking T&C's state:

 

ALCOHOL

To ensure the safety and comfort of all on board, we wish to advise that passengers are not permitted to take on any alcohol for personal consumption.

 

Trevor.

[tgard76]

Hi Trevor,

 

Not all people are wealthy...

 

Which is exactly my point, so if an opportunity arose to save a couple of dollars, I think people would jump at the chance. The "seem to be wealthy" quote was directed at the person I quoted in my reply. That person, in my opinion, has a "stuff everyone else" attitude. With remarks like: That's Life, Get Over It and Go Somewhere Else Or Don't Go, they obviously have no concern for the way other people are struggling financially, just to make ends meet and save for years to enjoy a cruise like the rest of us.

 

Sorry about the quote from the P&O site. That was for the benefit of Den (fishtaco). I got mixed up. Apologies to all.

 

Trevor.