Sucks to be 20

[Calicruiser101]

Not true, we ordered drinks for our 20 yr old son on our last cruise. It's not a big deal. Unless your parents won't that is ;)

But the good thing about the bartenders is that they will happily sell you a blunt every hour on the hour :eek: so then no need to drink :rolleyes:

And everyone wonders why they smell pot on carnival...it's the bartenders supplying your underage for drinking teens.

Are you suggesting that the bartenders on Carnival sell/give pot out to the passengers? Surely I must have mis-understood what you meant??

[jckvpa0]

OMG, I just read the first page, bet you can't wait to be old !!!

 

I so understand where your coming from ! When I was to turn 18 on Memorial Day weekend my state decided to up the drinking age to 19, when I was turning 19 my state decided to up the drinking age to 20 & then when I was turning 20 , You guessed it right, they turned it up to 21,!!!

 

Sometimes you just can't win ! Trust me, you will have a great time no matter what !

[98Charlie]

Well does it? First I thought I could drink with a waiver from parents but now it seems I can't. Going Liberty Western caribbean in june.

 

So I'm 20 I can enjoy everything possible in Sweden but on this cruise I'll get a juicefountain in the nightclubs and there's a teen club up to 17 year olds I can't join. Awesome I'll go sulk in a corner with the other 2-3 20 year olds.

 

I still have some hopes for the cruise but damn... :(

I've read this a couple of times and I don't really see any whining. Just a comment on a community forum that the OP is disappointed. OP thought that he/she would be able to drink and now, a few weeks before leaving, finds out that is not the case.

 

I am getting the image of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) in National Lampoon's Vacation movie where they drive up to Wally World only to find it closed.:D

 

So, to OP, sorry about your luck. And yes, in this case, it does suck to be 20 years old. Worse yet, if I understand the posts correctly, 20 years/11 months/21 days old when you start the cruise.

 

Charlie

(Whose generation, when 20, could legally drink in the US and the foreign countries we were sent to courtesy of Uncle)

[ponja]

Ummmmm ... bet there are lots of people in 12-step programs who'll happily enlighten you: drinking isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Those people have problems and it's good they're dealing with them. I enjoy drinking, responsibly, as most of the rest of the world.

[madjohn]

I am not going to read through all the posts here and I am sure others have made this offer but I just turned 68 on Monday and I can do all of the things you wish you could do. So let's trade places, you can become 68 and iIwill become 20 again. Trust me there is nothing that I can do now that I would miss if I could be 20 again. Relax, you will be 30 before you realize it, then 40, 50, 60 and older so slow down and enjoy each and every day. They are all great even if you can't have a drink.

 

 

Several things, if you dont wish to read the posts then you just want to throw your two cents in and you have missed the entire point of this thread.

 

Ponja your right and still feeling for you. For those who wish to look at the facts, you would see that the US has a higher rate of alcoholism then European countries. We dont take any time teaching our kids about drinking. And when they turn 21 they are out on their own. That would be like not teaching our children to drive or use money until the move out of the house and say go to it, good luck.

 

Still would like to see a ship go out without and booze and hear the howling. Then I could ask the question " What, cant you have a good time without drinking?"

 

Still Ponja have a good time.

[momofmeg]

I'm sorry about that momofmeg. Have a good time on your next cruise though :)

 

yep, I am with you-I would rather be 20 minus health problems then 50 with them! and forget how I look now as compared to then!

 

But I do understand the OP some, my duaghter hated being too old for the teen club but yet not able to fully enjoy the lounges-but she would still go do karoke or disco and drink "virgin" foo-foo drinks.

 

Also as others have pointed out, on most islands she could order a drink-and what some have not mentioned though is Carlos and Charlies in Cozumel anyway, will serve STRONG drinks to underage kids. Our last cruise these two 16 year old girls could hardly make it back to the ship and we were docked right across from the place. The ship's officers had to call their parents to help get them to their rooms as the poor girls could not walk.

[tomc]

lorr -- Hey -- a fellow "E"! Ain't life on meds fun? It's like being hung over and on illegal drugs all day, every day.

 

I do sympathize with the OP, but there are a lot of things we just can't do *right now* and this is good practice. Life without alcohol is ok, and life with alcohol is also ok. The time will come.

 

Speaking of being bummed about being twenty, how would you like to wake up one morning and realize that next year is your 50th anniversary working in the media? Fifty as a writer and forty-nine in radio. And no, you smart alecs on the board, forget about the "turn signal on for ten miles" stuff. :eek:

[Dusie]

The only thing worse than turning 21 2 days after the cruise is turning 21 2 days into the cruise. On my cruise this April, my husband and I saw a young man proudly slap his ID down on the bar and announce that it was his 21st birthday. Only to be told that the drinking age is set at the age you are on the day that you set sail. Much discussion ensued. You should have seen the looks on the faces of his two buddies standing behind him. Obviously they thought that Birthday Boy could snag them a few drinks as well.

[tomc]

You should have seen the looks on the faces of his two buddies standing behind him. Obviously they thought that Birthday Boy could snag them a few drinks as well.

Now *that* sucks! :p

[mollyeilis]

I think it's rotten that people here think that a 20 year old will ONLY drink to excess and wind up an alcoholic. It's just ridiculous, to make that leap.

 

Sounds like the OP is from a country other than America, or is well-traveled. Either way, it's rough to go to a puritanical nation when you're used to other traditions that seem to work pretty well for the cultures and countries...

 

I'm sorry you'll be JUST under 21. I have a mid-October birthday, so I was always been 6 months to a year younger than my classmates (when I had classmates!). It was just so boring, waiting for the privileges they were getting before me...

 

Also, my mom worked at a winery in CA when I was around 11 years old; we spent summers up there, playing in the vineyards, learning all about wine. When my brother was something like 9, he could differentiate between, hmm, whatever it is you differentiate between with wine (I'm a microbrew person, not a wine person) by smelling it...he never really developed a taste for alcohol despite that. We all had sips with dinner at home when we asked for it, it was NO big deal. And neither my brother nor I have had any problems with alcohol...if anything it's the opposite, because drinking alcohol was boring to us, something parents did, and WHO wants to be a parent? ;) :) :p

 

 

Anyway, I feel for you, since, in some specific ways, it DOES suck to be going somewhere where you can't do something you're casually used to, just a week before you'd be allowed to take part in it. :)

[tomc]

In some specific ways, it DOES suck to be going somewhere where you can't do something you're casually used to, just a week before you'd be allowed to take part in it.

At the wedding ceremonies, they now say, "I did."

[CruisingAlong4Now]

If not being able to drink alcohol on an otherwise fantastic vacation is the reason you are sitting in the corner sulking, you are not mature enough to imbibe regardless of the legal drinking age.

 

Sulking in corners is for children.

[ponja]

The only thing worse than turning 21 2 days after the cruise is turning 21 2 days into the cruise. On my cruise this April, my husband and I saw a young man proudly slap his ID down on the bar and announce that it was his 21st birthday. Only to be told that the drinking age is set at the age you are on the day that you set sail. Much discussion ensued. You should have seen the looks on the faces of his two buddies standing behind him. Obviously they thought that Birthday Boy could snag them a few drinks as well.

Wow :p that's just evil

[ponja]

If not being able to drink alcohol on an otherwise fantastic vacation is the reason you are sitting in the corner sulking, you are not mature enough to imbibe regardless of the legal drinking age.

 

Sulking in corners is for children.

wow.. some people just... wow :)

[Grandpaul]

"With age comes wisdom." :D

 

I am over 60 and you couldn't pay me enough money to go back to 20. That's not a knock at being 20, it's to let you know that things get a lot better in life if you make the right decisions. When you're 20 there isn't a lot of data in the ole memory bank. That's my greatest treasure, my memories. That and the world's most beautiful Grandkids.

[puffer46]

I know but that doesn't change the fact that you will all be drinking right in my face as well at dinners and when I'm at the club/pubs. Yeah it's nothing serious but still a bit annoying =)

 

Why don't you just wait another year to go on a cruise and then you will be 21.:confused: Old enough to drink on the ship and on the islands you visit.

[Happy ks]

Why don't you just wait another year to go on a cruise and then you will be 21.:confused: Old enough to drink on the ship and on the islands you visit.

 

I think it's because that's when his parents are taking him on the cruise.

 

Maybe he should be blaming his (her?) parents, after all, the OP will be turning 21 a week or so after the cruise. They should have planned their vacation around the legal drinking age of their (adult) child. Or, maybe they planned it this way on purpose and they know something we don't :) !

 

In any case, try to have a good time, even if you are forced to be sober. Your parents are paying a lot of $$ to take you on vacation, the least you can do is try to be pleasant and not complain about these types of things. Hopefully, you will have years to party and drink on cruises and if you behave on this one, they may want to take you on another.

 

I know if you were my kid and complained and sulked on a cruise, next time I would leave you behind.

[Jaxsonbrownie]

Its not about drinking. It is about fitting in. You sit at the table and someone orders a bottle of wine and the waiter says "how many glasses" and someone will say 'oh not him, he's not 21 yet". how would that make you feel. The 20 year old should sit around the table pointing our all the things "old" people cant do. Oh but if he did that it would be rude of the young man.

 

Some people just dont get it, and they are usually old.:)

 

After reading this thread, it provoked me to think about the statement of "fitting In". If your sense of self-worth can only be confirmed by " fitting in", then that says to me that you would be suffering from some self esteem issues.You shouldn't have to fit in, you should be comfortable with who you are.Be your own person,and be happy with who you are, not how you compare to everyone around you,and what they are doing.

I recently had a mastectomy.Will I feel like I don't "fit In" because all the other women have boobs, and I don't? Absolutely NOT!!! I will rejoice and be grateful that I am alive.As you will be so caught up in the fact that you are enjoying this wonderful vacation, and be grateful that you are able to do so,that it really won't matter what everyone around you might or might not be doing.

There will be those who will say " you don't have to drink to have fun" and they are right, you don't. But there are also people who drink responsibly, and like to look forward to their vacation, and picture themselves by the pool, or on the beach, with a foo-foo drink in hand, and enjoying their R & R.

Ponja, when in port, have a few drinks, enjoy your vacation.You will have a great trip in whatever you do. And have a happy birthday when you return.And never feel like you have to "fit in", only in your own skin!:) Jaxson

[madjohn]

Most people were 20 either 30 to 40 years ago but the sure dont remember what it was like. No wonder the young have so much problem with the old.

 

Of course as you get old the memory does go!

[Jaxsonbrownie]

Yes, that statement would be very true for 50 or 60 yr olds:rolleyes: