Royal Caribbean tightens alcohol policy – details

Royal Caribbean, one of the world’s most popular cruise lines, has announced a major change to its alcohol policy. Passengers will now only be allowed to bring one bottle of wine per person onboard.

Starting on March 3, passengers can only bring one bottle (750ml) of wine or champagne per adult.

Royal Caribbean’s previous policy allowed customers to bring two bottles of wine per guest on the first day.

Solo travellers are likely to be most impacted by the rule and they already usually pay more to travel.

Passengers can bring their bottle on board in their hand luggage, which will be checked by security.

If passengers buy alcohol at one of the destinations they visit, it will be confiscated when they board the ship.

Guests will be given back their confiscated bottles on the last day of the cruise in most cases.

Boxed wine or alcoholic beverages in other types of containers are banned and guests will be charged a corkage fee to drink their own alcohol in the ship’s dining rooms.

Guests travelling on back to back sailings will be allowed to bring one bottle for each of their journeys.

Royal Caribbean’s new policy states: “On embarkation day, each guest of drinking age may bring one sealed 750ml bottle of wine or champagne.

“Boxed wine and other containers are prohibited. Guests who purchase alcohol bottles onboard, in a port-of-call or bring more than one permitted bottle on boarding day, will have their items safely stored by the ship.”

The majority of cruise lines limit the amount of alcohol guests can bring but this does vary between companies.

Royal Caribbean offers passengers the option of booking a drinks package, so they don’t have to pay for individual beverages.

Guests who break alcohol rules on a cruise could face consequences such as a fine or even being disembarked from the ship.

Another of the world’s major cruise lines, Carnival Cruise Line, recently reminded guests of how to behave onboard.

The company president issued a warning for passengers and said the line had added more security personnel to its ships.

Sniffer dogs will also be used at random at ports to check passengers’ luggage for illegal drugs.

Carnival has also said it will fine guests $500 (£415) if they are caught fighting onboard one of its ships.

The company president also warned that guests could be “confined to their cabins” if they break the rules.

Guests should check their cruise line’s alcohol policy before packing as these vary between lines.

On the majority of lines, excess alcohol will be returned to passengers on the final day of their cruise.

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