How closely is the "12 drinks per stateroom" carried-on enforced?

[coralspike]

If my travel partner and I both have a 12 pack of sodas, is anyone going to even care? 

[AshleyDillo]

Royal's policy is 12 cans/bottles and 2 bottles of wine per cabin.  Carry-on bags get scanned and having more than the allotment in a bag may require further inspection.  

 

[mac66]

People have been known to go through the check in security line a person or two in between and get away with it. But....doing so will apparently cause the cruise lines to go bankrupt if they can't get their 500% markup on sodas.  RULES are RULES dammit,  no cheating allowed.  RCL only had revenue of $3 billion in the 3rd quarter.

[PL8SWPR]

4 hours ago, mac66 said:

People have been known to go through the check in security line a person or two in between and get away with it. But....doing so will apparently cause the cruise lines to go bankrupt if they can't get their 500% markup on sodas.  RULES are RULES dammit,  no cheating allowed.  RCL only had revenue of $3 billion in the 3rd quarter.

Revenue isn't profit.

[smokeybandit]

It's one of those YMMV scenarios.

[mac66]

18 hours ago, PL8SWPR said:

Revenue isn't profit.

Yeah I know... their profit was only $33 million for THAT quarter.

[bretts173]

15 hours ago, mac66 said:

Yeah I know... their profit was only $33 million for THAT quarter.

Any idea of their profits for the previous couple of years?

 

[Xaa]

I would pay the $7.99/day for the soda package to NOT have to schlep a 12 pack in my carryon.  I'm at the age now where I tend to just follow the rules now, but I didn't always.  Hit or miss if you get busted smuggling in additional soda to try and get around 8 bucks a day.  If you do try to take 12 for each person, I fall on the side of hoping you get it through.

[FSUFAN]

 

I'm all for RCL making a profit but hate that they flat out gouge people at times. 

Example.  We are going on the Quantum to Alaska in June.  I wanted water for the room. We had sailed the Voyager in October and I paid $11.99 for a 12 pack of water.  No water was listed for purchase on the website planner for months (I check it nearly every day). Then out of the blue, water showed up with a "Sold Out" splashed across the picture. So, I guess in all of Seattle, there is not water to be had.  Then the next day Evian water showed up in the planner and was priced at $28 for a 12 pack. Grrrr.  I just grabbed a 12 pack of the Evian at $18.99 on the Black Friday sale. Grrrrr.  I just want some plain bottled water and I don't want to lug water during boarding. Just give me something that is a fair price for me and a fair profit for RCL.

[Xaa]

Keep checking.  It's 10 bucks on my next cruise.  They offer it, but they likely have certain limits.  They aren't going to search "all of Seattle", but you can and have also chosen not to in favor of the $18.99.  That was your value proposition.  They offer the water they offer and allow you to bring alternative if you prefer.

 

[TXcruzer]

21 hours ago, mac66 said:

Yeah I know... their profit was only $33 million for THAT quarter.

Ok, now tell us what their debt load reduction was for THAT quarter 

[RCIfan1912]

On 11/18/2022 at 2:22 PM, mac66 said:

People have been known to go through the check in security line a person or two in between and get away with it. But....doing so will apparently cause the cruise lines to go bankrupt if they can't get their 500% markup on sodas.  RULES are RULES dammit,  no cheating allowed.  RCL only had revenue of $3 billion in the 3rd quarter.

And I've been yelled on forums including here for taking sips or splitting a soda with my wife who has the soda package and I don't. Keep crying cause it ain't stopping

 My son and my wife get the soda package and it ain't cheap so we share a soda now and then. Arrest me.

[Matt]

8 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Any idea of their profits for the previous couple of years?

 

Q3 2019: $883.2 million
Q2 2019: $472.8 million
Q1 2019: $249.7 million 

[bretts173]

6 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

And I've been yelled on forums including here for taking sips or splitting a soda with my wife who has the soda package and I don't. Keep crying cause it ain't stopping

 My son and my wife get the soda package and it ain't cheap so we share a soda now and then. Arrest me.

But obviously cheap enough to buy the package rather than buying them individually for each person when they want one. 

[Rackham]

The only drink rule that seems to be reliably enforced on embarkation day is no hard liquor. Soft drinks and wine enforcement reads all over the map from strict to not caring that you could restock Vintages. If you decide to push it and security is enforcing the rules, be prepared to surrender the excess.

[PeloAl]

These people that choose to schlep cases of water and soda on vacation really boggles my mind...

[teddy]

2 hours ago, PeloAl said:

These people that choose to schlep cases of water and soda on vacation really boggles my mind...

We did this once thinking we were being smart since we both drink a lot of water. 

We quickly decided it was worth the money to have a case waiting in the room for us. 
 

 

[Baked Alaska]

Buy one, take one.

[Rackham]

3 hours ago, PeloAl said:

These people that choose to schlep cases of water and soda on vacation really boggles my mind...

Maybe seeing the numbers would help with understanding why people choose to bring aboard beverages?

Prices from my local area, what I've paid, or what I've seen Royal charge when not on sale. Rounded to the nearest whole dollar.

12, 16.9 floz Soft Drinks, Coca-Cola Products from a Grocery Store: $8

17, 12 floz cans of Coca-Cola aboard a ship with gratuity: $70

Difference: $62

2 bottles of grocery store wine: $50

2 bottles of inexpensive wine aboard a ship with gratuity: $94

Difference: $44

12, 12 floz bottles of water in the cruise planner: $11.99

Bringing a reusable water bottle you already have and filling it aboard the ship: free

Difference $11.99

[RCIfan1912]

4 hours ago, PeloAl said:

These people that choose to schlep cases of water and soda on vacation really boggles my mind...

Well in general I agree and we don't do it normally. We did do it on our last cruise, but only 12 water bottles because our 7 month old obviously needs bottles every 3-4 hours. 

[Xaa]

23 minutes ago, Rackham said:

Maybe seeing the numbers would help with understanding why people choose to bring aboard beverages?

Prices from my local area, what I've paid, or what I've seen Royal charge when not on sale. Rounded to the nearest whole dollar.

12, 16.9 floz Soft Drinks, Coca-Cola Products from a Grocery Store: $8

17, 12 floz cans of Coca-Cola aboard a ship with gratuity: $70

Difference: $62

2 bottles of grocery store wine: $50

2 bottles of inexpensive wine aboard a ship with gratuity: $94

Difference: $44

12, 12 floz bottles of water in the cruise planner: $11.99

Bringing a reusable water bottle you already have and filling it aboard the ship: free

Difference $11.99

Let me help you with this.

12, 16.9 floz Soft Drinks, Coca-Cola Products from a Grocery Store: $8 plus going to the grocery store and schleping them to the port and up to your room.

Unlimited Soda on 7 day cruise $74

Difference I'm not out of Soda on the second day and didn't schelp 12 extra lbs of soda to a cooler that isn't really a fridge.

 

2 bottles of grocery store wine: $50

2 bottles of inexpensive wine aboard a ship with gratuity: $94

Difference: $44 - This is probably a win.  Lighter than Soda or water and reds don't need chilled, but not the topic of the thread either.

 

12, 12 floz bottles of water in the cruise planner: $11.99

Bringing a reusable water bottle you already have and filling it aboard the ship: free - No, this isn't the alternative, the alternative for those that want bottled water is schlepping $3 of water and their 12 lbs onboard to save 9 bucks

Difference You don't have to lug water like you're somehow not on vacation.

 

 

[TeRriii]

Cheapskate person will do everything to rig the system or manipulate someone to save money. I knew this, because my sister in law and several of my friends do many kind of shits just to save a little money. They don't care about ethics, common sense, rules or even laws.

RC already gave some leeway for bringing own beverages onboard. Just stick to that.

[jticarruthers]

We usually take a cooler onboard with us that has soda/wine.

So far we are about 9 out of 10 on it just going through the xray machine with nothing further being said or done.

The most recent trip the security guy asked to open it and rummaged through to check that the cans were in fact soda/bubbly water and not beer ... nothing was said about the fact that there were about 24 of them.

As in all things Royal Caribbean there is no consistency but I would say unless you are trying to take hundreds of sodas on with you, you should be fine.

[dr martini]

5 hours ago, PeloAl said:

These people that choose to schlep cases of water and soda on vacation really boggles my mind...

exactly.  just like driving a half hour or more at $4 + gas to the huge gigantic box store to buy huge gigantic sizes because they are 'cheaper' when you could just hit the mom and pop places along your normal route for stuff you just need in the next couple days.  obviously not the same setup for everybody in every city but....sheesh.  c'mon.  

[jbrinkm]

3 hours ago, teddy said:

We did this once thinking we were being smart since we both drink a lot of water. 

We quickly decided it was worth the money to have a case waiting in the room for us. 

This was us last year. Made an extra stop at a grocery with our Uber to pick up soda and water for the room (we used the reusable bottles on the ship but wanted to have some for excursions). I won't ever do it again. It was a pain to stop and a pain to get them onboard and we didn't end up even drinking them all - there were so many other beverage options on the ship that were free. But that was my experience - I wouldn't criticize someone who chooses to bring it on, especially because there are so many reasons why one might (baby bottles, ship doesn't carry your favorites, you live nearby or you drive to port, etc...).

[Reigert2008]

1 hour ago, jbrinkm said:

This was us last year. Made an extra stop at a grocery with our Uber to pick up soda and water for the room (we used the reusable bottles on the ship but wanted to have some for excursions). I won't ever do it again. It was a pain to stop and a pain to get them onboard and we didn't end up even drinking them all - there were so many other beverage options on the ship that were free. But that was my experience - I wouldn't criticize someone who chooses to bring it on, especially because there are so many reasons why one might (baby bottles, ship doesn't carry your favorites, you live nearby or you drive to port, etc...).

I agree, just let people do what they want since it doesn't affect you and is within the policies of the line. 

we've been going back and forth on our decision for the next cruise.  It will be our first cruise as Diamond members, so we are just getting the soda package this time and not the refreshment package.  We kept trying to decide if we want to take a 6 pack of bottled water for days in port, but we should get 4 waters in the room on embarkation day and can take them off the ship as needed and then refill them, using cups of course, to have water for other days.  We've come to the conclusion that, for us, we don't need to carry the water on and even if we had to buy a few bottles, we're still way ahead price wise.  

I already have to lug my CPAP on board and adding water would be extra weight to carry up and down the steps the first day when the elevators are packed.

Of course, after this one we may change our minds  

 

[bretts173]

Why does noone just drink the shops water?

[Sunny_D]

To each their own…I got enough weight to lug around with at least five pairs of shoes in my suitcase…I’m not messing with hauling beverages too.

[Reigert2008]

4 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Why does noone just drink the shops water?

People certainly do drink the ship water and it’s great!  For people who spend port days entirely off the ship, the bottles are an easy way to get water off the ship for the day and not have to lug multiple reusable bottles back to refill.  We always take a few bottles off with us to have on those hot days while wandering around.  It really depends on the port and what we have planned, but most days we’re back on the ship before lunch,so a bottle each works for us.  While on the ship we get water and use the provided plastic cups at the station since we don’t like to carry a lot of things on the ship.