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Missing Straws


hmills96

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I've gotten to the point where I rarely use straws when I go out anymore, so I don't think I'll miss them much on the ship. However, I do like frozen drinks (lava flow with Kraken, hello!), and those are just hard to drink without a straw! I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it to buy a fancy portable reusable one just for the cruise.

Do you guys miss the straws when you're onboard sipping your frozen drinks? Yay, nay?

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Hmm hadn't planned on packing my own straw for my upcoming cruise but I may just do that.  We use glass straws at home, but wouldn't try to fly with one of those.  I may look into bringing a reuable plastic straw I can toss at the end of the 12 nights. I only use straws for frozen drinks; and we do enjoy those in the hot tub.  Hmmmmm 7 days at sea requires a frozen drink or three or seven. ? 

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Is RC banning straws now? I have heard of this new revolution elsewhere but until I saw this post I didn't realize that RC had adopted this. @J. Woody said they are on Harmony still. I am on Anthem in November. Does anyone know if they stopped allowing them on her? Is this a ship by ship thing until they cover the fleet? - Thanks

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9 hours ago, KathyC aka KathLuvsGH said:

Hmm hadn't planned on packing my own straw for my upcoming cruise but I may just do that.  We use glass straws at home, but wouldn't try to fly with one of those.  I may look into bringing a reuable plastic straw I can toss at the end of the 12 nights. I only use straws for frozen drinks; and we do enjoy those in the hot tub.  Hmmmmm 7 days at sea requires a frozen drink or three or seven. ? 

They have straws if you ask for one.  I only got them for my frozen drinks. 

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2 hours ago, whenismynextcruise said:

Is RC banning straws now? I have heard of this new revolution elsewhere but until I saw this post I didn't realize that RC had adopted this. @J. Woody said they are on Harmony still. I am on Anthem in November. Does anyone know if they stopped allowing them on her? Is this a ship by ship thing until they cover the fleet? - Thanks

Matt did a blog post about it recently, that's why I was curious. I'll be on Anthem in a few weeks, so I'll try to come back and update you. It sounds like, though, that it won't be too big of a deal.

Here's the link:  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/06/08/royal-caribbean-will-stop-using-plastic-straws-end-of-2018

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Just now, monctonguy said:

I always use and want a straw......god help me if people start using sippy cups cause they want to ban straws.

My understanding is that they are cutting back and giving them on demand. Its the beginning of the slippery slope like everything in todays PC world....:33_unamused:

I'm not sure about up there, but here in Colorado, miles from any ocean, local restaurants and bars have stopped providing straws.  Many are using re-usable straws, hard plastic or metal that get washed like the glasses and silverware are.  

The elimination of disposable straws isn't just a cruise ship thing, it's an international movement that has little to with being PC.

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Just now, twangster said:

I'm not sure about up there, but here in Colorado, miles from any ocean, local restaurants and bars have stopped providing straws.  Many are using re-usable straws, hard plastic or metal that get washed like the glasses and silverware are.  

The elimination of disposable straws isn't just a cruise ship thing, it's an international movement that has little to with being PC.

It's definitely a positive change, especially if it leads to the reduction of plastic goods overall. I hate that I still want a straw with the frozen drinks myself...I think it's more a change in attitude than function.

However, I'm glad it's still an option for now, for selfish reasons, and because I know there are those on board who need a straw for accessibility reasons too.

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55 minutes ago, Matt said:

The new straw policy will go into effect by the end of this year, so it's not quite straw-free fleet wide quite yet.

As a fan of frozen cocktails, I will be interested to see how that goes once we go sans-straw.

I agree, I wonder how someone could drink a frozen cocktail without a straw... 

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On Anthem 7/26. Most cocktails were served without straws, but if you asked, you were given one. Most frozen drinks were served automatically with a straw. In talking with several of the bar staff,  (I seemed to be doing a lot of that - lol) it seems that once the plastic straws are exhausted, the fleet will turn to paper straws, but they will remain by request. 

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I cant wait to see/use/try all these alternatives.....I have never seen or used any of them..so it will be interesting...must be some tough paper not to go soggy while drinking frozen cocktails

 

And yes, it IS  all about being PC...everyone has jumped on this ban the straw wagon since the Turtle video essentially. This is part of a bigger plan by environmental groups and certain special interests to push the agenda to ban everything from single use items to all plastics .....if you some digging into it..you will see what a  minuscular bearing this has on affecting the environment. There  are MUCH worse things that everone here does each day to affet the environment..but I digress.

 

And don't we recycle plastic anyways? I know up here in Canada we do at least......

 

 

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How about we all stop taking cruises.......if your going to talk the walk, walk the walk.

 

That would be doing the right thing......so very PC.....all it would take would getting a couple celebrities to endorse it and a couple "studies" by environmental groups and we would have  a world wide campaign to boycott cruising.

 

Imagine how much we would save then...ur basically paying money to pollute the oceans when you cruise. Think of the tremendous energy and pollution that's used to power each cruise.....so lets all try and do our part to reduce the amount of cruises we take....:34_rolling_eyes:

 

Seems crazy doesn't it...but then again so did banning straws 5 years ago...

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16 hours ago, twangster said:

Who knew straws could lead to such drastic measures.

"We shall have straws or not cruise at all."

LOL!

Not what I said nor implied. I am simply using peoples justification for banning straws here, and  applying the same reasoning to cruising. ......

Here's some info on Harmony of the Seas :(one of the worlds "cleanest" cruise ships)

-burns as much as 66,000 gallons of the most polluting diesel fuel a day

-emits more sulfur than 2 million cars

-more particulate emissions than thousands of city busses

 

Air pollution from shipping(all kinds) accounts for about 50,000 premature deaths in Europe alone........so yeah, tell me again about how banning those straws on your next cruise is really helping the environment....doesn't anyone else see the irony of this??! It shouldn't be even a discussion or debated.

 

I rest my case....point made!

 

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14 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

doesn't anyone else see the irony of this??!

No. Not to the extent you're making it out to be. I do get your logic but in my eyes anything helps. I also don't give two sh**** about a straw. Unless it's a shake because logistically I'm not sure how that works besides getting a whole lotta shake everywhere.

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23 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

Not what I said nor implied. I am simply using peoples justification for banning straws here, and  applying the same reasoning to cruising. ......

Here's some info on Harmony of the Seas :(one of the worlds "cleanest" cruise ships)

-burns as much as 66,000 gallons of the most polluting diesel fuel a day

-emits more sulfur than 2 million cars

-more particulate emissions than thousands of city busses

 

Air pollution from shipping(all kinds) accounts for about 50,000 premature deaths in Europe alone........so yeah, tell me again about how banning those straws on your next cruise is really helping the environment....doesn't anyone else see the irony of this??! It shouldn't be even a discussion or debated.

 

I rest my case....point made!

 

I do get the irony in this and I agree.  We have recycling here but lately they have stopped (or banned) glass.  The reason?  It gets into the cardboard and the recycler can't make enough money.  So from what I see, again, money is at the root. They don't separate anything anymore, just dump in into the truck and I guess dump it at the recycler.  All we have is one big bin for everything.

I remember using paper straws waaaay back in grade school when they used to give us milk everyday, they didn't work too good back then.  Not sure they will do any better now. 

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20 hours ago, Cruzan Along said:

On Anthem 7/26. Most cocktails were served without straws, but if you asked, you were given one. Most frozen drinks were served automatically with a straw. In talking with several of the bar staff,  (I seemed to be doing a lot of that - lol) it seems that once the plastic straws are exhausted, the fleet will turn to paper straws, but they will remain by request. 

Let me first say that I'm glad we have some environmental rules that we didn't have in the early decades of the industrial revolution.  We should not have the Cuyahoga River on fire.  We should not have industrial sites abandoned with highly contaminated soil left behind.  We should not have smog blocking the sun in our cities.  We should be able to breathe the air, drink the water, and walk around without having to dodge huge piles of waste and trash.  We should have sanitary sewers to separate sewage from runoff.  There should be regulation on the use of fertilizers.

If, as a society, we want to encourage walking or bike riding rather than driving a car, that would be great. 

However, things have gone way too far.  We have politicians and activists flying from city to city on private jets to tell us to not drive our cars.  We have gone from paper to plastic back to paper bags at the store.  We have low emission electric cars that plug into a wall to charge a car when there is no reliable source of electricity that is renewable.  We have mass transit forced down our throats for hundreds of millions of dollars that no one rides (Cincinnati is an example).  The Holy Grail is the Climate Change movement...which is the biggest redistribution of wealth in history, and even if man did have an effect on the climate, it is minuscule.

If anyone thinks they will rid the world of plastic straws and then leave us alone they are wrong.  It's not just cruises either.  It's everything we choose to do (right down to the number of children we have).  There is too much money in it for these people.

At some point we have to tell them to get bent.  This is it.  Save the straws.  Just make sure you put them in a trash can when you are done with them.

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  Teds Montana Grill in Tallahassee ( I would guess at Teds other locations) uses paper straws from recycled paper.  The straws are a cardboard like texture so they dont seem to get soggy. The cost compare to a plastic straw,  I have no idea.  The use of paper straws would be a good start.

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14 minutes ago, MikeK said:

  Teds Montana Grill in Tallahassee ( I would guess at Teds other locations) uses paper straws from recycled paper.  The straws are a cardboard like texture so they dont seem to get soggy. The cost compare to a plastic straw,  I have no idea.  The use of paper straws would be a good start.

Hey another Tally person!

If the paper sstraws used onboard are the same as Ted's, no see much of an issue. I will admit they get soggy and start to soften after around 30 minutes in a drink. If a soggy straw is of concern, ask for a second wrapped for later use.

From what I recalled, and this was along time ago, most lightweight plastic and paper is incinerated onboard. Metal, glass, and cardboard was really the only stuff offloaded to be recycled. As mentioned this was something I recall hearing years ago.

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Straws are low hanging fruit.  Something easy to eliminate. 

Over the past 30+ years when I've been provided a straw in a drink (soda, water, cocktail, etc) I haven't used it.  Frozen drinks excluded from that list, so eliminating straws is a no-brainier for me.  Zero impact to me and they went into the trash unused with each drink I ordered.  

To draw the conclusion that to give up straws one should also give up everything industrial in life such as cruising, flying, cars, electricity, processed foods, and so on is hyperbole.   

I've stopped drinking from plastic water bottles at home.  I still use them while traveling on occasion, including at sporting events and yes on cruise ships.  You don't have to take everything to the extreme to have an impact.  

Humans do cause a lot of pollution.  Many cities suffered terribly from smog issues decades ago.  By putting restrictions in place and changing human behavior that smog has been reduced.  Industrial cities in Asia are living this today, where North America was 40 years ago.  

Mass transit supporters often cite pollution reduction as a benefit but that isn't the primary driver for mass transit solutions.  Building 30+ lane highways in all major cities isn't feasible just to handle the volume of cars with a single occupant inside.  You simply can't build infrastructure big enough to avoid traffic jams without looking at means to more efficiently move tens of thousands of people.  Emissions reductions is just a side benefit of mass transit.

Electric cars simply move the problem to someone else's backyard.  Generate electricity here and through a maze of transmission systems recharge your car hundred of miles away over there.  Energy required to move a mass doesn't change because the car is electric.  This is especially true where electricity is generated by coal but nuclear is no saint either.  You are simply pushing the pollution somewhere else.

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  • 2 weeks later...

That's fine...i'll bring my own straws and dispose of them once I'm finished...there will be a fight if they try and take my straws! ?

I've found 180 of them in a plastic container ?

https://www.boxed.com/product/648/twizzlers-180-twists?pf=3&gid=648&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_purpose=acquisition&utm_campaign=shopping-lowbid-georgia&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2p_2-8uG3QIVloWzCh2l9gvGEAQYBCABEgLvofD_BwE

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