NEWSLETTER
Some rules are broken on cruises because enforcing them would cause too much of a fuss.
Allowing passengers to wear shorts in the main dining room, for example, is simply easier than sending them back to their room to change.
If the staff in the main dining room turned people away, some people would get angry, fights would break out, and the line would grind to a halt. The prospect of one more person in the room wearing pants is not worth the risk of an unpleasant situation.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line shares strict warning about dress code
This example doesn't mean that cruise lines don't have rules. Carnival Cruise Line will kick someone out of the main dining room if they're wearing a bathing suit. Also, crew members will get involved if a passenger does something that detracts from the experience of other passengers.
If, for example, a passenger has a child who is watching a video at full volume without headphones, the crew may ask the child to turn down the volume. Staff will also remove passengers who have had too much to drink and ensure that excessively loud groups do not interfere with the dining experience of others.
In some cases it is difficult to know when and if intervention is necessary. In other cases, the rules are very clear.
Carnival Cruise Line brand ambassador John Heald recently addressed a topic where the rules are very clear.
Sign up for the Come Cruise With Me newsletter to save money on your next (or first) cruise.
Image source: Carnival Corp.
The main Carnival dining hall welcomes dogs (in a specific way)
Heald rarely reprimands a passenger, but he took a firm stance in response to a recent post on his facebook page.
He did so, of course, with his usual jargon and expert slang.
“Speaking of dogs, I posted a few posts yesterday about the dining room (sorry Beards, but I can't say restaurant yet). Some lady made a huge fuss about how we allow dogs in there,” she wrote.
“Dining Room” is their term for the main dining room, which is actually supposed to be called a restaurant, according to “the Beards,” which is the term Heald uses to refer to Carnival management.
“Now you'd think from your post that there were groups of them there, barking and stinking and getting in the way of the waiters carrying those stacks of plates and being big smelly animals in a space that should be quiet and, ahem, humane,” Heald wrote.
“The real truth was that on the boat I was on there was a dog, a guide dog for a blind guest who passed the entire meal under the table… the dog… not the guest.”
Heald then called out (gently) to the passenger who wrote the post.
“Their lack of tolerance for this was quite extraordinary,” she wrote. “It's fascinating that as the years go by, people seem less tolerant of each other and what they do, especially at dinner. I've had comments about noisy children, background music playing too loudly, and of course the clothes some people are wearing. Apparently a guide dog under a table can ruin the taste of a Caesar salad.”
Carnival riders share their thoughts on dogs
Most of the responses to Heald's post were in favor of the service dog.
“I've seen dogs on my cruises. They are very well trained and very disciplined. I've never had any issues with them. Now, the male and female Karens are a different story,” Liz Kriz wrote.
Carnival only allows trained and certified service dogs on its ships.
“As for service animals, more people should stop and be thankful that they don't need one of these extraordinary beasts. I feel better seeing them there with their owners,” Regina Sharpe posted.
READ ALSO: Top travel agents share how to get the best price on your cruise
Some passengers complained that people were falsifying the paperwork needed to declare a dog a service animal, but most were grateful for Carnival's efforts.
“As someone who works with special needs children who become special needs adults, I commend Carnival for allowing a service dog in the cafeteria,” added Perry Walden. “We have dogs at our school and they are just as well behaved, if not more so, than some of the teenagers who roam the halls and eat in the cafeteria.”
Are you taking a cruise or thinking about taking one? Visit our Come Cruise With Me website to get all your questions answered.
