Drinking age on ship
 

Traveling w/my son who is 18..do not want him to be served alcohol of any kind..how do i go about making sure this does not happen. Is there some form I should be filling out? Any and all information would be much appreciated.

Which ship will you be on?

Most lines use 21 as a drinking age on the ship but when he is in port, it could be an entirley different matter.

I know on RCCL its 18 for beer and wine and 21 for hard liquor. Let the young man have a beer on vacation for God Sakes.

gblma
you likely have very good reasons to want to control your son's access to alcohol i.e. past history

BUT you can't. You can only control your response. Therefore, since I assume that you are paying, make certain that he can't sign for any purchases aboard ship. If he's going to abuse, he should pay 4 it in $ as well as other consequences. You make those known and then keep your word. Don't rescue from illness, lost tours, etc. Don't pack for him, don't carry him. treat him as the adult he now is in most venues.

It would be a LOT easier if you could do something that would ensure your 18-year-old didn't ASK to be served...

I would think that if your son didn't have a ship/charge card, he would not be able to buy anything on board the ship, including drinks -- no cash allowed on board the ship. You have to use the card to buy even a Coke. "No tickey, no laundry?" Does that help?

Now, that doesn't stop his friends from buying him drinks. ((b))

Budman is right, even if the drinking age were 55, there would still be people on the ship who would buy drinks for kids. I went on a cruise one time where an entire senior class was taking their senior trip. On that ship the drinking age was 21, but it didn't matter because these kids kept approaching adults who would get drinks for them. BTW, this was the last time I ever booked a cruise right after school let out.

You say you want to make sure it doesn't happen, but that is impossible. As a parent I'm sure you are aware that if a kid wants to drink, then he/she will do so. I do not want to put you off cruising, this could happen on any trip you take, whether it's on land or sea. However, I do think Budman's idea of withholding a charge card from him will at least make it more difficult.

I just returned from a Holland America cruise with an 18 and a 21 year old. HAL's posted policy is a drinking age of 21. In practice, no one ever asked to see the 21 year old's ID, and the 18 year old was offered a drink several times when the 21 year old ordered one.

Other than the suggestion of barring him from making any purchases onboard, I don't know what you could do. My kids really liked being able to go to the coffee bar, etc., on their own. Maybe if you buy him a soda sticker for his card, the staff will look more closely at him if he tries ordering a cocktail. Also I think you can review your account every day--that would tell you pretty quickly if he's been buying things you don't want him to have. You also might try contacting the cruise line for suggestions. Good luck!

Please pardon me for being old fashioned but if you cannot stop your 18 year old from drinking why would expect a ship to take over your responsibility?

Just returned from Portugal - legal drinking age is 16 - I saw no drunken teens.
M