Carnival Cruise Line is taking a big step to reduce problem drinkers

Carnival Cruise Line has a somewhat unfair reputation for fighting on board and for passengers getting out of control.

The fights are rare, but when they do happen, they immediately go viral on social media.

That’s not the image Carnival wants to portray; the cruise line markets itself as offering “Fun Ships” for families. Yes, it wants people to have a good time, and that can include alcoholic drinks, but Carnival wants to make it clear that there are limits.

The cruise line literally has a limit on alcoholic drinks: a cruiser can only purchase 15 per day. That limit applies to both pay-per-use and those who purchase the Cheers drink package.

However, passengers use some clever ways to get around the limit. Beer buckets and bottles of wine can be used to get around the limit, and the cruise line cannot keep track of how many drinks a passenger gets in port.

Carnival wants its passengers to have fun, but wants to ensure that the fun does not get out of hand. To make that possible, the cruise line is looking for a new position for its security team: an RSA supervisor.

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Carnival tackles excessive drinking

Last year, Carnival decided to take steps to keep marijuana off its ships by deploying drug-sniffing dogs. The dogs weren’t placed on every ship, but the idea of them and not knowing when they would be used probably put some people off.

If you are caught with marijuana or even CBD on board, you could be kicked off the ship or even banned for life. That applies even if you have a prescription in a state that has legalized cannabis, because the cruise line follows federal law.

But unlike the sporadically used drug-sniffing dogs, Carnival appears to be placing a new security team member on every ship.

“The primary responsibility of the RSA Supervisor is to prevent anyone from becoming intoxicated, to prevent anyone under the age of 21 from receiving or consuming alcohol, to ensure that alcohol is consumed in a safe and responsible manner without endangering passengers or crew, and to ensure that the serving and consumption of alcohol is in accordance with company policies and procedures,” the cruise line said in a job posting.

Some of the responsibilities of the RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) supervisor include:

Be assigned to a specific bar location or locations as directed by the Chief Security Officer (CSO/designee).
Identify anyone who becomes intoxicated and ensure that they are given appropriate warnings at an early stage and, if deemed necessary, are not given further alcoholic drinks until they are deemed capable.
Assist service personnel in determining whether to serve a passenger; If necessary, engage the passenger in a conversation to determine whether service should be denied.
Assist service personnel in addressing passengers who have been denied service.
Ensure that passengers who have been denied service are no longer given alcohol by others.
Make sure anyone denied service is safe and that medical attention is sought if necessary.

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Carnival is also hiring youth safety officers

Children have a lot of freedom on cruise ships. That can lead to them getting out of control with minor mischief, such as running through the hallways or being loud in quiet areas, and to more serious offenses.

To combat such behavior, Carnival hires Youth Safety Officers for all its ships.

“The Youth Security Officer will be charged with enforcing onboard security policies and regulations generally and as they specifically relate to our younger passengers,” the job description said. “Situations involving adult passengers should be immediately referred to the SSO and ship security personnel on board.”

The cruise line is specifically looking for people who are good at understanding and communicating with younger and teenage passengers. In many ways, the YSO’s presence will help keep younger passengers in line.

Carnival said the YSO would “provide a visible security presence for the enforcement of onboard policies for unruly underage passengers.”

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