Carnival and Royal Caribbean often confuse their customers because some written rules get enforced while others seem like suggestions, not actual rules. It can also be confusing as both cruise lines seem to have different policies on different ships and maybe even on different sailings of the same ship.
Main Dining Room (MDR) dress codes can be one source of passenger confusion. Both cruise lines, for example, technically (in their written policies) do not allow men to wear shorts in MDR and both require adult men to wear a collared shirt.
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It’s an unspoken “rule” that the first night on any cruise is an exception because luggage may not have arrived and passengers literally may not have anything to change into. Once you hit the second night, however, dress codes are supposed to be enforced.
The problem is that neither Royal Caribbean RCL nor Carnival generally enforces any MDR dress code aside from not allowing bathing suits. In general, both cruise lines likely don’t want to have a fight with their passengers and turning people away because they’re dressed too casually creates a customer service nightmare.
The problem is that not every ship for either cruise line has a strict “as long as it’s not hurting others we will look the other way” dining room dress code policy. Sometimes, on both Carnival Cruise Line CClL and Royal Caribbean ships dress codes will be strictly enforced down to men not being able to wear hats or open-toed shoes.
It’s as confusing as both cruise lines having rules about not “saving” chairs near the pool by leaving your stuff on them. Royal Caribbean and Carnival both have policies outlawing that practice and signs telling you where your stuff will be held if you choose to just leave it on a chair and then disappear.
In reality, neither cruise line enforces the chair policies, because it’s very labor intensive to track whether someone has been gone for hours or merely has gone to the bathroom or to get a drink.
So, you can forgive passengers on both cruise lines for sometimes breaking rules that actually are hard and fast. At least one of those rules, which certain passengers ignore, is a health and safety issues.
That’s why Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald shared an important message about a rule that passengers should not ignore on his social media page.
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Image source: Carnival
Carnival Cruise line shares key buffet rule
At any buffet, not just on cruise ships, you may see some people make awful choices. There are always people who opt to use their hands rather than the provided tongs and people who seem to not realize that you can go back as many times as you want, so they mix baked beans and dessert on the same plate.
There are, of course, people who duck their heads under the sneeze guards and those who have no respect for how lines work. Some buffet-goers, however, break a key rule, perhaps because they think they're doing the right thing.
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“As it seems to be a topic of conversation today, I would like to ask you this. If you return to the buffet or a restaurant on Lido for a second order, you always take a new plate, correct?" Heald posted.
"Absolutely always and I always get a clean cup for drink each time as well," Patsy Crump posted in response to Heald's question.
Taking a new plate is actually the rule, and in a poll Heald posted 99% of his followers noted that they did. That other 1% may not be consciously breaking the rules, they might think they're doing something environmentally friendly.
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Passengers are also not allowed to refill the same glass or mug at drink stations. That includes the ones at the buffet and elsewhere on the ship. The mug/glass rule is actually posted at most beverage stations while the plate rule, which is in fact a rule, is not posted anywhere.
