Many cruise passengers enjoy decorating their stateroom doors, either just to celebrate their sailing, join in holiday festivities, announce a birthday or anniversary, or even create a landmark to more easily find their room in a long corridor of identical doors.
But what happens when those decorations go missing? Can decoration thieves be prosecuted?
One guest had this exact situation occur onboard a Carnival cruise ship recently and reported the theft to security. While their item was returned, they were unhappy with the resolution. Should more have been done?
The guest reached out to Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, who often responds to guests’ comments, requests, and yes, complaints through his popular Facebook page.
“Annoyingly on our recent cruise our door decoration was stolen. It was a Buffalo Bills logo and banner. I reported this,” the guest explained. “Guest services and security returned it to us the following day.”
While this may seem to have been a quick resolution to a relatively minor issue, the guest was unhappy that the alleged thief did not receive a stern punishment for appropriating the sports paraphernalia for a few hours.
“They refused to tell me if the thief had been taken off the ship that day in Amber cove. I later found out they had not been and received no punishment,” the guest continued. “Is this a sign of the times? … Even if they were kids they should have been taken off the ship and made to pay their own way home.”
Heald is not unsympathetic to the guest’s frustration, but affirms that Carnival Cruise Line will not implement such severe punishments for petty actions that might indeed even have just been simple pranks.
“I do understand the annoyance of having your favorite team’s logo stolen from your door. I imagine it might be a naughty child or a naughty grown up or a fan of someone who doesn’t like the Buffalo Bills although I cannot imagine why,” Heald said.
He went on to note that in his opinion, disembarking travelers for this type of action is not a punishment that would have fit this particular crime.
Carnival Cruise Line will sometimes disembark guests in severe cases, such as assaulting crew members or other guests. In many of these incidents, local authorities can become involved as well if charges are to be pressed.
What Heald does confirm is that even in small incidents, the ship’s security does speak with the offending guests and ensure they understand proper behavior.
Carnival Cruise Line Hallway (Copyright: Cruise Hive)
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“I cannot talk about our security operations but I can say that they will have be spoken to and they will have been warned not to do this,” he said.
The guest does not note the value of the decorations that were stolen and then returned, nor did they mention whether or not they kept the decorations after the sailing or discarded them at the end of the cruise anyway.
Protecting Door Decorations on Cruise Ships
It can be a lot of fun to decorate a cruise stateroom door, but what can travelers do to prevent their decorations from disappearing during the cruise? Unfortunately, not much.
Because strong adhesives such as glue cannot be used, many door decorations are attached with magnets or less-sticky bits of putty and Command Strips and could be easily removed by passersby.
It can be frustrating to see your door decorations vanish and upsetting to know that there are people onboard who would be so unkind and unruly. The best option, however, is to not use any expensive items and just prepare for the possibility that they may be taken.
Personalized items, especially more generic decorations rather than specialized options, may be less likely to be taken as they won’t appeal to others.
Carnival guests should always follow the cruise line’s guidelines for door decorations, including the requirement for all materials to be fire retardant and not causing any damage.
Appeared first on: Cruisehive.com