Earlier this year, a viral video circulated of a Carnival cruise passenger tampering with large water bottles in her stateroom, refilling and resealing the bottles as savings “hack” to avoid paying for the bottles. Carnival Cruise Line’s Brand Ambassador, John Heald, has now confirmed the consequences of that ludicrous behavior.
While the short video – just a few seconds long – never identified the exact ship or when the video was filmed, it clearly took place onboard a Carnival cruise ship.
The tag on the water bottle said “Carnival” and one of the cruise line’s Snoozin’ door signs was briefly visible in the background. Carnival offers 1.5-liter bottles of Crystal Geyser water in guest staterooms for convenient purchases.
The woman in the video refilled one of those large water bottles from her bathroom tap, then used a small bottle of glue to reseal the cap. She then replaced the cardboard sales tag on the bottle and even gave a thumbs-up for her cleverness at the end of the video. To date, the video has been viewed more than 260,000 times.
The video sparked great concern among cruisers about the safety of bottled water onboard ships and how easy tampering with the bottles may or may not be, as well as what consequences should be brought against travelers stealing in this way. Now, Carnival Cruise Line has responded to the incident.
“The lady who was also on [TikTok] showing how to drink water from the bottles in the cabin without breaking the seal [has] been banned from cruising with us ever again,” confirmed John Heald, Carnival Cruise Line Brand Ambassador.
It is a relief to learn that Carnival Cruise Line takes this type of incident seriously. The concern about contaminated water, which could potentially be laced with toxins or other substances, is a real one for many travelers after seeing this video.
To be clear, there are many similar videos available with nearly identical “hacks” for resealing different types of bottles, but this is always considered theft. Cruise Hive in no way endorses such actions or any such technique.
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What is still unknown is whether or not Carnival’s cabin attendants might examine any bottles remaining in each stateroom at the end of a cruise for any signs of tampering.
To be safe, passengers should always closely examine the bottles in their cabin when they arrive. When in doubt, requesting fresh bottles from the cabin attendant or purchasing bottles from one of the bars onboard are other options.
Saving Money on Water
Some viewers may consider this unethical hack as an opportunity to save a few bucks on their cruise beverages. It should be noted, however, that tap water onboard cruise ships is perfectly safe to drink. Guests can also get water from self-serve beverage stations, but should be courteous about refilling bottles or otherwise holding up the lines when other passengers are waiting to get their own drinks.
Carnival Cruise Line has come under fire in recent weeks about changes in bottled water prices. In just 17 months, the cruise line increased the price of its bottled water three times, an all-together 202% price hike on the 12-pack of 16.9-ounce bottles. Initially, the cost was just $4.95, but now it is $14.95.
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While this is just $1.25 per bottle – still less expensive than bottles of water that might be bought from an airport, theme park, or street vendor – it is quite a shocking increase from the original cost of $.41 per bottle, especially in such a relatively short time period.
Still, even such a dramatic price increase is no excuse for theft, deception, and tampering. It is a credit to Carnival Cruise Line that they investigated the video so thoroughly in order to identify the guest and take the appropriate action to ensure she will never be refilling Carnival water bottles illegally again.
