Carnival Cruise Line shares new ban on popular travel item
This new onboard ban has led to some confusion among Carnival cruise passengers.
In order to promote safety and security on their ships, Carnival and other cruise lines have a lot of rules and prohibit passengers from bringing a number of items on board.
Common items banned from cruise ships range from weapons and illegal drugs to fire hazards like travel steamers and any other type of appliance that contains a heating element.
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Cruise lines do, however, make some exceptions to their bans, such as allowing passengers to bring hair dryers and other hair styling tools and personal grooming devices.
Occasionally, cruise lines will add new items to their prohibited items lists when new safety concerns arise on board their ships.
Sometimes, even when passengers aren’t prohibited from bringing a certain item on board, they still may not be allowed to use it freely in any way they wish in all venues aboard a cruise ship.
For example, Carnival Cruise Line has rules for how passengers can use personal electronic devices in public spaces. If you want to listen to music or watch a TV show while lounging on the pool deck or in another public venue, you’re required to use earphones.
Speakers and radios are completely banned from Carnival cruise ships, however.
As Carnival kicks off the busy summer cruise season, the cruise line is reinforcing this personal device rule and its speaker ban, along with a number of other important onboard conduct guidelines.
Among these guidelines is a surprising new rule that bans another popular travel item from an unexpected onboard space.
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Carnival Cruise Line adds new ban on fan use in some venues
As of June 1, Carnival Cruise Line passengers are receiving a new cabin letter from the cruise line to remind them of some of its “Have Fun. Be Safe” conduct guidelines as they begin their cruise.
Along with reinforcing behavior rules as well as its smoking policy and illegal narcotics ban, the letter introduces a new ban on handheld fans that applies only to certain onboard venues.
“For safety reasons, handheld fans are not permitted in the nightclub or on any indoor dance floor. In addition, beverages are not allowed on any dance floor,” the letter explains.
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But what exactly does Carnival mean by handheld fans? Are fans still allowed on board?
Some passengers wanted clarification after the new “Have Fun. Be Safe” letter began to circulate online. Many Carnival cruisers began to reach out to the cruise line’s brand ambassador, John Heald, with questions about fans.
“Are fans allowed on board? Yes, they are,” Heald told his followers in a video message posted on June 4 where he addressed the new fan ban.
The new rule doesn’t mean that passengers can no longer bring small fans on board to use in their cabins, which Heald said is something that some cruise YouTubers reported.
Carnival brand ambassador clarifies new fan ban
“We have not changed any rule regarding the fans that some of you like to have in your cabin,” the brand ambassador explained. “The electric fans — no bigger than 12 inches — they are allowed, of course.”
“Please make sure they're in good working order,” he added. “but you can, of course, continue to bring fans.”
As for what kind of handheld fans are now banned from Carnival’s nightclub and indoor dance floors, Heald clarified that this rule applies to handheld paper fans — the folding hand fans that some people like to incorporate into dances.
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“These are the paper fans — the fans made of cardboard or those handheld fans — those are not allowed on any indoor dance floor,” Heald explained. “I should have been more specific.”
Heald also noted that despite this bit of confusion, he’s received a lot of positive feedback regarding the “Have Fun. Be Safe” in-cabin reminders.
“Please take the time to read them when you cruise again,” he added. “And thank you to everybody for adhering to them.”
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