New Carnival Luggage Policy

This stirred a bit of debate on one of my travel agent forums.

Carnival is requiring that all luggage that is going to be given to porters and later delivered to cabins be left unlocked so that they can search them.

These are similar rules to the airlines but is Carnival's motive to boost liquor sales on board the ship or for the safety of the passengers? What are your thoughts?

"SECURITY SCREENING AND PROHIBITED ITEMS POLICY

In order to maintain a safe and secure environment, Carnival prohibits certain items onboard, i.e., weapons, candles, irons, alcohol, or other dangerous goods. According to our policy, Carnival conducts security scanning of all luggage and if prohibited items are found, they will be removed and stored for safekeeping until the end of the voyage. Retained item(s) will be delivered to the guest’s stateroom on the last night of their cruise. Unsealed liquids that are prohibited will be discarded, as well as any unclaimed items left after the voyage, and no compensation will be given in either case.

IMPORTANT - All luggage must be unlocked before being turned over to the porters in order to avoid any inconvenience or delay in delivering the luggage to the guest’s stateroom.

For additional information, please refer to the terms and conditions located in our cruise ticket contract and related FAQs on Carnival.com.

This policy will now be strictly enforced effective with January 30th sailings of all of our Miami ships, with the rest of the fleet to follow shortly thereafter. We kindly request your assistance in making sure your clients are aware of this policy so they can be properly prepared once they arrive at the port for their cruise departure."