Culture Carnival’s New Rules Got Black Folks All in Their Feelings, But Others Say the Cruise Line is Justified - Cruise line bans drugs and Bluetooth speakers, stops playing hip-hop or rap, and no longer offers unlimited drinks packages. Blacks most affected.

Are Carnival's new rules restrictive, or racist? Some folks say it's the latter, and they're cancelling their reservations expeditiously.​

By Angela Wilson
Published July 2, 2025


An aerial view of the Port of Long Beach at dusk Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) / TikTok screenshot

Brawls, assaults, drunken fights, boots on the grounds and fans in hands just might have Carnival Cruise Line saying, "Enough is enough!" And some Black passengers are returning the favor, cancelling their existing reservations or cancelling the cruise line all together because they deem their new rules are racist. But some argue, "Are the new policies racist, or just restrictive?"

The discourse began after Carnival — who has the most allegations of serious crimes committed at sea than any other cruise line sailing from North America, per the FBI — implemented new rules. According to reports, as of June 1, Carnival passengers received a new letter to reinforce their guidelines and code of conduct.

Stricter Enforcement on Drugs​

“Marijuana, including cannabis and its derivatives, and other illegal substances, are unlawful and strictly prohibited on board,” the letter emphasized. "Smoking of any kind in undesignated areas such as staterooms and balconies is strictly prohibited." Even if marijuana is legal for recreational or medicinal use in your home state, it remains illegal under U.S. federal law. Since cruise ships sailing from U.S. ports operate under federal maritime law, all forms of cannabis are prohibited and Carnival has a zero tolerance policy.

If caught, passengers are immediately removed from the ship at the next port, with no refund, permanent ban, the turning over to law enforcement and possible fines.

Curfews​

Guests 17 years of age and under must be out of public areas by 1:00 AM unless they are being accompanied by an adult from their traveling party, aged 21 years of age or older. They are allowed to be in public areas after 1:00 AM only if they are involved in a supervised Club O2 (ages 15-17) or Circle "C" (ages 12-14) teen activity, as these youth programs often host late-night events that allow teens to be out later under staff supervision.

"Boots on the Ground," BUT Leave the Fans at Home​

Passengers can still enjoy those battery-powered fans onboard, but as for those non-battery-operated fans, leave those at home. Carnival cites "safety reasons" for the specific ban for hand-held fans, made popular by "Boots on the Ground: Where Them Fans At?" line dance by 803Fresh, where dancers loudly "clack" fans on certain parts of the song. The cruise line says the "clacking" could cause accidental injuries.

No More Hip-Hop?​

Although Carnival Cruise Line has not officially announced a ban on hip-hop or rap music in their clubs, significant online chatter from some Black passengers say they noticed a reduction or absence of the genre in the clubs.

Some online discussions suggest that Carnival might be moving towards a more "pre-approved" song selection for DJs — who should reportedly decline passenger's requests. The perception comes in the context of Carnival's efforts to address "rowdy crowds" and disruptive behavior on board.

Limited, Unlimited Drink Packages​

The cruise line always had a 15-drink limit per 24-hour period for the "Cheers!" alcoholic beverage package, but now, there's a perception that alleged enforcement has become stricter. Some Black cruisers feel this targets groups who tend to purchase these packages and enjoy lively celebrations.

No More Bluetooth Speakers​

Carnival has reinforced rules against guests playing their own music loudly in public areas, including by the pools and hallways. While ostensibly for everyone's comfort, many Black passengers feel this rule is selectively enforced against them. They argue that other groups might play different genres of music without facing the same level of scrutiny.

Of course folks took to TikTok to express their concerns about the rules.

"Carnival does not have to worry about me," one TikToker said, who said she cancelled her reservation for a friend's birthday. "We got the message loud and clear, we are not your demographic anymore. [...] Carnival decided they wanted to rebrand."

While some were saying goodbye to the cruise line, others welcomed the change. "Y'all have to learn how to act... I'm not gone lie.. y'all really made the value go down. I'm not mad at it." Another added: "I've never seen a carnival cruise video on social media that makes me want to go. It's like the Walmart of cruise lines," while a third wrote: "It's not racism but certain stuff becomes a liability after a while."

"It's not a crackdown on a color its a crackdown on people's behavior," one person reasoned. Other comments included: "Carnival got tired of being the Section 8 of the Sea," "God forbid the company want to protect their brand," and "What's racist about asking ppl to act right?"

Source (Archive)

 

[Real Ariana Grande]

It’s funny how no rich black people have jumped on the opportunity to create a cruise line that caters toward blacks and allows all these now-prohibited behaviors. Same with how no rich black people are trying to revitalize Detroit (which was once the richest city in the US).

Almost like they know niggers are ungrateful and will destroy everything given to them.

 

[drammamean]

I don't think it's all black people, because I've seen normal decent black people and the innocent black kids get defended here. It's the YNs and ratchet people that people complain about and make fun of here.

People just like to be edgy here so I've learned to just take it with a grain of salt.

Technically it's not all but I would trade the blacks I like for never having to see a black ever again.

Even the good ones have "cousins" that are complete shitheads that they let do whatever they want, so fuck the whole lot of them.

 

[Apustajan apustaja]

One: the booze package is 15 drinks in a 24--hour period. I'm not a big drinker. To me this seems like a dangerous amount of alcohol for one person, especially if repeated multiple days in a row. Is this really how much people who are not experienced alcoholics drink??

As I previously counted, it is about a whole bottle of liquor. It is a lot. I, an experienced semi-alcoholic of about 200 freedom units (92 kg) can certainly drink that in a 24h period, hell even between dinner and midnight.
Hard core alcoholics usually plane out at about twice that, they go to the liquor store in the mornings, not cruises.. If you drink one bottle a day for 3 weeks straight i recommend medical intervention in order to come off it safely, or at least buy a few cases of beer and taper out. If you keep going like that for a year or ten without a break, you will die.

Your averege inexperienced drinker will be fucked up, and your averege inexperienced drinkette will be passed out. Your averege semi-alcoholic like me will look at the previous two and realise it is time to go to bed because nothing fun is happening anymore, unless some black gentleman has some weed.

If you are fat, your tollerance grows.

Now you can give me money for booze, because it is not really my job to educate you about the alcoholic community in the midst of the healthiarchy . My pronouns are Kippis/Skål/Cheers.

 

[08903248752]

One: the booze package is 15 drinks in a 24--hour period. I'm not a big drinker. To me this seems like a dangerous amount of alcohol for one person, especially if repeated multiple days in a row. Is this really how much people who are not experienced alcoholics drink??

Niggers are cheap and the drink package is expensive; only one nigger per group of 5-8 buys the package and then they split the cost and order everything through them. That works out to roughly 2-3 drinks per person a day.

WHY ARE BLACKS SO LOUD

It's animalistic posturing. They know its irritating and that you dislike it, so when you don't aggressively confront them, they get to feel like they won and they punked you. And if you do get aggressive, it gives them an excuse to be violent, which is another favorite pastime.

TL;DR they like deliberately provoking others for a feeling of power

ceiling chirps

this one is because of how cheap and stingy they are, because practically all niggers rent and they "ain't finna" spend money fixing it, so unless the landlord comes in and replaces the battery, it ain't happening.

 

[Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0]

Bill Cosby tried that with the pound cake speech. It didn't go well.

He's not even wrong.

It was when The Cos pointed out that and the sagging pants that he finally got outed as a rapist...

 

[JosephStalin]

Not just legally compelled, the 101st Airborne was deployed to Arkansas to force integration in schools.

https://www.military.com/military-life/6-times-military-was-used-suppress-civilian-uprisings-us.html

 

[smartypants302]

​

The pendulum swing is very real boys.

It is White Boy Summer.

Up for 4 weeks on youtube

 

[moocow]

Lol just how many families/groups were using one person "unlimited " drinks thst limiting it to 15 a day is gonna cause a problem.

I guarantee you this is what's pissed them off far more than the drug crackdown and apparent ban on monkey music. Carnival cruises are often called "booze cruises" for how easy and relatively cheap it is to stay completely smashed for the entire duration of a cruise. An unscrupulous family of six using one package and taking advantage of loose enforcement has got to be a massive cash loss for Carnival, so I don't blame them one bit for enforcing that.

She will probably never go on a cruise again, or at least until the demographics aren't abysmal

Tell her to try Norwegian if she ever tries again. Very few (if any) niggers, much classier ships and much better music selections.

 

[millais]

They'll never be able to appropriate classical music, they even play classical music in certain establishments to keep black people away

For "Juneteenth" commemoration, the local classical music public radio station played a few hours of orchestral music composed by the "greatest" 20th century American black composers, mostly women I never heard of. It was terrible stuff, even worse and more amateurish and unpleasant than the trash music by regular "contemporary" composers.

Regarding that very long dress code pic from a few pages back, I thought it was funny that workboots are banned. I'm guessing it's because workboots would be a deadly weapon in a bar fight. But there is the long running jokes of lazy blacks not having workboots due to aversion to hard work.

 

[northstar747]

imagine niggers on this cruise

 

[The Taco Santo!]

But some argue, "Are the new policies racist, or just restrictive?"

Anything that prevents a black person from following any whim that strikes them at any time or place is racist, of course.

 

[The Taco Santo!]

Those river cruises do look nice, though.
I've been trying to talk Mr. Cheese into one.

I highly recommend a Danube river cruise. Me and the missus really enjoyed that one a few years back.

 

[Kugelsak Kastengrus 6th]

View attachment 7611976

imagine niggers on this cruise

While I know niggers are partial to yugioh, a few have enough brain cells to play mtg.

 

[one_time_user]

For "Juneteenth" commemoration, the local classical music public radio station played a few hours of orchestral music composed by the "greatest" 20th century American black composers, mostly women I never heard of. It was terrible stuff, even worse and more amateurish and unpleasant than the trash music by regular "contemporary" composers.

Regarding that very long dress code pic from a few pages back, I thought it was funny that workboots are banned. I'm guessing it's because workboots would be a deadly weapon in a bar fight. But there is the long running jokes of lazy blacks not having workboots due to aversion to hard work.

It's because originally, black people were obsessed with Timberlands and the men have now moved on to any steel toed boots.

 

[George Lucas]

One: the booze package is 15 drinks in a 24--hour period. I'm not a big drinker. To me this seems like a dangerous amount of alcohol for one person, especially if repeated multiple days in a row. Is this really how much people who are not experienced alcoholics drink??

The point of the rule isn’t about how much normal people drink or health. If someone is visibly drunk, a bartender is legally obligated not to serve him. The point of the rule is to keep one person from buying the drink package and then sharing drinks as a loophole to not pay.

That is, the limit is high enough to be transparent to honest people.

 

[CharlesBarkley]

View attachment 7611976

imagine niggers on this cruise

lol this is the one time where niggers would be a blessing.

“Yo bro, what’s that card game ya playing? You a poker boat?”

“Uhhhh it’s a white deck with a splash of burn.”

“… you niggas are gay.”

>proceeds to get super drunk, try to steal the magic cards, and has a family fight knocking into every single child and scared nerd.

 

[Iron Jaguar]

That dress code pic was great because it reminded me of when Pizza Hut in my home city had a very similar dress code that was clearly designed to keep Maoris out.

 

[northstar747]

lol this is the one time where niggers would be a blessing.

you ever see niggers play dominos?

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

you ever see niggers play dominos?

I'm assuming like PR but more guns?

 

[a terminal posture]

View attachment 7611976

imagine niggers on this cruise

imagine the smell of the actual Magic players.