For many cruise-goers, part of the joy of living on a huge ship for a couple of days is having everything one could wish for while on vacation, including drinks, at their disposal at all times.
That is why cruise lines often offer drink packages that passengers can prepay for, so they do not have to worry about payment every time they order a drink on the ship.
One Carnival Cruise passenger, however, recently called out the cruise line on TikTok after she said staff continuously made an unreasonable request whenever she tried to order a drink.
Drea J (@dreajgoestiny) filmed an interaction between herself, a friend, and a Carnival Cruise manager. In it, she explains what had allegedly been happening to her. After she posted the clip on TikTok, it got over 42,300 views.
What Went Wrong During The Carnival Cruise Vacation?
“Carnival cruise celebration said this is not me… I’m a fraud,” she wrote in the video’s thumbnail.
In the text overlay, Drea explained what she says she had to do to get drinks on the ship.
“I had [to] take my wig off to get my drinks,” she wrote. “Carnival cruise count your f—— days. Listen to my video, this is the manager.”
In the video, Drea and her friend are seen speaking with a Carnival manager. The manager mostly remains quiet while the two explain what allegedly happened.
“Can you look at that picture and look at her with this wig on and tell that it’s her?” her friend asks.
The manager appears to agree that it is.
“So what is the problem that your bartenders are having?” the friend continues. “Because I’m not understanding why they keep having her remove her wig in front of multiple people at a bar.”
Then Drea starts explaining the situation to the manager.
“The first time I went to the bar, they asked me, ‘Is this you?’” she says. “And I said, ‘Yeah, it’s me.’”
According to Drea, the bartender then asked for her birthday, which she gave. But that allegedly did not resolve the issue.
“Then the man said, ‘No, that’s not you,’” she recalls. “I said, ‘I have a wig.’ He said, ‘It’s still not you.’”
Drea says this did not only happen once.
“Every time, basically, I gotta push my wig back to show that my hair is blond like the picture,” she says.
She says she should not have to do that just because she changed her hair for the night.
“My face is the same,” she says. “The only thing that changed is I put a wig on.”
One Interaction With Carnival Staff Was Particularly Invasive, She Says
According to her, one bartender did not want to give her card back until she showed additional photos on her phone.
“I had to show him my photos in my phone, and then he finally gave me my card back,” she says. “Because he wasn’t gonna give me my card back.”
In the caption, Drea says Carnival accused her of being a fraud and that she had to take her wig off at the bar in front of other people to receive her drinks.
“I paid for a drink package & couldn’t get drinks because I changed my hair!” she wrote. “This is discrimination!!!! I look the same the only thing I have on is lipstick & a wig (NO MAKEUP) other than the lipstick”
Drea also posted a follow-up video speaking to another manager, who she says was the fourth person she spoke to about the issue.
The outcome seemed to be similar. The manager listened, said he understood, and told her the case would be referred to a higher-up.
Why Would Carnival Check The Card?
Carnival uses a Sail & Sign card system on board its ships.
According to Carnival, Sail & Sign is the cruise line’s cashless onboard credit program, which lets guests charge onboard purchases and gratuities to a personal account.
Carnival’s CHEERS! drink package is also tied to the guest using it through this card. The cruise line says the package is non-transferable, cannot be shared, and is intended for personal use only.
So it makes sense that bartenders would need to make sure the person using a card is actually the person assigned to it.
However, repeatedly asking a passenger to verify their identity just to order drinks appears unusual.
The closest similar examples online mostly involve the reboarding process, when Carnival security may ask guests to remove hats, sunglasses, or other accessories to match them to their ID photo.
BroBible has reached out to Carnival Cruise Line via email for comment and more information on the matter.
How Far Would You Go To Prove Your Identity?
In the comments, viewers said Carnival staff should have had other ways to verify her identity.
“Well so I’m confused because to get on the cruise ship or even through the airport you have to have an ID,” one commenter wrote. “Where did they think you got this ID from and just changed into a different person you literally boarded the ship with this ID and your face didn’t change that was very ignorant of them.”
Another viewer said the situation would feel even worse for people who wear wigs for medical reasons.
“I wear a wig due to alopecia and I will NOT be taking it off for a drink,” they wrote. “Verify it’s me some other way because WHAT!!! My face is my face, people change hairstyles sometimes daily, like be for real. And I’ve been on 24 Carnival cruises smh”
Someone else said their own family member had a similar experience.
“They did this to my mom too who has alopecia,” they wrote. “It was terrible, and really dehumanizing and they need to figure this crap out.”
@dreajgoestiny Carnival cruise said I’m a fraud I had to take my wig off at the bar in front of everyone to receive my drinks bc they said I did not look like my photo on my sail n sign card! I paid for a drink package & couldn’t get drinks because I changed my hair! This is discrimination!!!! I look the same the only thing I have on is lipstick & a wig (NO MAKEUP) other than the lipstick 💄 #carnivalcruise #fraud #myfirstcruise #hairstylist #drinkpackage
BroBible has also contacted DreaJ via TikTok messages for comment.