Yo, peeps! Check this out, there’s this lady named Melinda Van Veldhuizen from Texas who went on a cruise recently and got hit with a lifetime ban. Why, you may ask? Well, she had the audacity to bring some CBD gummies on board. Can you believe that? Let me break it down for y’all.
So, Melinda’s a regular cruiser, and she’s been on so many trips that she even gets priority boarding now. Her most recent voyage was supposed to be a celebration of her 21st wedding anniversary and her son’s senior year of high school. They were gonna hit up Aruba, Curaçao, and the Dominican Republic. Sounds like a dope trip, right?
But hold up, when Melinda was going through security at the Port of Miami, a security officer found those CBD gummies in her bag. She explained that she needed them to help her sleep on the trip. No harm in that, right? Well, apparently the cruise ship didn’t think so.
They took Melinda away from her fam and interrogated her for two-and-a-half hours. Talk about treating her like a criminal! At first, she thought it was just a simple mistake, like when you accidentally leave a bottle of water in your backpack at TSA. But nah, they were dead serious about those CBD gummies.
Now here’s the thing. CBD has been legal in the U.S. since 2018, thanks to the Farm Bill. As long as it contains less than 0.3% THC, it’s all good. And guess what? Melinda’s gummies had even less than that, just 0.01% THC. So what’s the problem here?
Well, it turns out that all major cruise lines don’t allow CBD on board due to federal restrictions. They don’t care if it’s legal or not, they just follow their own rules. The captain even questioned Melinda, asking if she had a marijuana card or a diagnosis. She had to school him real quick and let him know that CBD ain’t the same as marijuana. It’s just CBD, nothin’ illegal about it.
But guess what? Melinda and her family didn’t get to enjoy their vacation. They were hit with a lifetime ban from Carnival Cruise Line. That’s right, they can never cruise with Carnival again. And to add insult to injury, the cruise line didn’t even refund Melinda for the cost of the trip, which was over five grand! They offered to reimburse her for only a fraction of that, but she wasn’t havin’ it.
So Melinda did what any self-respecting person would do. She hired a lawyer to fight back. The lawyer said that what the cruise line did was straight-up outrageous. They had no right to hold her when she did nothing wrong in the first place. You see, the rules clearly state that marijuana and illegal substances are prohibited on board. But CBD ain’t none of those things!
And it’s not just Carnival Cruise Line, y’all. Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, and Norwegian Cruise Line all have similar policies in place. They don’t mess with cannabis or CBD in any form. So if you’re thinking about bringin’ your CBD gummies on a cruise, think again.
In the end, we hope Melinda gets her money back and that ridiculous ban lifted. The cruise lines need to get with the times and recognize that CBD is here to stay. It’s time to chill out and let people enjoy their vacations without treating them like criminals.
So there you have it, fam. That’s the story of how one woman got banned for bringin’ CBD sleep gummies on a cruise ship. Stay woke and watch out for them CBD restrictions, my friends. Peace out!