Drinking age is 18 in the VI.

The legal drinking age or the age you can drink? LOL. I just came back and was talking to a 14 year old who was drinking alcohol in an eating establishment. He looked a bit older, but not certainly not 18. I guess it depends on where you go.

The legal drinking age in the US VI is 18. All states and DC that receive federal highway trust funds (all of them) must set the legal drinking age at 21 in order to be eligible.

AJ is right. Before the drinking age was standardized at 21 you had kids driving across state borders to buy alocohol in states where it was 18. Now I believe you do need to be 21 to bring alcohol back to the States with from the VI. So if you're under 21 you have to consume it here.

Does anyone know why the drinking age in the VI was set at 18 in the first place? The only positive I can see is that kids might learn to drink more responsibly while they are still living at home, like they do in Europe. The downside is that underage drinking here means 14, 15, 16 year olds who are frequently served in certain bars. As a young adult (24) it's also frustrating because so many of the bars end up getting overrun by teenagers.

Tour books state legal drinking age is 21. This is incorrect. The drinking age is 18 in the USVI, posted in most establishments. I think someone has it right, that it's to bring in the college kids. My son who is just 18 was with us and he looks young, and never did anyone ask for an ID. He also brought liqour home with him, no problems.

On the flip side... there are some people who just go crazy being able to drink who do things they might later regret. On our wedding day, while waiting to be tendered back to our ship in the bay (after the wedding/reception), the Kon Tiki boat was pulling in from a day out. A girl who obviously had too much rum punch on Kon Tiki was having fun showing all the people on our tender her bare chest by lifting her shirt. My husband got to see another woman's chest before we ever made it to our cabin on our wedding night! All of my family and wedding guests also got a good view. I've taught at the junior college level, and she definitely looked to be around that age - maybe 18-20 tops. But... it was Spring Break and she might not have minded showing her chest to hundreds of other people -our tender held about 350. (would she have normally done that if not drinking??)

Cruise ships set the age at 21 for the most part, so many college students look forward to ports with lower drinking ages.

Not so, most ships these days allow beer and wine to be sold to those 19 and over, no hard liquor unlesss 21.
As far as I can remember, the drinking laws were 18. It was never implemented for any reason, it just was. It was not as strictly inforced as it is now, although there are stories now of underage kids drinking at say, Duffy's for examble, but I understand that their friends that are legal, buy them the drinks!
Many states had it at 18 also but raised it to 21. I remember being in Florida for college with a fake ID showing I was 21 and then when I turned 21, they changed it back to 18! It's since been changed back to 21.
Ronnie

Thanks for the plug Ronnie. We do our best to card anyone in question. We don't even allow kids under 18 in the bar after 10.

Matt
I think Ronnie was talking about the parking lot on a friday night that i just walked through. It looked like a high school party. I know you guys do card .And you can not control who hangs out in the parking lot But i wish you could do something about the kids hanging out . it keeps alot of the older people away

Yeah. You are right about the parking lot. It's a never ending battle. Especially now with school being out. We have security that is not supposed to allow the kids to loiter, but you know how that goes. Thanks for the input.

Matt

Regarding cruise lines... the three lines I've been on the past three years have had 21 as their "alcohol age", and they code the onboard purchase cards with that info to keep underage purchases down. It's for this reason I had thought the fellow cruisers were looking forward to certain ports with the lower drinking ages such as 18. Still being in my twenties, I'd be in typical places the 21-year olds would hang out, and see the scheming going on to get others to purchase drinks for them or overhear their stories of days in port.

Ex: Holland America is my upcoming cruise, with an age of 21 for any alcohol.
"Alcoholic beverages will not be served to guests under age 21. "
source: http://www.hollandamerica.com/guests/category.do?category=obpolicies&topic=under21

NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line)- The cruiseline I was on when marrying on St John had a drinking age of 21 (and still does). "Guests must be 21 to purchase or drink alcohol or to gamble on the ship. "
source: http://www.ncl.com/more/fp_mi_w2n.htm

However, Celebrity seems to be more flexible with beer and wine as long as parents have signed a waiver - something I had not seen on NCL or HAL. We cruised Celebrity a while back in 12/2001.

"age requirements
Does Celebrity Cruises have a minimum drinking age for consumption of alcoholic beverages?
Celebrity will not serve alcoholic beverages while a vessel is at sea to guests under 18 years of age. In port, the minimum drinking age is 18 or 21 in accordance with local legal age limitations. No alcoholic beverages may be purchased ashore for consumption on board.
Parents may sign a waiver permitting their 18 to 20 year old children to drink beer and wine onboard."
source: http://www.celebrity.com/prepare/faq/answer.asp?s=168163208A&sid=57&fid=441

~ Mandy

Sorry, I know I read it ith my own eyes on a Royal Caribbean Cruise. SO, what I read may have been the same as Celebrity with the parental waiver. Did not look into any detail at all. It may have been the same on Carnival, who knows?
Ronnie

No problem Ronnie! I would assume it could vary from cruiseline to cruiseline, even when several are owned by the same company (like Royal Carribean and Celebrity are owned by the same company). And Carnival is known as "the fun ship" cruiseline...

🙂

I know I have several students at school whose families love vacationing on St Thomas and St John - and the parents enjoy taking their children there! The USVI sure do have a great reputation for families taking vacation. I know my husband and I certainly loved our land vacation there!

What I would give to be sitting at Shipwreck Landing right now....

~ Mandy

My son is 17 and I came upon him and his 17 y/o friend ordering daquiris at a resort bar while on STT. The age is 18, but 17 was close enough for the boys with me.