Never had such a problem bringing on soda..

[unionville3]

Just off the Magic in Galveston in June - we had a rolling carry on with a case of water, a 12 pack of sprite zero cans, and a 12 pack of kids size water. We purchased a bottle of tequila from bon voyage, so no smuggling. This was our first time out of Galveston and we were quite surprised at how carefully they checked each bottle of water and even shook them. They actually did not open the box of sprite zero cans. Glad we were at port early or I could see this being a long process. Our bottles were returned loose to the rolling suitcase. We bring water onboard for the convenience! Yes, we drink the water at the Lido and dining rooms too and even purchase the large bottle as we leave the ship for excursions. Bottled water is a part of our life at home so why shouldn't we bring it onboard too.

[ChristieDawn]

Next time bring a 12-pack of cans - they are much easier to deal with.

 

Last December when we took 12 packs of cokes they opened the sealed carton and took each can out to examine...

[DEBnGAB]

They still opened every carton with cans. I noticed everyone walking around with 12 pack cans had tape over the broken box. It just slows down the process. I feel if people are trying to follow the rules, they still get punished by this ridiculously long wait. They had 2 officers checking over 4,000 people

 

I started putting the water and soda in my checked bag....yes, they say not to and no it wont get taken away (ymmv but I've been fine). I do get a note in the bag saying it was checked and I am totally fine with that...rather them do it on their time than hold up the line at security.

[waldocruiser1]

I always have done this, but I think that this may contribute to the "swollen feet and ankles" that a lot of us get.

 

I never add salt to food...ever...:) and I want to avoid ALL possibilities that contribute to this. I don't even eat soup (which I know has the highest content of salt). :o

 

I would agree with that, at times I can taste the salt in the water, especially if it is warm.

 

I bring bottled water for the same reason, and have always brought a backpack full of bottles. It works well, and I bring on 30+ for the 2 of us, I think they give up after checking a few, and have never counted.

 

Then in the cabin, I can use the backpack for excursions, and bringing home gifts.

[spleenstomper]

Next time bring a 12-pack of cans - they are much easier to deal with.

 

Nope, they had to slice open each sealed 12 pack and take them all out then put them all back then seal the box with tape times 5 12 packs.

[waldocruiser1]

How do you figure the ship's water has anything to do with swollen ankles? I am a habitual salter and still have not had the swollen ankle problem. Do you think that Carnival adds salt to the water they process for drinking??

 

where do you think the water comes from they process? The ocean, and what does the ocean water have in it? Salt, and what does salt do to some people? retain water and swollen ankles and joints.

[dixieva]

If you don't want to drink the ship's water just carry on a couple of bottles and buy more at your first port stop. That's what we do.

[waldocruiser1]

There is a water bottle out with a built in filter, so you can use tap water and hopefully the filter will take out impurities in the water. This is the link for the Bobble Water Bottle. They are everywhere...we got ours at Best Buy of all places, but have also seen them at Old Navy and Walmart. Price is $9.99

 

http://www.greendepot.com/greendepot/product.asp?prod_name=Bobble+Water+Bottle+With+Built-In+Filter&pf_id=MOVW

 

My DD took one on her trip to Europe and loves it!

 

We took them on our cruise in January, and while they do work well, they are a little restricting to use, have to suck hard on the cap to make work. the filter is a little restricting.

 

On our next we are thinking of a pitcher with filter, then pour in our bottle to take with us. We have seen some nice travel types.

[waldocruiser1]

First of all, I never ridiculed you. I simply asked a question. I also never suggested that youdid not get sowllen feet or ankles, just said I never have. I drink both the water I bring on board and ships water and have not had a problem. In fact, I don't think anyone ridiculed you. Maybe you are sensitive to more than just salt?? Relax a bit.

 

BTW - Britta makes a great water bottle that you can fill and it filters the water.

 

Now with the water condition being talked about, I find the "cheap" bottled water also gets a salty taste if warm, so I only buy certain brands that I know I can drink at any temperature. (I know it is just me and DW)

[andie1969]

When we went on Conquest out of NOLA, we had 12 bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper and two bottles of wine. The wine was wrapped in a hand towel. They examined and shook all 12 (sealed) bottles of soda, but did not even unwrap the wine. I found that kind of funny. :rolleyes:

 

This happened to us out of Charleston in Feb. too, they shook all our water and soda several times, but never even took the wine out of my tote.

[debster11]

Trust me, I was doing more than thanking them! LOL! Our Sail and Sign was over $2,000 ( the norm for us) because we pay for what we want- no smuggling. We do not bring on drinks to save money, it doesn;t save that much. It's for convenience..

The family across the hall from us ordered OJ from room service all day long (never tipping by the way) leaving huge messes for our poor cabin steward to clean, so they could mix their smuggled booze in. I had to drink the water from the huge bottles in the room instead of a nice small one because of folks like them!

 

Ok I just have to ask, not trying to flame, but you know this how? I mean did you hide in their room to see that they were mixing the orange juice with their smuggled booze and then stop evey waiter to see if they tipped them? Honestly I am just curious.

 

Smuggling will always be done whether the drinks were free or not. Do I do it? I have in the past, never having gotten caught, but don't anymore because it just isn't worth it. I order from BV. We also don't bring on water anymore because it is such a pain to have them shake every bottle and then the packaging is all messed up.

[waldocruiser1]

You can blame all the cruisers that do not follow the rules and try to smuggle alcohol onboard. I was looking at photos recently and there was a woman showing you how she put her alcohol in water bottles. There should be something more done than just confiscating the alcohol. All you smugglers come on, defend breaking the rules.

 

You know, they should treat the unlabled smugglers for what they are,

 

If you are bringing "alcohol" on in a different bottle or rum runner, how do they (carnival) know what it is, could be poison, or explosive, treat it like the airport, fines, no sailing, charges, that would slow the problem.

 

I mean if someone came to the port and was smuggling a gun on the ship, because he wanted to sell it in one of the ports, and they found it they would call the law and off they would go, no cruise for you.

[waldocruiser1]

I find that prices on the ship are comparable to when I go out to eat or drink at a bar. Not sure why the prices are considered high. Do people smuggle drinks into a restaurant or bar? Don't think so.

 

But back on topic... kudos to carnival for stepping up searches.. there could be dangerous liquids they may be looking for in these days of terrorism.

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

Prices are considered high, because in your home town, you don't go out and drink all day for 7 days in a row running up hundreds of dollars in alcohol bills. If everyone only had 1 or 2 per day they would not think the price was high.

[kyrisong1]

The Brita pitcher will reduce chlorine, copper, cadmium, and mercury.

 

The Brita faucet filter will reduce Lead, TTHM, VOCs, lindane (pesticide), 2,4-D, alachlor, atrazine (herbicide), Chlorine (taste and odor) and sediment.

 

However, Brita also uses an activated carbon filter, so it doesn't remove sodium either.

 

Maggie

Darn, looks like I'll still be toting the water!!!! Thanks for the imput!!!

Appreciate it, Carole

[sparks1093]

Prices are considered high, because in your home town, you don't go out and drink all day for 7 days in a row running up hundreds of dollars in alcohol bills. If everyone only had 1 or 2 per day they would not think the price was high.

 

Maybe people shouldn't drink all day every day, or they should budget their money more effectively;).

[waldocruiser1]

Ok I just have to ask, not trying to flame, but you know this how? I mean did you hide in their room to see that they were mixing the orange juice with their smuggled booze and then stop evey waiter to see if they tipped them? Honestly I am just curious.

 

Smuggling will always be done whether the drinks were free or not. Do I do it? I have in the past, never having gotten caught, but don't anymore because it just isn't worth it. I order from BV. We also don't bring on water anymore because it is such a pain to have them shake every bottle and then the packaging is all messed up.

 

I was wondering the same thing, How did they know they did not tip? did they wait and ask the waiter eachtime, what a waste of time on a vacation.

 

So now I wonder, if you bought a bottle of vodka from BV department, and then asked your cabin steward to bring you a pitcher of OJ and keep it refilled would they do it for a good tip?

[kyrisong1]

First of all, I never ridiculed you. I simply asked a question. I also never suggested that youdid not get sowllen feet or ankles, just said I never have. I drink both the water I bring on board and ships water and have not had a problem. In fact, I don't think anyone ridiculed you. Maybe you are sensitive to more than just salt?? Relax a bit.

 

BTW - Britta makes a great water bottle that you can fill and it filters the water.

I didn't actually say you ridiculed me, but I've seen threads on here where people have argued so strongly against the possibility of the water on the ship being a problem with swelling, believe me it has gone on.

If you google the desalination process from sea water to potable water you will find the info that says it's impossible to make it completely salt free, it's delicious water, and I would drink it if I could.

You asked why we thought the water is causing problems, do they add salt???

Well the water is made from sea water, put through the filtering system. So no they don't add salt, but it does seem to bother some people.

The way you worded the question seemed snarky to me.

People know their own bodies and know what works for them, water is subjective as food is, lets go with that huh???

Cheers, Carole

[Cruisingzs]

Ok I just have to ask, not trying to flame, but you know this how? I mean did you hide in their room to see that they were mixing the orange juice with their smuggled booze and then stop evey waiter to see if they tipped them? Honestly I am just curious.

 

Smuggling will always be done whether the drinks were free or not. Do I do it? I have in the past, never having gotten caught, but don't anymore because it just isn't worth it. I order from BV. We also don't bring on water anymore because it is such a pain to have them shake every bottle and then the packaging is all messed up.

 

Security was called on them several times. The cabin steward complained about them and they bragged about sneaking on the booze. These two cabins bacame VERY infamous on our deck. Once when my neighbor confronted them at 3:00am about using the hallway as their personal club, she told them to atleast tip the poor guys and they replied, "Why, it's free"....

[kyrisong1]

I've been on 8 cruises (6 out of Galveston) and we always bring on water. Sometimes we bring on soda. In January out of Galveston they were VERY strict. If you beverages with you then you had to go to a special table where they remove every item. I had water this time (no soda) that was in a shrink wrapped package. The gentlemen had to remove every single bottle and examine it.

 

I jokingly told him that I knew he had a job that he had to do, but that he would find out after inspecting all bottles that they were in fact just water. I felt bad that he had to go through that. It was somewhat of an inconvenicne for me but oh well. I did notice there were a lot of bottles that had been confiscated.

 

I've cruised with people who have smuggled beer on in the past but thank goodness they were not with us that day. Talk about embarassing, lol. Now that they offer Dr. Pepper we don't carry on any sodas, we buy a soda card.

 

Now, I am not a water snob. But, I to am of the opinion that the water on board causes me to swell. Do I know that for a fact? No. I carry on my water and therefore have it in my room and available for when we are in port.

 

Just the way I like to do things. :)

Just thinking, they could really speed up this process if they let you bring liter bottles onboard!!!

Has anyone been able to get bottled water with a soda card? This might be a good answer too!! I seriously drink at least 4 bottles of water a day, and that's a low estimate, I'm one who believes in pushing water!!! It's good for you.

[Cruisingzs]

I was wondering the same thing, How did they know they did not tip? did they wait and ask the waiter eachtime, what a waste of time on a vacation.

 

So now I wonder, if you bought a bottle of vodka from BV department, and then asked your cabin steward to bring you a pitcher of OJ and keep it refilled would they do it for a good tip?

 

These kids drank in the hallway every night and mixed drinks from their flasks. Room service came as late as 4:00am on night. The server was never allowed in the room. That is why the cabin steward got involved because it was strange. It's been discussed here MANY times that room service is not in the tip pool. It is customary to tip $1-2 for each delivery as it is a different server every time. This is my 11th cruise and 5th Carnival. I have NEVER seen anything like this group.. They had atleast 10 glasses of Oj delivered at a time all hours of the day and night. Security finally put a stop to their shenanigans by the fourth night

[Cruisingzs]

Just thinking, they could really speed up this process if they let you bring liter bottles onboard!!!

Has anyone been able to get bottled water with a soda card? This might be a good answer too!! I seriously drink at least 4 bottles of water a day, and that's a low estimate, I'm one who believes in pushing water!!! It's good for you.

 

No bottled water with the soda card. But ice water is available from any bar. We just like to have a cold glass of water each morning to take meds.

[big_duck]

And you can blame Carnivals ridiculously high prices for drinks for the alcohol smugglers...:rolleyes:

 

But, but, but the smugglers all claim to still have a high S&S bill. They only smuggle for the convenience of having drinks in their room.

[luv2trvlnow]

I will say that they are crazy strict in Galveston lately. We went on the Magic in March and they checked every bottle. The one guy was showing the other one what to look for. They checked each seal carefully and shook the bottles.

 

My son was at another table and that guy was a complete jerk. He was checking everything so carefully. He then looked at my son's bottle of Root Beer. Checked at it carefully then decided he would open it even though he said he believed it was Root Beer. The reason he gave was "because he could." Another example of people who get so full of themselves because they have a little power. Haven't had this problem at the other ports.

 

Sharon

[skridge]

And you can blame Carnivals ridiculously high prices for drinks for the alcohol smugglers...:rolleyes:

 

So very true!!:D

[kyrisong1]

We only drink one or two a day, I'm too old to party like a 20 year old, but we still have a high S&S card........... I like to shop :D