snacks for shore excursions

[peekskillny]

This will be my first cruise and I am traveling with a 3, 8 and 15 yr old. I was wondering if I should bring snacks (fruit rollups etc) on the cruise for shore excursions. I hate to spend a lot of money on food while on an excursion when we could be eating free on the ship. I was also thinking about bringing a case of water and bringing some along. All of you with kids know that its important to have a snack handy at all times. Any thoughts? I am going on RC Grandeur of the Sea in August.

Thanks

[bld16]

When we cruised last I took along, granola bars and trail mix. They didn't melt! We needed them once in awhile, but I took way too many. So plan to take hald of what you think you will need. We took a camel pack instead of water bottles. Just filled it with ice and water from the room. Worked great for us and didn't have to lug extra stuff around. Besides I just let my husband take the back pack with all the goodies in it, including sun screen and then I don't have to carry anything!

[justmarie]

I also found that taking baby wipes helped, along with non melting snacks

[cruisinqt]

You don't really have to go buy a bunch of snacks and then pack them and lug them around with you. There are plenty of snacks aboard the ship that are free.;) We grab several of the miniature cereal boxes at breakfast and they make a perfect snack for a little one. My kids love the Cheerios and Fruit Loops the best. We also bring along baggies to put cookies and fresh fruit into from the buffet. We have been on Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and will be taking our first cruise on Princess this December. And every single cruise line has had a large variety of the miniature cereal boxes at breakfast. As well as fresh fruit and cookies at the lunch buffet.

 

Take my advice and save yourself some time and money by utilizing the free food on the ship to snack on. You paid for it, you might as well take advantage of it. Oh, and don't forget that room service is free, so your kids can have milk and cookies delivered every night around bed time for free. :D Just be sure to leave a tip to the guy who delivers it, he works hard and gets paid little.

[angelsx4]

You might need a handful of just snacks to keep them occupied, some candy, gum(did I say that?), but they won't be "hungry". LOL Maybe some string cheese, put in your cabin fridge as soon as you board/open your luggage. You may want some nuts, something to bring down the sugar high from all the desserts they'll be sampling. The crew will spoil them rotten.

[melissa593]

You don't really have to go buy a bunch of snacks and then pack them and lug them around with you. There are plenty of snacks aboard the ship that are free.;) We grab several of the miniature cereal boxes at breakfast and they make a perfect snack for a little one. My kids love the Cheerios and Fruit Loops the best. We also bring along baggies to put cookies and fresh fruit into from the buffet. We have been on Norwegian, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and will be taking our first cruise on Princess this December. And every single cruise line has had a large variety of the miniature cereal boxes at breakfast. As well as fresh fruit and cookies at the lunch buffet.

 

Take my advice and save yourself some time and money by utilizing the free food on the ship to snack on. You paid for it, you might as well take advantage of it. Oh, and don't forget that room service is free, so your kids can have milk and cookies delivered every night around bed time for free. :D Just be sure to leave a tip to the guy who delivers it, he works hard and gets paid little.

cruisinqt,

fab idea! I never would have thought of that and baggies won't melt in your suitcase!!! and no wasted snacks etc! I am definitely doing that on my westrn carib in dec. My 9 yr old especially loves to eat all day long (we joke that the cruise is losing money on my family--kids love steak, lobster, shrimp, sushi---and eat ALOT!)

Thanks for the idea!

Melissa

[MrsPete]

This will be my first cruise and I am traveling with a 3, 8 and 15 yr old. I was wondering if I should bring snacks (fruit rollups etc) on the cruise for shore excursions. I hate to spend a lot of money on food while on an excursion when we could be eating free on the ship. I was also thinking about bringing a case of water and bringing some along. All of you with kids know that its important to have a snack handy at all times. Any thoughts? I am going on RC Grandeur of the Sea in August.

Thanks

 

I always take along some pre-packaged snacks for shore excursions. We like granola bars, cheese-its, packaged peanuts -- that sort of stuff. No chocolate -- too messy. If these don't get used, there's no problem bringing pre-packaged stuff back through customs.

 

I also take small ziplocks, which are useful for shore excursion snacks AND in-room snacks for the kids.

 

As for water, I suggest that you bring several EMPTY water bottles for each family member. The water onboard is purified and equal in quality to bottled stuff at your grocery store, so there's really no need to bother with the heavy bottles and the possibility of breaking/leaking on your clothes. You can re-use the bottles all week long, and you'll save a ton. When you leave the ship for ports, you'll see crew members selling bottles of chilled water for $2-3 -- too much for one bottle of water. I also recommend that you take a round-the-neck strap to tote the water bottle.

[kitty9]

One note of caution: make sure that what you take off the ship can legally be taken off. The islands are getting very, very picky about cruise passengers taking food off ships, and there have been times when local agents have confiscated food from passengers. On one of my recent cruises, the cruise director kept announcing every five minutes that food was not to be taken off the ship and that there were local authorities at the bottom of the gangway checking bags and taking away food.

[MrsPete]

One note of caution: make sure that what you take off the ship can legally be taken off. The islands are getting very, very picky about cruise passengers taking food off ships, and there have been times when local agents have confiscated food from passengers. On one of my recent cruises, the cruise director kept announcing every five minutes that food was not to be taken off the ship and that there were local authorities at the bottom of the gangway checking bags and taking away food.

Keep in mind that this does not mean pre-packaged, sealed food such as cheese crackers. Those things pose no danger to the local ecology,and they are 100% legal.

[cruisinqt]

The pre-packaged cereal boxes found at breakfast are air tight sealed containers and are completely okay to take off of the ship, and they're free too! That also goes for the child sized milk cartons at breakfast. We put the milk cartons in our collapsible cooler we brought along and a few canned beverages,too. With the milk and cereal, you have completely free snacks to bring along for your child. It saves you the hassle of having to bring extra snacks on board and it saves you money too.;)

 

The main thing the authorities are worried about us bringing into their countries is fresh produce such as fruit or vegetables. They confiscate the same things the authorities at the airport would confiscate. I have avoided the whole fruit thing, and instead have brought along pre-packaged items that I know are okay. If it's in a sealed, airtight container it cannot contaminate anything and that's what the authorities are worried about. My cabin steward said anything that's pre-packaged and sealed up tight are okay.:)

 

I have actually taken cookies and other snacks into port in baggies and it's never been a problem.;) I figure if they take the baggie of cookies and snacks I snagged from the buffet away, I'm not out a lot of money or anything because it was free. Cozumel and Grand Caymen were very lenient. But Jamaica was quite strict. They took everything out of your bag and examined it. I guess it's according to what port you're going to as to how strict they are. But I've never had them take away the milk cartons in our cooler or the cereal boxes in our back packs.

 

I also think the cruise lines make a big deal about our not bringing food off of the ship because it costs them money. If everyone on board brought food off of the ship it could become quite costly. I'm not saying there aren't laws about bringing certain food items into a country, I'm just saying that I think the cruise lines press the issue and try to make us think we can't bring anything off of the ship, which is not true. I know for a fact that the cereal boxes and milk are okay. I would just say that you should use your common sense in this matter and you should be okay.:)

[kitty9]

You cannot take meat products off the ship either. So if you ring up room service and ask them for sandwiches to take to the beach, they cannot be taken off the ship.

[Casshew]

T

I have actually taken cookies and other snacks into port in baggies and it's never been a problem.;)

 

We do that all the time, grab a muffin or a cookie from the buffet, wrap it in a napkin etc... and eat it on the shore excursion if we get hungry. We have never had a problem.

[shrimp0]

My son is a very picky eater.... here is what we did in addition to the cereal boxes and cookies:

I took a baggie full of croissants at breakfast and made peanut butter sandwiches for him. Now, I used my own jar of peanut butter from home. But, you can use the little tubs of peanut butter from the buffet. ( you can also get many other kinds of bread... but those are his favs!!!) Then, if you are going snorkeling, you have some bread to toss to the fish in the water!!! This kept him happy all day long!!!!!

[Onessa]

If you are bringing from home a few things I've found easy to transport are: Skippy peanut butter (they have a large sized tube that you can pipe out the PB to avoid knives, and also sell individually wrapped plastic "gogurt" style tubes of PB that you can squeeze directly into your mouth - that comes in straight PB or a chocolate flavored PB) - particularly the snack tubes, being individually wrapped, are generally OK to take on shore.

 

Crystal Light sells plastic tubes of their drink mix - just enough in each tube for a 20oz bottle of water. I don't care for artifical sweeteners, but other parent's/people seem to swear by them.

 

Fruit leather - the organic aisle has eight varieties of fruit leather all individually wrapped.

 

Breakfast bars

 

Hershey's and other mfg's do the aspectic pkg of milk (low fat plain, or several flavored varieties). On the ship it is generally easy enough to get milk, but if you have a long flight, are on a long excursion, or have a trip planned pre- or post-cruise; they are excellent additions to the snack box. Again they are completely sealed (like any other drink box) so you generally don't get into trouble with the port authorities.