Can you take food off the ship?

[CanWeGoYet?]

 

Also be aware that you are not supposed to take ANY food to Mendenhall Glacier, even prepackaged, due to bears.

 

I don't take food off the ship, although I really should have taken some sealed packets of saltines or something when our flight seeing tour got overbooked & delayed 2 hours.

 

And yeah, a sandwich in your backpack is going to be no secret to bears. I had a talk with my brother about not trying to sneak a sandwich into his backpack when we got off the ship in Juneau. It's not worth it! We are going to be walking on the trails at Mendenhall. Last thing I want is to have bears looking at us like we are lunch time.

[frugaltravel]

I disagree that "It is wrong to take any non-prepackaged food off the ship but some food is 'wronger' than others." Either it is wrong or it isn't or only some food is wrong. From two posts above it seems like, maybe at least with Princess, that only fresh meat, fruit and dairy are wrong.

[Robinhill]

As PennyAgain stated, there is NO WAY to tell where food was purchased on a cruise ship. This even applies to your local grocery store. Right now, only a small percentage of produce/fruit is grown in the USA. Most is coming from South of the Border or overseas.

 

I am in the international food transportation business. The RULES regarding food transportation/food safety with the new global market place are growing every single day.

 

HACCP is one which is expanding to more and more food manufacturers and distributors and controls EVERY aspect of food from the field/stream/ocean to the consumer's refrigerator. It was started to control the manufacturing process but has now expanded to distributors and transportation companies.

 

There are even companies that require TRUCKING COMPANIES to possess BIO TERROR sheets to even get their food unloaded at their docks. One is a very well known specialty foods store (NOT Whole Foods). As the transport carrier, we have to certify that while the food has been in our possession it had NO CHANCE to be contaminated with anything BIO TERROR (anthrax, sarin, ricin, anhydrous, smallpox, salmonella, etc. etc). Hence, the bio terror sheets. And most of what we transport for this company is MADE IN THE USA. The vendors are certified that they are aware of the potential for damage and and will prevent any bio terror incidents as are their transporters.

 

I have US governments contracts in the War Zones which require me to inspect food and look at the labels to make sure food served to our US Military and Military contractors is purchased according to DFAR rules (Defense Federal Acquisition Rules which basically state EVERYTHING purchased by the Defense Dept should be from the USA unless a comparable product can be purchased at the same price with the same quality standards elsewhere and the outside purchases are only allowed from certain countries) You know which are the HARDEST to identify as to country of origin??? PRODUCE and FRUIT. Same thing in the USA.

 

Right now, there is produce coming from all parts of Mexico, some parts of South America, from Asia and Africa. Is the food inspected? Is it supposed to be safe? Are there any BUGS that may harm the USA's food production capability? While the answer SHOULD be YES to all three questions, port time, longshoreman contracts, sequestration and convenience sometimes override prudence and extensive inspections. I'm telling you from my experience in this field, it would NOT be too hard to infect an entire container of fruit with a bio hazard or a BUG which devastates US agriculture.

 

For everyone's safety, please take only packaged foods that are SEALED off the ship. Those bananas DEFINITELY were not grown in the USA and the apples may not have been either. You won't starve on an excursion.

 

OK now this is the first post about it that makes good sense and does not just flame people for disobeying- these are good hard facts. Thank you and I will not carry food off again in the future now that i really understand.

[brunolvr]

Someone just back from their Alaska cruise posted the "dailies" from the Norwegian Pearl and I saw this.

 

"Due to public health regulations -- food of any kind (hot, raw or unpacked/packed) or any open beverage containers will not be allowed to be brought onboard or taken off the ship at any time and at any port."