Alcohol on European Sailing

[Josy1953]

Do Princess confiscate alcohol when boarding at Southampton or are they more flexible in Europe than in the US? We are looking at a Princess cruise but one of the reasons that we stopped travelling (despite being elite) with Princess was that they do not stock the scotch that my husband prefers to drink so he would like to carry on one bottle of his preferred drink to drink in the cabin.

[FritzG]

On our last two ta's the table was set up, and they were checking.

[Working 2 Cruise]

I guess you won't be cruising with Princess or any of the mass-market cruise lines... Check the higher end, luxury lines and see if they (maybe) stock it. If not, land vacations would probably work out better.

 

If my husband told me that if he can't have his scotch for a week or two and wouldn't want to cruise because of that... either I would go alone, or would leave him. That's nonsense!

[paul929207]

Rules are the same in US and Europe

[Island wannabe]

They did not check us at all at any of our ports (just off Emerald Rome to Barcelona). Brought on wine at Civi in our carry-on. They did not ask about it. Bought 2 more bottles at a port - for us to bring home but they did not ask about it. Bought a bottle of limoncello at a port - again the bag went through the security scanner but nothing was said. Each time we were prepared to either pay the $15 per bottle fee or have the bottles put aside until the last night however we were not questioned once. I have found sailing out of Fort LauderdLe and the Caribbean ports to be quite different (more vigilance)but I bet everyone posting after me will have quite different and varied experiences. No two will be the same.

[IECalCruiser]

They did not check us at all at any of our ports (just off Emerald Rome to Barcelona). Brought on wine at Civi in our carry-on. They did not ask about it. Bought 2 more bottles at a port - for us to bring home but they did not ask about it. Bought a bottle of limoncello at a port - again the bag went through the security scanner but nothing was said. Each time we were prepared to either pay the $15 per bottle fee or have the bottles put aside until the last night however we were not questioned once. I have found sailing out of Fort LauderdLe and the Caribbean ports to be quite different (more vigilance)but I bet everyone posting after me will have quite different and varied experiences. No two will be the same.

The point is to be prepared to pay the $15/bottle corkage for wine and turn over other alcohol to be held until the end of the cruise. But it practice that often doesn't occur. We did see an alcohol check-in table at one port, perhaps Naples, on our Med cruise last year.

[Colo Cruiser]

Alcohol is not permitted to be brought onboard. Sometimes they check sometimes they don't.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[caribill]

They did not check us at all at any of our ports (just off Emerald Rome to Barcelona). Brought on wine at Civi in our carry-on. They did not ask about it. Bought 2 more bottles at a port - for us to bring home but they did not ask about it. Bought a bottle of limoncello at a port - again the bag went through the security scanner but nothing was said. Each time we were prepared to either pay the $15 per bottle fee or have the bottles put aside until the last night however we were not questioned once. I have found sailing out of Fort LauderdLe and the Caribbean ports to be quite different (more vigilance)but I bet everyone posting after me will have quite different and varied experiences. No two will be the same.

 

The point is to be prepared to pay the $15/bottle corkage for wine and turn over other alcohol to be held until the end of the cruise. But it practice that often doesn't occur. We did see an alcohol check-in table at one port, perhaps Naples, on our Med cruise last year.

 

 

OP is asking about bringing on liquor at embarkation, not wine/Champagne or asking about liquor at a port along the way.

 

The policy at embarkation is no liquor at all, and if any is discovered, it will be taken and discarded, not held until the end of the cruise.

 

So the OP's question is, what is the chance of the liquor not being detected at embakation?

Edited July 11, 2015 by caribill

[Josy1953]

I guess you won't be cruising with Princess or any of the mass-market cruise lines... Check the higher end, luxury lines and see if they (maybe) stock it. If not, land vacations would probably work out better.

 

If my husband told me that if he can't have his scotch for a week or two and wouldn't want to cruise because of that... either I would go alone, or would leave him. That's nonsense!

 

We will still go on the cruise that we are looking at because the itinerary has a couple of ports that we have not been to before and would really like to visit.

 

The brand that he prefers has been available on the P&O, Cunard and Celebrity cruises that we have done this year so it is not a particularly exclusive brand but for some reason 4 years ago Princess stopped stocking it.

 

He will just choose a different brand for this cruise but unless there is another itinerary that we particularly want to do that is only available on Princess in the future we will stick to those lines that we have been doing for the last 4 years. There is no way that either of us would try to bend the rules just for the sake of having a particular drink once per day.

[GUT2407]

They won't let spirits on.

[gailjen]

They did not check us at all at any of our ports (just off Emerald Rome to Barcelona). Brought on wine at Civi in our carry-on. They did not ask about it. Bought 2 more bottles at a port - for us to bring home but they did not ask about it. Bought a bottle of limoncello at a port - again the bag went through the security scanner but nothing was said. Each time we were prepared to either pay the $15 per bottle fee or have the bottles put aside until the last night however we were not questioned once. I have found sailing out of Fort LauderdLe and the Caribbean ports to be quite different (more vigilance)but I bet everyone posting after me will have quite different and varied experiences. No two will be the same.

 

Hope you had a Great time, just picking your brain as we are cruising on Emerald in a few weeks, was the free port shuttle bus in Marseille in operation, any details please?

[Island wannabe]

Hope you had a Great time, just picking your brain as we are cruising on Emerald in a few weeks, was the free port shuttle bus in Marseille in operation, any details please?

 

We did have a wonderful time thanks. our itinerary had us stopping in Cannes, not Marseille. Sorry can't help with this one.

[Island wannabe]

OP is asking about bringing on liquor at embarkation, not wine/Champagne or asking about liquor at a port along the way.

 

The policy at embarkation is no liquor at all, and if any is discovered, it will be taken and discarded, not held until the end of the cruise.

 

So the OP's question is, what is the chance of the liquor not being detected at embakation?

 

Actually I do believe I somewhat addressed the OPs question. Regardless of what was being brought on board, wine or liquor, NO questions were asked of us despite us having wine at embarkation. I'm pretty sure others reading this thread have some interest in hearing about our experience which includes what occurred at ports, not just embarkation . sheesh.

[G & T for me]

You can take on a bottle of wine each at embarkation. You "could" put the whisky in a wine bottle 😉

[gailjen]

We did have a wonderful time thanks. our itinerary had us stopping in Cannes, not Marseille. Sorry can't help with this one.

 

Thank-you for the reply, wish we were doing Cannes. Interesting about alcohol as we found that on all our Med cruises we could have & did bring bottles on.

 

Can you also confirm if the drinking age was still 18. Rather then the normal 21.

[Josy1953]

You can take on a bottle of wine each at embarkation. You "could" put the whisky in a wine bottle 😉

 

We could but we won't go to that trouble, it is 14 days not a lifetime. OH is not a big drinker but he does like a small whisky before bed and says that he will simply choose another whisky on the ship.

[eandj]

We could but we won't go to that trouble, it is 14 days not a lifetime. OH is not a big drinker but he does like a small whisky before bed and says that he will simply choose another whisky on the ship.

 

Some people mention "Rum Runners' and pack in their checked bags. Not sure if they still get by. Personally I couldn't give up the space even for one of those. I have resorted to a smaller suitcase over the years of cruising.

 

 

 

http://www.rumrunnerflasks.com/

[Island wannabe]

Thank-you for the reply, wish we were doing Cannes. Interesting about alcohol as we found that on all our Med cruises we could have & did bring bottles on.

 

Can you also confirm if the drinking age was still 18. Rather then the normal 21.

 

Pretty sure it is 18 but since I am well north of 18 I didn't pay much attention. I know there was a sign and I believe it did say 18 though.