Booze in carry-on or checked ?

[bicycledude]

Just hypothetically ;) , is it better to bring booze in your carry on or your checked luggage ? A number of posts say be sure to check it, but don't explain WHY. Are there pros and cons for each method ? Does it matter depending on how or if you try to disguise it ? The hypothetical cruise I'm thinking of is the Golden Princess from San Juan.

[Tony2000]

Because your checked bag should be locked and they are more likely to search a carry on.

[bicycledude]

Because your checked bag should be locked and they are more likely to search a carry on.

 

When traveling by air you cannot lock your checked bags since the TSA needs to open them. But do the cruise lines care if they are locked or not ? Don't they have to screen the checked luggage too ?

[Tony2000]

On the Carnival site it states to lock your bags. You can also lock you bags when traveling by air if you have TSA approved locks.

[Cotton]

But do the cruise lines care if they are locked or not ? Don't they have to screen the checked luggage too ?

 

My recent cruises have all been w/Carnival, and they DO say to lock your luggage before handing it over to the porters at the pier.

 

Yes, they do put them through an x-ray machine. This is for security purposes, BUT if they can identify booze, they MIGHT call you down to that area and have you unlock your luggage and confiscate the booze. (Wine is ok, just not liquor or beer.)

 

If the booze is in your carry-on luggage, it's much more likely to be confiscated.

[ollie]

We sailed on NCL last spring. My hubby tried to smuggle 2 bottles in the suitcase, guess what that little x-ray machine picked up what was thought to be an iron in the same bag that he had carefully wrapped his bottles in.He was invited to a special room to claim his bag. Little did we know it was a shoe that appeared to be an "iron" ,which is a no-no. They didn't even see the bottles,until he opened his bag to show he didn't have an "iron" . The bottles were returned to him the night before we returned home. So if you want to bring a few bottles on with you in your suitcase,be sure you are alert to what else you are packing in the same bag. He may have gotten away with it ,if it wasn't for MY shoe. oh boy !

[ollie]

oops! I entered twice,issues !

[ollie]

thrice.. sorry !

[ollie]

sticky fingers...

[campingwhit]

We just got off the Navigator 2 weeks ago. We stayed in Miami for a night.Went to the Liquor store, grabbed a bottle of Captains, rolled it in a towel and snuggled it in our suitcase(not carryon). No problem. We were in Jamaica and friends of ours grabbed 2 6-paks of Red Stripe at the store right outside the terminal and walked it on...no problem. We grabbed a 6pak of Miller light in Nassau and walked that right on. Another person with us grabbed another bottle of Captains in the gift shop on Thursday and was able to bring it back to the room. I dont know if this is what the normal experience is but it was ours! If we had the beer grabbed at check in I wouldn't have cared. So we were allowed to break the rules. :eek:

[Barefoot_Pirate]

Near as I can tell the liquor police are spotty in the enforcement of the line's policies. Our next cruise is for ten days, so we will have more of a challange...trying to talk DW into boxed wine (really just a plastic bag)...but the divorce she threatened would be more expensive...made sense to me, but I don't drink wine.

[woodi]

we always bring beer on board with our luggage that we check. We also buy 6 packs at the ports of call and they will let you on with them. I got some luggage packs that flatten your clothes so there is more room for the beer and it also protects the clothes in case one of the cans spring a leak although that has never happened. You will have more room for souvineers in your suitcase when the beer is gone.

[hotshot99]

I would put it in your suitcase with your clothes and you have nothing to worry about.

[southhavenjen]

Near as I can tell the liquor police are spotty in the enforcement of the line's policies. Our next cruise is for ten days, so we will have more of a challange...trying to talk DW into boxed wine (really just a plastic bag)...but the divorce she threatened would be more expensive...made sense to me, but I don't drink wine.

 

We are also looking into boxed wine to take aboard, as we like to have a glass or two in the cabin while getting ready. We figure that it may be easier to transport. While shopping for our holiday libations I passed by the boxed wine and noticed my grocery store is carrying some higher end stuff in boxes, not the typical Franzia or whatever it is. They were selling a wine cube, which was a box about 5 inches square, and held the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine. You could hold it in the palm of your hand. It was supposed to be better stuff than the bigger boxes. We just may try it out this time and see if it tastes good and if it passes through security. ;)

[Falele]

We used a white opaque Listerine bottle "Teeth Whitening" to smuggle on our own vodka, put it inside our checked and locked luggage (not carryon) and enjoyed making our drinks in our room. We drank it all, so when we got to Port we bought another bottle and put it in a water bottle and in our carryon and no questions asked. NCL Dream 12/17 Cruise:)

[Ragin Cajun Cruiser]

For the last eight cruises or so I have brought on clear liquor in water battles. At first I also brought on dark liquor in Nestea bottles but I had a friend get caught with the dark bottle on the Conquest but they did not touch his clear stuff.

 

We were on the Dream last year out of New Orleans and one in our party was called to see about his luggage. They found bottles of liquor in his checked baggage and took it away until the end of the cruise.

 

I plan to bring clear tequila and vodka in water bottles in a couple of weeks when we go on the Zuiderdam, I will have it in my carry on!

[wmmerritt]

On our cruise last May on the Zuiderdam, we put out liquor into those lexan water bottles, in the checked bags. We left them out on the dresser, and the steward made sure that we had glasses and ice next to them.

[yesitsfree]

Last Feb. a group of us cruised with Carnival. One person from each cabin had a seperate suitcase with nothing but beer/rum/vodka packed in it. We each wrapped the items in plastic bags then rolled them in beach towels. I had a bullet blender in mine as well and some small cans of pineapple juice. Also in this suitcase was a small cooler. We tipped our steward well the first day and he kept ice for us the entire trip. We all checked the suitcase and we all had them delivered to our room before we even set sail. Dh and I still had a HIGH bar tab! We were on ship for Super Bowl Sunday. That was an expensive night.

[cruisingagainsoon]

On our last cruise on the Constellation I packed two boxes of wine and a bottle of Vodka. Also Bloody Mary Mix and Cranberry juice. Our room stewart bought us ice and fresh limes every day. We still pre-purchased a wine package for dinner and had a few drinks at the bars everyday but it cut our bar bill from 600.00 on our previous cruise to 150.00 on this one. I plan to do the same on my next cruise. Since wine is allowed the only thing then can conficate is my bottle of vodka and if they do I'll order one from room service.

 

We enjoy having happy hour on our verandah before dinner. And a nice bloody mary for brunch is great.:D

[cruisingagainsoon]

By the way it was in our checked baggage, wrapped in bubble wrap and secured in a plastic bag. My DH and my brother in law also purchased some beer before we sailed and carried it on to the ship.

[trentmister]

Just hypothetically ;) , is it better to bring booze in your carry on or your checked luggage ? A number of posts say be sure to check it, but don't explain WHY. Are there pros and cons for each method ? Does it matter depending on how or if you try to disguise it ? The hypothetical cruise I'm thinking of is the Golden Princess from San Juan.

 

Can you check your booze in your luggage on the airplane, or do you have to carry it on? DH thinks there may be some problem with checking it because the luggage compartments are not pressurized. We won't have a lot of time between flight and boarding the ship in San Juan, so we'll have to take it from home rather than buying in port. Any thoughts?

[redglass]

Luggage compartments are pressurized. Just lower than ground level. They keep it under 10,000 feet of pressurization. Make sure the lids are on tight.

[divadiverfl]

Lat April we went on Carnival and my sister brought a roll on cooler w/ beer and small bottles of wine-also water. She just put clothes on top of everything.

We on the other hand packed a whole case of beer and water in our checked luggage. The amount of weight equaled out to what we brought back in stuff.

[miksilver]

I have packed both carry on's with booze and locked luggage as well. I only bring wine and champagne with the carryon's though. My carry on's were even checked and they don't care about the wine and champagne (especially if it isn't the really cheap stuff). For the luggage I pack more wine, mini's (they fit great in empty shoes) and more mini's. The mini liquor bottles are great for variety, cheaper than drinks on the ship and are mostly made of plastic these days.

 

It was fun to know we had our own "mini bar" in our cabin. I kept it in the closet by the in room safe to make it more "mini bar" like. We never wanted for ice once our cabin steward saw the liquor.

 

Our S&S card was still over $1,200 so we did not "cheat" the ship -- just had a little more fun.:p

[divadiverfl]

That is the way I feel about not cheating the boat. We alsways have a 1000.00 or more on our account. We always go on a 10 or more day trip so they get their money out of us.:)