Box Lunch?

[tabby50894]

We are planning a shore tour that will not give us time or opportunity to find a restaurant for lunch.

Has anyone requested a box lunch to take ashore? Or do you make do with what you can grab from the breakfast buffet?

[Gonzo70]

We are planning a shore tour that will not give us time or opportunity to find a restaurant for lunch.

Has anyone requested a box lunch to take ashore? Or do you make do with what you can grab from the breakfast buffet?

 

It is illegal in most countries to bring in fresh food. Most countries do permit factory sealed items such as granola bars, but not fruits, vegetables, meats etc. because of risk of introducing pests that could devastate local agriculture. As such box lunches are not provided and one is not allowed to take items from the buffet on shore. If you are unable to have time to eat during your tour and must bring food, bring factory sealed snacks from home to take with you as nearly all countries permit this.

[tabby50894]

It is illegal in most countries to bring in fresh food. Most countries do permit factory sealed items such as granola bars, but not fruits, vegetables, meats etc. because of risk of introducing pests that could devastate local agriculture. As such box lunches are not provided and one is not allowed to take items from the buffet on shore. If you are unable to have time to eat during your tour and must bring food, bring factory sealed snacks from home to take with you as nearly all countries permit this.

 

Thanks, I hadn't thought about the legalities.

[Cruise Raider]

We always bring small individual sealed snacks to take on shore excursions. You are not even allowed to take a bag of nuts that you brought from home onshore if not in their original packaging. Some ports won't even allow you to take your snacks onshore if the seal is broken ... more so for things like nuts than pretzels, though.

My nephews bought a coffee drink at the International Cafe on Princess to take with them in town. They had to dump it ... not even coffee drinks were allowed. You can however, take bottled water without any issue ... not any issues I have experienced at least.

In Puerto Vallarta, they even have a table to check your bags on the way out. Off to the side are all the food items that have been confiscated and there are a lot! Some ports have dogs instead of the manual bag checks.

Certainly, no food should be taken off the ship from the buffet. This will be posted in your daily newsletter and I have seen that posted for every port in which I have visited ... but haven't seen anywhere near all of them so there may be some where this doesn't apply. But, just seems like a general rule.

[Zoedokey]

Does anyone know the rules for Alaska ports? I am not aware that the US has these prohibitions.

 

 

 

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[Gonzo70]

Does anyone know the rules for Alaska ports? I am not aware that the US has these prohibitions.

 

 

 

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The US absolutely has strict prohibitions against bringing in fresh food to protect the agriculture. Fresh food must be declared to customs officials if brought into US.

[Fouremco]

Does anyone know the rules for Alaska ports? I am not aware that the US has these prohibitions.

On a HAL Alaska cruise in 2014, I wasn't allowed to take my coffee ashore. Given the fact that the ship spent the summer and fall going from Vancouver to Alaska and back, and would have been provisioned in Canada and/or the US, I doubt that the coffee contained any exotic or potentially destructive pests, but the rules are the rules.

[Cruise Raider]

Definitely, no food or drink allowed in Alaska that isn't pre-packaged. I remember on an Alaskan cruise a long time ago, the bus driver had commented that it had been such a long time since she's had an orange. I think we must have given her a very puzzled look and she said they were so expensive in the grocery store and has had people offer to bring her some off the ship but noted that was forbidden. This was many years back and the first time we'd even heard of that restriction. Now we see it in all the daily papers.

[trishkri]

Does anyone know the rules for Alaska ports? I am not aware that the US has these prohibitions.

 

 

 

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If you remain within CONUS you are fine but both HI and AK have similar rules in both directions for agricultural products. I used to live in HI and would occasionally forget that I couldn't bring fresh fruit to/from the mainland.

 

 

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[coldweathergirl]

I've been to several ports where they have sniffer dogs looking specifically for food items. They caught numerous people in violation.

[gold1953]

Last spring in South America we had to sign and return a form that stated we would not bring any food off the ship. l Can't remember which port. Entertained myself by standing on deck 5 watching people go ashore and every one was caught.. Lots of fruit and sandwiches... Dogs at the bottom of the gangway., Usually it just says in the daily .. but we SIGNED!!!

[Beanb41]

If and when you come down under to NZ and Australia you will find trained dogs at the port specifically there to check for food. Fine $400. The fine will buy a lot of lunch

[Cruise Raider]

I imagine most of these restrictions are because of regulations set forth by specific ports of call. However, here's another thought I've had and probably adds to the reasons as to why Celebrity does not want you to take food off the ship.

First ... it costs them extra money.

Second .... they have no control over how you store or handle your food while in port so if you have a sandwich made with mayonnaise on it, meat in it, it could spoil and you could get sick ... and of course, not you but some, would blame Celebrity for food poisoning.

Third ... you could share with others onshore and they haven't paid for the cruise.

 

It really is about the port regulations but the other reasons might also play into it, albeit probably not as a priority.

[Fish Lover]

Does anyone know the rules for Alaska ports? I am not aware that the US has these prohibitions.

 

 

 

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Alaska is part of the United States. It follows the same rules as the lower 48 states.

[griffy116]

Hawaii is a part of the U.S. too. They take the food thing very seriously. We almost missed our flight because of all the violations in front of us at the AG inspection. Try watching a few episodes of Border security if you think all they are looking for is drugs. It's amazing....and so are the fines.

[Arzeena]

I've been to several ports where they have sniffer dogs looking specifically for food items. They caught numerous people in violation.

 

Yes. Seen them in Cozumel.

[MixerDave]

We had a friend buy a big wheel of cheese. She and her companion sat on the dock eating it.

[sanger727]

I like to bring individually packaged protein bars or trail mix to bring into port as snacks. But I've never had an all day shore excursion not make a stop for lunch; they may not list lunch isn't included but they will usually stop long enough at a restroom/snack stop for people to get something to eat.

 

 

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