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alcohol in cabin?????


limpygirl

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Can I ship my alcohol home so I don't have to go over the weight for the return plane flight? I know they have fed ex in Puerto Rico. If I can, how do I declare that when the trip is over?

 

I read somewhere that we could buy 5 bottles on the cruise I am going on because of where we are landing. Can that be true?

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  • 2 weeks later...
I am very impressed at the way's some of you have come up with to stow away your liquor. I was on the fence about trying it, but it doesn't seem to be as big a deal as I thought.:)

 

I'm a paranoid person and always afraid of getting caught, so on our last cruise we put rum in empty and clean shampoo bottles. hehehehe.

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I would freak out if I had to drink anything from a shampoo bottle - I don't care how often it was washed! Maybe a cough syrup bottle or pancake syurp?

 

We have sailed NCL and brought rum on board in our suitcase, as early as last September. We have never tried to bring wine - we just buy it on board and use it over two nights, it isn't that much more and a lot easier just to have them open and then keep it. Really with the cost of the rest of the vacation it seems like the price of one bottle of wine isn't really bad.

 

We do mix the rum though - we buy a soda card and so that lets us avoid the soda issue.

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rcl has a "policy" of no alcohol being brought on board. anything being brought on board is held tll the end of the cruise. having said that...that's policy not actual practice. depending on who is on duty when coming back from port you can bring it through and when you arrive you're usually pretty good as well. it used to be you could buy hard liquor bottles on board and then pay an extra "fee" to have it sent ot your room that night and you could enjoy it but that changed a few months ago - 6 maybe? ago because of people falling over and being rowdy etc. at least that's what they say...truth is probably they figured they could get more money out of everyone by having them buy the booze by the drink.

celebrity is a little better. on the cruise we go on next month, we are allowed to bring "2" bottles on board subject to 25 buck corkage fees. again you're not allowed /supposed to bring booze in from ports to your room, it's supposed tobe held until the last night, but in practice it isn't always.

having said all that i live downtown toronto and depending where you are going out to hotspot wise, we can pay upwards of 15 cad (12-13 us) per martini. and 5-6 dollar beers. so the cruise ship prices aren't too bad for us, unless you're a fish. of course here like all other places it's tres cheaper to buy from the store and drink at home, but i'm just talking about going out. we found the prices in NYC to be about the same depending on where you go out to at night.

 

if you're a wine lover and you're on RCI i suggest trying to sneak wine on board from every port as their wine list is terrible, mainly california and nothing of any real merit (depending on your tastes i suppose) we were in the med, and not only did they NOT have European wine on board but they cracked the whip on everyone coming back on board in Italian and French ports meaning no decent wine for dinner.

Celebrity is a litle differnt, they at least had a decent - good wine selection on board and some real gems. but you had to ask for the good list lol.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Have never sailed NCL however on HAL, X, RCCL, Princess & Carnival just packed our bottles of rum & rye in our suitcases and had no problem. Again we only take it in order to have a drink in our cabin before we go up for dinner.

 

Have also replentised our stock on long cruises in various ports and always just put the new bottle in our backpack and carried it back on board the ship - never had anything said.

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  • 4 weeks later...

i've never had any trouble smuggling booze onboard. just make sure its wrapped up tight and in a bag.

 

at the PA liquor stores you can buy these mini boxes of wine with a little spout. they are about double the size of a juice box. i plan on bringing that or a 4 pack of those mini bottles (beringer or something) they fit in a ziplock bag perfectly!

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  • 3 weeks later...
As far as Princess ships, I never saw where it said that beer was "officially" allowed, but we had a 6-pack in our carry on bag (Not hidden at all) and nothing at all was said. I wasn't going to ask. The worst they could do was take it away. But since I know for a fact that many people were bringing on not only beer, but hard liquor both at embarkation and returning from the ports (they concealed the liquor more so than than the beer) I wasn't too concerned about it.

 

Hi there

There is actually away around the sneaking or stowing away of beer or liquor. You can pre-order your liquor to your room from the Bon Voyage department and it will be in your cabin when you arrive....Yep imagine ..right to your room ,,,,no worries. Oh by the way Im talking about Carnival Criuse lines..... here is the number if you want to check it out 1-800-522-7648. The prices aren't to bad being a Canadian and all we already paying that here......1litre for $45 to 55 dollars. There is also a thread on this called Pre-ordering liquor to your room......I was amazed at some of the answer I got....

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If you really want to go to the trouble to bring liquor with you on a ship that allows you to bring wine onboard, you could fill an empty dark wine bottle with the liquor, recork it and apply the shrink wrap seal with a hair dryer. It will look like a brand new bottle of wine and it would have to be opened to prove otherwise. You can get the corks, corking tool and shrink wrap tops at any beer and wine making store ("homebrew" stores). I've never tried this myself, but I have made beer and wine which led me to think of this. You can do the same for soda bottles (recapping them with a bottle capper) that are not twist off bottles, but these bottles are getting hard to find. I think Coke still makes some of those old fashioned bottles.

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Just take what you want packed carefully in your suitcase and put it on the counter in your cabin and enjoy. It's just a game that the cruise lines play hoping to scare you off so you will spend more. After 11 cruises we never had a problem and enjoyed a drink on our veranda or in the cabin.

You can restock your mixers in port or even buy more liquor and they may or may not hold it.

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HAL allows you to bring your own wine on board. A HAL representative said that we were limited only by our ability to carry it on board. We were sailing on the Veendam in Alaska (July 2005). We found a wine store online that was across from our hotel in Anchorage. They faxed us their inventory sheet and we selected 3 cases ( 6 adults). They had it packed in boxes and delivered to the concierge when we arrived. We sent the boxes with our luggage on the transfer bus and it was delivered with our luggage to our cabin. Our cabin boy kept us supplied with ice buckets and fresh wine glasses throughout our cruise. We took our own wine to both the main dining roon and Pinnacle Grill and were only occassionally charged a $10.00 corkage fee. We would also meet in various areas of the ship for a glass of wine before dinner and it was never a problem. We had several bottles left at the end of the cruise which we shared with our cabin boy, our dinner wine steward and the maitre'd at the Pinnacle Grill. We are sailing on the Westerdam in July for a Mediterranean cruise and are planning on finding a case or two in Rome prior to sailing. We are also looking forward to being able to pick up wines from the different areas that we are visiting to try on board.

I have just returned, well four months ago from Holland America's Rottadam trip around S.America. We stopped of in Uruguay and Valpradiso to do a days excursions on the wine routes. when we returned ladened with wine we had no promlems whatsoever in either port. we booked our excursions with robertsonwinetours who were fantastic, they bagged up 6 bottles each for us and there were no problems, happy drinking!!!

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I have just returned, well four months ago from Holland America's Rottadam trip around S.America. We stopped of in Uruguay and Valpradiso to do a days excursions on the wine routes. when we returned ladened with wine we had no promlems whatsoever in either port. we booked our excursions with robertsonwinetours who were fantastic, they bagged up 6 bottles each for us and there were no problems, happy drinking!!!

 

 

smithsoncharles.... we are doing your trip in December and are currently talking to Robertson Wine about excursions in Uruguay and Valpariso.... would you pop me an email with what wineries you went to. They just sen me a long lis of options in Uruguay and have no clue how to make the selection. So glad you had a great time with them

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We loaded up on liquor at the duty free store just before we went through the cruiseline's customs check - our suitcases were just brimming, but there were no questions asked and it all arrived in our room just fine.

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If you bring on say vodka or rum, can you get or buy juice to mix it with? Other than bringing 5 glasses back from say breakfast or ordering room service. Is there a store on the ship that you can buy it from? I'm new at this but the beverage isssue is a big one!

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Could anyone tell me if they ever got caught with any alcohol like vodka or rum in a rum runner flask and if so what did the cruise line do? It says that you could be asked to leave the ship. I don't know if it is worth taking alcohol on the ship for that. Please let me know as soon as possible because I am leaving in 2 weeks. Can't wait!!:p

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  • 2 weeks later...
Could anyone tell me if they ever got caught with any alcohol like vodka or rum in a rum runner flask and if so what did the cruise line do? It says that you could be asked to leave the ship. I don't know if it is worth taking alcohol on the ship for that. Please let me know as soon as possible because I am leaving in 2 weeks. Can't wait!!:p

 

Nothing is going to happen. In the worst case, they take it from you and return it to you last night of cruise. On every cruise we have been on we take a small rolling cooler. We pack the bottom with beer, top with soda and water, but no ice. When we get to the cabin, we take out half the cans, then we give the cabin steward a nice tip up front and ask him to fill with ice. Every morning when we came back from breakfast, our beer had fresh ice in. This happens on all our cruises. The water bottles are really rum. We use 7up bottle for tequilla because the green bottles hide the color, and the lemon-lime flavor of the plastic is A-OK with me. We get juice from the breakfast bar, usually in buffett area, free, or cranberry juice and grapefruit juice you now have to use your soda card for. If we put in luggage, always double wrap in plastic ziploks and garbage bags. The throw the cases around. Once had a bottle break, but did not leak out of bag. If taking wine bottles, make sure you bubble wrap well! When going to port, most of the time they take our booze and give back last night, but sometimes we get away with it. If they find it in a back pack, they just tell you to check it, that's all.

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  • 2 weeks later...

On my first cruise, (Carnival) we purchased a small bottle of rum in Puerto Rico and kept it in a shorts pocket when we re-boarded the ship. They found it with the metal detector wand because it had a metal cap. They let us go, however, rum and all! It probably depends on the staff person, and maybe the size, too..

 

The next cruise I went on, I took a bottle of wine, (bubble wrapped well!) and it sat in my cabin almost the entire cruise. Finally, I wanted to use it up so we took it to dinner and shared it with our table mates. It just seems like more fun to buy the foo-foo drinks.. I figure I'm on vacation I can splurge and save the aggravation of smuggling! But I guess it depends on your budget, and it never hurts to save some money here and there.

 

I plan to try the old "booze in the water bottle" trick on the next cruise in

Jan. I'll be sure to pack a large plastic cup with a handle, lid and straw to mix in. I love my foo-foos, but would like to limit my spending on them to only a couple a day!

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HAL allows you to bring your own wine on board. A HAL representative said that we were limited only by our ability to carry it on board. We were sailing on the Veendam in Alaska (July 2005). We found a wine store online that was across from our hotel in Anchorage. They faxed us their inventory sheet and we selected 3 cases ( 6 adults). They had it packed in boxes and delivered to the concierge when we arrived. We sent the boxes with our luggage on the transfer bus and it was delivered with our luggage to our cabin. Our cabin boy kept us supplied with ice buckets and fresh wine glasses throughout our cruise. We took our own wine to both the main dining roon and Pinnacle Grill and were only occassionally charged a $10.00 corkage fee. We would also meet in various areas of the ship for a glass of wine before dinner and it was never a problem. We had several bottles left at the end of the cruise which we shared with our cabin boy, our dinner wine steward and the maitre'd at the Pinnacle Grill. We are sailing on the Westerdam in July for a Mediterranean cruise and are planning on finding a case or two in Rome prior to sailing. We are also looking forward to being able to pick up wines from the different areas that we are visiting to try on board.

 

I am sailing in November... were you succesful with your Wine purchase? Would love to take some on with us too!

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Just take what you want packed carefully in your suitcase and put it on the counter in your cabin and enjoy. It's just a game that the cruise lines play hoping to scare you off so you will spend more. After 11 cruises we never had a problem and enjoyed a drink on our veranda or in the cabin.

You can restock your mixers in port or even buy more liquor and they may or may not hold it.

 

 

Agreed. We always just pack them in water bottles/juice bottles, etc.

We take them out.. and leave them on the counter. The stewards obviously know.. why else would we have a thing of salt and plate of limes? :D They don't care.

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