Wine question

[Stacie.]

This is probably a stupid question but bear with me. We're cruising on Glory in a few weeks. We're flying out of Minneapolis with a layover at RR in Washington, DC before we get to Miami. DH and I would like to each bring a bottle of wine onto the ship as per Carnival's allowance. In the past we have brought wine from home and packed it in our checked bags for the flight, removed them once out of the airport, and carried them onto the ship. We are not checking any bags this time so we cannot bring our own wine from home. What are our options? I'd prefer to not have to Uber to a liquor store/grocery store beforehand. We will be using the hotel shuttle for airport and port transportation. I know the airports have duty free shops but am I correct in my understanding that you cannot purchase from there unless you are flying internationally? In my ideal world I could buy a couple of bottles of wine at RR on our layover and have them in hand when we land in Miami but I don't think that's possible. 

We are staying at the Comfort Inn Miami Airport North and I see there is a Mia Petroleum gas station a few blocks away from the hotel. We are already planning on walking there to see if they sell 12 packs of soda (if they don't, kids are out of luck and will have to drink lemonade as I am not buying the soda package for them because I don't want them constantly drinking it). Are gas stations in FL allowed to sell wine? I see there is also a liquor store a bit further away but I think we'd have to Uber to it but would really rather find something within walking distance.

 

I know we can order a bottle of wine on the ship but I would rather just bring our own. 

 

Thanks for any advice!

[ISHCruising]

You must be flying internationally to purchase from the Duty Free store.  I think your best bet is to go to the gas station or even a grocery store while in Florida (both are permitted to sell beer/wine).

[Sam_Eagle]

The Circle K that is part of that Mia Petroleum/Valero gas station does sell cases of soda, so your kids are all set. They also sell at least beer there as well, but I'm not sure about wine. If they sell wine, it will be a very limited selection, as the store is fairly small. You can bring it up on Google Maps, and click on the Circle K to see pictures of the inside of the store

[Stacie.]

Thank you both for your help! I'm not super fussy about wine as I can usually find something I like, I just balk at paying $28 for a $6 bottle of wine. 😉 

[ProgRockCruiser]

Also find out if anyone does liquor/wine deliveries to your hotel.

 

My local liquor store (I live in the Orlando area, so same state laws apply, but different county...) has a delivery truck for home deliveries.

 

Or maybe find out of the hotel front desk can hook you up somehow.

[kingston13]

A lot of hotels offer local transportation shuttle to restaurants, etc  so you should check with them.

[Stacie.]

Those are also good ideas, thank you!

[schazzy]

I found this right down the road from your hotel, you can get your booze and a meal

 

https://goo.gl/maps/gMyj66FyEG12

[uprivermama]

Instacart is a delivery service for groceries and liquor. We used this service in Fort Lauderdale/Plantation when we didn't have a card. You can set it all up and have it set to deliver whenever you want after you arrive at your hotel. It was perfect for us. I know there are other "brands" that do the same thing but Instacart was what we used. I believe we chose a Publix store near us from the participating stores and we were able to order both liquor and wine.

[Stacie.]

57 minutes ago, schazzy said:

I found this right down the road from your hotel, you can get your booze and a meal

 

https://goo.gl/maps/gMyj66FyEG12

Thanks! It looks like it is about a ten minute walk from the hotel, so much closer than the other liquor stores. The menu also looks good, although the background on the website had me feeling like I had already imbibed a bit. 😉

[Stacie.]

44 minutes ago, uprivermama said:

Instacart is a delivery service for groceries and liquor. We used this service in Fort Lauderdale/Plantation when we didn't have a card. You can set it all up and have it set to deliver whenever you want after you arrive at your hotel. It was perfect for us. I know there are other "brands" that do the same thing but Instacart was what we used. I believe we chose a Publix store near us from the participating stores and we were able to order both liquor and wine.

This is great--I live in a rural area that is slow to get these kind of services so I never think of them! I checked and can get both wine and soda delivered so we don't even need to walk to the gas station, plus I can also get larger bottles of sunscreen (the 3 oz rule won't really keep the seven of us free from sunburn for very long) and anything else we may have forgotten to pack. Our flight comes in around 10 pm so I could get my order put in when I wake up and have it delivered before the shuttle takes us to the port. I think I like this idea best (although all of these replies have been so helpful!).

[uprivermama]

1 minute ago, Stacie. said:

This is great--I live in a rural area that is slow to get these kind of services so I never think of them! I checked and can get both wine and soda delivered so we don't even need to walk to the gas station, plus I can also get larger bottles of sunscreen (the 3 oz rule won't really keep the seven of us free from sunburn for very long) and anything else we may have forgotten to pack. Our flight comes in around 10 pm so I could get my order put in when I wake up and have it delivered before the shuttle takes us to the port. I think I like this idea best (although all of these replies have been so helpful!).

I’m so glad it helped! The first time we used it I thought, this is a game changer for cruisers!

[Stacie.]

6 hours ago, uprivermama said:

I’m so glad it helped! The first time we used it I thought, this is a game changer for cruisers!

It really is! 🙂And awesome for vacations in general! I would've loved to do that when we went to Disney instead of going straight from the airport to the grocery store after spending much of the day traveling. 

[Bees29]

How does it work when they deliver to the hotel? Do they leave it at the front desk or do you have to be in the lobby to meet them?

[uprivermama]

17 hours ago, Bees29 said:

How does it work when they deliver to the hotel? Do they leave it at the front desk or do you have to be in the lobby to meet them?

I can't exactly remember (it's been a year now), but I think it's like Uber or Lyft and you get notifications that your delivery driver is there. You can set up the place you want to meet--I specified that I would meet them in the lobby when they texted me, I believe.

[jamestown478]

A good number of the hotels in the Miami area are within walking distance of a gas station or walgreens or something similar that you can buy wine at. I have only had one time that the hotel wasn't close to one and the hotel shuttle dropped us off at a walgreens and picked us back up.