Are all bags searched?

[tenyears]

I'm reading all these posts about liquor being confiscated, yet I read about how the embarkation process is usually so swift. How exactly is this confiscated liquor discovered? Are all bags opened and thoroughly searched??

[immargaret]

I'm reading all these posts about liquor being confiscated, yet I read about how the embarkation process is usually so swift. How exactly is this confiscated liquor discovered? Are all bags opened and thoroughly searched??

 

Bags are all put through the x-ray type scanners, and passengers walk through metal detectors. Very similar to an airport.

 

:)

[shoreguy]

Bags are all put through the x-ray type scanners, and passengers walk through metal detectors. Very similar to an airport.

 

:)

 

And if they happen to see something in the checked luggage that looks like alcoholic beverage the suitcast is tagged and sent to a public room on the ship. They do not search it but send a note for you to claim your bag.

 

You will be asked to open the bag and remove the bottle/cans/box etc.

[margaritagal]

They must not check too close. Almost everyone I talked to on the Star last week smuggled on SOME type of liquor. AND a lot of them in LARGE quatities!

[shoreguy]

They must not check too close. Almost everyone I talked to on the Star last week smuggled on SOME type of liquor. AND a lot of them in LARGE quatities!

 

Quiet please - NCL wants eveyone to believe the catch it all. It drives people crazy here. I would be surprised based on the number of bags I have seen in holding areas if they get 10%

 

The issue is if you are one of the 10% don't be surprised or upset. You know the rules going in.

[margaritagal]

With me, it's all kind of a game. When our luggage was a little late this time getting delivered to the room, hubby said, "See? They caught you!" I WASN"T going to smuggle any liquor this cruise (due to what I'd read on the boards) but then I thought, what the heck. Stuffed it into the suitcase, original bottles, made it to the cabin. However I did talk to a few people who did have theirs confiscated. It's the luck of the draw.

[Luckysll]

Thought I'd pass on this funny story. Last year, my sister-in-law and I did an Eastern Caribbean cruise with Carnival. It was her first cruise and she was worried that her white rum wouldn't make it through embarkation, so she took an empty mouthwash bottle, filled it with white rum, and added a couple of drops of blue food colouring for effect. Made it through okay and it was our nightly laugh when she had her "mouthwash and Coke"!:)

[susanc-rn]

We are back from the Dream 01/07 - We were not going to take any liquor with us but I though why not. I purchased 2 small bottles at the duty free (in Canada) and placed them both in my suitcase on route to the cruise terminal.

 

My suitcase was tagged and set aside, I was asked to remove the liquior. I took one bottle out and gave it to the nice man to tag for return. He asked if that was all and I stated yes. Took my bag and enjoyed my other bottle. I did get the second bottle returned the last night.

 

Lots of people did the vodka or rum disguised as mouthwash etc. and never a question asked. Should I ever go on another cruise - I will disguise mine as well. The drinks onboard are expensive.

 

Sue ;)

[Bobgaffney]

My 2 cents. I am not going to go through the effort of getting a mouthwash bottle and putting liquor into it and coloring it blue. If a bottle of booze from a setup costs $50 then so what.

 

That said I think most people are doing the sneak because it is fun to "beat the man". Have fun and good luck.

[Tucker in Texas]

Hi:

 

In the old days, I would buy a bottle in the shipboard store, take it to my cabin and enjoy a drink or two in my cabin in the evenings which getting prepared for dinner. Even when they started charging a "surcharge" to take the bottle to your cabin, I continued to do this. Then they wouldn't even let you do this. Wanting to enjoy a drink on my balcony without having to go to a bar and bringing it back to the cabin (probably having consumed half of it on the way (lol) or ordering through room service which was the price of the drink, plus 15 percent tip, plus $2 tip to the deliverer, I decided to start smuggling. Never had a problem by pouring home-grown in a 20 oz. soda bottle and packing it in my checked luggage along with my diet Dr. Pepper.

 

Apparently, NCL has gotten really hard nosed about it and claim they x-ray every suitcase that comes aboard. How they have the time to do that and get luggage to the cabins before midnight is beyond me. My friends who just got off an NCL cruise had bourbon in one suitcase in a 20 oz coke bottle and a bottle of bloody mary mix and a 20 oz. sprite bottle of vodka in the other suitcase, tucked in his dress shoe (for safety rather than hiding). Both suitcases were flagged. When he went down to claim them, they asked him to open the suitcase first that had the bloody mary mix and vodka in it. They looked at the bloody mary mix in it's original bottle and said it was o.k. to take to his cabin. Then they asked him to open the other suitcase. They asked if the bottle had coke in it. Not being a liar, he told them it was bourbon, they took it up. He did not volunteer, nor did they ask if that was ALL the booze he had. He is still wondering if they thought he was going to mix the bourbon with the bloody mary mix. Next time he says he will mix the vodka with the bloody mary mix before he leaves home. He also said that he had to reclaim his bourbon the morning of dembarkation along with a bottle of booze he purchased in the ship's store the afternoon before as they did not deliver it to the cabin the last night as in the past. By the way, he said there were a lot of Listerine bottles lined up on the table along with booze in other containers.

 

So, if it was me, I would pack my booze in an alternative container, tuck it away somewhere else in the suitcase and make sure I packed real Dr. Pepper/sprite/whatever in the suitcase along with it. Then when they flagged it, open it up and show them it is just soda. I don't think they have been told that "booze may be in the Listerine bottle in the side pocket" but rather "there are bottles of something" in the suitcase which may or may not be booze.

 

Tucker in Texas (who packs her rye in a Ten-0-Six astringent bottle)

[Tina/Al]

Hi

 

We just came off the Star Jan 12-20 2006. We took 7 Bottles of Nice Wine and 1 bottle of Champange. No problem getting the wine on but my Champange was spotted. We had to claim it the morning we disembarked. :cool: