Alcohol on Disney cruise ships

[torilyn]

Hello:

I will be a first time cruiser on Disney Wish next year.  I understand each person can bring 2 bottles of wine on board.  Can you pack those small bottles of liquor (like they have on airplanes) in your packed luggage?  We don’t drink wine.  Thank you!!

[coldflame]

I don't believe you're supposed to pack water/alcohol. We bring it with us in the carry on. Official policy is you can bring two bottles of sparkling or regular wine and 6 x 12 oz cans/person. Pre-covid enforcement was pretty relaxed, though, we've brought in bottles of campari, whiskey and vodka and were never given any trouble. In each port of call, you can bring the same amount to the ship for your use. Now, what post-covid enforcement will be like is anyone's guess: maybe more relaxed because there are so many other things to do during embarkment that alcohol is just a non-issue? Or perhaps more strict because of the revenue they desperately need -- and DCL doesn't have casinos so alcohol is really their main up-lift revenue on board.

 

Now, if you're intent on bringing alcohol on board "off the books", it's trivially easy to do 😉, same method which also works in other cruise lines.

[torilyn]

So in packed luggage?

[1025cruise]

No, its not allowed.

[coldflame]

2 hours ago, torilyn said:

So in packed luggage?

 

No, do not pack alcohol in the checked baggage. It must always be carried on. But, what I'm saying is there are trivial ways to conceal the alcohol of your choice. We shamelessly do it on Royal all the time because we don't drink nearly enough to pay $50pp/day, but also don't want to pay $18/drink either. 

[goodtravels2u]

The current rules for DCL is  that you can bring two bottles of sparkling or regular wine onto the ship with you for your own personal use to be used in your stateroom. Bottles cannot be packed in your luggage – they will be confiscated. But you can take them with you physically on board when you board the ship. If I were you I wouldn’t take the risk of trying to bring anything onto a ship that I shouldn’t. I think the cruise lines will be extremely strict and very cautious knowing that the CDC is watching everything. While alcohol has little or nothing to do with the CDC guidelines, why someone would want to “smuggle” alcohol onto a ship and break the rules is beyond me. It’s better to follow the rules, and pay a little more for the liquor on the ship, then to be stopped at the port, pulled aside,  taken away and have your bags searched all for a few small bottles of liquor. Not worth it and a bad start to your vacation!

[coldflame]

5 hours ago, goodtravels2u said:

 While alcohol has little or nothing to do with the CDC guidelines, why someone would want to “smuggle” alcohol onto a ship and break the rules is beyond me. It’s better to follow the rules, and pay a little more for the liquor on the ship, then to be stopped at the port, pulled aside,  taken away and have your bags searched all for a few small bottles of liquor. Not worth it and a bad start to your vacation!

 

The worst that can happen is they confiscate the alcohol -- that's it. You make it sound as if you're breaking some law and will be consequences beyond losing said alcohol.

[goodtravels2u]

No- I didn’t mean that you’ll be “arrested “  for something like. I just meant it could be an embarrassing moment and a time waster. They scan your bags at the port and they can delay you and search your bags if they see anything suspicious. In that case they may pull you aside so that you don’t hold up the rest of the line. To me, that’s time that I could have been on my way to enjoying my lunch on the ship. But to each his own. 

[nolatravelgirl]

You can't put any beverages in your checked baggage. It all must be carried on. The rules are clear that it is only beer or wine but if you wanted to try to sneak it by you could also get a wine corker and heat shrink capsules on Amazon and then pour your liquor into empty wine bottles. Seems like a lot of work but whatever floats your boat. Thankfully I am a wine drinker and my sister and BIL were not so I took their whole allotment too. 🙂

I will say I found myself drinking way less than I have on other cruises and ended up with leftover unopened wine that I gave it to our dining room waiter at our disembarkation breakfast simply because I had way too much to carry off. 

[coldflame]

23 minutes ago, nolatravelgirl said:

I will say I found myself drinking way less than I have on other cruises

 

This is interesting. I too find myself drinking way less in DCL cruises than I do in Royal and often bring home leftover liquor. I wonder if it has to do with DCL not having drink packages, so overall people drink less when there's no incentive to do so.

[ArthurUSCG]

7 minutes ago, coldflame said:

 

This is interesting. I too find myself drinking way less in DCL cruises than I do in Royal and often bring home leftover liquor. I wonder if it has to do with DCL not having drink packages, so overall people drink less when there's no incentive to do so.

I'm thinking it's because DCL has so much higher quality actives on board then other lines and you don't need to be tipsy to enjoy the activities.

 

I've gone to activities in the adult areas during the day and was enjoying it so much that all of the ice in the drink melted before I drank the beverage.

[bob brown]

One thing that the wording on the Disney Cruises website didn't make clear to me was if the posted limit for carryon was total per cabin, or for each person over 21 years old in the cabin.  A call to their office confirmed the latter.

[deabic]

On 5/30/2021 at 5:42 PM, coldflame said:

I don't believe you're supposed to pack water/alcohol. We bring it with us in the carry on. Official policy is you can bring two bottles of sparkling or regular wine and 6 x 12 oz cans/person. Pre-covid enforcement was pretty relaxed, though, we've brought in bottles of campari, whiskey and vodka and were never given any trouble. In each port of call, you can bring the same amount to the ship for your use. Now, what post-covid enforcement will be like is anyone's guess: maybe more relaxed because there are so many other things to do during embarkment that alcohol is just a non-issue? Or perhaps more strict because of the revenue they desperately need -- and DCL doesn't have casinos so alcohol is really their main up-lift revenue on board.

 

Now, if you're intent on bringing alcohol on board "off the books", it's trivially easy to do 😉, same method which also works in other cruise lines.

I heard the same thing that you can buy wine in port and bring it on board; however, this is from the Disney website.

 

• Liquors or spirits or excess wine and beer purchased in ports of call will be stored until the end of the cruise.

[Shmoo here]

20 hours ago, deabic said:

I heard the same thing that you can buy wine in port and bring it on board; however, this is from the Disney website.

 

• Liquors or spirits or excess wine and beer purchased in ports of call will be stored until the end of the cruise.

That is - you may bring onboard 6 beers (12 oz each) OR 2 bottles of wine/champagne (max 750 liters each) when you get on the the ship "and at each port of call." (the quote from DCL website. )

 

Anything more than that will be stored until the end of the cruise.