Liquor

[amandas friend]

I know Carnival allows one bottle of wine per person to be brought on. Can you put a few small plastic vodka bottles in your pocket? I don’t think they can detect. TIA. 

[crewsweeper]

Depends on the port and security.  Miami and  Galveston are pretty strict.  

 

People have had success with rum runners, shambooze etc.  but others have had them detected. Even in checked luggage. 

Those small mini bottles will probably get seen in pockets unless you are weary very baggy pants.

Small rum runners that can fit flatter in cargo pants pockets, could probably make it through, but you'll be paying almost as much for the rumrunner and vodka as a drink on board.

 

[sparks1093]

You can, but the caps may set off the metal detector if you have too many of them. I wouldn't expect that you'd save enough to warrant the hassle.

[amandas friend]

Do they actually open your carry on bag? Thanks 

[Joe817]

1 minute ago, amandas friend said:

Do they actually open your carry on bag? Thanks 

They did mine, in my backpack in Galveston. 

[firefly333]

I've been allowed to buy a few in port and carry them on and they didnt say anything and saw them. I never tried to board with them in the usa just at ports and was allowed.

 

Once in miami everyone had to open their suitcases and have them searched at boarding.

 

Once I had my pockets patted down. Lol

Edited July 2, 2021 by firefly333

[1025cruise]

The answer is no, you may not bring small bottles of vodka on.

 

Granted, that doesn't stop people from trying.

[groundloop]

You can pre-purchase a bottle of liquor (to be consumed in your cabin) and have it delivered to your cabin on the first day of the cruise (second day for cruises out of Galveston as I understand it).  I may or may not have successfully brought bourbon on board in the past, but decided that simply purchasing a bottle for the cabin from the Fun Shops made a lot more sense.  Granted, it's at a pretty high markup, but it still quickly pays for itself when compared to the price of drinks on board.

[tm_aw_love]

IF you get caught it can get you booted without a refund... is a few shots of vodka worth it???

[ninjacat123]

You can buy a bottle of liquor either through your Cruise Manager ahead of time or onboard through room service (at least you could before Covid) and make cocktails in your room.  You can carry on 12 cans of mixer (not bottles) and we have ordered orange juice in the morning with room service breakfast and mixed cocktails with that. 

Have a great cruise!

[cruizinisthebest]

6 minutes ago, tm_aw_love said:

IF you get caught it can get you booted without a refund... is a few shots of vodka worth it???

Exactly. 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

8 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

... You can carry on 12 cans of mixer (not bottles) ...

 

Is that still allowed? We've preordered a bottle of vodka for our cabin IN 36 SHORT DAYS from now, and I'd prefer to bring our own mixer as we have in the past (LaCroix Lime).

 

Here's hoping that 1 liter will last 7 days - afternoons and before dinner... 1, perhaps 2 drinks. Oh, where does the time (errr, alcohol) go !!

 

Tom

[jimbo5544]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Is that still allowed? We've preordered a bottle of vodka for our cabin IN 36 SHORT DAYS from now, and I'd prefer to bring our own mixer as we have in the past (LaCroix Lime).

 

Here's hoping that 1 liter will last 7 days - afternoons and before dinner... 1, perhaps 2 drinks. Oh, where does the time (errr, alcohol) go !!

 

Tom

If it look like it is running low, the bathroom faucet fills it back up again….so my kids told me of our bar when they were teens.   Explains how much I was able to drink…..

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

Is that still allowed? We've preordered a bottle of vodka for our cabin IN 36 SHORT DAYS from now, and I'd prefer to bring our own mixer as we have in the past (LaCroix Lime).

 

Here's hoping that 1 liter will last 7 days - afternoons and before dinner... 1, perhaps 2 drinks. Oh, where does the time (errr, alcohol) go !!

 

Tom

I hope it is still allowed.  Carnival charges a lot for mixers and the selection is slim.  LaCroix is a tasty mixer!  Have a great cruise in 36 days!  We will be boarding in 64 days!!!  Yay!!

[czechcruzr]

i tried the refill the wine bottle trick in galveston. the lady at the check desk said the color is off 🙄 and we need to open it if you want to bring it onboard, i said just keep it and walked off.  lesson learned.

[mz-s]

3 minutes ago, czechcruzr said:

i tried the refill the wine bottle trick in galveston. the lady at the check desk said the color is off 🙄 and we need to open it if you want to bring it onboard, i said just keep it and walked off.  lesson learned.

 

They really look at the wine bottles lately. Used to they wouldn't even take them out of the bag.

[crewsweeper]

44 minutes ago, tm_aw_love said:

IF you get caught it can get you booted without a refund... is a few shots of vodka worth it???

When did this start?  They used to just "throw them away"  although I've always suspected the security folks had some great happy hours after the ships departed.

[amandas friend]

They confiscate. You are not booted. 

[sassy0930]

Back in the day we may or may not have simply NOT stopped at the "turn in your booze" table when coming in from port. They see it in your bag and ask you to turn it in, but if you get back in a crowd it's easy to just keep walking. Not condoning or anything. Just saying. Then you're not paying tax on it either...

[sassy0930]

1 hour ago, czechcruzr said:

i tried the refill the wine bottle trick in galveston. the lady at the check desk said the color is off 🙄 and we need to open it if you want to bring it onboard, i said just keep it and walked off.  lesson learned.

Oh dear! We used food coloring to make sure the color was right when we did it! LOL

[crewsweeper]

1 hour ago, sassy0930 said:

Back in the day we may or may not have simply NOT stopped at the "turn in your booze" table when coming in from port. They see it in your bag and ask you to turn it in, but if you get back in a crowd it's easy to just keep walking. Not condoning or anything. Just saying. Then you're not paying tax on it either...

This is my trick when in ports where you can buy booze and craft beer outside the cruise terminals.

Just don't try to bring a large amount.  1 or 2 bottles or a sixer.

[Jasonsterling]

2 hours ago, czechcruzr said:

i tried the refill the wine bottle trick in galveston. the lady at the check desk said the color is off 🙄 and we need to open it if you want to bring it onboard, i said just keep it and walked off.  lesson learned.

Food Coloring next time- LOL! No, in reality as tempting as smuggling is the drink plan is not that much compared to buying bottles to take on board and mixers and whatever and constantly going back and forth to your room to make drinks. I don't know, not worth the hassles in my opinion. 

[klfhngr]

DONT FLAME ME: I've used rumrunners many times, no issues. I'm wondering if they're stricter now. Might take 2 large ones in cargo pants/shorts. Also, I've taken Mead on by filling up wine bottles. They have the same color. I've also brought on growlers of beer from port, security saw it and said, 'Beer!' I said yes, they said come on in! I guess honesty pays off?! 😉

Edited July 2, 2021 by klfhngr

[ninjacat123]

32 minutes ago, Jasonsterling said:

Food Coloring next time- LOL! No, in reality as tempting as smuggling is the drink plan is not that much compared to buying bottles to take on board and mixers and whatever and constantly going back and forth to your room to make drinks. I don't know, not worth the hassles in my opinion. 

Cheers is convenient and if you drink more than 6 drinks per day, a better value than purchasing drinks at the bar.  A bottle of Sky Vodka purchased through Carnival is about $100 after the gratuity and tax is added.  It holds 40 ounces so that's about twenty 2 ounce shots making 20 drinks per bottle at $5 per drink. A much better value but yes, the hassle of going to your room to get it.

Good to have choices!

[Qchell]

34 minutes ago, Jasonsterling said:

Food Coloring next time- LOL! No, in reality as tempting as smuggling is the drink plan is not that much compared to buying bottles to take on board and mixers and whatever and constantly going back and forth to your room to make drinks. I don't know, not worth the hassles in my opinion. 

Same here.  Pre-Cheers we would carry on two 12-packs of soda and two bottles of wine and had to haul it all through the terminal, wait while it was inspected (and as others have noted sometimes they waive you through and others give an extensive inspection), haul it all onto the ship and then babysit it while waiting for our room.  Then during the cruise we would spend time running back and forth to the room for refills from the bottle we pre-ordered.  
 

Now all we carry onboard is a small carry-on and my purse and when we are ready for a new drink (alcohol or non-alcohol) we walk to the nearest bar (are you ever more than 5 ft from one?! 😄 ) or someone brings it to me.  We find it worth the price to not have to deal with all of that now.  Granted some folks simply cannot afford it, but I have to admit to not missing the hassle of carrying drinks on and running back and forth to the stateroom.

For those that do pre-order a bottle, they are fairly large and the price is a fraction of what it would cost to order the same number of drinks individually.  We used to do that and they lasted pretty much the entire cruise with no issues .  You can also order a bottle from room service during the cruise, but ensure you stay in your room until it arrives as you do have to sign for it.  They won't just leave it.