lx200gps Posted April 2, 2022 #1 Share Posted April 2, 2022 We'll be on the Oasis in May out of Cape Liberty, our first ever RCCL trip as we usually sail Princess. As Canadians, we always buy a couple of bottles of booze while in the US to take advantage of the outrageously low prices. Places like Total Wine, St Maarten, Coz and even a Princess ship store have MUCH lower prices than we can get at home. How do the prices in the RCCL ship store compare with, say, US land prices such as at TW? We'll stick with TW as there's one literally next to the highway we'll be driving on to get to CL As an example, on our recent trip to St Maarten, we picked up two one liter bottles of Absolut for $24 total ($12 each), which we consider a good deal. Also how do the prices in Nassau, our only useful stop on this trip, compare to ship prices? Thx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted April 2, 2022 #2 Share Posted April 2, 2022 I've never seen a good deal onboard compared to US prices. The only benefit it sometimes they have stuff that's harder to find stateside like Blantons 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxgoodrich Posted April 2, 2022 #3 Share Posted April 2, 2022 We've always found St Maarten to have the best prices on booze, better than onboard. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewFoundLander Posted April 2, 2022 #4 Share Posted April 2, 2022 I have typically bough my booze onboard but that was more out of convenience. I've not really seen a price variance on my favorites to make it worth the effort to buy onshore. I'm a middle of the road liquor drinker, prices differences may be greater on high end hooch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted April 2, 2022 #5 Share Posted April 2, 2022 30 minutes ago, smokeybandit said: I've never seen a good deal onboard compared to US prices. The only benefit it sometimes they have stuff that's harder to find stateside like Blantons If you lived in texas, prices here are cheaper than onboard unless it's something unusual that you cant find here. Blanktons for instance. Certain letters are onboard hard to find I read on my roll call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lx200gps Posted April 2, 2022 Author #6 Share Posted April 2, 2022 Thanks all. It does sound like we will probably end up just buying at TW on the way home, but we'll check the ship and Nassau just in case. At least TW has a very good website so we'll know exactly what their prices are. How are the prices in Nassau? +1 on St Maarten being the best prices we've seen but they're not on this itinerary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GEORGIEGIRL Posted April 2, 2022 #7 Share Posted April 2, 2022 51 minutes ago, firefly333 said: If you lived in texas, prices here are cheaper than onboard unless it's something unusual that you cant find here. Blanktons for instance. Certain letters are onboard hard to find I read on my roll call. How old is this picture of "Blantons"? I don't think they have it on any ships anymore. I do know they have it at "Gulmohar's Whiskey Paradise" in St. Maartin. (at least they did in January). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejnsb Posted April 2, 2022 #8 Share Posted April 2, 2022 Our Total Wine beats the prices I have seen on the ship. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted April 2, 2022 #9 Share Posted April 2, 2022 1 minute ago, GEORGIEGIRL said: How old is this picture of "Blantons"? I don't think they have it on any ships anymore. I do know they have it at "Gulmohar's Whiskey Paradise" in St. Maartin. (at least they did in January). Lol 2 days ago. We have had various letters last week and this week on liberty OTS. I can take one today if you need today picture. People on my roll call been saving letters. Is 2 days ago not recent enough .. I can check right now, I'm still onboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruisingHogFan Posted April 2, 2022 #10 Share Posted April 2, 2022 1 hour ago, smokeybandit said: I've never seen a good deal onboard compared to US prices. The only benefit it sometimes they have stuff that's harder to find stateside like Blantons And the Blanton’s is way over priced! $95 dollars on the ship is a horrible deal. I wouldn’t pay over $65 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HicksRA Posted April 2, 2022 #11 Share Posted April 2, 2022 I often buy 2 bottles of Hendricks gin onboard as a 1 liter bottle is usually about the same price as a 750 ml bottle at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare orville99 Posted April 2, 2022 #12 Share Posted April 2, 2022 45 minutes ago, lx200gps said: Thanks all. It does sound like we will probably end up just buying at TW on the way home, but we'll check the ship and Nassau just in case. At least TW has a very good website so we'll know exactly what their prices are. How are the prices in Nassau? +1 on St Maarten being the best prices we've seen but they're not on this itinerary We have found that the prices are not all that reasonable in Nassau, and the variety of liquor available in most of the stores leaves a lot to be desired. We always stock up when we are in the USVI as their prices for litre bottles are consistently lower than the same product in 750ml bottles at TW. YMMV based on what you are looking for... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lx200gps Posted April 2, 2022 Author #13 Share Posted April 2, 2022 3 minutes ago, orville99 said: We have found that the prices are not all that reasonable in Nassau, and the variety of liquor available in most of the stores leaves a lot to be desired. We always stock up when we are in the USVI as their prices for litre bottles are consistently lower than the same product in 750ml bottles at TW. YMMV based on what you are looking for... Thanks, this pretty much confirms it for us. We'll probably just end up buying at TW on the way home. We're not too extravagant, my wife wants her Absolut and I'll be looking for a big jug of Tanqueray Rangpur gin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trey420 Posted April 2, 2022 #14 Share Posted April 2, 2022 I only ever bought on the ship what I can't buy on land. Here in texas, at least my crowd, seem to really be into white Hennessey. I'm not as big a drinker I prefer the greener things. But I used to buy this coffee and cream liquor all the time. Been a while but couldn't buy it here in states. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine3601 Posted April 3, 2022 #15 Share Posted April 3, 2022 11 hours ago, lx200gps said: Thanks all. It does sound like we will probably end up just buying at TW on the way home, but we'll check the ship and Nassau just in case. At least TW has a very good website so we'll know exactly what their prices are. How are the prices in Nassau? +1 on St Maarten being the best prices we've seen but they're not on this itinerary I have never found prices to be good in Nassau for alcohol, perfumes, etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wikoffclan Posted April 3, 2022 #16 Share Posted April 3, 2022 Total Wine is the best... Huge selection and even better prices in Louisiana! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funredhead Posted April 3, 2022 #17 Share Posted April 3, 2022 At the pier at St. Maarten, i picked up Tanqueray and Malibu for $13 each. Rum is almost always cheapest in St. Thomas. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Tree_skier Posted April 3, 2022 #18 Share Posted April 3, 2022 13 hours ago, lx200gps said: We'll be on the Oasis in May out of Cape Liberty, our first ever RCCL trip as we usually sail Princess. As Canadians, we always buy a couple of bottles of booze while in the US to take advantage of the outrageously low prices. Places like Total Wine, St Maarten, Coz and even a Princess ship store have MUCH lower prices than we can get at home. How do the prices in the RCCL ship store compare with, say, US land prices such as at TW? We'll stick with TW as there's one literally next to the highway we'll be driving on to get to CL As an example, on our recent trip to St Maarten, we picked up two one liter bottles of Absolut for $24 total ($12 each), which we consider a good deal. Also how do the prices in Nassau, our only useful stop on this trip, compare to ship prices? Thx As a Canadian ex-pat I totally sympathize with desire to beat the terrible taxes that they put on booze in Canada. I used to make regular runs south of the border and any time I stayed more than 48 hours I'd bring back as much as I could. Total wine is your best bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTO-Girl Posted April 3, 2022 #19 Share Posted April 3, 2022 If you go to St Martin definitely go to Gulhomars. Best prices in the Caribbean on all hard to find brands.. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PigsCanFly Posted April 3, 2022 #20 Share Posted April 3, 2022 I typically buy Bacardi Black 1l on board @4/$40. It is a better price than at home for us. I have bought Mount Gay Eclipse at the San Juan pier when sailing HAL for a decent price (and fancy bottles) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smplybcause Posted April 3, 2022 #21 Share Posted April 3, 2022 The only time I've heard of good deals is when you're talking bottles that are $100+. Those are the only ones I've heard of that are significantly less, but those aren't interesting to me so I can't say for sure. My last cruise I was in st thomas walking around with a friend and she thought this bottle was a really good price at $125. Forget what it was on account of not caring lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mets123 Posted April 3, 2022 #22 Share Posted April 3, 2022 3 hours ago, GTO-Girl said: If you go to St Martin definitely go to Gulhomars. Best prices in the Caribbean on all hard to find brands.. What are the prices of the different grades of Blantons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-Airbalancer Posted April 3, 2022 #23 Share Posted April 3, 2022 7 hours ago, Tree_skier said: As a Canadian ex-pat I totally sympathize with desire to beat the terrible taxes that they put on booze in Canada. I used to make regular runs south of the border and any time I stayed more than 48 hours I'd bring back as much as I could. Total wine is your best bet. Terrible tax ? 🙄 the sin tax pays for a lot of good things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deliver42 Posted April 3, 2022 #24 Share Posted April 3, 2022 We just got off the Wonder, and their prices were about the same as Total Wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare crewsweeper Posted April 3, 2022 #25 Share Posted April 3, 2022 Less sales tax. But yes Total Wine has great prices and a very wide selection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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