On-Ship Alcohol Prices vs US and Caribbean Prices

[lx200gps]

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

[smokeybandit]

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

[foxgoodrich]

We've always found St Maarten to have the best prices on booze, better than onboard.

[DrewFoundLander]

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.

[firefly333]

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. 

 

 

[lx200gps]

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

[GEORGIEGIRL]

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).

[ejnsb]

Our Total Wine beats the prices I have seen on the ship.  

 

 

[firefly333]

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. 

[CruisingHogFan]

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

[HicksRA]

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. 

[orville99]

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...

[lx200gps]

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.

[trey420]

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.

[Sunshine3601]

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.   

[wikoffclan]

Total Wine is the best... Huge selection and even better prices in Louisiana!

[funredhead]

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. 

[Tree_skier]

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.

[GTO-Girl]

If you go to St Martin definitely go to Gulhomars.  Best prices in the Caribbean on all hard to find brands..

[PigsCanFly]

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)

 

[smplybcause]

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. 

[mets123]

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?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

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 

[deliver42]

We just got off the Wonder, and their prices were about the same as Total Wine.

[crewsweeper]

Less sales tax. But yes Total Wine has great prices and a very wide selection.